PBF Energy has initiated the process of restarting several refinery process units at its Martinez, California, facility, which were taken offline following a fire in February. The company anticipates that the process of bringing these units back online will take approximately two weeks to complete.

However, PBF Energy clarified that certain units that sustained damage or were directly involved in the Feb. 1 fire will remain shut down for a more extended period. These units, specifically the catalytic gas plant and the catalytic feed hydrotreater, are not part of the current restart process and are not expected to resume operations until the fourth quarter of this year, the company stated.

The fire on Feb. 1 occurred in proximity to the 77,500 barrel-per-day (bpd) catalytic feed hydrotreater. This crucial unit plays a vital role in the refinery's operations, utilizing hydrogen to remove sulfur from gas oil. This desulfurization process is a necessary step in the production of unfinished gasoline, which is subsequently processed in the 70,000-bpd catalytic cracker. The Martinez refinery has a total crude oil processing capacity of 157,000 bpd.

PBF Energy also provided an update on the investigation into the cause of the February fire. The company stated that its dedicated investigation team is actively working to identify the root cause of the incident. The company anticipates that this investigation will be concluded and findings will be available by the end of the current month.

In a separate and unrelated incident, a fire occurred at the Martinez refinery on Wednesday night. According to the company, a portable air compressor caught fire while it was being refueled. This incident resulted in one injury. PBF Energy emphasized that this fire was swiftly extinguished and was not connected to any of the refinery's primary process units that are involved in the production of fuels. The company assured that this isolated incident would not impact the ongoing restart efforts of the unaffected refinery units. The focus remains on safely and efficiently bringing the operational units back online over the next two weeks.