Shell Deer Park, Texas, refinery cold weather repairs to take until April

Repairs to Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s 318,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) Deer Park, Texas, refinery damaged by severe cold weather are planned to last until April, sources familiar with plant operations, as reported by Reuters. 

“Deer Park is still being assessed for a potential return to safe operations,” said Shell spokesman Curtis Smith. “No timeline has been assigned for a full restart of the facility.”

Refinery production may remain shut until the repairs are completed, the sources said. Shell is still determining a timeline for repairs.

Shell shut the refinery’s two crude distillation units (CDUs) because of a malfunction on Feb. 14 before freezing temperatures hit the Gulf Coast on Feb. 15.

The 70,000-bpd DU-1 CDU was shut first, followed by the 240,000-bpd DU-2 CDU, sources told Reuters on Feb. 14. The CDUs were shut because a seal failed on a pump that provides feedstock for other units.

Shell restarted the 70,000-bpd gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracker (FCC) on Feb. 11 following repairs after a Jan. 11 breakdown in the unit’s expander, sources told Reuters at the time.

The CDUs break down crude oil into hydrocarbon feedstocks for all other production units at the refinery.

The FCC uses a fine powder catalyst to convert gas oil into unfinished gasoline.

The Deer Park refinery is a 50-50 joint venture between Shell and Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), Mexico’s national oil company. Shell is the managing partner.

Reporting by Erwin Seba; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Richard Chang