As Hurricane Lane, currently a Category 2 storm, makes its way towards Hawaii, our priority today is supporting Par Pacific Holdings, which is temporarily shutting down its 93,500 barrel per day refinery in Kapolei, on the island of Oahu, to ensure the safety of workers, and the community and environment surrounding the facility.
The unprecedented disaster wrought by Hurricane Harvey has the safety of friends, family, colleagues and communities along the Gulf Coast weighing heavy on our minds and hearts.
Fuel supply restrictions resulting from hurricanes and other natural disasters, often lead to price increases as the market reacts to rebalance supply and demand. To protect consumers, many states have enacted price gouging laws that limit a merchant’s ability to raise prices during an emergency.
Hurricane Irma passed through Florida and into the Southeast over the weekend, and our thoughts and prayers are with the state and its residents as they begin to recover from this devastating storm.
A duo of strong storms that swept through the United States has temporarily disrupted domestic fuel markets, but effective responses by the private and public sectors have limited the fallout from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma for Americans who need fuel critical for commerce.
The American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) today released a new video highlighting the safety approach and measures used by U.S. refineries with hydrofluoric acid (HF) alkylation units.
Refinery utilization, measures how much crude oil refineries are processing or “running” as a percentage of their maximum capacity. It tells us roughly how much of our refining muscle is being put to work manufacturing fuel. American refineries are running full-out, at about 95% of total capacity, contributing more fuel—gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, etc.—to the global market than any other country. In fact, U.S. refineries process more crude oil every day than the United States produces, and we make more finished fuels than the United States consumes.
With the possibility that the EPA and policymakers could make updates to the Risk Management Plan (RMP) program, there are three things we encourage them to keep in mind: 1. RMP is working as intended and keeping people safe. 2. Any changes to RMP must be evidence-based and actionable. 3. Using RMP to zero in on hydrofluoric acid (HF) alkylation at refineries could have major impacts on U.S. fuel supplies.