Chevron has extended the duration of the maintenance turnaround at its Richmond, Calif., refinery – originally scheduled to last about six weeks and conclude March 1 – by at least two to three weeks, according to industry sources.
The refinery, which has capacity to make 15,000 barrels per day of Group II and Group III paraffinic base stocks, originally went into turnaround in mid-January with plans for completion about March 1. A Chevron official in late January said the company had prepared for the shutdown for a long time, and had plenty of inventory, so it didnt expect any impact from a Jan. 15 fire within the refinerys crude separating unit.
According to one industry source, a recent Chevron letter to customers said the company expects to start up the base oil refinery after the crude unit start up, which it said would occur in mid to late March. The source said the letter also explained that Chevron was bringing additional barrels of lube stock to the West Coast to ensure sufficient inventory.
It looks like they are at least a couple of weeks behind the original schedule, the source said.
Another source said Chevron indicated it would extend the turnaround for an undetermined number of days or weeks, and that it could be as late as April 1 before it starts back up.
There was no information on why, this other source said. I would presume it has to do with the fire they had on the crude unit. Its definitely big news if its going to be another month delay to start up the refinery, as that would take a lot of Group II out of the market.
Chevron officials did not return phone calls from Lube Report about the turnarounds status.
Posted paraffinic base oil prices are unchanged in the United States this week. Crude closed at $58.10 per barrel yesterday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, according to Bloomberg. That was $2.64 below the price a week ago.
Historic U.S. posted base oil prices and WTI and Brent crude spot prices are available for purchase in Excel format.