Phillips 66 says a long-proposed crude-by-rail project at one of its California refineries is more critical to supply because of the extended shutdown of an oil pipeline that ruptured last year. Jim Anderson, manager of the project proposed at its Santa Maria refinery in Arroyo Grande, California, said on Thursday that last May’s shutdown of a Plains All American Pipeline LP line has made the rail facility “more urgent.” Plains’ Line 901 moved oil produced in Exxon Mobil Corp’s Santa Ynez offshore oilfield, and production ceased when the pipeline burst. Both “were key to maintaining the viability of the refinery,” Anderson said during a webcast of a San Obispo County planning commission hearing on Phillips’ request to build the rail facility. Phillips 66 proposed the project in 2013 to widen supply options as California heavy crude output shrinks. The facility would handle just heavy crude because the Santa Maria […]