Exxon Fined over Refinery Explosion
ExxonMobil Corp has been fined about $165,000 by U.S. regulators for safety lapses including inadequate training and equipment maintenance over an explosion that injured four workers at an aging Baton Rouge, Louisiana, refinery last year. U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued nine citations, several of which echo previous cautions by federal agencies at two other Exxon plants. The citations, issued in May, were seen by Reuters this month. A separate investigation by the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) is ongoing and its report on the incident is due by year-end. Exxon said it is contesting the OSHA citations and fines.
Shell Reluctant to Part with California Refinery amid Asset Sale
Royal Dutch Shell is in talks with several potential buyers for its refinery outside of San Francisco, but the Anglo-Dutch oil giant is reluctant to part with its last asset in California, three people familiar with the process say. The company is in the midst of a massive asset sale, shedding properties from Thailand to the North Sea to pay down debt following its $54 billion purchase of smaller British rival BG Group last year. Shell, Europe's largest oil company, has sold around $15 billion of assets over the past year as part of a planned $30 billion in asset sales to trim debt incurred from the transaction.
Fire hits California refinery
An explosion and fire at an oil refinery in Torrance, California, on Saturday forced the partial shutdown of the plant, leading oil traders to expect a spike this week in West Coast gasoline prices. Police and the plant owner said no one was hurt in the fire, which was extinguished by local firefighters. Two years ago, a fire at the same plant led to its closure for several months and a sustained increase in West Coast gasoline prices for more than a year. After the fire on Saturday, a group of local residents worried about pollution and accidents protested at the refinery. The event had been planned to mark the anniversary of the Feb.
Shell Retains Deutsche Bank for CA Refinery Sale
Royal Dutch Shell plc has retained Deutsche Bank to sell its Martinez, California refinery, according to three people familiar with the matter. Shell is in the midst of a three-year, $30 billion divestment plan following the company's purchase of BG Group earlier this year. A Shell spokesman said the company would not comment on "rumor or speculation." Deutsche Bank declined to comment. The refinery, located 30 miles (48 km) northeast of San Francisco, has been operating since 1915. It can process about 165,000 barrels of crude oil daily into gasoline, jet fuel, diesel and other refined products.
ExxonMobil Defends Handling of Torrance Refinery Outage
ExxonMobil has defended its handling of an outage at its Los Angeles refinery following a blast in February 2015 after a prominent trading company told a state commission that the process had lacked transparency. Speaking before a committee of the California Energy Commission on Tuesday, Brad Lucas, a West Coast trader for Vitol , said that lack of information about the restart of the refinery made it difficult to time cargo deliveries into the West Coast market. He said Exxon kept saying the Torrance refinery would come back online "next month".
Vitol: Exxon Mobil Lacked 'transparency' During Torrance Outage
Swiss commodity trader Vitol SA criticized Exxon Mobil Corp this week for failing to be transparent about maintenance at its Los Angeles refinery following a February 2015 blast, which contributed to tighter gasoline supplies and higher prices. Speaking before a committee of the California Energy Commission on Tuesday, Brad Lucas, a West Coast trader for Vitol, said that lack of information from Exxon made it difficult to time cargo deliveries into the West Coast market. The explosion at Exxon Mobil's 149,500 barrel-per-day Torrance refinery…
PBF takes over LA- Exxon Refinery after Setbacks
U.S. refiner PBF Energy took ownership on Friday of a Los Angeles-area refinery purchased from Exxon Mobil Corp for $537.5 million, clearing the way for it to focus on further North American acquisitions. The takeover of the Torrance, California facility makes PBF the fourth largest independent U.S. refiner and expands its footprint from coast to coast, a longtime goal of founder and former chairman Tom O'Malley, who retired at the end of June. The deal also increases PBF's total throughput capacity to around 900,000 barrels per day. PBF had aimed to complete the purchase of the refinery in the second quarter of 2016.
Exxon Torrance Crane Collapse Impacts Ops, Sale
A 300-ton crane at a Torrance, California, refinery that Exxon Mobil Corp plans to sell fell onto a portion of a gasoline unit at the plant, industry sources said on Monday. Three workers escaped with minor injuries as the crane toppled over while lifting a reactor top for the 100,000 barrel per day (bpd) gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracking unit (FCCU) at the 149,500 bpd refinery. The damage to piping, the crane and time needed to clear it away could delay by weeks the refinery reaching 15 straight days of normal operations as required by the sales agreement signed in September with PBF Energy…
Exxon Mobil Shuts Hydrocracker Compressor at Calif. Refinery
A hydrocracker compressor at Exxon Mobil's 149,500 barrel per day Torrance refinery near Los Angeles went down Tuesday morning, as source familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. Repairs on the unit are expected to take more than two weeks, the source added. (Reporting by Liz Hampton)
Exxon Has Restarted Hydrotreater at CA Refinery
Exxon Mobil has restarted a hydrotreater at its 149,5000 barrel-per-day Torrance refinery near Los Angeles, according to source familiar with the situation. The company also plans to re-install an FCC compressor at the refinery on June 10 and return to full operations by June 15, the source added. (Reporting By Liz Hampton)
Exxon Mobil to Restart Torrance FCC
Exxon Mobil has reached an agreement with California state regulators to restart a gasoline unit at its Torrance refinery in Los Angeles that went out of service in February 2015 following an explosion. The agreement with California's South Coast Air Quality Management Board will also require Exxon to pay $5 million in penalties for air pollution and violations that may occur during the unit startup. Reporting by Liz Hampton
DW: Tired of Turnarounds?
As the end of October saw upstream operators release disappointing Q3 results, with Shell in particular announcing record losses, a completely different picture is being painted in the downstream sector. A host of North American refiners, including Tesoro, Valero Energy, Phillips 66 and Marathon Petroleum have seen profits soar as the low oil price has improved margins; WTI cracking margins for Q3 2015 averaged $22.02 compared to $14.01 in 2014. With refiners benefiting from high margins amidst the oil price decline, the impact on those companies providing maintenance services to the sector is rather more complex.
U.S. Refinery Strike in 18th Day as Talks Resume
The largest U.S refinery workers strike since 1980 passed its 18th day on Wednesday but talks between union and oil company representatives over safety and pay restarted after a gap of a week and went into the night, according to a union text message. More than 5,000 workers at 11 plants, including nine refineries accounting for 13 percent of U.S. production capacity, remained on strike on Wednesday. "Industry responded to the information request and engaged in discussions into the evening," the text message to United Steelworkers union (USW) members read. "Still miles apart.
