Refinery Restart Delayed Due to System Timing Issues

The restart of the Rafael Ravard Refinery in Baton Rouge, LA is being delayed by technical issues according to Cesar Chavez, the facility manager. “We have been having some control system problems during the start up and until we resolve them, we will not be able to restart the refinery” Chavez told reporters.

The Ravard Refinery had been closed for their annual turnaround when the bottom fell out of the crude oil prices earlier this spring. “With the decreasing domestic demand for gasoline due to COVID-19 pandemic, we took some additional time on our turnaround to update systems and install some new technology to increase our efficiency” Chavez explained.

Sources at the refinery who are not authorized to talk to the press have said that the delays in restarting are not due to the new technology. “We are having problems with the timing services with our control system” a company engineer explained.

The company uses GPS timing signals to ensure that all components of the control system at the 500-acre facility are using the exact same time so that operations across the facility are safely coordinated. “For some reason we are not consistently receiving the GPS signals for that timing system across the facility” another source explained.

While some refinery employees are working at the facility during the post-turnaround testing phase, the full workforce will not be recalled until the facility is fully prepared to restart production.