Photograph: Photo cutline: Opelousas Noon Rotary Club president Mike Ortego presents Delek-Krotz Springs refinery manager John Thompson with a Rotary pennant after Thompson provided a presentation on Tuesday. (Photograph by Freddie Herpin.)
BOBBY ARDOIN
Editor/Consulting Writer
Delek-Krotz Springs plant general manager John Thompson is a strong proponent of clean air emissions, but he told the Opelousas Noon Rotary Club on Tuesday not to expect the use of oil to disappear anytime soon.
Thompson, a former U.S. naval lieutenant commander, told the Rotarians that there should be enough oil and natural gas resources remaining in the Permian Basin to last for at least the next 200 years.
If U.S. energy officials are seeking a clean energy source to supplement or displace the use of oil, Thompson suggested that they turn to nuclear energy, which he called, “incredibly safe and has the smallest amount of carbon footprint.”
As a naval veteran, Thompson says his branch of the military has realized nuclear energy has its benefits.
Thompson said the Navy has utilized 83 nuclear-powered ships, which have proven the energy source can be used safely and operated relatively inexpensively.
It’s also probably going to take the U.S. a while before the use of electric vehicles becomes a practical method for reliable and cost effective transportation.
Thompson challenged the Rotarians to use a mathematical formula and form their own conclusions about EV usage.
Normally households at this point, Thompson said, don’t provide enough amp pull or wattage capacity to recharge batteries for EV’s and provide power to run other electrical necessities such as a clothes dryer.
For instance the popular Tesla model EV ordinarily requires 60 amps to provide a battery charge, Thompson said.
Delek In Krotz Springs.
Thompson, who has earned his MBA from the Naval postgraduate school,said the Delek-US plant in Krotz Springs employs about 200 people in addition to about 110 contractors at the site which operates on a 24-hour basis.
From barges which arrive at the Krotz Spring port or from a series of pipelines located in Louisiana and Texas, the plant refines light crude and other oil-related products, Thompson said.
Delek leases wharf and dock space from the Krotz Springs Port Commission to load and unload the barge traffic that has moved upward from the Atchafalaya River.
A Port Commission audit performed for the budgetary year ending June 30, 2022, indicates Delek spent $279,852 in annual lease payments.
In 2019 the state announced an award of $150 to assist the refinery with projects over the next five years.
Surviving COVID
Thompson said 2020 was undoubtedly the toughest year for the refinery, which experienced profit reductions that were an estimated $120 million.
“We have spent the last four years getting the refinery through COVID. The upside of the situation is in 2020 we were able to break the largest single production profit record, so we are on track now,” Thompson said.
Thompson said the Krotz Spring refinery has reflected the best operational efficiency of any Delek-US refinery in the Texas-Arkansas circuit in terms of costs and processing.
