CVR Partners LP, Sugar Land, Texas, announced on Aug. 25 that it currently intends to defer the scheduled turnaround at its Coffeyville, Kan., nitrogen fertilizer facility from October 2021 (GM Aug. 6, p. 28) to third-quarter 2022.
“The health and safety of our employees, contractors, and communities remains our critical priority,” said Mark Pytosh, President and CEO of CVR Partners’ general partner. “Between the recent spike in COVID-19 cases and the addition of Louisiana to Kansas’ travel quarantine list, we thought it prudent to reconsider the timing of this turnaround.
“Our proactive performance of maintenance activities during recent downtime events, together with a planned short, opportunistic outage later in the year, should enable us to safely defer this turnaround and complete the installation of the urea expansion project,” he added. “This turnaround deferral should also position us to capitalize on the strong margin environment we are currently seeing for both ammonia and UAN.”
The company said it will continue to monitor its marketing and operating conditions and make adjustments, if needed, to its turnaround and maintenance planning.
CVR now expects its total forecasted turnaround spending for 2021 of approximately $8-$10 million of expense for the Coffeyville facility to be spent in 2022, which will be in addition to the planned 2022 turnaround for its East Dubuque nitrogen fertilizer facility.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) amended its travel quarantine list to include those arriving from the state of Louisiana, effective Aug. 13. The travel quarantine period for the non-vaccinated is seven days with a negative test result or 10 days without testing.
KDHE has also amended its list to state that anyone who attends an in-state or out-of-state mass gathering of 500 or more where individuals do not socially distance and wear a mask should follow the quarantine guidelines. Previously, the list included out-of-state mass gatherings only.
“The virus does not know the boundaries of our state, and we must all take steps to protect those close to us by staying home after attending any large events,” said KDHE Secretary Dr. Lee Norman.