Three refineries temporarily shut down

Argentina

An explosion at a small refinery in the port city of Bahia Blanca in Buenos Aires province on August 10 killed one worker and injured another. Following the incident, local officials have ordered Brazil's state run oil company Petrobras to shut down the 31 000 bpd facility. Operations have not been affected, but the plant has closed pending an investigation. 

China

PetroChina has announced the shut down of its Hohhot refinery in the northern Inner Mongolia region. The company is focusing on the construction of new equipment that will more than triple the refinery's capacity from 30 000 bpd to 100 000 bpd.

A crude distillation unit and corresponding secondary units have been shut down.

In July 2010, the Hohhot refinery started building the new units, which are expected to go on stream between June and August 2012.

After the expansion, the refinery could offer 2.12 million tpy of diesel, 1.71 million tpy of gasoline and 200 000 tpy of jet fuel to Inner Mongolia and the neighbouring Shanxi province.

Japan

Japanese refiner Nansei Sekiyu KK, wholly owned by Petrobras, has announced that it will delay refining operations at its 100 000 bpd Nishihara refinery in Okinawa, southwestern Japan, for a few more days due to damage to equipment wrought by a powerful typhoon.

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/gas-processing/12082011/three_refineries_temporarily_shut_down/