Motiva S/D PA Refinery Pwr Failure – 3 contractors breathing problems

[Charles RandallParticipant]

Motiva Shuts Port Arthur Refinery After Power Failure (Update1)
2008-06-02 14:25 (New York)

By Robert Tuttle
     June 2, 2008 (Bloomberg) — Motiva Enterprises LLC, a joint
venture of Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Saudi Arabia’s state oil
company, said it is shutting down its Port Arthur, Texas,
refinery after a power disruption.
     The refinery, Motiva’s largest U.S. plant, lost power at 11
a.m. local time, Stan Mays, a company spokesman said in a
telephone interview. “They are in an orderly shutdown mode,”
he said.
     The plant is shutting with pump prices near $4 a gallon and
demand rising toward an annual summer peak.
     “It certainly helps support the market whenever a major
refinery goes down,” said Gordon Elliott, risk management
specialist at FC Stone LLC in St. Louis Park, Minnesota.
     July gasoline futures, which reflect wholesale prices, rose
6.4 cents, or 1.9 percent, to $3.4122 a gallon at 2:19 p.m. on
the New York Mercantile Exchange. The average U.S. pump price
for regular gasoline was at a record $3.975 a gallon for a
second day yesterday, according to AAA, the largest U.S.
motoring club.
     Three refinery contractors were taken to the hospital as a
precaution after experiencing breathing problems, KDFM reported.
     The Motiva plant has a daily capacity of 300,000 barrels a
day, according to the U.S. Energy Department.

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