Winter Freeze Shuts In 15% of Gulf Coast Refinery Capacity

The cold spell that began earlier this month has prompted the shut-in of 15% of refining capacity along the Gulf Coast. The data comes from Wood Mackenzie, as quoted by Bloomberg, and translates into 1.5 million bpd in throughput capacity. While the outage is not expected to last for a very long time, at some refineries they may extend into the start of spring maintenance season, according to Wood Mac analyst Lee Williams. Subzero temperatures can cause malfunctions at refineries that have not been equipped for such weather conditions and they…