By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Aug. 20 -- Coffeyville Resources Refining & Marketing LLC said it has restarted most of the operating units at its 100,000 b/cd refinery in Coffeyville, Kan., after a record flood of the Verdigris River caused the shut down of the facility in early July.
Process operations that have been restarted include two crude units, two vacuum units, one naphtha hydrotreater, a catalytic reformer, two distillate hydrotreaters, a fluid catalytic cracking unit, the alkylation unit, the isomerization unit, the delayed coking unit, and sulfur recovery facilities. Remaining units are in varying stages of startup.
The company also said the refinery would be fully restored ahead of its earlier mid-September projection. It cautioned, however, that mechanical challenges created by the flooding that reached more than 6 ft deep will require the company to carefully monitor all equipment as it increases throughput to full production after start up.
In addition, truck rack sales from the company-owned terminal in Coffeyville could resume as early as next week, Coffeyville Resources said. It has been shipping product via pipeline from preflood inventory.
The company's adjacent nitrogen fertilizer plant, which was also flooded but sustained less damage than the refinery because it sits on higher ground, was restarted and began shipping product 2 weeks after the flood (OGJ Online, July 23, 2007).