The biggest refinery in the U.S. may only be running at 40% of its operating capacity by the end of this weekend, according to the plant's owner, Motiva.
The 600,000-barrel-a-day fuel-making factory in Port Arthur, Texas, had to shut down as Hurricane Harvey flooded the area. The company gave an update Tuesday that said it was in the initial restart phase, six days after taking the plant down due to massive flooding in the area.
"The refinery is in the final phases of equipment assessments and initial phases of refinery start up," said Motiva, which is owned by Saudi Arabia's state-run oil giant Saudi Aramco. "We expect the refinery to initially return to approximately 40% production by the end of this weekend, provided that the final assessments meet our operational standards."
The Port Arthur refinery, 90 miles east of Houston, is in an area that suffered 24 inches of rainfall in 24 hours. The company cited "local flood conditions" when it shut down this past Wednesday.