PES Delaying Union Worker Layoffs until August 25

Philadelphia Energy Solutions notified union workers on Wednesday that it was delaying planned layoffs until Aug. 25, according to two sources familiar with the company’s operations. The refiner, owned by Credit Suisse Asset Management and Baird Capital, initially planned to lay off union workers in mid-July as they seek to close the plant following a destructive fire last month.

The Girard Point section of the 330,000 bpd refinery complex has been shut since the June 21 fire that destroyed an alky unit. The company had initially planned on shutting the Point Breeze section of the plant this week, but has pushed it back, the sources said. However, the section will run at significantly lower rates and without a gasoline-making unit or the largest crude unit, the sources said. Other products made at the refinery include distillates such as jet fuel and intermediates.

(Reporting By Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and David Gregorio)