U.S. petroleum refinery capacity continues to increase

U.S. Energy Information Administration ------ As of January 1, 2017, U.S. operable atmospheric crude distillation capacity reached 18.6 million barrels per calendar day (b/cd), 1.6% higher than at the beginning of 2016, according to EIA's annual Refinery Capacity Report. This increase in operable capacity was slightly lower than last year’s increase of 2.0%. The capacities of secondary units that support heavy crude oil processing and production of ultra-low sulfur diesel and gasoline, including thermal cracking (coking), catalytic hydrocracking, and hydrotreating/desulfurization, also increased. Catalytic hydrocracking and deasphalting units experienced the largest capacity increases over the past year, rising by 4.5% and 6.1%, respectively.EIA's Refinery Capacity Report measures refinery capacity in b/cd and barrels per stream day (b/sd). Calendar-day capacity is a measure of the amount of input that a distillation unit can process in a 24-hour period under usual operating conditions, taking into account both planned and unplanned maintenance. Stream-day capacity is the maximum number of barrels of input that a distillation facility can process within a 24-hour period when running at full capacity under optimal conditions with no allowance for downtime. Stream-day capacity has historically been 6% higher than calendar-day capacity. To learn more click on the picture below to read the article.