ExxonMobil Texas refinery still down

01 October 2008 23:00  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS news)--ExxonMobil declined to say on Wednesday how long it would be before its 348,500 bbl/day Beaumont refinery in Texas resumes normal operations following Hurricane Ike.

The refinery has been down or at reduced rates for at least a month. The facility was reported to have reduced production ahead of Hurricane Gustav, and was shut down ahead of Hurricane Ike.

The refinery was generating its own power and was able to distribute gasoline that had been produced by other facilities, said a company spokesperson, who would not say how long it would take for operations to return to normal.

The US Department of Energy (DoE) said that due to a lack of electrical power, the restart process in the region has been slow although the hurricanes caused a relatively small amount of damage in comparison with hurricanes Katrina and Rita three years ago.

In the aftermath of the storms, refinery outages have caused gasoline shortages in several southeast US states, but the DoE said those conditions should improve as refinery operating rates increase.

“Although the restoration of electrical power to refineries has progressed and most of the affected refineries are back online, these refineries have yet to reach normal production levels,” the DoE said.

According to DoE energy statistics, refineries operated at 72.3% of their capacity during the week ended 26 September, up from 66.7% during the previous week.

Several petroleum product pipelines that ship across the US from the Texas and Louisiana region, including Colonial, Explorer, Longhorn, and Magellan, are back to normal, according to DoE reports.

Hurricane Ike made landfall near Houston on 13 September 2008 while Gustav made landfall near Morgan City, Louisiana, on 1 September.

Refineries	Location	Status	Capacity (bbl/day)
Exxon Mobil	Beaumont, TX	Shut down	348,500
Marathon	Texas City, TX	Restarting	76,000
Valero	Port Arthur, TX	Restarting	289,000
Valero	Houston, TX	Restarting	83,000
Alon	Krotz Springs, LA	Reduced Runs	80,000
Calcasieu	Lake Charles, LA	Reduced Runs	78,000
Citgo	Lake Charles, LA	Reduced Runs	429,500
Motiva	Port Arthur, TX	Reduced Runs	285,000
Total	Port Arthur, TX	Reduced Runs	232,000
BP	Texas City, TX	Reduced Runs	467,720
ConocoPhillips	Sweeny, TX	Reduced Runs	247,000
Exxon Mobil	Baytown, TX	Reduced Runs	567,000
Houston Refining	Houston, TX	Reduced Runs	270,600
Pasadena Refining	Pasadena, TX	Reduced Runs	100,000
Pipelines	Start -> Terminus	Status	Capacity
Centennial	TX -> IL	Reduced Rates	210,000
Plantation	LA -> VA	Reduced Rates	600,000

Source: DoE

 

To discuss issues facing the chemical industry go to ICIS connect

By: Steven McGinn
+1 713 525 2653

For the latest chemical news, data and analysis that directly impacts your business sign up for a free trial to ICIS news - the breaking online news service for the global chemical industry.

Get the facts and analysis behind the headlines from our market leading weekly magazine: sign up to a free trial to ICIS Chemical Business.

Printer Friendly