PBF Energy to shut fuel-producing units at Paulsboro refinery -letter

PBF Energy will shut most refining units at its Paulsboro, New Jersey, refinery, the company's chief executive said in a letter to employees on Wednesday that cited the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic on fuel demand.


Reuters | Updated: 29-10-2020 09:18 IST | Created: 29-10-2020 06:08 IST
PBF Energy to shut fuel-producing units at Paulsboro refinery -letter
Representative image Image Credit: Piqsels

PBF Energy will shut most refining units at its Paulsboro, New Jersey, refinery, the company's chief executive said in a letter to employees on Wednesday that cited the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic on fuel demand. The company will cut 250 jobs at the refinery, which will now only produce partially refined feedstocks that will be sent to PBF's nearby Delaware City, Delaware, refinery, CEO Tom Nimbley said in the letter, which was seen by Reuters.

"PBF Energy, along with the entire oil industry, has been significantly, unexpectedly, and negatively impacted from the wellhead to the pump by the COVID-19 pandemic, primarily through demand destruction for transportation fuels related to lockdowns that throttled back the economy," Nimbley said in the letter, which was sent to employees after the market close on Wednesday. PBF was not immediately available for comment.

In a 2019 press release, PBF said it had 489 full-time workers at the refinery. The 180,000 barrel-per-day Paulsboro refinery is one of just a handful remaining on the East Coast, where a number of facilities have closed in recent years.

Canada's Come-by-Chance plant in Newfoundland and Labrador has been idled since May due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. In 2019 the Philadelphia Energy Solutions plant was shut down following an explosion and fire.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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