North American Petroleum Refineries Scheduling Fewer Maintenance Turnarounds

---

Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources; Houston, Texas). During 2002, the cost of crude oil has continued to rise as OPEC has cut production quotas, causing the refining industry to struggle in making a profit. As a result, maintenance turnaround activity at North American (U.S., Canada, and Mexico) refineries planned for "spring" 2003 will decrease by 20% as compared to 2002.

Typically, refiners profit the most in the spring and summer months from sale of gasoline. This year however, was abnormal, as projected profits went into the procurement of higher priced crude feedstocks. This also had an affect on refinery operations, resulting in cuts in maintenance spending budgets in the last half of 2002 causing turnarounds to be deferred to a later date.

For the first five months of 2002 there were 280 turnarounds at U.S. refineries. Forecast numbers for 2003 for the same period will only be 224, which supports declining activity for maintenance turnaround work in 2003. Click on map on the right to see a breakdown of North American petroleum refineries and scheduled turnarounds for the first five month of next year.

March 2003 will be the busiest month for maintenance contractors as Seventy-six (76) major process units are scheduled. Twenty-Four (24) Fluid Catalytic Cracking Units representing over $100 million in maintenance and approximately $192 million in capital investments is also planned.