Petro-Can's Edmonton refinery still down
Alexandra Zabjek, edmontonjournal.com
Published: Friday, August 15, 2008
canada.com
EDMONTON - Petro-Canada's Edmonton refinery is still out of commission, leaving a growing number of stations in Alberta and British Columbia without gas.
Earlier this week, the company revealed the refinery's catalytic cracking unit had to be shut down.
Also known as a cat cracker, the unit has been described as the element that "finishes off the gasoline" before it is sent out on the market. It was shut down on Aug. 3 while the rest of the operation was already shut down for regular maintenance.
Some Petro-Canada gas stations have run out of gas as a result of a shutdown at an Edmonton refinery.
"We're not just talking about a part or something you can swap out, replace, and flick a switch to start going again. The cat cracker is a major piece of the refinery," said company spokeswoman Kelli Stevens. "It is large and complex. We have people inside it right now, figuring out exactly what went wrong and how best to repair it."
The refinery normally does 135,000 barrels per day of crude capacity, Stevens said.
That capacity has now been reduced to zero.
Petro-Canada on Tuesday said about a dozen sites in Alberta and the interior of British Columbia were out of regular gas, although diesel supplies have not been disrupted. The number of stations affected has grown, Stevens said, but she could not pinpoint an exact number.
"Some sites that have run out may have received a delivery of gas since then, others still may have their older inventory that could get drawn down but then be replaced," she said.
Stevens would not comment on whether retailers might be compensated for any lost revenues while supplies have been curtailed.
"In terms of the financial aspects of it, those discussions would be between us and the retailers and they're not going to be made public," she said. "They also haven't happened yet as our first priority is, obviously, to fix the cat cracker."
Petro-Canada is tapping its supplies on the west coast and in Eastern Canada to stop the gaps now created in Alberta and British Columbia. |
