Par Pacific’s Kapolei refinery suspends Russian crude imports

Par Pacific Holdings Inc. has temporarily halted purchases and imports of Russian crude oil for subsidiary Par Hawaii Refining LLC’s 94,000-b/sd Par East refinery—Hawaii’s only—in Kapolei, on the island of Oahu, in response to Russian military action in Ukraine.

“[Par Pacific] recognizes its important role in Hawaii’s energy security. We intentionally diversify our crude oil sources from locations around the globe to enable us to meet the state's ongoing demand for fuels.  However, in light of recent geopolitical events, we have decided to suspend purchases of Russian crude oil for our Hawaii refinery,” the company said in a Mar. 3 statement.

Acknowledging the rapidly changing nature of both the geopolitical landscape and energy markets, the operator did not commit to permanently discontinuing Russian imports into the refinery but will instead monitor and evaluate its posture crude supplies from the region in the coming weeks and months.

During the provisional ban on Russian crude deliveries, Par Pacific said the Par East refinery will seek replacement crude options from destinations primarily in North and South America to meet its fuel production requirements.

According to the latest company-level crude oil import data made available by the US Energy Information Administration for the month ending December 2021, the Par Pacific Kapolei refinery received at least one shipment of Russian crude from August-December 2021:

• August—One shipment; 704,000 bbl.
• September—Two shipments; 945,000 bbl total.
• October—One shipment; 700,000 bbl.
• November—One shipment; 706,000 bbl.
• December—One shipment; 705,000 bbl.

Based on its location in the central Pacific Ocean and equipped with its own offshore mooring terminal, the Kapolei refinery is positioned to source a variety of crude oil imports via tanker delivery from producers in North America, the Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, as well as Russia.