Recovery from refinery fire

By Control Engineering Staff January 25, 2006

Scottsdale, AZ — Giant Industries Inc. experienced a fire at its 62,000-barrel-per-day Yorktown, VA, refinery in late November 2005, with most damage impacting the gas plant supporting the fluid catalytic cracker, and also affecting other units’ piping and instrumentation cables. Property insurance, with a $1 million deductible, together with business interruption insurance was expected to cover much of the repair cost and commercial impacts

The company plans a two-phase restoration to be completed by the end of first-quarter 2006, operating about 40,000 barrels daily until then. A 30-day turnaround for the fluid catalytic cracker had been planned for April 2006; it will now be accomplished in tandem with a $7-million high-return project aimed at boosting the yield of higher value product.

Richard Phelps , senior editor, Control Engineering