Crude futures soar on oil refinery fires

Prices for West Texas Intermediate crude oil on the New York Mercantile exchange soared above $60 per gallon on Friday after an explosion and fire at BP’s Texas City refinery, the third largest in the United States, and a fire at a Murphy Oil refinery in Louisiana on Thursday.

The BP explosion and fire is the second incident at that plant in four months; a March explosion and fire there killed 15 people.

Three units at that plant, the one that was affected and two similar units, were shut down until a determination can be made as to what caused the blast.

Both incidents have led some analysts to wonder if US refineries are being pushed beyond their capacity to operate safely.

WTI prices on September contracts were up by 96 cents at midday to $60.90 per barrel, a 3.8 percent increase for the week.

Meanwhile prices for Brent crude for September delivery on the International Petroleum Exchange in London gained 90 cents to stand at $59.66 per barrel, an increase of 4.3 percent on the week.