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US Refinery Status: Hovensa Shuts St. Croix FCCU For Work



DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

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

Hovensa's oil refinery on the U.S. Virgin Island of St. Croix, shut the fluid catalytic cracking unit Friday for planned maintenance that is expected to be restarted Nov. 6.

A brief power outage in Billings, Mont., affected three refineries operated by Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM), ConocoPhillips (COP) and CHS Inc. (CHSCP), resulting in flaring.

Valero Energy Corp.(VLO) Sunday was restarting the hydrocracker at the West Plant section of its Corpus Christi plant. The plant's stabilizer tower was shut Monday for maintenance. Also, the Texas City refinery experienced flaring at its tower in Complex 1 on Friday.

ConocoPhillips' Trainer, PA, refinery is undergoing maintenance that includes shutting the fluid catalytic cracking unit and a hydrofluoric acid alkylation unit.

Chevron Corp.’s (CVX) El Segundo, Calif., refinery reported a flaring event at the site of its hydrocracker complex late Saturday night,

BP PLC (BP) reported a processing snag at its pipestills resulted in emissions at its Texas City, TX, refinery briefly Friday morning.

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

Operator   Refinery    Capacity   Description                  Restart
                       (in 000s
                       bbl/day)

UNPLANNED

CANADA

Suncor     Alberta           One of two oil sands up-             n/a
                             graders is operating at re-
                             duced rates following a
                             minor fire on Oct 12.

Suncor     Sarnia      85.0  Hydrocracker unit shut Oct           n/a
           Ontario           11 due to fire at associated
                             compressor; no  restart esti-
                             mate available.


EAST COAST

Conoco     Linden, NJ    238.0  Officials consider run cuts      n/a
                                due to slack demand, a per-
                                son familiar with operations
                                said on July 17.

CARIBBEAN

CPC     Bayamon        48.0  Explosion, fire at facility     n/a
        Puerto Rico          early on Oct. 23. 11 out of
                             30 storage tanks exploded.

GULF COAST

BP      Texas City    455.8  Processing snag at pipestills
        TX                   resulted in brief flaring Oct. 23.
                             Aromatics Recovery Unit in A       Oct 14
                             side of plante restarted on
                             Oct 14.
                             Leak discovered Oct 10 at heat     n/a
                             exchanger at FCCU3 which was in
                             propane/propylene service at
                             the time. Impact on production
                             unclear.

Citgo      Corpus     163.0  Alkylation unit shut July 19        end-Oct
           Christi, TX       by near-fatal explosion to
                             return to service by end-Oct.
                             The restart was delayed from
                             early-Oct due to safety issues.
                             FCCU No. 1 and 2 experience snag
                             when the regenerator temperature
                             dropped; lasted 18 minutes Oct. 8.

Delek   Tyler, Tx     60.0   FCCU in restart Oct 14; unit taken    Oct 14
                             taken out of service Oct 13 due to
                             unexpected operational changes.

Exxon   Baytown      572.5   Hydrocracker Unit 1 up and running    Oct 12
        TX                   the Co. said on Oct 12. The unit was
                             shut on Oct 9 to facilitate compres-
                             sor repairs; associated units ran at
                             reduced rates during the repair time.

Motiva     Norco     236.4   Reformer back at planned rates       Oct 12
           LA                Oct 12 after shutting down Oct 7
                             for compressor repairs.

Valero     Corpus    142.0   Restarting West Plant Hydrocracker
                             unit Oct. 25 that was shut Oct. 7
                             due to small. An SMR unit was shut
                             for maintenance after the
                             fire; restart Oct. 10.
                             West Plant stabilizer tower shut
                             for maintenance Oct. 26-27.
                             Restarting East Plant's Tank 79
                             on Oct. 9.

Valero    Texas City  199.5  Experienced flaring at Complex 1
                             tower on Oct. 23.

Total   Port Arthur   232.0  Operations being restored
        TX                   on Oct. 22 following plant
                             wide power failure earlier
                             in the day.
                             A fire occurred in a heavy oil    n/a
                             line between the crude unit and
                             the tank farm on Oct 13 during
                             the restart of several process
                             units that were knocked off-line
                             earlier that day by a power snag.


MIDWEST

ROCKY MOUNTAINS
Exxon     Billings, MT  60.0  Operations returned to normal
                              after a brief power outage hit
                              the area Oct. 23.

Conoco    Billings, MT  58.0  A brief area power outage Oct. 23
                              impacted operations, local reports.

CHS       Laurel, MT    55.0  Operations returned to normal
                              after a brief power outage Oct. 23.

WEST COAST

Chevron    El Segundo    274.0  Reported flaring at hydrocracker
           CA                   site on Oct. 24.
                                A brief period of flaring        n/a
                                on Oct 14 is reported to
                                state regulators. Filing
                                lists cause as "breakdown."

Exxon      Torrance, CA  149.5  Restarted two unnamed units      Oct 6
                                Oct. 6 that were
                                unexpectedly shut Oct. 3.

Tesoro      Wilmington    96.8  Refinery returning to normal     Oct 14
            CA                  operations Oct 14 after power
                                snag upsets several process units.
                                Expects to restart coking        Mid-Oct
                                unit at full rates mid-Oct
                                that was shut due to a fire
                                Sept. 25.

PLANNED

CANADA

CARIBBEAN

Hovensa    St. Croix     500.00 Shuts FCCU unit for repairs.   Nov. 6

Valero     Aruba         235.0  The refinery that was shut
                                in June for 2-3 months for
                                economic reasons is being
                                closed indefinitely.

EAST COAST

Sunoco    Westville, NJ  145.0  Idling all refining              Mid-Nov
                                operations indefinitely due
                                to poor economics, Co. said
                                Oct. 6. It will take 4-6
                                weeks to work through crude
                                stocks to shut down.


Sunoco     Philadelphia, 340.0  FCCU at Girard Point in re-      Sep 14
           PA                   start Sep 14 following about
                                five weeks of turnaround
                                maintenance.

                                Reformer unit shut in Girard     n/a
                                Point section in early Oct
                                for economic reasons. Shutdown
                                to last 1-6 months.

Valero     Delaware City 210.0  Coker Unit shut Oct 3-4 and      n/a
           DE                   related gasifier unit to shut
                                within a few days for economic
                                reasons.
                                Maintenance at 80,000-b/d
                                FCCU delayed to Nov./Dec.

Western    Yorktown       64.5  Planned work scheduled 1Q 2010.
           Va.


GULF COAST

Conoco    Borger, TX     146.0  Unidentified units shut for
                                planned turnaround, Co. said
                                Oct. 9. No further details.
                                Shut amine unit for planned     Oct. 24
                                maintenance Oct. 9-24.

Total    Port Arthur,TX  232.0  Shut unit 821 for maintenance   Oct. 13
                                from Oct. 9-13.


Alon       Krotz Springs  80.0  Plantwide turnaround starts      Jan.
           LA.                  Jan. 1 to last 21 days.          21/22

BP        Texas City, TX 467.0  Ultraformer No. 4, Ultra-        Early
                                cracker unit and Aromatics       Oct.
                                recovery unit shut for planned
                                seasonal turnaround mainte-
                                nance starting on Sept. 2;
                                restart seen in 4-5 weeks.
                                Shut Power Station No. 4        Oct. 14
                                Boiler, B-430 for planned
                                work starting Oct. 7.
Chevron    Pascagoula,   330.0  Pre-commercial heavy oil         2010
           Miss.                conversion project delayed
                                from 2008 to 2010 due to
                                economic factors.

Conoco     Sweeny, TX    247.0  Six weeks of turnaround work     Oct 30
                                starts Sept. 14 at Units 14,
                                9, 38 and 27, which is an
                                FCCU.

                                Tail gas incinerator shut during  Nov. 1
                                fall turnaround Sept. 30

Exxon      Baytown       572.5  FCCU No. 3 shut Sep 15. for
           TX                   planned maintenance.

Flint      Corpus        288.1  $250 mln project for new         Spr
Hills      Christi, TX          diesel desulfurization,          2010
                                sulfur recovery unit to begin
                                in Fall 2008. Construction
                                to last 18 months.

Marathon   Garyville     245.0  Project to increase crude oil    4Q
           LA                   refining capacity by 180,000-    2009
                                b/d 85% complete, as of end
                                April. New units expected
                                start up in 4Q 2009.

Motiva     Port Arthur   285.0  Expansion project to increase    1Q
           TX                   throughput capacity by 325,000   2012
                                b/d, to 610,000-b/d, slowed.
                                Completion now seen 1Q
                                2012, from 2010.

Shell      Deer Park,    340.0  Hydroprocessing unit, cata-      Oct 24
                                lytic cracker unit and alky-
                                lation shut between Oct 1 and
                                Oct 24 for fall turnaround
                                maintenance.

Total      Port Arthur   232.0  Shut unit 805 for Oct. 8
                                maintenance on Oct. 5.
                                Shut unit 810 for work Sept.22
                                Unit 822 restarted Sept. 29
                                Restarted 837 Oct. 1

Valero     Corpus        340.0  Coker unit shutdown for econo-   n/a
           Christi, TX          mic reasons and planned work;
                                delayed to June 19 from June
                                12. The 20,000-b/d unit will
                                remain off line through July
                                but could restart at any time
                                if margins improve.

                                20,000-b/d FCCU in East          n/a
                                Plant shut; West Plant
                                50,000-b/d FCCU at reduced
                                rates since mid-Dec for
                                economic reasons.

Valero     Norco, LA     250.0  Upgrade project to build         2012
                                a new diesel hydrotreater
                                unit moved from 2010 to
                                4Q 2012.

                                Turnaround at coker unit         1Q
                                delayed until 1Q 2010
                                from 4Q 2009.
                                The coker will operate at
                                50% of capacity when
                                  restarted due to poor
                                economics.

Valero     Port Arthur   325.0  77,000-b/d FCCU at reduced       n/a
           TX                   rates since mid-Dec for
                                economic reasons.

Valero     Sunray, TX    170.0  55,000-b/d FCCU at reduced       n/a
                                rates since mid-Dec for
                                economic reasons.

Valero     Three Rivers   95.0  Plant-wide 24-day turnaround     Oct. 2

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  (END) Dow Jones Newswires
  10-26-091116ET
  Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

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