Cenovus Energy Shuts Down Unit at Ohio Refinery

Cenovus Energy has shut down one unit at its Lima, Ohio, refinery following “an issue” at the facility, a spokesperson for Cenovus told Reuters.

Lima Refining Company, the operator of the 183,000-barrel-per-day refinery, “is responding to an issue at its facility,” the spokesperson said, adding that flaring at the site would be larger than normal as part of the typical procedures for unit shutdown.

There hasn’t been any fire at the refinery, the company said in a release cited by Oil Price Information Service, following reports of a fire event at the facility.

The refinery is experiencing an “issue” and additional flaring is being monitored, the company said, adding that all workers are accounted for with no injuries.

The shutdown of the unit at the Ohio refinery came on the day on which Motiva Enterprises, the owner of the second biggest refinery in the United States – Port Arthur in Texas – expected to restart the gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracker (FCC) at the facility.

Last week, Motiva Enterprises shut the 81,000-barrel-per-day FCC unit to repair a leak.

Cenovus’s Lima Refinery in the U.S. Midwest produces low-sulfur gasoline, gasoline blend stocks, ultra-low sulfur diesel, jet fuel, petrochemical feedstock, and other byproducts. A crude oil flexibility project completed in 2019 increased heavy oil processing capacity at the refinery providing the flexibility to switch between light and heavy crude oil feedstock, Cenovus says.

Cenovus operates another refinery in Ohio, the 160,000-bpd Toledo refinery in Oregon, Ohio, next to the City of Toledo. The refinery can produce 3.8 million gallons of gasoline, 1.3 million gallons of diesel fuel, and 600,000 gallons of jet fuel daily.

Earlier this year, Cenovus said it plans to invest $1.5 billion in its Ohio refineries over the next five years. The investments in the Lima and Toledo refineries are earmarked for maintenance, reliability measures, and projects to boost market access, the company said at the time.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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