"HOUSTON - The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) has concluded that a 2015 explosion at a Torrance, California, refinery then owned by Exxon Mobil Corp could have been prevented, the agency concluded in a report issued on Wednesday.

'This explosion and near miss should not have happened,' said CSB Chair Vanessa Allen Sutherland in a statement. 'The CSB's report concludes the unit was operating without proper procedures.'

The federal watchdog found that weaknesses in the Torrance refinery's safety program led to the blast."

Erwin Seba and Liz Hampton report for Reuters May 3, 2017. [2]