Valero to Restart More Units at Aruba Refinery

---

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) (San Antonio, Texas) is planning to restart the company's Aruba refinery within the next week following a lengthy shutdown. Valero, which purchased the refinery in 2004, chose to shut it down on July 16 of last year due to poor refining margins, but left the refinery on standby in case a restart was required.

The refinery, located in San Nicolas, has a throughput capacity of 235,000 barrels-per-day (BBL/d) and supplies products, including vacuum gas oil (VGO), to the United States Gulf Coast, the Caribbean, and South America, as well as Europe and various other locations in the U.S. The VGO market became unbalanced last year, with supply outweighing demand. According to Chris Paschall, vice president of Refining at Industrial Info Resources, demand is starting to gather momentum again and the VGO market is recovering, prompting the restart of shuttered refineries associated with the production of VGO.

The restart of several units, including Crude Unit 5 and Delayed Coker Unit 2 are scheduled to begin on January 16. The restart process is estimated to take approximately two weeks. Maintenance on these units began last June and was officially concluded in October, but Valero kept them offline due to poor economics. The restart of other units, such as Crude Unit 7, began in late December. All processing units are expected to be fully operational by the end of January.

View Plant Profile - 1020148
View Turnaround Alert - 119585 119570 119578 119575 119567 119581

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. IIR's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.