Motiva to Restart Gasoline-Producing Unit at Port Arthur Refinery

Motiva Enterprises, the owner of the second biggest refinery in the United States – Port Arthur in Texas – expects to restart the gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracker (FCC) at the facility on Tuesday, sources with knowledge of the plant operations told Reuters.

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

The unit is just one of several cracker and distillation units at the 626,000-bpd refinery.

On Monday, Motiva Enterprises restarted production at the 200,000-bpd VPS-4 crude distillation unit (CDU), according to the sources who spoke to Reuters.

The Port Arthur Refinery produces conventional gasoline, commercial aviation fuel, Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel, Export (High Cetane) Diesel, and Texas Low Emissions Diesel. The refinery typically produces 275,000 barrels of branded fuel every day, and 40,000 barrels of base oil per day, according to Motiva Enterprises.

The refinery is the second largest in the United States by operable capacity, after Marathon Petroleum’s 631,000-bpd refinery at Galveston Bay, Texas, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration as of January 1, 2024.

Of the five largest U.S. refineries, four are located in Texas and one in Louisiana as the U.S. Gulf Coast hosts a large portion of America’s refining capacity.

More than 48% of total U.S. petroleum refining capacity is located along the Gulf Coast, as well as 51% of total U.S. natural gas processing plant capacity.

U.S. gasoline and diesel prices are set for a more volatile summer this year as an expected busier-than-usual hurricane season and extremely high temperatures could weigh on refinery production, according to analysts.

A higher number of named storms could lead to more refinery shutdowns on the U.S. Gulf Coast, while excessively hot summer temperatures along the Gulf Coast could also disrupt refinery operations as most processing facilities are designed to operate optimally at temperatures below 95 degrees Fahrenheit.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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