Today's Refining Hotline Headlines

North America
Motiva extended the restart of the 110,000-barrel-per-day (BBL/d) Delayed Coker Unit (DCU) 2, 350,000-BBL/d Vacuum Pipe Still (VPS) 5 (crude) and associated units at its 640,000-BBL/d refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, to February 19. Repairs on the VPS-5 unit are complete, but it will not be brought online until ongoing issues with the DCU 2 are resolved.

International
Sonatrach remains on schedule to begin a 45-day maintenance shutdown of the 165,000-BBL/d Crude Distillation Unit (CDU) 2, 30,000-BBL/d Reformer 1 and 6,900-BBL/d Isomerization 1 units on April 15 at its 430,000-BBL/d Skikda Refinery in Algeria, with the restart expected by May 29. Also on schedule is a 30-day shutdown of the 165,000-BBL/d Crude Distillation Unit 1, 30,000-BBL/d Reformer 2 and 6,900-BBL/d Isomerization 2 units, which are expected to restart by May 14.

HPCL-Mittal Energy Limited delayed the startup of the 84,345-BBL/d Diesel Hydrotreater (DHT) Unit 1 due to additional repairs needed at its 242,000-BBL/d (design capacity: 226,000 BBL/d) Bathinda Refinery in India. The unit now is expected to be back online by February 13. Six refinery units are operating at 62% capacity, and the 55,400-BBL/d delayed coker unit is operating at 50%. Expectations are to complete the repairs and resume normal operations by February 13.

South Refineries Company's (SRC) 70,000-BBL/d CDU 4 at its Basra Refinery in Iraq started commercial operations on February 5, boosting the refinery capacity to 280,000 BBL/d. The unit had been under construction since June 14, 2017. Separately, SRC has rescheduled a 15-day planned turnaround of the 70,000-BBL/d CDU 2 as well as a 30-day planned turnaround of four units, which now are expected to begin April 20 and April 5, respectively.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).