Isaac delays Valero Louisiana hydrocracker project
By ALISON SIDER
Valero Energy CEO Bill Klesse said work on a diesel-making unit at the company's St. Charles refinery in Norco, La., is now likely to be completed in early 2013, rather than later this year as the company had previously estimated.
But the hydrocracker is still on track to be fully operational in the second quarter of 2013, he said, though Hurricane Isaac has delayed work at the 205,000 bpd refinery.
Similar work on the hydrocracker at Valero’s 290,000 bpd refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, is still expected to be operational during the fourth quarter of this year.
“We did have a hurricane at St. Charles that shut down the project,” Mr. Klesse said. “So we have lost a couple of months on this project there. But they are getting done and coming together.”
Bill Day, a spokesman for the company, said the hurricane might delay the St. Charles refinery unit's operation by a week or so, but “it’s pretty much the same time frame,” as what was discussed during the company's second-quarter earnings conference call.
Valero began restarting its St. Charles refinery, as well as its 125,000 bpd refinery in Meraux, La., over the weekend after shutting them down as a precautionary measure before the storm.
Dow Jones Newswires
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