PBF Toledo refinery to delay full restart after completing turnaround
BF Energy Inc is indefinitely delaying the restart of several units including a cat cracker and a crude unit at its 170,000 barrel-per-day refinery in Toledo, Ohio, due to poor refinery economics, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The units were taken offline earlier this year as part of a plant turnaround, but since that time the spread of the novel coronavirus has sapped demand for key products including gasoline and jet fuel.
The restart of the refinery’s gas plant and alkylation unit will also be delayed from their initial targeted early April restart, the sources said. Some units will be brought back online in the coming days, they said, and the refinery will continue to focus on chemical and diesel production.
PBF Energy did not respond to a request for comment.
The refinery has also drastically reduced contract maintenance workers in the plant in response concerns over the spread of coronavirus, the sources said.
Analysts have said that refineries in the U.S. Midwest and Rocky Mountains that mostly produce gasoline and have limited storage space for crude and refined products are vulnerable to shutdowns as stocks build.
Reporting by Laura Sanicola; Editing by Lisa Shumaker
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