Posted on 05/16/2007 2:36:36 PM PDT by Xenalyte
Valero's Houston refinery will be offline until sometime next week due to boiler and steam system problems, the company said today.
All of the plants 64,000 barrels per day of gasoline and 44,000 barrels per day of distillate production is offline due to the problem. Distillate includes diesel fuel and heating oil.
"We are working diligently to fix the problem, and expect to have production back to normal early next week," the company said in a statement.
Valero said output from the refinery is sold into the wider U.S. market via interstate pipelines, so the company does not anticipate that consumers in specific locations will be affected. Valero is bringing in product from other suppliers to cover its contractual commitments.
A lengthy outage of Valero's McKee refinery in West Texas was blamed for fuel shortages in parts of Colorado recently, but Valero spokesman Bill Day said the Houston refinery is not tied directly to one market.
"This does not mean that drivers in Houston will see shortages of fuel at the pump," Day said.
Refinery outages across the country have been blamed for some of the recent increases in gasoline prices.
U.S. refiners operated at 89 percent of capacity during the last week of April, according to the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration. The April average has dipped that low only once before in the past 15 years, the agency said.
That was last year, when many refineries took plants down for routine maintenance they had deferred while Gulf Coast refineries recovered from damage inflicted by the 2005 hurricanes.
Gasoline prices hit a record national average of $3.09 Tuesday and are topping $4 a gallon in parts of the country, according to AAA.
Drivers in Houston paid an average of $2.90 for a gallon of regular unleaded Tuesday, up sharply in recent weeks but down from $2.94 this time last year.
Texas also still hovered below the $3 mark, coming in Tuesday at $2.93 a gallon versus $2.85 a year ago.
Valero is the U.S.'s largest refiner but the Houston refinery is considered a medium-sized refinery. It is ranked 69th out of 144 U.S. refineries in terms of its refining capacity, according to the ranking by the Energy Information Administration.
We’re paying $3.39+/gal here in Washington, the State.....
Harry Reid said it’s suspicious that refineries go off-line this time every year.
Is it also suspicious that refineries change process from making more heating oil to more motor gasoline and EPA mandated summer blends during the Spring as well? And that annual maintenance and upgrades tends to be saved during these change over times?
Better that than having the traditional refinery explosion that Houston gets from time to time...
Its also suspicious that the sun comes up at the same time every year.
Well, this is very true.
Harry Reid should look up the words Summer Blend Standards and see when they are required to go into effect. Also, take a look at the 1990 Clean Air Act...
How can someone who is supposedly in power, be so dumb.. oh wait, don't answer that..
I’ve seen two new Valero gas stations constructed within the past year within 5 miles of my house. Some gas shortage.
Who are you gonna believe, Nancy Pelosi or your lyin’ eyes? ;)
You must live in the Artic.
I’m expecting one of those any day now.
Maybe the price of gas was going to come down.
Harry Reid is a horse's ass.
Same time every year. IE: Every May 16th.
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