Shell is idling a unit at the Deer Park, Texas, refinery for several months due to low demand for fuels, sources familiar with the refinery’s operations told Reuters . The 318,000-barrels-per-day refinery operates under a 50-50 joint venture set up in 1993 between Shell and Mexico’s state oil firm Pemex. The refinery is now idling the sulfur recovery unit (SRU) due to the depressed demand, while currently, the facility operates at around 75 percent of its capacity, according to Reuters’ sources. According to the latest EIA estimates , average refinery utilization at U.S. refineries stood at 77.5 percent in the week to July 3, with utilization rate slowly creeping up over the past few weeks from the 67.9 percent capacity utilization rate in the first week of May. Typically, U.S. refinery utilization rates at this time of the year with the driving season are around 95 percent. Apart from […]