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Exxon, Motiva refineries continue reduced operations amid floods

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Thu Aug 18, 2016 5:18pm EDT

Exxon Mobil Corp and Motiva Enterprises refineries continued to operate at reduced levels amidst flood waters in southern Louisiana, sources familiar with operations at each refinery said on Thursday.

An Exxon spokeswoman said the Baton Rouge Complex, which includes a 502,500 bpd refinery, continued to operate on Thursday, but declined to discuss the level of production or the status of specific units. The Baton Rouge refinery is the fourth largest in the United States.

Production at the Baton Rouge refinery was at about 60 percent of capacity on Thursday due in part to the shutdown of a 110,000 bpd crude distillation unit on Tuesday to reduce liquified petroleum gas (LPG) from the refinery, the Exxon sources said.

Exxon had also cut production in half on a 210,000 bpd CDU for maintenance planned prior to the floods. A coking unit has also been shut at the refinery, the sources said.

Exxon’s Sorrento, Louisiana, facility for storing LPG was inundated and shut down early this week, according to the sources. Until Exxon restarted a unit at its Baton Rouge chemical plant to take LPG from the refinery on Wednesday, the company was preparing to shut the refinery.

Motiva’s 235,000 bpd Convent, Louisiana refinery has been at reduced production since an Aug. 11 fire on the heavy oil hydrocracker shut that unit.

Sources familiar with Motiva’s operations said the Convent refinery continued to operate with staffing reduced to only essential workers, the Motiva sources said.

A company spokeswoman did not reply to a request for comment about Motiva’s operations.

(Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by Sandra Maler)

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