An explosion was reported “near a small pilot plant” at the Sunoco Refinery in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania last night. According to a Sunoco spokesman, there were no injuries and the explosion had no impact on the refinery's processing and no environmental impact. The refinery processes 175,000 barrels of oil daily; the pilot plant makes components for specialty fuels. Sunoco spokesman Jerry Davis said the incident occurred at 11:30 p.m. Monday and its cause is being investigated.
Oil refineries are potential terrorist targets and have reported suspicious surveillance activities in recent years. On March 18, 2003, federal authorities arrested two Middle Eastern men near the Marcus Hook Refinery who were observed driving slowly near the propane and jet fuel tanks and attempting to elude police. Two men, one from Jordan and the other a U.S. citizen from Yemen, possessed chemistry books, books written in Arabic and religious tapes in the car. The driver also was found to have a life insurance policy of a significant amount with him at the time of his arrest.
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