Alon USA Energy Inc. said it has reopened the Big Spring, Texas refinery truck rack following an explosion and subsequent fire at facility on Feb. 18. All of the other company racks have remained operational since the explosion. The cause of the blast remains under investigation.
"We are pleased with the progress we are making in returning the Big Spring refinery to service. This is the first step of many," said Jeff Morris, Alon’s president and chief executive officer. "We are currently ahead of our own internal schedule and continue to be optimistic about returning to the first stage of operation producing gasoline and diesel within 60 days. Since the explosion at the refinery, we have supplied all our customers with 100% of their contract volumes and no contract customer has been placed on allocation."
Morris said the company has developed contingency supply plans for its customers.
Alon primarily markets gasoline and diesel under the FINA brand name, through a network of approximately 1,200 locations, of which about 300 are company owned through its Southwest Convenience Stores subsidiary.
The 70,000-barrel-per-day Big Spring refinery, one of four operated by the company, delivers products to marketers from Ft. Smith, Ark. to Phoenix via company-owned and third-party pipelines. The plant employs approximately 170 people.