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Refining Capacity In or Near Restart After Harvey Tops Still-Shut Capacity

Refining Capacity In or Near Restart After Harvey Tops Still-Shut Capacity

As of Monday afternoon, U.S. Gulf Coast oil refinery restarts and ramp-ups 
underway in the region's recovery from Hurricane Harvey represented processing 
capacity of 3.143 million b/d, which exceeded the 2.269 million b/d of crude 
processing capacity still shut, according to OPIS estimates.

At the peak impact point of the storm's several-day flooding assault along the 
Texas coastline and regions just inland, the crude capacity at 20 refineries in 
Texas and Louisiana idled stood at 5.2 million b/d, or 27% of total U.S. 
operable processing. 

Valero Energy Corp. said over the weekend that two of its five Harvey-impacted 
refineries - Corpus Christi and Texas City -- had restarted and were operating 
at pre-hurricane rates. Two more - Three Rivers and Houston - continued to ramp 
up runs, the company said.

Valero's refinery in Port Arthur has begun the restart process, according to a 
filing with Texas environmental regulators. Emissions associated with the "air 
startup" were estimated to end Sept. 25, the report said.

ExxonMobil Corp. on Sunday said its Baytown, Texas, refinery had been "spared 
significant damage" and was making "progress on restart activities." A return 
to normal operations hinges largely on the availability and condition of 
transportation infrastructure, the company said.

As of presstime, OPIS had not received responses to queries about the 
operations/recovery status of refineries owned by CITGO, Marathon Petroleum, 
Pasadena Refining, Motiva, Total, Deer Park and LyondellBasell (Houston 
Refinery).

OPIS notes that the crude processing capacity idled due to Hurricane Harvey 
came from both total shutdowns and run cuts at refineries which continued to 
operate through the storm.

Grouped by operations/recovery status, the breakdown of the 20 affected 
refineries looks like this:
(crude capacities given in barrels per stream day)

RETURNED TO OPERATIONS:
Valero Texas City 231,000 b/d
Valero Corpus Christi 300,000
Sub-total: 531,000 b/d 

RAMPING UP/ RESTARTING: 
Valero Three Rivers 91,000 b/d
Valero Houston 197,000 
Calcasieu 105,000 
CITGO Lake Charles 440,000 
Phillips 66 Lake Charles 273,000 
Valero Port Arthur 415,000 
CITGO Corpus Christi 163,500 
Flint Hills Corpus Christi 304,000 
MPC Galveston 481,000 
MPC Texas City 89,500 
ExxonMobil Baytown 584,000 
Sub-total: 3,143,000 b/d

SHUT; ASSESSING, PREPARING FOR RESTART: 
ExxonMobil Beaumont 377,400 b/d 
Deer Park 340,000 
Motiva Port Arthur 635,000 
Total Port Arthur 245,000 
Phillips 66 Sweeny 260,000
Pasadena Refining 115,700
Houston Refinery 296,300 
Sub-total: 2,269,400 b/d 

 

--Beth Heinsohn, bheinsohn@opisnet.com
--Andrew Atwal, aatwal@opisnet.com

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