Storm Forces Valero to Shut Units at Texas City Refinery--Update
August 20 2015 - 11:49AM
Dow Jones News
By Dan Molinski
Valero Energy Corp.'s (VLO) refinery in Texas City is shutting
down many units Thursday owing to a heavy storm that has caused
power outages and lightning strikes in the city, an official
said.
"I know they [Valero] were doing a controlled shutdown on many
of their units, but can't say for sure if it was all," said Derek
Duckett, emergency management coordinator for Texas City. "They
were shutting down units as a safety measure in case more power
outages were experienced."
The 245,000 barrel-a-day Texas City refinery is located 40 miles
southeast of Houston.
Earlier Thursday, Valero issued a statement confirming that
lightning struck a transformer that serves its Texas City refinery,
causing flaring. A representative said the company couldn't confirm
whether it was shutting down units temporarily. He said it is
company policy not to comment on operations or possible outages at
its refineries.
Valero's statement said no impacts to the community were
expected due to the lightning strike, but didn't indicate whether
production at the refinery was affected.
Mr. Duckett said power outages were being felt in several parts
of Texas City on Thursday morning as a result of the storms.
The lightning and rain storms over Texas happened as another
storm far offshore, named Danny, was upgraded to a hurricane,
making it the first hurricane of the 2015 Atlantic season.
Hurricane Danny is moving slowly west-northwest and could take
several days before it even reaches the Caribbean.
Refinery outages or partial outages in other parts of the
country in recent weeks, including an Aug. 8 shutdown at a large BP
PLC refinery in Whiting, Ind., have led to a rise in gasoline
prices in some U.S. regions. The concern has been that high demand
for gasoline might exceed supplies if refinery shutdowns cause a
significant slowdown in refining.
Write to Dan Molinski at dan.molinski@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 20, 2015 12:34 ET (16:34 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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