Findlay, Ohio-based Marathon Petroleum said it idled its refinery in Gallup, N.M., April 15. Bloomberg said it’s the first U.S. facility to close because of the coronavirus pandemic. Bloomberg added, “It’s not likely to be the last.” Jamal Kheiry of Marathon said the refinery will maintain regular staffing levels while it is down and will return to normal operations “as soon as demand levels justify doing so.” Crude oil capacity of the refinery is about 26,000 barrels per day.
Other recent announcements of reduced operations by Permian Basin operators include:
Callon Petroleum of Houston said April 16 it will further downsize to one completion crew and reduce its number of drilling rigs to three by next month. Callon’s latest announcement followed an earlier statement March 17 of reduction of capital spending for 2020.
Lilis Energy of Fort Worth said April 15 it decided to shut-in 12 of its 39 producing wells in Delaware Basin “as each of these shut-in wells are deemed uneconomic in the current environment.” Lilis said it has no current plans to drill or complete any new wells “while these conditions persist… Most of the company’s lands are currently held by production, which also minimizes the need to drill and complete additional wells in the near-term.”
