Citgo Petroleum Corp. plans to restart the vacuum distillation unit at its 167,000-b/d Lemont, Ill., by the end of January following repairs to damage caused by an October 2013 fire (OGJ Online, Oct. 24, 2013).
Pete Colarelli, Citgo’s government and public affairs manager for the Lemont refinery, told OGJ on Jan. 3 that the company’s plan is to restart the unit this month once repairs are completed and it has received approval from the appropriate state and local agencies.
While repairs and inspections are progressing, Citgo has not set a specific date for the unit’s restart, Colarelli said.
The company resumed operations of refinery’s atmospheric distillation tower on Nov. 11 (OGJ Online, Nov. 13, 2013).
Delays in the refinery’s full-restart follows an interim court order filed by the state of Illinois on Nov. 8, under which Citgo cannot resume operations of the fire-impacted vacuum distillation unit until the company has demonstrated it is safe to do so (OGJ Online, Nov. 11, 2013).
