The largest U.S. crude oil refinery began on Sunday to restart key units central to its capacity and motor fuel production following a near total shutdown late last week in severe cold weather, a notice filed by Motiva Enterprises MOTIV.UL with Texas pollution regulators showed.

The restart of units at Motiva’s 626,000 barrel-per-day Port Arthur, Texas refinery could take up to 16 days, the notice filed with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said.

The refinery’s largest two crude distillation units (CDUs), the 350,000-bpd VPS-5 and the 200,000-bpd VPS-4, are among the units to restart by Jan. 11, according to the notice.

The refinery’s three CDUs do the initial refining of crude oil by breaking it down into feedstocks for all other units. Sources told Reuters on Friday the refinery had been idled.

The refinery’s 81,000-bpd gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracker and 105,000-bpd diesel-producing hydrocracker are also shut and scheduled to restart, according to the filing.

The two cokers, the 54,000-bpd coker-1 and 110,000-bpd coker-2, are slated for restart as well, the filing said. Cokers convert residual crude oil from distillation units into motor fuel feedstocks or petroleum coke, which can be used as a substitute for coal.

The 18,000-bpd alkylation unit and 49,000-bpd catalytic reformer will also restart, according to the notice. Using different processes, the alkylation unit and reformer produce octane-boosting additives for gasoline.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Erwin Seba; editing by David Evans)