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. |