IIR Top Refining News Today

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North America
ExxonMobil continues with 30 days of planned maintenance on the 90,000-barrel-per-day (BBL/d) Crude Pipestill 8, which began May 18, at its 500,000-BBL/d Baton Rouge, Louisiana, refinery.

Valero, yesterday, May 25, restarted the 11,000-BBL/d Hydrocracker, after being shut down on May 17, at its 220,000-BBL/d Bill Greehey Refining East Complex in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Delek, today, May 26, restarted the 22,750-BBL/d Diesel Hydrotreater at its 73,000-BBL/d Big Spring, Texas, which tripped offline on May 17.

International
PDVSA continues to run its 625,000-BBL/d Amuay, Venezuela, refinery at lower rates as only two of its five crude units are online. The 85,000-BBL/d Crude 1 and 120,000-BBL/d Crude 2 are processing a total of 140,000 BBL/d; the 180,000-BBL/d Crude 5 and 80,000-BBL/d FCCU continue offline. Restart is dependent on the completion of boiler repairs that are currently being performed. Separately, the 120,000-BBL/d Crude 3 and 120,000-BBL/d Crude Distillation 4 will continue offline until late 2021; repairs are not being carried out as previously expected due to a lack of spare parts.

Formosa Petrochemical Corporation (FPCC) restarted the 180,000-BBL/d Crude 03 and 84,000-BBL/d Resid Fluid Cat Cracker 01 units on May 20 at its 540,000-BBL/d Mailiao Refinery in Taiwan. The refinery has been operating at 74% since May 1. The units had been offline for the past six months, beginning November 23, 2020, due to poor economics. Meanwhile, expectations are to complete repairs and restart the 80,000-BBL/d ARDS 2 unit by July 15, along with the CDU 03.

Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) on May 19, restarted the 33,000-BBL/d ARDS Unit 1 at its 346,000-BBL/d Mina Al Ahmadi Refinery in Kuwait. The unit had been under an unplanned shutdown since April 15 due to an issue in a fractionation column. KNPC also on May 19 restarted the 33,000-BBL/d ARDS Unit 2. Meanwhile, the 33,000-BBL/d ARDS Unit 4 has been operating at 66% since May 15, and will do so until June 2, due to an issue in a surface condenser. The unit is scheduled for a 10-day minor shutdown beginning June 3.

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