San Joaquin Refining says it is close to resuming normal operations after weeks of maintenance work and unexpected delays in a turnaround of a unit at its Bakersfield, Calif., base oil plant.
The naphthenic plant has three units, all of which were closed for maintenance in recent weeks. The plants solvent extraction unit and a heavy oil hydrotreater are both up and running again. Together they account for approximately 80 percent of the plants capacity of 9,300 barrels per day.
San Joaquin has encountered unexpected delays, however, in restarting the plants heavy oil hydrotreater. The company plans to restart that unit next week – approximately six weeks after it shut down. The delays have created a backlog of orders, though, and the company said it will probably take several weeks to catch up. Allocations on at least some products are due to remain in effect for the rest of this month.
Posted prices for paraffinic base oils in the United States were unchanged this week, while crude oil costs retreated. The price of crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange closed yesterday at $70.57 per barrel, according to Bloomberg. That was $4.33 lower than a week earlier.
Historic U.S. posted base oil prices and WTI and Brent crude spot prices are available for purchase in Excel format.