Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM)
At its 50,000 bpd Baton Rouge, Louisiana, refinery, Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) plans to shut down a coker and a crude distillation unit for maintenance work in January, according to Reuters on Tuesday.
Early in January, the 50,000 bpd Far East Coker would be shut down for the replacement of all four of its coke drums, according to the sources. The project is anticipated to be finished in 68 days.
The largest of the four refineries CDUs, the 210,000-bpd PSLA-10, will receive repair work first while the coker is shut down.
According to Reuters, after PSLA-10, work will be done on the 110,000 bpd PSLA-9 and the two 90,000 bpd CDUs, PSLA-7 and PSLA-8.
According to David Alton Clark’s optimistic research published recently on Seeking Alpha, Exxon Mobil (XOM) shares are currently trading for 11x free cash flow, when anything less than 15x is seen as cheap. Julie King, a spokeswoman for Exxon, declined to comment on future maintenance at the refinery in Baton Rouge.
CDUs convert crude oil into feedstocks that can be converted into polymers, lubricants, and motor fuels. The first units to process crude are CDUs.
Gunky, leftover crude oil from the distillation units is converted by cokers into feedstocks for motor fuels or petroleum coke, a product that can be used in place of coal.
The remaining crude is heated to 900 Fahrenheit (480 Celsius), which is the thermal cracking temperature, and then pumped into the enormous drums, where it is spun until it solidifies against the drum wall.
The hardened coke is subsequently separated from the drum wall by high-pressure, hot water jets, and the bottom of the drum opens to discharge the coke into a collection area.
Featured Image: Megapixl @Jetcityimage
Author Jowi Kwasu 
