Suncor plans mid-April turnaround for Commerce City, Co, refinery

By Liz Hampton

DENVER (Reuters) - Suncor Energy will begin a turnaround at its 98,000 barrel-per-day Commerce City refinery in the Denver suburbs in mid-April that will last until the first week of June, a company executive said on Monday in an interview.

As part of the turnaround, Suncor will be upgrading a gasoline-making fluid catalytic cracking unit (FCCU) at Plant 1 of the facility. Suncor in 2020 completed a similar update of an automatic shutdown system for the FCCU in Plant 2.

The mid-April turnaround is planned for Plant 1 and 3 of the facility, said Donald Austin, vice president of the Commerce City refinery on Monday.

Suncor on Monday released a third party investigation into emissions violations that occurred at its Colorado facility between 2017 and 2019. That report found the refinery design met environmental permits and that it was adequately funded, but cited areas for improvement including personnel training and systems upgrades.

By the end of 2023, Suncor plans to install an additional control system, upgraded instrumentation, automated shutdown valves and new hydraulic pressure units in Plant 2 of the facility.

(Reporting by Liz Hampton; Editing by Marguerita Choy)