Phillips 66 declares force majeure on green anode coke from Alliance refinery

US oil refiner Phillips 66 has declared force majeure on its green anode coke from its Alliance refinery in Belle Chasse, Louisiana, effective Aug. 27, according to a copy of the notice, dated Aug. 31 and received by Platts.

The coker at the Alliance refinery supplies green anode coke to merchant calciners and aluminum companies, which use it to produce calcined petcoke for aluminum production.

"Phillips 66 is declaring force majeure effective August 27, 2021, due to Hurricane Ida," the notice said. "This event, which is beyond our control, has forced Phillips 66 to shut our Alliance Refinery. We will resume operations once it is safe to do so."

Earlier Aug. 31, Phillips 66 said water had breached its Alliance refinery.

"The Phillips 66 Alliance Refinery in Belle Chasse, Louisiana, remains shut down," company spokesperson Melissa Ory said in an email Aug. 31. "At this time, Phillips 66 can confirm there is some water in the refinery. Our team will conduct a full post-storm assessment of the refinery when it is deemed safe to do so."

Merchant calciners report outages

Merchant calciners Rain Carbon and Oxbow also saw hurricane-related outages at their calcining plants in the region. On Aug. 30, Rain said operations were temporarily curtailed at its calcination, energy and terminal facilities at Chalmette, Gramercy and Norco, Louisiana, as well as Purvis, Mississippi, ahead of the storm. The facilities remained shut down Aug. 31, and Rain said it would take "several days" to conduct a full damage assessment and make plans to restart the plants.

Oxbow said its calciner at Baton Rouge was also shut down ahead of the storm and remained closed Aug. 31.

"While we have not had the opportunity to safely complete a full damage assessment of the facility, preliminary reports indicate that only minor damages have been sustained and that a restart of the kilns is expected within the next few days," Oxbow's Aug. 31 statement said.

Rain and Oxbow are the only merchant calciners in the US and supply aluminum smelters with CPC in North America, Europe and the Middle East.

Norco still shut

Shell's refinery at Norco, which also supplies green anode coke to merchant calciners, suffered some damage and remained shut Aug. 31.

"Our Norco manufacturing site was shut down in anticipation of storm conditions. The site did lose power and there is evidence of some building damage. We will commence a site start up when safe to do so," Shell spokesperson Curtis Smith said in an email Aug. 31.

The operating status of ExxonMobil's 520,000 b/d Baton Rouge refinery was uncertain Aug. 31. Its coker is also another major supplier of green anode coke to merchant calciners. The plant, the second-largest in Louisiana, was said to have power issues, but they impacted the plant's administrative offices and auxiliary storage facilities, according to one local source.

A spokesperson for ExxonMobil did not immediately respond to a query Aug. 31 asking for information on the plant's status, but the plant was still closed on Aug. 30.

Concerns about barge traffic

A US calciner source said a more pressing problem could be the disruption to barge traffic on the Mississippi River as a result of Ida.

"Right now the bigger issue is all river operations remain shut down," the calciner source said. "Nothing can function without river access."

There has been no direct reaction in calcined petcoke prices in the US Gulf as a result of the hurricane. The Platts monthly assessment of US calcined petcoke, published Aug. 31, rose to $435-$460/mt for August from $430-$450/mt for July for 2.5%-3.0% sulfur, 300-400 ppm, shipping 30-60 days out. There had been evidence of price increases occurring throughout the month before the hurricane struck.