Controlled Fire at Shell’s Houston-Area Refinery Blackens Sky

(Bloomberg) -- A controlled fire at Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s refinery near Houston cast a plume of black smoke over the city’s industrial suburbs.

A U.S. Coast Guard spokesperson said Shell alerted the agency of the burn off. The smoke had subsided by 4:30 p.m. local time on Sunday. The refinery in the town of Deer Park on Houston’s east side can process 275,000 barrels of crude a day, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Shell sent a notice through a community alert system at 3:16 p.m. warning that the company was performing activities that could lead to flaring and noted there wasn’t any threat to nearby residents.

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