Fire at British Petroleum refinery in US kills 2 staffers

Washington, Sep 22 (IANS) Fire at a British Petroleum (BP) refinery in the US state of Ohio led to the deaths of two staff members, the company said.

All other staff of the Husky Toledo Refinery in the city of Oregon, is accounted for, Xinhua news agency quoted BP as saying in a statement on Wednesday.

The fire was extinguished on Tuesday night and the refinery was safely shut down and remains offline on Wednesday.

It remains unclear what caused the blaze.

BP said the Husky Toledo refinery "has been a cornerstone of Northwest Ohio's economy for more than 100 years".

The refinery is said to be able to process up to 160,000 barrels of crude oil each day, providing the Midwest with gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, propane, asphalt, and other products.

On a daily basis, the facility can produce 3.8 million gallons of gasoline, 1.3 million gallons of diesel fuel, and 600,000 gallons of jet fuel.