PBF Energy Inc. has revised its timeline for restoring full operations at its 157,000-b/d dual-coking refinery in Martinez, Calif., amid ongoing repairs in the wake of a Feb. 1 fire at the site (OGJ Online, Mar. 13, 2025).
While PBF resumed partial operations of the refinery in late April, initial repair works led to discovery of “additional elements that need to be addressed in the rebuild process, which has expanded our previous scope of work and adjusted the timeline to reflect an expected restart by yearend [2025],” Michael Bukowski, PBF’s head of refining said during the operator’s latest quarterly earnings call on July 31.
To date, repairs at the refinery—previously slated to reach full operations by early fourth-quarter 2025—have included demolition of areas damaged by the fire, as well as construction of temporary equipment to restart undamaged units, added Karen Berriman Davis, PBF’s chief financial officer.
With demolition and long-lead procurement activities for the expanded scope of the Martinez restoration project now completed, Bukowski said the company has started civil works at the site and nearing installation of some modules and equipment already received for the rebuild of damaged areas.
PBF’s decision to push back full restart of Martinez’s operations resulted primarily from concerns over delivery timings for some major process vessels and pieces of rotating equipment required for the project, according to Bukowski.
The operator is also awaiting final approval of the project’s permit to operate from California’s Bay Area Air Quality Management District’s (BAAQMD).
On the regulatory front, Bukowski said PBF expects to receive the BAAQMD permit “very soon, which will allow all major [rebuilding] activities to start.”
Now producing limited quantities of gasoline, jet fuel, and intermediates for the California market, the Martinez refinery is scheduled to maintain its limited-operations capacity of 65,000-105,000 b/d until the rebuild is completed, PBF said.
Subsidiary PBF Holding Co. LLC began operating the dual-coking Martinez refinery—located on an 860-acre plot 30 miles northeast of San Francisco—following PBF’s 2019 acquisition of the site from Shell plc subsidiary Equilon Enterprises LLC (OGJ Online, Feb. 3, 2020).
