This list is complementary to the List of pipeline accidents in the United States. Large accidents, qualifying as industrial disasters are included.
The production process encompasses all parts of the process from drilling for fuels to refining or processing to the final product. It also includes storage and disposal of waste. Unless otherwise stated, all accidents are associated with production wells.
Since many accidents involve transport of raw materials, several states included in this list have little or no fossil fuel production.
Alabama November 8, 2013 – Pickens County, Crude oil train derails, fire, one person evacuated
Alaska March 24, 1989 – The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred in Prince William Sound, Alaska. December 31, 2012 – Offshore drilling rig breaks loose from tow, 18 evacuated 2016–2017 Cook Inlet natural gas leak April 14, 2017 - A BP well leaked oil & gas from the North Slope for 3 days.
Arizona State had active oil and or gas wells as of April 2015 but no accidents have been uncovered.
Arkansas September 2010 – March 2011 – Near Greenbrier, earthquake swarm near injection wells, largest 4.7 May 21, 2012 - A fire and explosion broke out at an abandoned crude oil tank battery, near El Dorado. March 29, 2013 – Mayflower – "Exxon-Pegasus" oil pipeline spill, 22 homes evacuated2013 Mayflower oil spill November 12, 2014 – earthquake, see Kansas
California Jan. 27, 1908 - Lightning struck tank number 3 of the Union Oil Co. tank farm at Avila. The bolt struck at 3:30 p.m. and ignited the oil stored in the tank. October 5, 1913 - A spark from a passing locomotive was blamed for starting a fire, in a 250,000 gallon tank of distillate oil at the San Diego Standard Oil tank yard. As the oil burned it threw sparks skyward, which rained down on several other tanks nearby, igniting them. The fire burned for 2 days. April 7, 1926 - A lightning-caused fire, involving a 1 million gallon tank, near San Luis Obispo. September 16, 1928 – George F. Getty Inc. well exploded at the Santa Fe Springs oil fields, igniting a fire that burned for almost two months. July 12, 1951 - A tank farm fire in Wilmington injured 3. September 1, 1968 - Lightning struck an oil storage surface reservoir, at the Standard Oil Company of California refinery in El Segundo, igniting the wooden roof, and started a fire on the 7.25-acre surface of bunker oil that burned for 13 days. An attack with seven high expansion and five low expansion foam generators produced more than 4 million cubic feet of foam. These efforts failed, however, and a controlled burnout had to be accepted. 1969 – The 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill. In January and February 1969, in the Santa Barbara Channel, near the city of Santa Barbara, in Southern California. It was the largest oil spill in United States waters at the time, and now ranks third after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon and 1989 Exxon Valdez spills. It remains the largest oil spill to have occurred in the waters off California. February 21, 1978 - An explosion & fire at a Rialto pipeline tank farm injured a passerby. February 9, 1980 - A tank farm fire in Kern County. April 10, 1989 – An explosion and fire occurred in a cracking column at the Chevron Richmond refinery. A total of 8 workers and firefighters were injured. Three workers suffered second and third degree burns. February 23, 1999 - A fire occurred in the crude unit at Tosco Corporation's Avon oil refinery in Martinez. Workers were attempting to replace piping attached to a 150-foot-tall fractionator tower while the process unit was in operation. During removal of the piping, naphtha was released onto the hot fractionator and ignited. The flames engulfed five workers located at different heights on the tower. Four men were killed, and one sustained serious injuries. March 25, 1999 – An explosion and fire, at the Chevron Richmond refinery, that spread noxious fumes, and sent hundreds of Richmond residents to hospitals. August 6, 2012 – A large fire erupted at the Chevron Richmond refinery. About 15,000 sought medical treatment for exposure to the smoke. On April 15, 2013, the US Chemical Safety Board released their preliminary report citing Chevron for a chronic failure to replace aging equipment and called for an overhaul of regulatory oversight of the industry to prevent such accidents from happening again. February 12, 2014, - Sulfuric acid burned two workers in a Martinez refinery's alkylation unit, who were transported to the nearest hospital burn unit by life flight. The incident occurred when the operators opened a block valve to return an acid sampling system back to service. Very shortly after this block valve had been fully opened, the tubing directly downstream of the valve came apart, spraying two operators with acid. May 15, 2014 – Los Angeles, pipeline rupture, 4 sickened"Pipeline breaks, spills crude oil into Los Angeles neighborhood", Reuters, May 15, 2014 February 18, 2015 – Torrance, refinery explosion, four injured May 19, 2015 – Santa Barbara – Pipeline rupture, large oil spill October 22, 2017 - An oil well pump fire, east of Orcutt. January 19, 2018 - A fire broke out in the cooling tower of a refinery in Bakersfield. October 8, 2018 - Nearly 1,900 gallons of crude oil leaked from a ruptured pipe over a weekend, at a Torrance Refinery. December 22, 2018 - Five gallons of Modified Hydrofluoric Acid leaked from a hose, as it was being transferred from a tanker truck to a container, at a Torrance refinery. 15 October 2025 - In the jet fuel unit of Chevron's Los Angeles El Segundo refinery a fire broke out. No injuries were reported from the explosion and fire.
Colorado Oil spill data are available on Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission Spill Analysis website August 2001 through 2012 – Trinidad, earthquakes up to magnitude 5.3 February 2004 - Williams was fined $30,000 for a fire at a well in Parachute. February 26, 2006 – Fire at a gas compressor station, southwest of Fort Lupton June 25, 2012 - One worker dead, two injured at BP Pinon natural gas compressor station explosion in Bayfield September 11, 2012 – A malfunction and fire at a gas compressor station, in Colorado. May 9, 2014 – Weld County: six crude oil tankers of 100-car train derail, one leaks an estimated 6,500 gal. (of 28,000 gal. contents) November 13, 2014 – Weld County explosion, one dead, two injured, April 17, 2015 - Lightning struck a wastewater storage tank in Greeley, which ignited the vapors inside. Other storage tanks then caught fire. April 17, 2017 – A severed flow line, from a gas well, leads to a gas explosion in a home, killing 2 people, in Firestone, Colorado. May 8, 2017 – Fire broke out at a tank for a fracking well near Greeley. May 25, 2017 – An oil tank explosion and fire in northern Colorado killed a worker, and burned three others. September 20, 2017 - A fire at oil tank farm in Weld County. October 29, 2017 - An oil well near Berthoud, capped in 1984, began spilling drilling mud. December 22, 2017 - One person injured in an explosion & fire at an oil well in Weld County, Colorado. February 18, 2018 - A liquid spill near tanks used in oil drilling, near Erie, was more than 200 gallons. April 19, 2018 - A pipeline released an unknown amount of oil & gas production wastewater, near Bayfield. June 19, 2018 - A lightning strike caused an explosion that damaged or destroyed up to six oil tanks at a storage facility near Hudson in Weld County.
Delaware July 17, 2001, an explosion occurred at the Motiva Enterprises refinery in Delaware City. A work crew had been repairing a catwalk above a sulfuric acid storage tank farm when a spark from their hot work ignited flammable vapors in one of the tanks. This tank had holes in its roof and shell due to corrosion. The tank collapsed, and one of the contract workers was killed; eight others were injured. A significant volume of sulfuric acid was released to the environment. November 5, 2005 - Two contract employees were overcome and fatally injured by nitrogen as they performed maintenance work near a 24-inch opening on the top of a reactor. One of the workers died attempting rescue. November 29, 2015 - An operator at the Delaware City Refining Company's (DCRC) Kellogg Alkylation Unit suffered second degree burns to his face and neck areas while performing de-inventorying activities on a vessel in preparation for the removal of a pipe spool from a connected process. This incident follows two other incidents at the same facility which occurred on August 21, and August 28, 2015.
Florida State had active oil and or gas wells as of April 2015 but no accidents have been uncovered.
Georgia April 7, 1972 - An explosion & fire hit a tank farm in Doraville, Georgia. Two people died in this incident.
Idaho State had active oil and or gas wells as of April 2015 but no accidents have been uncovered.
Illinois
November 20, 2012 – Mokena, Pipe rupture, oil spill in tank farm March 5, 2015 – Galena, train derailment, fire, evacuations November 14, 2017 - A man was seriously hurt in an oil rig explosion & fire in White County, and later died from his injuries.
Indiana In September, 1941, a nine-hour conflagration at the Whiting Standard of Indiana refinery killed one man and injured 20 others. That blaze also destroyed more than 30 oil storage tanks and half a dozen buildings with a loss estimated at $100,000. On August 27, 1955, a brand new hydroformer at the Whiting Standard of Indiana refinery exploded and burned. An 8-day long fire then consumed at least 45 acres of storage tanks and damaged nearby homes and businesses. In addition to a boy killed in his home, one Standard Oil workman died of a heart attack, another 40 were injured, and 1,500 evacuated. On Nov 23, 1957, 2 workers were killed in a Whiting Standard of Indiana refinery fire. On Apr 16, 1988, 16 workers were hurt in explosion at the Whiting Standard of Indiana refinery. On Oct 31, 1988, 3 workers were killed, and 1 seriously injured in asphalt plant explosion & fire, at the Whiting Standard of Indiana refinery. About March 26, 2014 – Whiting – Crude oil spill from refinery.
Kansas June 25, 2013 - An oil tank battery located in Ft. Leavenworth was struck by lightning & burned. September 23, 2014 - A lightning storm caused a Russell Co. tank battery fire. November 12, 2014 – Sumner County, epicenter of magnitude 4.8 earthquake January 19, 2015 – see OK September 25, 2017 - Lightning causes an oil tank battery fire near Lindsborg. April 30, 2018 - Lightning is blamed for a pair of oil tank battery fires in Reno and Russell counties. June 26, 2018 - A lightning strike was blamed for an oil tank fire, southwest of Oxford.
Kentucky January, 2005 – Carrollton, Crude oil pipeline rupture, oil spill, October, 2008 – Burlington, Crude oil pipeline rupture, oil spill, 80 homes evacuated August 2019 - Danville, natural gas pipeline rupture, fire, 1 death, 6 injured, 75 homes evacuated
Louisiana November 30, 1980 - An oil rig contracted by Texaco accidentally drilled into the Diamond Crystal Salt Company salt mine under Lake Peigneur. Because of an incorrect or misinterpreted coordinate reference system, the 14-inch (36 cm) drill bit entered the mine, starting a chain of events that turned the lake from freshwater to salt-water, with a deep hole. All 55 employees in the mine at the time of the accident were able to escape thanks to well-planned and rehearsed evacuation drills, while the crew of the drilling rig fled the platform before it was sucked down into the new depths of the lake. May 10, 1984 - A contractor hit an ethane pipeline, at the Conoco refinery in Lake Charles, causing a fire. 5 workers were injured.