Phillips 66 advances planned maintenance at Alliance refinery

Phillips 66 is bringing forward planned maintenance activities at its 255,000-b/d Alliance refinery on the Mississippi River in Belle Chasse, Plaquemines Parish, La., about 25 miles southeast of New Orleans, following the refinery’s safe and orderly shutdown ahead of Hurricane Sally.

The Alliance refinery is currently preparing to begin scheduled maintenance work originally slated for October, during which time most plant operations will remain offline to ensure safe execution of work activities, Phillips 66 said on Sept. 16.

Details regarding specific units involved in the planned maintenance event and the exact duration of the work, however, are considered proprietary, the operator added.

Phillips 66, which completed shutdown activities at the site per its emergency response plan on Sept. 14, confirmed Hurricane Sally had no direct impact to operations at the Alliance refinery.

Hurricane Sally made landfall near Gulf Shores, Ala., at about 4:45 a.m. CST on Sept. 16 as a Category 2 storm with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph and a minimum central pressure of 965 mb, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's) National Hurricane Center in Miami.

As of 4:00 p.m. CST on Sept. 16, NOAA said Sally—since downgraded to tropical-storm status with maximum sustained winds decreasing to near 60 mph and an estimated minimum central pressure of 990 mb—was moving northeast at 7 mph, causing historic and catastrophic flooding to unfold along and just inland from west of Tallahassee, Fla., to Mobile, Ala., as well as life-threatening storm surge along portions of the coastline of the western Florida Panhandle, including Pensacola Bay.

Emergency shutdown of its Alliance refinery follows Phillips 66’s shuttering of its 249,000-b/d Lake Charles refining complex in Westlake, La., in late August ahead of Hurricane Laura, which made landfall along the US Gulf Coast near Cameron, La., at 1:00 a.m. CST on Aug. 27 as a Category 4 storm with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph and a minimum central pressure of 938 mb (OGJ Online, Sept. 1, 2020).

As of Sept. 9, Phillips 66 said it was continuing to make necessary repairs and initial preparations at Lake Charles refining complex for a proposed restart—contingent upon access to reliable electricity and other regional utilities—in the coming weeks (OGJ Online, Sept. 11, 2020).