PBF says no estimate on duration of Martinez, California (U.S.) refinery outage
Independent U.S. refiner PBF Energy said it has no estimate for how long its 156,400-bpd Martinez, California, refinery will remain shut following a fire on February 1, according to a statement released on Thursday.
During a conference call on Thursday morning, company executives said it has not been possible to assess damage from the fire because ongoing investigations have cordoned off the site of ignition.
The fire broke out near the 77,500-bpd cat feed hydrotreater, which uses hydrogen to remove sulfur from gasoil used to make unfinished gasoline in the 70,000-bpd catalytic cracker, company executives said during the call.
PBF said it plans to operate its seven U.S. refineries up to 76% of their combined production capacity of 1 MMbpd in the first quarter of 2025.
Company executives said that production in the first quarter is being impacted by the shutdown of the Martinez refinery, along with planned maintenance at other refineries.
The catalytic cracker at the Martinez refinery had been shut down before the fire as part of a planned overhaul, which includes the cat feed hydrotreater, the executives said. The maintenance work was scheduled to take 60 days to complete.
PBF is uncertain about how the shutdown will impact the timing of the planned overhaul.
The company also plans work on the 68,000-bpd fluidic catalytic cracker and 45,000-bpd cat feed hydrotreater at the 190,000-bpd Chalmette, Louisiana refinery during the first half of 2025, the company said in a statement.
During the same period, PBF also plans work on the 18,000-bpd diesel-producing hydrocracker at the 171,000-bpd Delaware City, Delaware refinery.
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