SUMMARY:

DJ Refinery Status: Valero Shuts Houston Refinery FCCU For Planned Maintenance

The following table lists unplanned and planned production outages at U.S. refineries as reported by Dow Jones Newswire's. The information ...

ORIGINAL TEXT:

DJN Material

DJ Refinery Status: Valero Shuts Houston Refinery FCCU For Planned Maintenance

The following table lists unplanned and planned production outages at U.S. refineries as reported by Dow Jones Newswire's. The information is compiled from both official and unofficial refining sources and doesn't purport to be a comprehensive list.

Valero Energy confirmed the shutdown of a fluid catalytic cracker at it's 160,000 barrel-a-day Houston, Texas, refinery for a total of eight weeks. In addition, maintenance at Valero's 170,000 barrel-a-day McKee, Texas, refinery wasn't expected to have any material impact to production, according to company spokesman Bill Day. That work began early Thursday and was expected to conclude on Friday, according to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality

A power failure the evening of Sept. 20, led to the release of excess hydrogen sulfide at Calumet's 35,000 barrel-a-day refinery in Superior, Wisconsin, according to the U.S. National Response Center. Units were restarted as soon as possible after the power failure.

Another emission event took place on Sept. 20 at the Alon USA's 67,000 barrel-a-day Big Spring, Texas, refinery, according to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The emissions were related to a gas leak around a boiler unit. Repairs are being made to the boiler unit.

A processing unit was upset on Sept. 20, at BP's 226,000 barrel-a-day refinery in Cherry Point, Washington, according to the Northwest Clean Air Agency. Intermittent flaring was expected, but it wsn't known which unit was affected. The company also reported a malfunction with the hydrogen plant on Sept. 11, that forced a compresser to be taken out of service in the hydrocracker

Maintenance will continue for several weeks on a flexicoker at ExxonMobil's 560,000 barrel-a-day refinery in Baytown, Texas, according to traders doing business with the company. The flexicoker was taken out of service on Sept. 11, due to a heat exchanger leak.

An equipment malfunction took place on Sept. 18, at the 146,000 barrel-a-day refinery owned and operated by WRB Refining in Borger, Texas, according to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

An emissions event took place on Sept. 18 and 19, at the 58,000 barrel-a-day refinery owned and operated by Delek Group LTD, in Tyler, Texas, according to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The emissions resulted from an electrical malfunction at a sulfur recovery unit.

A gas compressor shut and caused an emissions event the morning of Sept. 20, at Citgo's 168,000 barrel-a-day refinery in Lemont, Illinois, according to the U.S. National Response Center. No indication was given regarding the cause or if any remedial action was taken.

Several units at Phillips 66's Los Angeles refinery have been brought back online and all units are seen back by the end of the week, the co. said on Sept. 20 Record heat and a power outage on Sept. 15 forced a facility-wide shutdown.

Maintenance will continue for several weeks on a flexicoker at Exxon Mobil Corp.'s (XOM) 560,000-barrel-a-day refinery in Baytown, Texas, the company said on Sept. 20. The flexicoker was taken out of service on Sept. 11, due to a heat exchanger leak.

An equipment malfunction took place on Sept. 18 at the 146,000 barrel-a-day refinery owned and operated by WRB Refining in Borger, Texas, according to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

An emissions event took place Sept. 18-19 at the 58,000 barrel-a-day refinery owned and operated by Delek Group LTD in Tyler, Texas, according to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The emissions resulted from an electrical malfunction at a sulfur recovery unit.

A small delayed coker has been returned to service at BP's 337,000 barrel-a-day refinery in Whiting, Indiana after shutting down on July 27 due to a fire, a person familiar with operations at the plant said on Sept. 18.

Normal operations have resumed at the ExxonMobil/PDVSA joint-venture refinery in Chalmette, Louisiana, the company said on Sept 18. The refinery was shut in advance of Hurricane Isaac on Aug. 27. Efforts continue to restart the Baton Rouge refinery which was shut for the same reason on Aug. 27.

Phillips 66's Alliance refinery in Belle Chasse, Louisiana, is expected to be back in service by Sept. 22, the company said on Sept. 17. Plantwide operations were shut on Aug. 28, in advance of approaching hurricane Isaac.

Unspecified unit maintenance began Sept. 16 at Tesoro's 166,000 barrel-a-day Golden Eagle refinery in Martinez, Calif., marketers and traders doing business with the company said. Some traders said work is being performed at the plant's reformer unit.

Delek's refinery in Tyler, Texas, experienced excessive emissions on Sept. 15 and 16, according to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

A heat exchanger hydrogen leak took place on Sept. 14, at Chevron's 245,000 barrel-a-day Richmond, Calif., refinery, traders and marketers doing business with the company said. The crude unit remains shut after a major fire on Aug. 6.

A wet gas compressor valve problem at Total's 174,000 barrel-a-day Port Arthur, Texas, caused a coking unit to malfunction which resulted in flaring on Sept. 14 and 15, according to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Fluid Catalytic cracking units at WRB Refining LLC's 146,000 barrel-a-day refinery in Borger, Texas, will be shut from Sept. 15 to Sept. 29, for maintenance, according to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

For more detailed information, search Dow Jones Newswires using the code N/REF.

 
Operator   Refinery    Capacity   Description                   Restart 
                       (in 000s 
                       bbl/day) 
UNPLANNED 
 
CANADA 
 
CARIBBEAN 
 
EAST COAST 
 
 
 
MIDWEST 
 
Holly    Tulsa, OK     125.0  Repair to diesel hydrotreater 
Frontier                      shut by a fire on Aug 2 will 
                              take 6-8 weeks, the co. said 
                              on Aug 8. 
 
GULF COAST 
 
Alon     Big Spring     67.0  FCCU running at reduced rate 
         TX                   on Sep 13 due to maintenance 
                              at associated wet gas compres- 
                              sor. 
 
Chal-    Chalmette     192.5  Normal operations have re- 
mette    LA                   sumed, the co. said on Sep 18. 
Refining                      The entire plant was shut Aug 
                              27 ahead of Hurricane Isaac. 
 
Delek    Tyler, TX      60.0  Excessive emissions due to elec- 
US                            trical malfunction at SRU on Sep 
                              18-19 reported to regulators. 
 
Exxon    Baton Rouge   503.0  Efforts continue to restart the 
Mobil    LA                   the refinery, the co. said on 
                              Sep 18. The entire plant was shut 
                              ahead of Hurricane Isaac. 
 
Exxon    Baytown, TX   560.0  Crude runs temporarily reduced 
Mobil                         on Sep 13 during fractionation 
                              tower restart. 
 
                              Flexicoker shut Sep 11 because 
                              of a heat exchanger lead will be 
                              down for several weeks of repairs 
                              the co. said on Sep 20. 
 
Motiva   Port Arthur   600.0  Newly commissioned 325,000-b/d     Early 
         TX                   CDU was shut by a small fire       2013 
                              over the Jun 9-10 weekend. Re- 
                              start seen in early 2013; lengthy 
                              repairs needed to correct cor- 
                              rosive issue at new equipment. 
 
Phillips  Belle        247.0  Refinery expected to be back in    Sep 22 
66        Chasse, LA          service by Sep 22, the co. said 
                              on Sep 17. The plant-wide shutdown 
                              occurred on Aug 28 ahead of Isaac. 
 
Pasadena Pasadena, TX  100.00 Flaring of off-spec product re- 
Refining                      ported to regulators on Aug. 10. 
 
Total    Port Arthur   174.0  Flaring reported to regulators 
USA                           on Sep 14-15 due to wet gas 
                              compressor snag at coking unit. 
 
Valero   Norco, LA     270.0  FCCU shut on Aug 10 is expected 
                              to return to service before the 
                              end of August, the Co. said. 
 
WRB      Borger, TX    146.0  FCCUs shut Sep 15-29 for main-     Sep 29 
                              tenance a filing to regulators 
                              said. 
 
                              Equipment malfunction on Sep 19 
                              reported to regulators. No further 
                              information available. 
 
 
MIDWEST 
 
BP       Whiting, IN   337.0  Small coker unit has been in ser-  Sep 18 
                              vice for several weeks following 
                              an unplanned shutdown after a fire 
                              on Jul 27, a person familiar with 
                              operations said on Sep 18. 
 
Citgo    Lemont, IL    167.0  FCCU shut Jul 28 for unplanned     Aug 8 
                              repair in Tulsa East Plant is in 
                              restart mode, an Aug 8 filing to 
                              regulators said. 
 
                              Refinery operations are being 
                              affected by Enbridge crude oil 
                              pipeline shutdown since July 27, 
                              the Co. said on July 30. 
 
ROCKIES 
 
WEST COAST

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires