Valero to lose 1.3 million barrels in lost-refining capacity

Valero Energy Corp. has shut down the company’s fluid catalytic cracking unit at its St. Charles refinery in Louisiana for needed repairs.

Valero spokeswoman Mary Rose Brown says the repairs should take 20 days to complete.

This will result in a loss of gasoline production of 65,000 barrels per day or 1.3 million barrels. Refinery officials do not expect a material impact to the 250,000-barrel-per-day facility’s distillate production. Distillates include jet fuel and diesel.

The refinery is located 15 miles west of New Orleans. Since Valero bought the refinery in 2003, the company invested more than $300 million into the facility.

San Antonio-based Valero (NYSE: VLO) is an oil refining and marketing company. The company has 18 refineries in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean with a combined throughput capacity of 3.3 million barrels per day.

San Antonio Business Journal