Feb. 7, 2012.

A brief power outage on Tuesday morning affected a gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracker and other units at Motiva Enterprises' 285,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas, refinery, said sources familiar with refinery operations.

News of the Motiva problems partially reversed a 0.75 cent-per-gallon slide in conventional M4 Gulf Coast gasoline differentials, which gained half a cent to a discount of 3.25 from NYMEX RBOB. A company spokeswoman confirmed a malfunction had occurred at the refinery.

"The Motiva Port Arthur Refinery is experiencing an operational situation that requires flaring at this time," said spokeswoman Kayla Macke in statement. "There are no injuries, nor is there any impact to the community. The appropriate agencies have been notified." Refineries operate their safety flare systems when production units within a refinery cannot operate normally either due to a malfunction or due to a planned shutdown.

Motiva posted a message similar to Macke's on an emergency information phone line provided to neighbors of the refinery, which is located near the Texas border with Louisiana. The refinery was working on Tuesday to stabilize the refinery's power supply and restore normal operations, the sources said.  "It was a blip," one of the sources said. "They're getting everything back to normal."

The Motiva Port Arthur refinery is a 50-50 joint venture between Saudi Refining and Shell Oil Co, Royal Dutch Shell Plc's U.S. unit. The refinery is near the completion of a $7 billion refinery expansion project that will make the Port Arthur plant the largest refinery in the United States.

By Reuters