PBF restarts some units at Martinez refinery after February fire; fire-damaged units remain shut

By Nicole Jao

NEW YORK, April 3 (Reuters) - PBF Energy PBF.N is restarting several refinery process units at the Martinez facility that were shut after a fire broke out in February, the company said on Thursday.

The units will be restarting on Thursday and the process will take approximately two weeks, according to the announcement.

However, any units that were damaged or involved in the February fire, including the catalytic gas plant and catalytic feed hydrotreater will remain shut and will not begin the restart process until the fourth quarter, the company said.

On February 1, a fire at the 157,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Martinez, California refinery broke out near the 77,500-bpd catalytic feed hydrotreater, which uses hydrogen to remove sulfur from gas oil to make unfinished gasoline in the 70,000-bpd catalytic cracker.

The company said its investigation team is working to identify the cause of the fire and is expected to complete by the end of the month.

On Wednesday night, a portable air compressor at the Martinez refinery caught on fire while being refueled, injuring one person. The fire was extinguished and was unrelated to any refinery process units.