MOSCOW (MRC) -- US crude oil refining capacity grew by nearly 1 percent in 2019, or 173,650 barrels per day (bpd) to nearly 19 million bpd (MMbpd), a new record, reported Reuters with reference to a report released by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).
The report on national refining capacity was assembled from reports filed by owners of the nation’s 135 refineries. The reports were filed by Jan. 1, 2020. They do not take into account reduced production levels because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The number of total refineries was unchanged, but the number of idle plants grew by one to four, the EIA said.
Independent US refiner Marathon Petroleum Corp continues to be the nation’s largest. The combined throughput capacity of the company’s 16 refineries is 3.07 MMbpd, equal to 16% of the national total.
The increase in national capacity came from incremental growth in production capabilities at multiple plants across the country.
Marathon’s capacity grew by 42,285 bpd with increases at the company’s refineries in Garyville, Louisiana, and Catlettsburg, Kentucky, as well as other plants.
Fellow independent Valero Energy Corp, remains the nation’s second-largest refiner at 2.18 MMbpd.
Exxon Mobil Corp, one of the world’s largest corporations, is the third-largest refiner at 1.75 MMbpd. Exxon’s capacity grew by 15,200 bpd, all at the company’s Baton Rouge, Louisiana, refinery.
Phillips 66, also an independent refiner, is the nation’s fourth largest at 1.7 MMbpd.
Chevron Corp, PBF Energy, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Citgo Petroleum Corp, BP Plc and Koch Industries’ Flint Hills Resources LP are the others among top 10 refiners.
Motiva Enterprises is the 11th largest refiner. Its only refinery is the nation’s largest in Port Arthur, Texas, with a capacity of 607,000 bpd.
The top 10 refiners are evenly divided between independents and integrated oil companies.
As MRC wrote before, Marathon Petroleum Corp will idle its 166,000 barrel-per-day (bpd)refinery in Martinez, California beginning April 27 in response to the coronavirus pandemic’s hit to demand for refined products.
Meanwhile, Marathon Petroleum Corp planned to operate the gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracker (FCC) at its 585,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Galveston Bay Refinery in Texas City, Texas. The 140,000 bpd FCC restarted on 12 April, after repairs following a March 23 brief power outage that shut the unit.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 595,170 tonnes in the first five month of 2020, up by 10% year on year. Deliveries of all ethylene polymers, except for linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), rose partially because of an increase in capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market was 457,930 tonnes in January-May 2020 (calculated by the formula production minus export plus import). Deliveris of exclusively PP random copolymer increased.
MRC