According to market sources, a small crude distillation unit (CDU) unit by Valero Energy Corp is resuming its 335,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) production in Arthur Port, Texas after fixing a valve last Sunday. The company also amplify its large CDU unit in the same port refinery which was stopped production because of the Imelda Tropical storm.
Valero arranged the AVU 147 CDU on storage as Imelda soaked the refinery on Wednesday and Thursday drowning neighboring streets and delaying the sulfur extraction from the manufacturing of motor fuel. AVU 147 was back to the valve repairing process again after back to production on Sunday morning.
Valero also reduced output on AVU 146 CDU that produces 268,000 bpd because it was not possible to remove sulfur from the plant. On Sunday, AVU 146 returned to full capacity production.
During manufacturing, U.S. environmental laws mandate the sulfur removal from motor fuels as for all other manufacturing units at the refinery, CDUs are primarily refining crude oil into hydrocarbon feedstocks.
