Port Arthur Refineries Back to Normal Ops After Humberto
by Heather Nolan The Beaumont Enterprise, Texas
September 20, 2007
The lights are on and local refineries are getting back to work one week after Hurricane Humberto made landfall in Southeast Texas and put a dent in day-to-day operations.
Total Petrochemicals USA, Inc.'s Port Arthur refinery is back to "normal operations," spokesperson Karyn Grace says.
At Motiva Enterprises, LLC's plant, spokesperson Sue Parsley says the company is "going through the check list" and has started production in some units.
"Everything is progressing good," she says.
Parsley adds that she hopes the refinery will be operating at full capacity by early next week, but she does not have an exact restart date.
Steven Potts, Valero Energy Corp. spokesperson, says the Port Arthur plant is operating at 75 percent capacity and is continuing to start up units. He says production should be at 100 percent within the next several days.
He says all utilities have been restored and the company is taking safety precautions to get all units back into production.
But that doesn't mean they're resting easy.
"We have our eyes out on this thing off the coast of Florida," he says.
Copyright (c) 2007, The Beaumont Enterprise, Texas. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
