The Shell Deer Park Refinery was established in Deer Park, Texas, in 1929. Located along the Houston Ship Channel, it is the 18th largest oil and gas facility in the United States. The facility processes a total of 340,000 barrels of crude oil per day. It is also the fourth largest taxpayer and employer in Harris County, with an estimated 2,700 workers. The primary processing units at the facility include distilling, fluid catalytic cracker, selective hydrocracker, delayed coker, and catalytic gasoline hydrotreater.  
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Since 1993, Deer Park Refinery has operated in a split venture between major energy corporations Shell Oil Company and PEMEX. Throughout its history, the refinery has been at the center of numerous probes. The EPA, Occupational Safety, and the Health Administration for corporate negligence have conducted inquiries of the facility’s poor safety practices. The refinery management’s failure to maintain a safe work environment has resulted in several injuries and even death to unsuspecting employees.

One of the earliest recorded accidents at the Deer Park Refinery was a large explosion of the Chevron Hawaii ship during a severe thunderstorm on September 2nd, 1979. The ship contained 110,000 barrels of refinery feedstock and heavy oil and chemical distillates, and ethyl alcohol. Based on a Shell spokesperson’s report, they believed that lightning struck the tanker, which caused the explosion. The fire spread into a barge slip where four barges caught fire, three exploded, and sank. One crew member and 2 radar repairmen aboard the vessel died, and 13 persons suffered injures.
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A small transfer pipeline containing oil was allowed to burn out while firefighters worked to contain the blaze. Twelve employees suffered injures, and the bodies of three men were later recovered. Victims of this horrible accident are 33-year-old W. Beemer and 28-year-old David Strout, both natives of Houston. A third crewman also perished; however, his name is being withheld at the family’s request.

The facility and collateral loss for Shell was an estimated 10 million dollars. A large amount of heavy oil polluted the waterway. As a result of this, Shell was charged for environmental clean-up.

This was not the first or last incident at Shell Deer Park Refinery. In August 2017, the refinery production came to a temporary halt after yet another fire broke out at a DU-2 crude distillation unit. This unit produces a total of 325,700 barrels of crude oil per day. The toxic fumes released from the fire forced workers to take shelter, until the blaze got under control.