Canadian refineria put off maintenance to help supplies

Oil companies in Canada are thinking about putting off scheduled autumn maintenance work on their refineries and pipelines in order to help the United States overcome gasoline supply interruptions caused by Hurricane Katrina.

Postponing maintenance will allow Canadian refineries to keep working at capacity at a time when US refining capacity is crippled by damage and flooding. Crude oil production in the Gulf of Mexico is currently cut by 90 percent, and eight Gulf Coast refineries are still closed while 11 others are in production, but at a reduced rate.

In addition, there are problems in getting crude oil from the Gulf Coast area to refineries in the Midwest. While there are no specific emergency provisions in the North American Free Trade Agreement allowing such actions, an industry official said that if the US would identify specific needs, the Canadian oil industry would do everything they can to help out.

Besides sending oil products to the US, Canada is also in discussions to send power utility crews from Canada to the US to help get electricity back up and running in the storm-affected areas so that refineries that were not damaged can resume production as quickly as possible.