Posted on Fri, Nov. 6, 2009
Valero Energy Corp. said today that it will temporarily shut down its 195,000 barrel-a-day Paulsboro refinery to conduct maintenance, but that the outage would not affect staffing levels.
The San Antonio company this month will shut Paulsboro's fluid catalytic cracking unit, which produces gasoline, and it will idle the entire refinery for three weeks at the end of the year, spokesman Bill Day said. Production is scheduled to resume in mid-January.
The outage occurs as the refining industry is buffeted by poor profit margins, reduced demand and big stockpiles.
Sunoco has mothballed its Eagle Point refinery in Westville, and Valero is in the process of offering buyouts to 100 of its 550 employees in Paulsboro.