Alon USA Energy Inc. said its 24,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit (FCCU) at its refinery in Big Spring, Texas, is back online.
Damaged in a Feb. 18 fire, the FCCU is operating at planned rates, enabling the refinery to return to its 70,000 bpd operating capacity.
More on Alon’s refinery restart and its road to recovery will be featured in the upcoming October issue of Convenience Store Decisions.
"I am extremely proud of the performance of my colleagues at the Big Spring Refinery in returning this major unit to operations so professionally and quickly,” said Jeff Morris, Alon’s president and CEO. “We are grateful for the support of our insurers who have already advanced us $250 million and the Big Spring community and for the work of our contractors, vendors and suppliers.
"I would like to also thank Israel Discount Bank and Bank Leumi for their continued support,” Morris said. “In addition, I want to express our gratitude to Credit Suisse and Bank of America for providing us with financing to support our acquisition of the Krotz Springs Refinery.
Morris said he’s also “humbled and encouraged by the support of our majority owner Alon Israel, our Board of Directors and our Executive Chairman David Wiessman, who have been unfailing in their support, including the $80 million of equity provided to purchase Krotz Springs and the $55 million of Letter of Credit support from Alon Israel.
“We have all been heartened by this concrete example of support by our employees, our leadership, our majority investor and our banks,” Morris said. “We intend to demonstrate that their support is well placed."
Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Alon USA is an independent refiner and marketer of petroleum products operating primarily in the South Central, Southwestern and Western regions of the U.S. The company owns four crude oil refineries in Texas, California, Louisiana and Oregon, with an aggregate crude oil throughput capacity of approximately 250,000 barrels per day.
Alon markets gas and diesel products under the FINA brand name. It operates more than 300 convenience stores primarily in West Texas and New Mexico, which are substantially under the 7-Eleven and FINA brand names.
