Fires are always a danger & sometimes its hard to identify if it has comprimised metallurgy of pipes/units. And of course just the process off shutdown & startup adds risk threats because its the most dangerous time in any refinery and rife with opportunity for errors/failures. Poor Motiva they just got the large Crude unit replaced / started up and then the small Crude unit back online & here they have crash & startup again.
Any outage during peak gasoline season is often lost production because the only time make-up capacity is afterwards and then its fall & balance against inventory build and staying online thru winter to prepare for the next gasoline season.
Nearly 60% US gasoline is consumed in Summer at peak driving season and its normally just at or /outside full utilizations so that it takes either an inventory build (after switching from larger difference between summer & winter blends these days) or imports.
Another problem from environmentalist/EPA/Liberal regulations is that state by state specifications -often (some 39 states w/out refining or just enough for 1 city) who’s liberal regulations have closed or ran off capcaities placing them on pipeline supplies and casualty of next gulf hurricane closure problem. East & West Coast plants are study in this sort stupidity.
Read about Chevron Richmond that is getting killed for old units with lack investment/maintenance in Calif ……. although there has been roadblock against any new refineries for ~40 years and New Source treats replacement/new units as though was new plant …..same permit roadblock. And meanwhile all capital for maintance is stole by new emissions regulation investments that produce no increased revenues.
Watch the coming supply crisis for East & West Coast when next Hurricane hits Gulf (avg 1 per 4 yrs) and +60% US supply goes offline – sort like the mini issue here with Pt Arthur this week.
