El Paso says whole 280,000 bpd Aruba refinery shut after fire Tuesday April 10, 1:33 PM EDT NEW YORK, April 10 (Reuters) - El Paso (EPG) said Tuesday that its entire 280,000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery in Wicklund, Aruba was shut down Monday night after a fire broke out in its crude production unit.

"The entire refinery is down right now while we evaluate the damage and inspect everything for safety," said a company spokeswoman, adding that the company did not know when the plant would restart.

"The initial fire burned at 7:45 p.m. EDT (2345 GMT) and was contained almost immediately," she said.

The fire originated in the visbreaker, part of the plant's crude production unit, and was put out around 1 a.m. EDT Tuesday (0500 GMT), the spokeswoman added.

The refinery manufactures diesel, bunker fuels, and propane, but no gasoline products, the spokeswoman said.

No one was seriously injured in the blaze, but three people suffered minor injuries in the resulting evacuation.

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-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), April 10, 2001