Few refineries on Sunday reported problems on the first day severe cold descended across the U.S. Gulf Coast, home to about half of the country’s crude oil refining capacity.
Exxon Mobil said it was shutting units at its Baytown, Texas, petrochemical complex on the east side of Houston, because of the freezing weather.
Temperatures in Baytown are at 26 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 4 Celsius), according to data from AccuWeather.com.
Exxon did not identify which units were shut at the complex, which includes a chemical plant, olefins plant, ethane cracker and the 564,440 barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery.
Citgo Petroleum said a malfunction triggered flaring in the East Plant of its 165,000-bpd Corpus Christi, Texas, refinery on Sunday.
Citgo did not say if the weather was a cause of the upset that required the use of the refinery’s safety flare system. Refineries utilize their flare system when hydrocarbons cannot be processed normally.
(Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)