North American Petroleum Refining Industry to See Tremendous Jump in Planned Turnarounds Beyond 2008

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The number of planned unit maintenance shutdowns in the North American Petroleum Refining Industry has been decreasing in recent years, but that number is expected to increase significantly beyond 2008. At the end of 2006, Industrial Info was tracking 257 units planned to be taken offline for maintenance, repair and overhaul. But for 2008 and beyond, Industrial Info is tracking a total of 1,282 planned turnarounds in the industry. Refineries across the continent are increasing refining capacity and improving unit efficiencies by planning a large number of unit additions, expansions and upgrades. Just over the past year, Industrial Info has reported 622 Petroleum Refining projects with a total investment value (TIV) of about $64.6 billion.

Click on the image for a breakdown by market region of projects and investments in the North American Petroleum Refining Industry.

The industry had been seeing a downward trend in turnarounds with several reasons for it (e.g. labor constraints and profit margins). Some maintenance projects were being delayed or rescheduled because of labor shortages. For more information, view related October 19, 2007, article - Profit Margins, Labor Drive North American Petroleum Refining Industry Maintenance Turnaround Schedules.

For 2008, most of the maintenance work at refineries will be on: crude, vacuum distillation, sulfur recovery units, reformers, HF alkylation, SF alkylation, fluid catalytic cracker units and delayed cokers. The majority of the turnarounds will be in the Southwest market region, which comprises Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas. The Southwest also had the most refining projects reported in 2007 with 251, but the region with the highest TIV in projects is Atlantic Canada. Industrial Info reported Atlantic Canada as only having 18 projects, but their TIV amounts to $11.7 billion. The Southwest market region came in at a close second with $11.6 billion. These projects, identified by Industrial Info throughout 2007, have construction kickoff dates ranging from the third quarter of 2007 to the first quarter of 2013.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading marketing information services company for the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy-related markets throughout the world. Celebrating its 25th anniversary, IIR provides accurate and timely intelligence featuring plant and project information databases, focused market databases, industry forecasting, key industry contacts, industry and territorial map products, direct marketing services and applications, and daily industry news.