Sunoco said it is continuing efforts to repair a deasphalting unit damaged by a March 23 fire at its Tulsa, Okla., refinery. The company declined to discuss when it will repair the damage, which has hampered its output of bright stock.
The deasphalting unit was the only part of the refinery damaged by the fire. The refinerys base oil plant, which has capacity to produce 8,500 barrels per day, resumed operations almost immediately after the incident, but the deasphalting unit provides feedstock used to make bright stock. The problem has disrupted deliveries to at least some customers.
A Sunoco spokeswoman said yesterday that she was mistaken last month when she said that the unit was being brought back online and that normal bright stock production would resume by early May. “We’re still working out some issues [with repairs] and we are still not quite where we need to be yet, spokeswoman Jessica Klassen said.
The company is declining to predict when normal operations will resume, saying it does not want to speculate until it can lay out a schedule with certainty.
Note: A second edition of the May 12Price Reportreported that Sunoco raised base oil prices effective May 7. The first edition did not include that information.
Posted paraffinic base oil prices are unchanged this week. The price of crude was $40.12 on the New York Mercantile Exchange yesterday, down 15 cents from a week earlier.
Historic U.S. posted base oil prices and WTI and Brent crude spot prices are available for purchase in Excel format.