Mid June US downstream update

California

Tesoro Corp. reported a brief period of unplanned flaring on June 11 at its Los Angeles area oil refinery in Wilmington. The 97 000 bpd refinery experienced a power outage on June 6 and had been working to restore the process units affected by the outage to targeted rates. The unplanned flaring event could be related to the resumption of normal operations, as the company's filing to California state environmental regulators on June 11 stated the flaring event was not related to equipment breakdown.

Indiana

BP Plc has fully restarted a reformer unit at its 405 000 bpd refinery in Whiting. BP had started maintenance on the reformer in late March.

New Mexico

The New Mexico Environmental Department has fined Western Refining Company US$ 350 000 for an emission violation at its Gallup refinery.

The civil penalty was reportedly issued following routine testing, which uncovered that compressor engines at the complex violated permitted emission limits for nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide between March and September 2010.

Texas

Exxon Mobil Corp. has informed Texas environmental regulators about a 108 000 lb propylene release at the company’s refinery complex in Baytown, near Houston, which could have lasted up to eight weeks. The leak was discovered on June 2 and was reportedly due to a tubing leak in the chemical plant portion of the complex.

Valero Energy Corp has shut down one of two crude units at its 287 000 bpd Port Arthur refinery due to a shut coking unit. The lost electrical power on June 6 due to a lightning strike. Several units were knocked out of production and the coker was shut. There is currently no definite schedule for restarting the unit.

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/gas-processing/13062011/mid_june_us_downstream_update/