Feb 8, 2012:

The power interruption at Motiva's Port Arthur, Texas, refinery impacted operations at the plant's key gasoline-making fluid catalytic cracking unit, an alkylation unit and hydrocracking unit, according to a filing to Texas state environmental regulators. The partial power outage, which occurred at about 9:20 a.m. CST on Tuesday, slowed operations at some process units and caused others to shutdown, the filing said. Some units were not affected. "The disruption in the power supply resulted in operational upsets which overwhelmed the flare vapor recovery systems," the filing said.

Gulf Coast spot market gasoline pricing differentials moved into positive territory in afternoon trading on Tuesday on the Motiva news, which joint-venture partner Shell Oil confirmed. "The Motiva Port Arthur Refinery is experiencing some flaring at this time. The appropriate agencies have been notified," Shell Oil spokeswoman Kayla Macke said Tuesday. The refinery is in the process of commissioning expansion units that will increase the plant's crude oil throughput capacity by 325,000 barrels a day, to 600,000 barrels a day. It will be the largest refinery in the U.S.

Motiva is a partnership between Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA, RDSA.LN, RDSB, RDSB.LN) and Saudi Aramco

 By Fox Business