Big Spring Refinery Reopens

The West Texas oil refinery closed by an explosion in February has partially reopened.

Alon USA Energy Inc. said Monday that the Big Spring refinery had resumed producing gasoline, diesel and asphalt.

The company said it was ahead of schedule in repairing and restarting parts of the refinery, and it aimed to have another key unit running again by mid-July.

Alon said the refinery was operating at 35,000 barrels per day _ about half its normal capacity. The company said a crude oil unit and other sections of the plant had resumed operations.

Chief Executive Jeff D. Morris said the company was ahead of its own schedule in returning the refinery to full production.

The company said it had inspected that part of the plant, called a fluid catalytic cracking unit, and won't need to wait for any major replacement equipment.

Two other units that are still under repair should return to production after the cracking unit, Morris said.

Five people were hurt when an explosion rocked the refinery Feb. 18, sending black smoke billowing into the sky and closing schools and an interstate highway.

The injury count might have been reduced because only 40 people were working on the President's Day holiday instead of the usual crew, which is four times as large, company officials said at the time.

The refinery is located 290 miles west of Dallas. It is one of four refineries operated by Alon in Texas, California and Oregon.

Dallas-based Alon, whose majority owner is Alon Israel Oil Co., depends on the refinery for 60 percent of its gross income, according to Standard & Poor's Ratings Services.

The company makes and sells petroleum products under the FINA brand in several southern and western states and supplies some 7-Eleven stores.