February’s chilly climate shut extra U.S. refinery capability than Hurricane Harvey By Reuters 

HOUSTON (Reuters) – A extreme chilly spell in mid-February knocked out a 3rd of U.S. oil refining capability, based on knowledge compiled by Reuters and Wooden Mackenzie.

A pointy drop in temperatures that lasted 5 days shut particular person models and generally whole vegetation at 25 refineries in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Tennessee.

Six million barrels per day (bpd) of nationwide refining capability was out of manufacturing earlier than refineries in Beaumont, Corpus Christi and Port Arthur, Texas, started restarting on Feb. 22.

Bt comparability, Hurricane Harvey idled a fifth of nationwide refining capability on the finish of August 2017.

The final main unit shut by the storm, the 38,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) vacuum distillation unit (VDU) at Chevron (NYSE:) Corp’s 112,229 bpd Pasadena, Texas, refinery, restarted on Wednesday, based on sources conversant in plant operations.

However like in a hurricane, issues contained in the vegetation have been compounded by outages of bigger programs on which the refineries rely.

Issues started on the night time of Feb. 14 when the 30-degree drop to fifteen levels Fahrenheit froze instrumentation wanted to function manufacturing models, mentioned sources conversant in operations at a number of refineries.

Crews struggled all through the night time sustaining minimal ranges of manufacturing, however on the Feb. 15 utilities failed, together with industrial gasoline provides, for energy and steam manufacturing in addition to exterior energy, forcing full shutdowns at most of the vegetation, the sources mentioned.

Oil firms have begun describing the monetary value of the freeze.

Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:) mentioned on the finish of March that the shutdown of its refineries in Baytown and Beaumont, Texas, accounts for as a lot as 1 / 4 of the estimated $800-million loss the corporate incurred in February.

The nation’s second largest refiner, Valero Vitality Corp (NYSE:), mentioned final week it can take a cost between $520 million and $535 million for increased electrical energy and pure gasoline prices within the first quarter.

Eight of Valero’s 12 U.S. refineries have been shut by the storm.

Phillips 66 (NYSE:) mentioned its loss for the primary quarter might attain $865 million, however as much as $210 million of that is because of a pre-tax impairment for a pipeline challenge.