Fire in Vacuum Unit Halts Valero's Aruba Refinery

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO)(San Antonio, Texas) has shut down production at the San Nicolas refinery in Aruba. The refinery, which has 21 processing units and a total production capacity of 275,000 barrels per day, experienced another difficulty Friday, January 25, 2008, when a fire broke out in the Vacuum 3 (V3) unit, middle conversion area, which has a 160,000-barrel-per-day processing capacity. As a result, the safety protocol was implemented, and all of the units were shut down.

An internal inspection of the V3 unit was carried out to evaluate the damage caused by the fire, and it was determined by the authorities that the unit will remain offline for the next two months for repairs. The C5 unit will also go through repairs because of problems experienced in one of its furnaces. This unit is to resume operations within 20 days, along with the C6 unit, which is to continue to be offline for repairs. The remaining units at San Nicolas Refinery are offline and will go online on February 8, 2008, when the plant is planned to start processing at 140,000 barrels per day until the affected units start processing.

On January 8, 2008, the San Nicolas refinery experienced an overhaul because of a power outage that occurred after a malfunction of the refinery's power plant. The process to resume operations began the day after the incident; however, there was a fire in the C6 unit during the restart process. The C7 unit is to compensate for C6 until it resumes operations in February. View related January 18, 2008, article -- San Nicolas Refinery in Aruba Shuts Down after Power Outage.

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