Winter Storm Slams U.S. Refineries

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Low temperatures caused by the winter storm have resulted in operational headaches on Friday for a number of refineries and chemical plants across the U.S.

Listed below are some of the facilities that have experienced shutdowns and process upsets as a result of the storm, which has been dubbed "Winter Storm Elliott" by The Weather Channel.

Refineries
Marathon was forced to shut down its entire 495,000-barrel-per-day (BBL/d)Galveston Bay Refinery in Texas City, Texas, as a result of weather conditions.

Motiva reduced production rates by about 20% at its 600,000-BBL/d Port Arthur, Texas Refinery.

Phillips 66 was experiencing weather-related issues at its 146,000-BBL/d Borger, Texas, refinery. The 68,000-BBL/d Crude Unit 28 (Sour) was running at reduced rates. Plant personnel were steam treating the units to combat the frost and ice buildup.

Valero Refining was forced to shut down the 110,000-BBL/d Crude East Unit at its 190,000-BBL/d Memphis, Tennessee, refinery as a result of severe weather conditions.

LyondellBasell's 268,000-BBL/d Houston, Texas, refinery was forced to shut down the 147,000-BBL/d Still 537 (Heavy Crude), 49,000-BBL/d HDS 634 Cat Feed/HGO Hydrotreater and 70,000-BBL/d Gasoline Desulfurizer (SCANfiner) HDS Unit 637.

Exxon Mobil Corporation had to shut down the 120,000-BBL/d FCCU, 40,000-BBL/d FCCU Gasoline HT and associated units at its 350,000-BBL/d Beaumont, Texas, refinery. Conditions for the next 24-48 hours were not expected to improve, so it may be later this weekend before full functionality is restored.

Chemical Plants
Dow Chemical experienced a process upset at its 1,653 million-pound-per-year propane dehydrogenation (PDH) unit in Freeport (Oyster Creek), Texas. The unit has remained operational.

ExxonMobil Chemical has been able to maintain operations at its 2,600 million-pound-per-year BOP, 2,300 million-pound-per-year BOP-X, and 3,300 million-pound-per-year BOP-2X Ethylene units in Baytown, Texas. However, the butadiene unit experienced a process upset.

LyondellBasell has been able to maintain operations at its 2.6 billion-pound-per-year QE1 Ethylene unit in La Porte, Texas, even though the ethylene unit experienced a process upset.

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