A power outage caused by inclement weather early on May 28 has led to the shuttering of one of two crude units at Marathon Petroleum Corp.’s 522,000-b/d Garyville, La., refinery.
While damage assessment remains under way, initial assessments indicate that the refinery has experienced damage to a cooling water tower at the site, Jamal Kheiry, a communications manager at Marathon, told OGJ via e-mail.
Additionally, the severity of the storm led to a loss of power in parts of the refinery, resulting in the shutdown of one of the crude units, according to Kheiry.
“It is likely that this crude unit will remain shut down until repairs are made to the cooling tower,” Kheiry said. “Once we determine the timeframe for repair, we will have a better understanding of the production impact.”
While the company confirmed that the second crude unit and other unidentified units at Garyville continue to operate, further details regarding the current status of operations at the refinery were not disclosed.
