Motiva Enterprises shut several critical systems at its 659,700 b/d Port Arthur, Texas, refinery early Monday after unusually low temperatures moved into the state.

In a filing with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the company said its Port Arthur Manufacturing Complex "experienced an unexpected interruption and/or shutdown of several critical pieces of equipment, caused by weather conditions which impacted the Port Arthur area."

Motiva said the affected equipment included the Catalytic Reforming Unit No. 4, Delayed Coker Unit No. 1 and Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit No. 3.

The company told TCEQ it took immediate action to stabilize the process units and minimize flaring, which was intermittent during the event.

Large parts of southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana Gulf Coast, including Port Arthur, Beaumont and Lake Charles, have been under an extreme-cold warning with dangerously cold wind chills as low as 10 degrees. The cold is expected to last into Thursday morning.

In addition, TotalEnergies told the TECQ that two units at its 245,000 b/d Port Arthur refinery, including a wet gas compressor, experienced upsets on Monday due to weather-related "instrumentation malfunctions." The company said both units have returned to normal operation.

Motiva and TotalEnergies did not respond to requests to comment and provide additional information by the time of publication.

Flaring was reported earlier this week at several other Texas refineries, including ExxonMobil's Beaumont facility, LyondellBasell's Houston complex, Valero Energy's Houston refinery, Citgo's Corpus Christi operations and Pemex's Deer Park refinery near Houston.


This content was created by Oil Price Information Service, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. OPIS is run independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.


--Reporting by Frank Tang, ftang@opisnet.com; Editing by Jeff Barber, jbarber@opisnet.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

01-22-25 1130ET