Exxon Mobil Corp plans to restart the small crude distillation unit (CDU) and a coker at its 369,024 barrel-per-day (bpd) Beaumont, Texas, refinery, said sources familiar with plant operations on Wednesday, as reported by Reuters.
The 110,000-bpd Crude A CDU and 45,000-bpd coker may start up as early as Friday, the sources said.
Exxon spokesman Jeremy Eikenberry declined to discuss the status of the two units.
“Exxon Mobil continues to make progress restarting its Beaumont operations,” Eikenberry said. “As a matter of practice we do not discuss the operation of individual units.”
The refinery was shut on Feb. 15 because of the effects of severe cold weather on production units and cutting natural gas supplies needed to run the refinery.
The CDU breaks down crude oil into hydrocarbon feedstocks for all other production units at the refinery.
Cokers convert residual crude oil from distillation units into either motor fuel feedstocks or petroleum coke, a substitute for coal.
Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by Nick Zieminski
