Total : Reports Equipment Problems at Port Arthur, Texas Refinery

Total Petrochemicals & Refining USA on Thursday reported an equipment breakdown that led to above-normal gas emissions at its refinery in Port Arthur, Texas.

“A pump failure at Unit 821 resulted in the lifting of a pressure safety valve that sent process gases to the flare gas recovery system,” the refinery said in a statement to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. “Operations started an alternate pump and began returning the unit to normal operations.”

It said the emissions of nearly 1,800 pounds of sulfur dioxide happened Thursday morning and lasted about an hour.

The 225,000-barrel-a-day Total Port Arthur refinery is located 95 miles east of Houston.
Source: Dow Jones