Oil Refiner Phillips 66 May Idle Hurricane-Ravaged Facility

(Bloomberg) -- Phillips 66 may idle a New Orleans-area refinery that suffered so much damage during Hurricane Ida that repairs may be too costly, according to people familiar with the operation. 

Chief Executive Officer Greg Garland is expected to visit the Alliance refinery in the suburb of Belle Chasse, Louisiana, next week, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public. Company spokesman Bernardo Fallas said there’s no operational update or timeline for restarting the facility. 

The refinery, which can process more than 250,000 barrels of crude a day, was shut on Aug. 28, the day before Isa slammed into southeast Louisiana with ferocious winds and drenching rains. A 9-foot wall of water punched a hole in the refinery’s protective levee and inundated the plant. 

The damages may complicate Phillips 66’s efforts to find a buyer for an asset it was trying to unload before the storm because of “market conditions and the evolving energy landscape.”

Meanwhile, Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s refinery and chemical plant north of the city will remain shut for several more weeks so repairs can be performed, people familiar with the operation said. Damages from Ida included wrecked pipes and insulation torn away by the winds.

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