On Saturday, Royal Dutch Shell Plc. closed the gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracker (FCC) at its refinery in Deer Park, Texas following a fire.
According to sources familiar with plant operations, there is no clarity on how long the 70,000 bpd FCC will be shut.
The small fire and leak occurred at one of the units of the Deer Park Manufacturing Complex, and the fire was extinguished. All individuals were safe at the complex.
The outage of the FCC will add to the tightening supply for the US, as the country’s gasoline demand is already close to 2019’s levels. The US consumption of finished gasoline has recovered since April.
According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), the country’s consumption in the second week of July has down by only 6% year-on-year to 8.6 million bpd, from April’s yearly slump of 48%.
