Houston Refinery

A 255,000 barrels per calendar day petroleum refinery in Texas, US, operated by Valero.

Record

Rated capacity

255,000 bpd (atmospheric crude distillation, calendar day)

Status

Damaged

Operator

Valero

Parent

Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO)

Supplier graph

bomforge.com/companies/valero-texas

Coordinates

37.2752, -95.1835

Notes

Multiple news sources from March 24, 2026 report a major explosion at Valero's Port Arthur refinery with fire, fluid release, and shelter-in-place orders issued. This indicates immediate shutdown due to the incident. The database record referencing April 16 partial restart is a future event not yet reflected in current operational status.

What coverage reports

122 days since one was reported

A well site explosion triggers a large fire and evacuations in East Texas, but no injuries
2026-04-21 · 1 publisher filed it

8 reported in 12 months

incident 8

2024-092026-08

stories filed per month · red = a disruption

These are counts of what publishers filed about this plant, not an operating status. A quiet month means nobody named this facility that month, which is a fact about coverage and not about the plant. Where this site states how a refinery is running it says so in the facts table above, from the curated dataset, and cites it there.

Wire

1. 12 Jun 2026 Maintenance Medium
   Valero Houston, Texas Refinery Reports Concluded Maintenance
   TradingView · matched houston
2. 10 Jun 2026 General Low
   Valero Houston, Texas Refinery Reports It May Require The Use Of Safety Flare System
   TradingView · matched houston
3. 4 May 2026 General Low
   This photo shows a view of the Valero Houston Refinery in Houston, Texas, on April 29, 2026.
   Channels Television · matched houston
4. 21 Apr 2026 General Low
   Texas LNG gains importance with Qatar’s war damage
   Odessa American · matched houston
5. 21 Apr 2026 General Low
   Texas Oil Pipes Are Running All-Out on War-Driven Demand
   Transport Topics · matched houston
6. 21 Apr 2026 Incident Critical
   A well site explosion triggers a large fire and evacuations in East Texas, but no injuries
   Houston Public Media · matched houston
7. 12 Apr 2026 General Low
   Watch the moment LyondellBasell implodes two inactive coker units at Houston refinery
   Click2Houston + 3 other outlets · matched houston
8. 2 Apr 2026 Expansion Medium
   Glenfarne Expands Glenfarne Global Commodities as Texas LNG Approaches FID and Alaska LNG Finalizes Customer Allocations | Glenfarne Group
   Glenfarne Group | · matched houston
9. 25 Mar 2026 Incident High
   Valero Reports Houston Refinery Reports May Require Flaring
   TradingView · matched houston
10. 25 Mar 2026 Incident Critical
    Valero refinery explosion in Port Arthur unlikely to spike Houston gas prices, experts say
    Click2Houston · matched houston
11. 24 Mar 2026 Incident Critical
    Texas oil refinery explosion sends smoke into air, residents advised to shelter in place
    Fox Business + 1 other outlet · matched houston
12. 24 Mar 2026 Incident Critical
    Fire out and shelter-in-place order is lifted after oil refinery explosion near Texas coast
    AP News · matched houston
13. 23 Mar 2026 Incident Critical
    Explosion at Texas oil refinery creates huge smoke plume
    BBC · matched houston
14. 11 Mar 2026 General Low
    Trump unveils $300B Houston refinery, first new U.S. plant in decades
    Chron · matched houston
15. 4 Mar 2026 General Low
    Reports of Burning Tanks at Houston Refinery
    onscene.tv · matched houston
16. 17 Feb 2026 Incident High
    Valero warns of flaring at Houston refinery ahead of maintenance
    Quantum Commodity Intelligence · matched houston
17. 6 Jan 2026 General Low
    Natural gas line damaged at Valero Houston Refinery, officials say
    KHOU · matched houston
18. 17 Dec 2025 General Low
    Houston Refinery
    LyondellBasell · matched houston
19. 10 Oct 2025 General Critical
    Trump's threats to safety board could kill probe into Houston refinery deaths
    Houston Chronicle · matched houston
20. 6 Oct 2025 Incident Critical
    Three Workers Injured in Explosion at ONEOK Refinery in Mont Belvieu, Northeast of Houston
    Hoodline · matched houston
21. 15 May 2025 General Low
    Who gets to decide what's next for Houston's oldest refinery?
    Houston Chronicle · matched houston
22. 27 Feb 2025 General Low
    LyondellBasell to lay off 300-plus employees in Houston as refinery closes
    Houston Public Media · matched houston
23. 27 Feb 2025 General Low
    Lyondell to lay off 86% of workforce at shuttered Houston refinery, filing shows
    Reuters · matched houston
24. 27 Feb 2025 General Low
    Petrochemical giant to lay off 86% of Houston refinery workforce
    Chron · matched houston
25. 27 Feb 2025 General Low
    LyondellBasell laying off hundreds of Houston refinery workers in April
    The Business Journals · matched houston
26. 18 Feb 2025 General Low
    Lyondell Houston refinery layoffs to begin in mid-April, letter shows
    Reuters · matched houston
27. 17 Feb 2025 General Critical
    Houston’s oldest refinery is shutting. It won’t be the last
    The Detroit News + 1 other outlet · matched houston
28. 7 Feb 2025 Operations Critical
    Lyondell completes shutdown of Houston refinery, sources say
    BOE Report · matched houston
29. 24 Jan 2025 Operations Critical
    LyondellBasell to lay off over 400 employees as Houston refinery prepares to shut down operation
    Click2Houston · matched houston
30. 24 Jan 2025 Operations Low
    What Lyondell’s Houston refinery closure says about the industry’s future
    Houston Chronicle · matched houston
31. 23 Jan 2025 Operations Critical
    LyondellBasell starts process to shut down Houston operation, with hundreds of layoffs looming
    KHOU · matched houston
32. 23 Jan 2025 General Critical
    Report: LyondellBasell to begin shutting down Houston refinery this weekend
    The Business Journals · matched houston
33. 23 Jan 2025 Operations Low
    LyondellBasell’s Houston-area refinery to begin closure this month
    Houston Public Media · matched houston
34. 23 Jan 2025 Operations Low
    Report: Houston chemical giant to close refinery starting this weekend
    Chron · matched houston
35. 22 Jan 2025 Operations Low
    Lyondell to begin closure of Houston refinery this weekend, sources say
    Reuters · matched houston
36. 4 Nov 2024 Operations Low
    LyondellBasell on track to close Houston refinery by first quarter of 2025
    Houston Chronicle · matched houston
37. 2 Nov 2024 Operations Low
    Another U.S. Oil Refinery to Vanish with Lyondell Houston Plant Closing
    EnergyNow.com · matched houston
38. 1 Nov 2024 Operations Low
    Another US oil refinery to vanish with Lyondell Houston plant closing
    Reuters · matched houston
39. 12 Oct 2024 Incident High
    Hours-long toxic gas leak at Pemex oil refinery near Houston far exceeded legal limit
    Reuters · matched houston
40. 11 Oct 2024 Incident High
    Two dead, 30 injured after hydrogen sulfide release at Houston-area Pemex plant
    KERA News · matched houston
41. 12 Sep 2024 Policy Low
    Houston Ship Channel residents warn they intend to sue the EPA over Valero refinery
    Houston Public Media · matched houston
42. 29 Aug 2024 Policy Medium
    Advocates Notify EPA of Intent to Sue Over Federal Operating Permit for Valero Houston Refinery
    Earthjustice · matched houston
43. 29 Aug 2024 Expansion Low
    Shell sells pipeline and terminal system near Houston Ship Channel to local company
    The Business Journals · matched houston
44. 4 Jul 2024 Incident High
    Unit trips at Lyondell's Houston refinery, reports of a fire
    Quantum Commodity Intelligence · matched houston
45. 17 May 2024 General Low
    How Houston refineries were affected by Thursday's storm
    Houston Chronicle · matched houston
46. 8 Nov 2023 General Low
    ENR 2023 Top Owners Sourcebook: Houston Refinery Gets Reinvented
    Engineering News-Record + 1 other outlet · matched houston
47. 30 Oct 2023 General Low
    Lyondell's Houston refinery to be part of DOE hydrogen hub
    Houston Chronicle · matched houston
48. 27 Oct 2023 General Low
    Lyondell Houston refinery to operate at 80% capacity in Q4 2023
    Reuters · matched houston
49. 2 Jun 2023 Operations Low
    News | LyondellBasell Delays Closure of 700-Acre Houston Refinery Site
    CoStar · matched houston
50. 31 May 2023 Operations Low
    LyondellBasell delays closure of Houston refinery
    Houston Chronicle · matched houston
51. 9 May 2023 Incident High
    Houston-area Shell Refinery Had Troubled History Before Fire
    texasobserver.org · matched houston
52. 26 Mar 2023 Operations Low
    At LyondellBasell's soon-to-close Houston refinery, hundreds of workers worry about 'starting over'
    Houston Chronicle · matched houston
53. 26 Mar 2023 Operations Low
    Lyondell's Houston refinery closing has workers worried about 'starting over'
    Houston Chronicle · matched houston
54. 15 Mar 2023 General Low
    LyondellBasell wants to turn its Houston refinery into a hydrogen facility
    Houston Chronicle · matched houston
55. 11 Mar 2023 Operations Low
    Union says Lyondell misled it about possible Houston refinery buyers
    Reuters · matched houston
56. 16 Dec 2022 Operations Low
    LyondellBasell hopes closing Houston refinery will advance its new goal to reduce climate-warming pollution
    Houston Chronicle · matched houston
57. 28 Oct 2022 General Low
    Lyondell plans to operate Houston refinery above 90% of capacity in q4 2022- executive
    Reuters · matched houston
58. 20 Aug 2022 General Low
    Boston-Based World Energy Looks To Convert Houston Refinery Into A SAF Plant
    Simple Flying · matched houston
59. 29 Jul 2022 Expansion Medium
    Lyondell eyes 'very large' investment at Houston refinery site after closure
    Reuters · matched houston
60. 29 Jul 2022 General Low
    Lyondell Basell has turned away at least one would-be Houston refinery buyer
    Reuters · matched houston

25 older records held in the corpus. Every item names this facility by city or plant name in its headline or summary. Operator-only mentions never attribute. Headlines and links belong to the publishers named.