HOUSTON, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Valero Energy Corp said on Saturday work on a vacuum unit at its 171,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery had been moved to the first half of 2012 from April of this year.
'This vacuum unit turnaround has been postponed, most likely until sometime in the first half of 2012, for refinery optimization reasons,' Valero spokesman Bill Day said in a statement. 'The McKee (hydrocracking unit) turnaround is still scheduled to begin in April.'
Refinery optimization is an industry term meaning the company wants to boost production as much as possible.
On recent conference calls, Valero Chief Executive Bill Klesse has said the McKee refinery is benefiting the low cost of West Texas Intermediate crude.
(Reporting by Erwin Seba, editing by Maureen Bavdek)
((erwin.seba@thomsonreuters.com; +1 713 210 8508; Reuters Messaging: erwin.seba.reuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: REFINERY OPERATIONS/VALERO MCKEE (For help: Click 'Contact Us' in your desk top, click here or call 1-800-738-8377 for Reuters Products and 1-888-463-3383 for Thomson products; For client training: training.americas@thomsonreuters.com ; +1 646-223-5546) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
'This vacuum unit turnaround has been postponed, most likely until sometime in the first half of 2012, for refinery optimization reasons,' Valero spokesman Bill Day said in a statement. 'The McKee (hydrocracking unit) turnaround is still scheduled to begin in April.'
Refinery optimization is an industry term meaning the company wants to boost production as much as possible.
On recent conference calls, Valero Chief Executive Bill Klesse has said the McKee refinery is benefiting the low cost of West Texas Intermediate crude.
(Reporting by Erwin Seba, editing by Maureen Bavdek)
((erwin.seba@thomsonreuters.com; +1 713 210 8508; Reuters Messaging: erwin.seba.reuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: REFINERY OPERATIONS/VALERO MCKEE (For help: Click 'Contact Us' in your desk top, click here or call 1-800-738-8377 for Reuters Products and 1-888-463-3383 for Thomson products; For client training: training.americas@thomsonreuters.com ; +1 646-223-5546) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.