MOSCOW (MRC) -- A reformer and a hydrotreating unit (HTU) shut down on Thursday at Motiva Enterprises’ 607,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas, refinery, the nation’s largest, reported Reuters with reference to sources familiar with plant operations.
Motiva, a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of the Saudi Aramco, declined to comment on operations at the Port Arthur refinery.
A time line has not been set for restarting the 49,000 bpd Catalytic Reforming Unit 4 (CRU 4) and the 32,000 bpd Hydrotreating Unit 3 (HTU 3) following the unplanned shutdowns, the sources said.
Reformers convert low-octane refining byproducts into octane boosting components that are blended into gasoline.
HTU 3 uses hydrogen to remove sulfur from light gas oil in compliance with US environmental rules.
As MRC informed before, in September 2019, Motiva Enterprises signed an agreement to buy the Flint Hills Resources' cracker and chemical plant adjacent to its Port Arthur, Texas, oil refinery, kicking off a push into petrochemicals.
Besides, Motiva Enterprises LLC is evaluating opportunities to build a new polyethylene (PE) line within its proposed steam cracker and aromatics project in Jefferson County, Texas. The new PE capacity will be located at the company’s Port Arthur Refinery Complex in Jefferson County, Texas. The planned capacity of the unit was not specified, while the value of the project is reportedly estimated at around USD3.1 billion. The construction is expected to commence by the four quarter of 2020, with completion is estimated in the last quarter of 2024.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polyprolypele (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,589,580 tonnes in the first nine months of 2019, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 976,790 tonnes in January-September 2019, up by 4% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.
Motiva Enterprises, LLC, is a fully owned affiliate of Saudi Refining Inc. and headquartered in Houston, Texas, United States with revenue of USD24 billion. Previously, it was a 50–50 joint venture between Shell Oil Company (the wholly owned American subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell) and Saudi Refining Inc. (controlled by Saudi Aramco).
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