Fire cuts Tesoro’s production

The refinery's units were shut down due to an electrical fire

Tesoro Corp., which operates the larger of the state's two oil refineries, said it will take until the end of this week to bring up all of the processing units at Campbell Industrial Park that were shut down Saturday night due to an electrical fire.

There were 35 to 40 people on duty at the time of the fire, but no one was injured and there was no need for evacuation, Tesoro spokesman Nathan Hokama said yesterday.

"This incident will not have any impact on supply because we have sufficient inventory," he said.

An investigation is continuing as to the cause of the fire, which was put out in about an hour by about 15 company firefighters and the Honolulu Fire Department. The fire began at 10:30 p.m. Saturday following a power failure about 30 minutes earlier.

The power outage was not attributable to Hawaiian Electric Co., Hokama said.

Tesoro began bringing up some of it units Sunday but Hokama said the process will be gradual throughout the week.

"It's not like turning on a switch," he said.

The last time Tesoro Hawaii experienced a shutdown was on Nov. 4 in a storm-related power outage. A catalytic reformer unit used to make gasoline was idled for six weeks before going back online in mid-December. The unit cost $10 million to repair, and the shutdown cost the company about $20 million in lost revenue.

Tesoro Hawaii has the capacity to process 95,000 barrels of oil a day and makes gas, diesel fuel, jet fuel, bunker fuel and fuel oil for electrical utilities.