ExxonMobil says Baytown refinery beginning restart process
New York (Platts)--25Sep2005
ExxonMobil said Sunday it has begun restarting its 557,000 b/d Baytown
refinery in Texas, the largest refinery in the US, even as it makes repairs to
the facility in the aftermath of Hurricane Rita.
The major also said initial assessments of its 348,500 b/d refinery in
Beaumont, Texas, and related chemical operations "do not indicate significant
damage." "Additional assessments are being performed, and priorities include
restoring water and electricity to run the facilities," ExxonMobil said in a
statement. "Once assessment is completed, we will have a better understanding
of future operational schedule."
On Saturday, the company said it did not appear the Baytown plant
sustained any "severe" damage. "With repairs taking place, the refinery is
beginning the process of initial startup," it said. "With terminals and
pipelines now reopened, the refinery has resumed delivering gasoline."
ExxonMobil said it has 14 service stations open in the Houston area along
primary evacuation routes and "will continue to open more stations as
personnel and fuel become available." It warned, however, that some stores may
run dry of fuel for "short periods" due to high demand.
The company said it delivered 531,000 gal of gasoline to the 14 operating
retail sites on Saturday.
On the upstream, ExxonMobil said it is beginning its post-storm damage
assessments of offshore platforms and rigs "as conditions permit."
"Where it is safe to do so, our crews will return to work to perform more
detailed assessments, especially in those areas where we have the potential to
bring production back online quickly," the company said.
ExxonMobil has 95,000 b/d of its US Gulf of Mexico liquids production and
1 Bcf/d of its gas output shut in, though a fair amount of that has been
curtailed since Hurricane Katrina roared through the region last month.
--Kevin Saville; kevin_saville@platts.com
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