Refinery Status: Flint Hill Restarts Units After Brief Snag Thursday

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES The following table lists unplanned and planned production outages at U.S. refineries as reported by Dow Jones Newswires. The information is compiled from both official and unofficial refining sources and doesn't purport to be a comprehensive list. Flint Hill Resources Thursday restored operations at a hydrocracker and a continuous catalytic reformer following a seris of brief upsets at its Corpus Christi, Texas, refinery. Frontier Oil (FTO) Thursday said the crude distillation unit shut by a fire Wednesday at its Cheyenne, Wyoming, refinery will be out of service for two weeks for repairs. Production rates at downstream processing units will be reduced for the duration. Valero Energy (VLO) Tuesday said its Aruba refinery may resume operations after completing turnaround maintenance in September if it is profitable to do so. Operations at Valero's Benicia, California, refinery will return to full operating rates by late August following about 60 days of unplanned maintenance at a coker unit, the co. said Tuesday. The coker was shut June 19-20 and was originally exThursday pected to return to service by early August. Also, work continues to install an emissions-reducing scrubber at the plant; that project will be finished by the end of the year. Valero will proceed with hydrocracker projects at its St. Charles refinery in Norco, Louisiana, to be completed in late 2013 and at its Port Arthur, Texas, plant that will be completed in late 2012, the co. said Tuesday. The FCCU at St. Charles will be revamped during the 2nd quarter of 2011. Also six coke drums will be replaced at Port Arthur. And plant-wide turnaround is expected to take place at Valero's Ardmore, Okla., refinery which will impact 1st quarter 2011 results. Sunoco Inc. (SUN) Sunday shut the smaller of two FCCUs at its Philadelphia, Pa., refinery for one week of unplanned maintenance to repair a leak, a person familiar with operations at the plant said Monday. A sulfur recovery unit at Pasadena Refining's Pasadena, Texas, oil refinery will continue to operate Monday while repairs are made at an associated quench tower, a filing with environmental regulators said. The work to replace a valve at the tower will take approximately 12 hours. Valero Energy (VLO) Friday reported maintenance at an exchanger in Complex 2 at its Texas City, Texas, oil refinery. The work, at an unspecified unit, started at around 10:00 p.m. Friday and will end at about the same time on Aug. 4, a filing to environmental regulators said. For more detailed information, search Dow Jones Newswires using the code N/REF. Operator Refinery Capacity Description Restart (in 000s bbl/day) UNPLANNED EAST COAST Sunoco Philadelphia 335.0 FCCU at Point Breeze section Aug 1 PA of plant shut July 25 for one week to repair leak. GULF COAST Flint Corpus 288.5 CCR and hydrocracker units re- Jul 29 Hills Christi, TX started after brief snags on July 29. Pasadena Pasadena 120.0 Sulfur Recovery Unit will con- Jul 26 TX tinue to operate while work to replace valve at quench tower goes on for about 12 hours. Shell Deer Park 340.0 Unidentified unit taken out of n/a TX service after a fire on July 20. Refinery operations were "stab- ilizing" following the fire, the co. said. Valero Texas City 245.0 Maintenance at an exchanger in Aug 4 TX Complex 2 will cause emissions starting Jul 23 through Aug 4. MIDWEST ROCKIES Frontier Cheyenne 52.0 Crude unit shut for two weeks n/a WY repairs following an early-day fire on Jul 28. Process units will be reduced for the duration. Sinclair Casper, 20.0 Refinery running at reduced rates Wyo. after explosion, co. said. May 27 WEST COAST BP Carson 265.0 Reports flaring from July 12-14. Planned flaring expected July 21 through Aug. 8. Conoco Ferndale, 100.0 An alkylation unit and butamer n/a WA shut following a pump fire early June 15, an environmental agency said. The refinery continues to operate, co. said June 15. Tesoro Anacortes 120.0 Fire at naphtha unit April 2 end Q2 WA killed seven. Plant will be shut until Sept at least, the co. said June 11. Valero Benicia, CA 177.0 Coker Unit shut June 19-20 for Late Aug 60 days of unplanned mainte- nance. The initial estimate was 40 days of work with restart in early August. PLANNED CANADA Shell Montreal 130.0 The refinery will be converted into Quebec terminal. CARIBBEAN Valero Aruba 235.0 Idled refinery to resume opera- tions after completing turnaround maintenance in Sept. if it is profitable to do so, the co. said on July 27. EAST COAST Sunoco Westville 145.0 Idling all Eagle Point refin- n/a NJ ing operations indefinitely due to poor economics, co. said Oct. 6. Valero Delaware 210.0 PBF Investments has closed Apr 2011 deal to buy plant. Petroplus said May 5 the plant would be restarted in 2Q of 2011. Western Yorktown 64.5 Planned work scheduled 3Q 2010. Q3 2010 VA GULF COAST Conoco Borger, TX 146.0 Upset at Unit 40, FCCU re- Jul 22 ported to TCEQ on June 28. Maintenance continues, the co. said June 28. An upset on June 27 at an SRU solvent still occurred during startup of units, a TCEQ filing said. Maintenance activity has been underway at several units since June 5, with emissions from units including FCC, GOHDS, SCOT unit incinerator, SRU incinerator and units 41, 42, 45 and 98 expected to last unit July 22. Chevron Pascagoula 330.0 Pre-commercial heavy oil 2010 Miss. conversion project delayed from 2008 to 2010 due to economic factors. Expansion project including the replacement of two 30-year- old reformers and construction of a 55,000 b/d continuous catalytic reformer platformer unit to be completed by late summer, Industrial Info Resources said July 6. A premium base-oil facility was also being planned, co. said in late Feb. Flint Corpus $250 mln project for new Spring 2010 Hills Christi, TX diesel desulfurization, sulfur recovery unit to begin in Fall 2008. Construction to last 18 months. Motiva Port Arthur 285.0 Expansion project to increase 1Q throughput capacity by 325,000 2012 b/d, to 610,000-b/d, slowed. Completion now seen 1Q 2012, from 2010. Valero Corpus 340.0 West Plant 50,000-b/d FCCU at Christi, TX reduced rates since mid-Dec for economic reasons. Valero Norco, LA 250.0 Hydrocracker project will pro- 2013 ceed and be completed in late 2013, the co. said on July 27. FCCU will be revamped during 2Q 2Q of 2011, the co. said on 2011 July 27. Upgrade project to build 2012 a new diesel hydrotreater unit moved from 2010 to 4Q 2012. Valero Port Arthur 325.0 Hydrocracker project will pro- 2012 TX ceed and be completed in late 2012, the co. said on July 27. Six coke drums will be re- 2011 (MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones Newswires July 30, 2010 11:04 ET (15:04 GMT)