Crude Summit: Heavy year for US refinery maintenance

Market: Crude oil, Oil products
24/01/24

US refiners are planning what could be the heaviest season for turnarounds on record, according to US refiner Delek.

"It is going to be, probably, one of the heaviest if not the heaviest turnaround season on record this year," Delek executive vice president of operations Joseph Israel told Argus on Wednesday on the sidelines of the Argus Americas Crude Summit in Houston, Texas.

US refiners were reluctant to spend money on maintenance when faced with narrow refining margins during the Covid-19 pandemic, and then they did not want to take facilities offline during last year's post-Covid demand boom that led to historically wide margins, Israel said.

It could take US refiners two seasons of turnarounds to catch up on the missed maintenance, he said.

A heavy spring turnaround season is already underway, somewhat accelerated by an arctic cold snap in the US that took facilities offline last week, Israel said. Upcoming maintenance work will also be concentrated in late December and early 2025 rather than fall of this year.

US refiners usually conduct maintenance in the spring, ahead of peak summer driving season, and in the fall as as refined product demand wanes with reduced travel.

Delek, however, typically conducts its plant maintenance in the fourth quarter. It will conduct a major turnaround at its 80,000 b/d Krotz Springs, Louisiana, refinery beginning in October, and its 73,000 b/d Big Spring, Texas, refinery will undergo a turnaround in the fourth quarter of 2025.

By Nathan Risser

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