[StBernard] (BN) Valero Meraux Plant Returning to Planned Rates After Storm

[Westley Annis]

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 BN 04/03 21:39 *VALERO MERAUX REFINERY SHUT HYDROCRACKER AFTER LIGHTNING STRIKE  BN 04/03 21:39 *VALERO MERAUX LOST POWER AT HYDROCRACKER PUMP DURING STORM  BN 04/03 21:39 *VALERO'S MERAUX REFINERY RETURNING TO PLANNED RATES AFTER STORM


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Valero Meraux Plant Returning to Planned Rates After Storm (1)
2012-04-03 22:17:10.915 GMT


     (Updates with refinery’s capacity in fourth paragraph.)

By Lynn Doan
     April 3 (Bloomberg) -- Valero Energy Corp.’s Meraux refinery in Louisiana is returning to planned rates after being struck by lightning during a storm overnight.
     The lightning knocked out power to a charge pump associated with the refinery’s hydrocracker, Bill Day, a company spokesman at Valero’s San Antonio headquarters, said in an e-mail today.
     The unit was “safely shut down, then restarted this morning,” he said. “No other production units were affected, although the wastewater treatment plant also briefly lost power.”
     The Meraux refinery can process 135,000 barrels of feedstock a day, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The power failure isn’t expected to materially affect production at the plant, Day said.

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--Editors: Margot Habiby, Jasmina Kelemen

To contact the reporter on this story:
Lynn Doan in San Francisco at +1-415-617-7168 or ldoan6 at bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Dan Stets at +1-212-617-4403 or
dstets at bloomberg.net