Page 11 - NorthAmOil Week 02 2023

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Largest US refinery returns to operations

MIDDLE EAST THE US’ largest refinery, Motiva Enterprises’ The plants knocked offline typically process
plant in Port Arthur, Texas, has returned to pro- a combined 3.58mn bpd of oil, delivering about
duction, sources told Reuters on January 6. 20% of US motor fuels, said the news service.
The 626,000 barrel per day (bpd) plant, on the Nationwide gasoline prices seemed to be unaf-
Gulf Coast, was closed on December 23 because fected, though there were some local rises.
of a cold snap from Winter Storm Elliott. Tem- Emergency shut-downs can result in
peratures fell as low as minus 8 Celsius. increased pollution. The cold snap that froze Motiva began
Motiva began restarting the refinery on Texas late last month led to the release of over
December 25 and had said that bringing the 1,000 tonnes of excess pollutants into the restarting the
plant back online fully could take until Jan- atmosphere, said advocacy group Environ-
uary 11, according to a notice filed with the ment Texas. refinery on
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality The emissions included gases such as carbon
(TCEQ). monoxide, butanes and sulphur dioxide. The December 25
The refinery processes 275,000 bpd into con- gases exceeded norms by about 1,089 tonnes and had said that
ventional gasoline, commercial aviation fuel, from December 21 to December 26, the group
ultra-low sulphur diesel, export (high cetane) said. bringing the plant
diesel, and Texas low emissions diesel. The refin- Nearly 20% of that came from Saudi Aramco’s
ery is the world’s largest single producer of petro- Port Arthur refinery. back online fully
leum coke, as well as speciality products that Refineries in other areas of the US have also
include liquid petroleum gas (LPG), petrochem- been hit hard by winter weather. Suncor Energy could take until
ical feeds and sulphur. The complex also houses closed Colorado’s only refinery, in Commerce January 11.
one of the largest base oil operations globally, City, and has said that it will not open the plant
with a production capacity of 40,000 bpd. again until March.
About a dozen refineries were knocked Extreme cold weather was also to blame in
offline by bad weather in late December. Low this instance. There was extensive damage at the
temperatures froze some instruments, over- facility, which usually processes 98,000 bpd of
whelming steam and co-generation units at sev- oil. On December 21 the temperature dropped
eral facilities, sources familiar with the matter from 6 Celsius to minus 15 Celsius within one
told Reuters. hour at Denver International Airport.™

Week 02 12•January•2023 www. NEWSBASE .com P11