Crude Unit at Valero's Aruba Refinery Unable to Reach Normal Rates

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) (San Antonio, Texas) is experiencing problems with the 135,000-barrel-per-day (BBL/d) Crude 7 unit at its San Nicolas refinery in Aruba, preventing the unit from processing at normal capacity. Plant officials said that after inspecting the unit, salt deposits were found in its main tower. Crude 7 is currently processing 100,000 BBL/d.

In June, the 235,000-BBL/d refinery resumed operation of its 160,000-BBL/d Vacuum 3 unit, which had been offline since January after a fire. For more details, view related June 5, 2008, article - Vacuum 3 at Valero's Aruba Refinery Resumes Operation.

The 42,000-BBL/d visbreaker unit is scheduled to be shut down for a 20-day maintenance turnaround in September. No turnarounds are planned for any other unit. As of July 17, all of the plant's processing units are online.

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