U.S. Refineries Prep for Turnarounds Amid Busy Summer Season

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--U.S. refineries are reporting their highest runs since August 2019, as refiners ramp up their production ahead of the summer driving season. Domestic refineries operated at 95.8% of their full capacity last week, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), and proper maintenance is necessary to keep these facilities operating in peak condition. Industrial Info is tracking about $590 million worth of maintenance-related projects that are set to kick off at refineries across the U.S. in the third quarter, more than half of which is attributed to projects in Texas and Louisiana.

"Maintenance is more important than ever, as high utilization rates don't mean that the total run volume is the same," said Hillary Stevenson the senior director of Energy Market Intelligence for IIR Energy. "Despite several expansions, U.S. refining capacity remains 400,000 barrels per day lower than 2019 levels. We are trying to do the same with less, and what we have needs to work."

Click on the image at right for a graph detailing the top 10 parent companies for U.S. refinery turnarounds from July through September, by total investment value.

The fall 2023 maintenance season is expected to peak at about 1.3 million barrels per day (BBL/d) of offline crude capacity in October 2023, Stevenson said. That is smaller than the first quarter's maintenance season, when offline capacity surpassed 1.6 million barrels per day in February, according to our weekly assessment.

IIR Energy offers subscribers a weekly assessment of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) refinery utilization data, which relates IIR Energy's own refinery turnaround data to the numbers provided by the DOE. The report includes a table of turnarounds listed by PADD, refinery and refining unit, to help the reader understand crude and refined product price changes in specific physical markets. Click here for more information.

Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) (Houston, Texas) accounts for more maintenance projects and more related investment than any other parent company in the third quarter. Its highest-valued turnaround is at its Lake Charles Refinery in Westlake, Louisiana, which produces 105,000 BBL/d of gasoline and 115,000 BBL/d of distillates from 264,000 BBL/d of crude. The company expects to perform maintenance on its 80,000 BBL/d Crude Unit 4; 65,000-BBL/d Vacuum Unit 2; 54,000-BBL/d Delayed Coker 2; and 55,000-BBL/d Diesel Hydrotreater 4. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Petroleum Refining Project Database can learn more in a detailed project report.

"Currently, our refineries are running at high utilization to meet demand and capture market opportunities as we enter summer driving season," said Mark Lashier, the chief operating officer of Phillips 66, in a recent quarterly earnings-related conference call.

In eastern Texas, TotalEnergies SE (NYSE:TTE) (Courbevoie, France) is scheduled to undergo two turnarounds at its refinery in Port Arthur, Texas: its FCCU and sulfuric alkylation (SF alky) units, with capacities of 76,000 and 5,000 BBL/d, respectively; and its Crude Unit 2 and Vacuum Distillation 2 units, with capacities of 40,000 BBL/d and 60,000 BBL/d, respectively. Both projects are set to begin in August and wrap up in September. Subscribers can read detailed reports on the FCCU/SF alky and crude/vacuum turnarounds.

Flint Hills Resources LLC, a subsidiary of Koch Industries Incorporated (Wichita, Kansas), is second only to Phillips 66 in total spending, with only two turnarounds: its Pine Bend Refinery in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota, which includes a 50,000-BBL/d crude unit and a 25,000-BBL/d gas-oil hydrotreater, and its East Refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas, which includes a 67,000-BBL/d crude unit and a 55,000-BBL/d FCCU. Both are set to kick off in September and wrap up in mid-October. Subscribers can read detailed reports on the Pine Bend and East refinery turnarounds.

Subscribers to Industrial Info's GMI Project Database can click here for a full list of detailed reports for projects mentioned in this article, and click here for a full list of related plant profiles.

Subscribers can click here for a full list of reports for maintenance-related projects that are set to kick off at refineries across the U.S. in the third quarter.

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) platform 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 more than 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).