Calumet Montana resumes operations, no 2024 maintenance

Market: Biofuels
01/12/23

Specialty refiner Calumet has resumed operations at its Montana Renewables facility following a November turnaround and plans no maintenance at the plant in 2024.

The Great Falls, Montana, plant is processing over 12,000 b/d of renewable feedstock, the company said on Friday. Its nameplate capacity is 15,000 b/d and the facility largely produces renewable diesel (RD).

The company conducted repairs on the steam recovery system in the refinery's renewable hydrogen plant following an August leak and decided to bring forward a turnaround originally planned for early 2024 to November of this year.

The company has no turnarounds planned at the Montana facility in 2024.

Calumet ran the Montana refinery at an average 50pc utilization rate in August, September and October before a complete shutdown during most of the November turnaround, the company said.

Lower runs built up Calumet's renewable feedstock inventories, which will be refined at the Montana plant for the next three months while restarting normal renewable feedstock buying.

The company plans to add 3,000 b/d of capacity at the Montana refinery in 2025, upping nameplate capacity to 18,000 b/d, but a plan to maximize sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production is pending a final investment decision.

Calumet has been assessing the engineering requirements for the SAF project since at least August, according to the company's second-quarter earnings call.

By Nathan Risser

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