- Advertisement -
HomeUncategorizedUS refiners planning major plant overhauls in 2nd quarter
Uncategorized

US refiners planning major plant overhauls in 2nd quarter

Business League
By Business League
0
413
- Advertisement -
HOUSTON: US oil refiners are planning a heavy slate of plant overhauls in the second quarter, with total production this month off 8.5 per cent compared with the start of the year, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration.

- Advertisement -

Early spring and winter traditionally are heavy periods for US refinery maintenance. But refiners are planning more upgrades than usual in the first half of 2019 to avoid fall and winter shutdowns as they prepare to meet coming

low-sulfur standards.
This year’s maintenance schedule and higher crude prices helped push US gasoline prices to a national average of $2.83 a gallon last week, up 26 per cent since the start of the year, according to data from the American Automobile Association. US crude futures rose 32 per cent in the first quarter.
International Maritime Organization (IMO) 2020 is a standard for maritime diesel that takes effect on Jan. 1 and is designed to reduce air pollution. Refiners have been revamping their plants to make IMO 2020 compliant fuel.

“They will push (winter) turnarounds later into 2020 to take advantage of that margin bump from the switch to IMO 2020,” said Susan Bell, a senior associate at energy consultancy IHS Markit.

Most US refiners typically ramp up production of motor fuel during the second quarter to build inventories for the summer driving season. But Bell said an average of 1 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil refining capacity could be offline through the second quarter.
Work on refiners’ crude distillation units (CDUs) and catalytic crackers helped send volumes down to 15.85 million bpd in the last week of March, from 17.5 million bpd in the first week of January, the EIA said. CDUs generate feedstocks for fuel processing units such as catalytic crackers.

Among the refiners scheduling major maintenance this month are Valero Energy Corp and BP Plc. Valero’s Memphis, Tennessee, refinery will shut its 65,000 bpd gasoline producing fluidic catalytic cracking unit for a 60-day overhaul the last week of April.

BP is shutting one of two small CDUs at its 413,500 bpd Whiting, Indiana, refinery on Monday for 30 days of work. The Whiting refinery is BP’s largest in North America.

Work also is continuing this month on a planned

overhaul of the 112,000 bpd gasoline-producing residual catalytic cracking unit at Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s 218,200 bpd Norco, Louisiana, refinery. That unit is expected to restart in the first full week of May.

Two other major overhauls finished during the switchover between the quarters.

Exxon Mobil Corp recently finished CDU overhauls at two plants: its 560,500 bpd Baytown, Texas, refinery wrapped up work on its largest CDU in late March and the company’s 502,500

bpd Baton Rouge, Louisiana, refinery restarted its second-largest crude unit on Monday.
Previous article
How Bakkt Can Bring the Crypto Space an Institutional Investor Influx
Next article
Gold gains Rs 305 on jewellers’ buying  
Business League
Business League
RELATED ARTICLES

Most Popular

Load more

Recent Comments

EDITOR PICKS

POPULAR POSTS

POPULAR CATEGORY

ABOUT US

Businessleague.in is your Financial Experts website. We provide you with the latest news on Finance and Finance tips straight from the experts. We Now cover every important aspect of news, including stock markets, currency, economy, petroleum movement, gold, debt market, etc. The content we generate is available on desktop, mobile web and AMP pages.

Contact us: businessleaguein@gmail.com

FOLLOW US

© Businessleague.in 2023 Izon web Pvt. Ltd. All Rights Reserved.