EIA: slight increase in refinery capacity

The EIA publishes two measures of US refinery capacity: barrels per calendar day (bpcd) and barrels per stream day (bpsd). The former measurement capacity represents the operator’s estimate of the input that a distillation unit can process over a 24-hour period under usual operating conditions, and the latter measurement capacity reflects the maximum input that a distillation facility can process within a 24-hour period when running under ideal conditions with no allowance for downtime. Bpsd capacity is typically about 6% higher than bpcd capacity.

The number of operable refineries in the US decreased to 129 at the beginning of 2023, down from 130 refineries at the beginning of 2022. The single refinery closure reflects the loss of a small facility in Santa Maria, California, that had 9500 bpcd of crude oil distillation capacity. Despite the loss of the Santa Maria plant, total US capacity increased because PBF Energy reactivated a previously retired crude oil distillation unit at its refinery in Paulsboro, New Jersey. The unit’s crude oil capacity increased from 100 000 bpcd in 2022 to 160 000 bpcd in 2023.

The 2023 Refinery Capacity Report does not reflect changes in US refining capacity after 1 January 2023. ExxonMobil announced the completion of a major refinery capacity addition in mid-March, boosting the facility’s total crude oil distillation capacity by 250 000 bpcd to 630 000 bpcd, according to the announcement. This new estimated capacity is reflected in the EIA's monthly data as of our May Petroleum Supply Monthly, and an exact measure in calendar-day capacity and stream-day capacity will be included in next year’s Refinery Capacity Report.

Additional recent expansion projects include a smaller crude oil capacity expansion at Marathon’s Galveston Bay refinery and a coker expansion project at Valero’s Port Arthur refinery, which are also not reflected in this year’s report. Phillips 66 has announced plans to stop refining petroleum at its 120 200 bpcd Rodeo refinery in California while the facility transitions to refining biofuel, but it had still not terminated its refining operations as of 1 January 2023. LyondellBasell had previously announced that its 263 776 bpcd refinery in Houston would close by the end of 2023, but the company recently announced that it will delay the facility’s shutdown until 2025, according to reports in late May 2023.

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/refining/26072023/eia-slight-increase-in-refinery-capacity/