Refinery To Reopen In September

Wednesday, July 18th 2007, 12:42 pm

By: News On 6

COFFEYVILLE, Kan. (AP) _ Coffeyville Resources said Wednesday it expects its refinery, which was damaged in widespread flooding two weeks ago and leaked thousands of gallons of oil, to reopen in mid-September.

Keith Osborn, executive vice president and the refinery's general manager, said in a news release that the company faces ``extensive repairs'' to pumps, motors and control equipment at the refinery. But, he added, ``we are fortunate that our preliminary assessment indicates there was no major damage to our large, engineered equipment and processing units.''

The plant was inundated when the Verdigris River topped its banks on June 30 and July 1 and flooded a third of Coffeyville. A malfunction while attempting to shut down the plant led to about 71,000 gallons of oil leaking into the floodwaters, further complicating citywide efforts to recover from the disaster.

The company said it has hired about 1,000 contract workers to help refinery employees with the repairs. Spokesman Steve Eames said the company isn't releasing a cost estimate for the repairs.

The company is working with federal and state environmental officials to clean up the oil. Eames said a cost estimate for that work hasn't been determined.

``We're focused first on getting it done,'' he said.

Coffeyville Resources said a separate nitrogen fertilizer facility on the same property suffered less damage and was expected to begin shipping products to customers Wednesday afternoon.

The refinery's closing has been blamed partly for the increased cost of fuel across the Midwest. Coffeyville Resources' facility produced 108,000 barrels per day of gasoline, representing about one-seventh of the region's fuel refining capacity, according to Tom Kloza, publisher and chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service.