Largest US Oil Refinery Suffers Partial Shutdown After Sudden Power Loss Due To Severe Weather

Motiva's Port Arthur Manufacturing Complex in Port Arthur, Texas, the largest refinery in North America, with a capacity of 630,000 barrels of crude oil per day, shuttered several processing units on Wednesday following a power failure due to severe weather in the area. 

Motiva wrote in a filing that around 05:45 local time on Wednesday, the refinery "experienced an unexpected interruption and/or shutdown of several critical pieces of equipment, due to a power interruption caused by severe weather conditions which impacted the Port Arthur area."  

Bloomberg said the units affected were vacuum pipe stills 2 and 4. According to Wood Mackenzie/Genscape data, those two units have a combined crude-processing capacity of 300,000 barrels a day. 

"Several so-called secondary units that are a key part of producing fuels like gasoline and diesel were also impacted, including fluid catalytic cracker 3 and delayed coker 1. The regulatory filing didn't specify which of the affected plants were shut and which were interrupted," Bloomberg noted. 

News of the Port Arthur refinery partially halted comes as pump prices continue to rise, tracking wholesale gasoline prices higher...

Gas futures have risen 2% since the outage was first detected. 

Bloomberg noted, "The plant was working to limit excess emissions of sulfur dioxide and other air-contaminant compounds caused by the incident. The filing said that could potentially extend over a 36-hour period through Thursday evening."