NEW YORK >> Tesoro Petroleum Corp. is planning to temporarily shut down its Kapolei refinery in 2004 and four other facilities next year to perform maintenance work. Tesoro’s Kapolei refinery
to get maintenance
in 2004Star-Bulletin staff and wire
The company said it will close its 95,000 barrel-per-day Kapolei plant, the largest in the state, in the first quarter of 2004 for an undetermined number of days, according to Tesoro Hawaii spokesman Nathan Hokama. The last time Tesoro temporarily shut its plant for routine maintenance was in 2000.
"The turnarounds are a standard practice for Hawaii," Hokama said. "They usually happen every three to five years. It's a planned event. They factor in supply issues so there's no disruption of supply to customers. This is a major event because every unit is carefully expected for maintenance."
Plants that Tesoro plans to shut down in 2003 are its 55,000 bpd Salt Lake City refinery in the first quarter for roughly 38 days, its 60,000 bpd Mandan, N.D., plant in the fourth quarter for the same duration, and both its 108,000 bpd Anacortes, Wash., plant and 72,000 bpd Kenai, Alaska, plant for an undetermined number of days in an unidentified quarter.
In addition, the company plans to perform some minor maintenance work on the Martinez, Calif., Golden Eagle refinery it acquired earlier this year.
Tesoro has budgeted $45 million for the maintenance work, Chief Executive Officer Bruce Smith said at an industry conference in New York yesterday. He said the maintenance does not include equipment upgrades required to bring plants up to low sulphur fuel production specifications that will take hold in 2006.
San Antonio-based Tesoro is an independent refiner and marketer of petroleum products operating six refineries in the western United States with a combined capacity of nearly 560,000 barrels a day.
The company announced last week it has reduced refinery production by 15 percent to roughly 480,000 bpd until the end of September due to weak profit margins, mirroring a similar cut by leading independent Valero Energy Corp.
Smith said weak profit margins could lead Tesoro to hasten maintenance work on its Mandan refinery to the second quarter of 2003, instead of the fourth.