Even in Summer, U.S. Refiners Keep Tabs on Maintenance

SUGAR LAND, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Researched by Industrial Info Resources–The U.S. Petroleum Refining Industry is bracing for a very busy summer, with some production already ramping up in May. Still, the industry has more than a few turnarounds scheduled to begin in the third quarter. Industrial Info is tracking about $640 million worth of maintenance-related projects in the U.S. Petroleum Refining Industry that are set to kick off from July through September, more than 40% of which is in Texas and Louisiana.

One refinery accounts for about 25% of the projected third-quarter investment in industry turnarounds: PBF Energy Incorporated‘s (NYSE:PBF) (Parsippany, New Jersey) Chalmette Refinery in Chalmette, Louisiana, which has $156 million spread across a series of projects, including two crude units, two delayed-coker units, several marine docks and a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) recovery unit. Subscribers to Industrial Info’s Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Petroleum Refining Plant and Project databases can learn more from a detailed plant profile and project report, and can click here for a list of active and planned projects at Chalmette.

“Turnarounds can create a lot of noise in working capital,” said Karen Davis, the chief financial officer of PBF, in a recent quarterly earnings-related conference call. “Depending on the units involved during turnarounds, we see crude slates changing. We produce more intermediates that we either sell or we store, and we consume them later. We produce fewer higher-value products.”

She added: “And we’ve been in a pretty heavy turnaround period, starting back in the fourth quarter on the West Coast, where we had to consume some higher-priced crudes into the first quarter, and we also paid for them then.”

Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) (Findlay, Ohio) accounts for only one third-quarter turnaround, but it is the single highest-valued project: the $90 million plant-wide program at its refinery in Detroit, Michigan, including sulfur-recovery, tail-gas, distillate hydrotreater, vacuum distillation and delayed-coker units, among others. Subscribers can learn more from a detailed plant profile and project report.

Mike Hennigan, the chief executive officer of Marathon Petroleum, said in a recent earnings call that his company was relieved to have scheduled maintenance at four of its largest refineries during the first quarter: “These assets were in turnaround during a period of lower demand, and now we’re ready to meet the increased consumption that comes with the summer driving season.”

Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) (Houston, Texas) accounts for $80 million worth of turnarounds across four projects, two of which are at its Lake Charles Refinery in Westlake, Louisiana: the fluid catalytic-cracking and sulfuric alkylation units and gasoline desulfurizer unit, both of which are expected to run well into the fourth quarter. Subscribers can read more in a plant profile and detailed reports on the catalytic-cracking and gasoline desulfurizer turnarounds.

Mark Lashier, the chief executive officer of Phillips 66, said in a recent earnings call that turnarounds so far this year have been focused on catalytic units in the Gulf Coast area, which increased the company’s intermediate inventories: “We’re still maximizing our crude utilization throughput, but that crude turned into intermediates instead of clean products–by design–because of the turnaround work we had underway. So, now we’ve got that inventory of intermediates poised to be converted into clean products as we continue to ramp up into the summer season.”

Phillips 66 also is performing turnarounds on crude and vacuum units at its Bayway Refinery in Linden, New Jersey, and the delayed coker at its Wood River Refinery in Roxana, Illinois. Both are expected to begin in September and end in mid-October. Subscribers can read detailed reports on the Bayway and Wood River projects.

Subscribers to Industrial Info’s GMI Project and Plant databases can click here for a full list of detailed reports for projects mentioned in this article, and click here for a full list of related plant profiles.

Subscribers can click here for a full list of reports for maintenance-related projects in the U.S. Petroleum Refining Industry that are set to kick off in the third quarter.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR’s Global Market Intelligence (GMI) platform helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking more than 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).

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