TotalEnergies Restarts Crude Unit at Port Arthur Refinery

TotalEnergies SE restarted the large crude distillation unit (CDU) at its 238,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas, refinery, said sources familiar with plant operations.

The 150,000-bpd ACU-1 CDU restarted on Tuesday after the refinery was able to restore stable steam supply from the neighboring BASF Total joint-venture petrochemical complex, the sources said.

TotalEnergies spokesperson Marie Maitre declined to comment on Wednesday.

The 40,000-bpd ACU-2 CDU remains shut. The refinery restarted the 35,000-bpd reformer and 42,000-bpd naphtha hydrotreater on Tuesday night, the sources said.

The refinery was waiting for restoration of a stable steam supply from the BASF complex to begin restarting units knocked out by a Monday power interruption, the sources said. Without a reliable steam supply, the Total refinery could not restore units to production following the power interruption.

A BASF complex cogeneration unit, which provides steam, shut on Friday, the sources said. A reformer at the refinery was shut by heavy rain also on Friday.

CDUs are the workhorses of refineries, breaking down crude oil into feedstocks for all other units.

Reformers produce additives to boost gasoline octane. A hydrotreater removes sulfur from motor fuels and their components in compliance with U.S. environmental rules.

(Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Sandra Maler)