Workers at nearby refineries – owned by Marathon Ashland Petroleum and Valero Energy Corp – were evacuated as a precautionary measure.

According to BP spokesperson Scott Dean, the cause of the explosion is still not known. “The fire began in a gasoline-making area of the refinery. No injuries were reported among the plant’s employees,” said Dean, who was not able to reveal the extent of the damage or how long it would take before the refinery would be up and running again.

The explosion at the BP refinery comes on the back of an alert posted by the FBI, which stated that terrorists may be targeting oil refineries in Texas.

When asked by Bloomberg News as to whether or not the explosion could have been a terrorist attack, Annie Smith, BP’s manager of public affairs for the Gulf Coast region in Texas said, “We don’t have any awareness of outside involvement.”