Newcastle Heater Response Site

Friday March 7 Update and Timeline

Work remains on schedule at the Newcastle Refinery.  As with everything we do, safety will dictate the recovery efforts and timeline.  Our workforce is motivated and committed to the goal of a safely executed project and restart of the refinery.

Two specific projects make up most of our focus.  Two large heaters were damaged in the incident on Feb 12.  One of these is being repaired onsite, while the second will be replaced with a new heater currently being fabricated in Oklahoma.  These parallel efforts are expected to allow partial restart of the refinery in mid-April.  This partial start will allow the facility to run at a reduced rate and begin to produce needed transportation fuels such as gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel.  We expect full production to be achievable in late May once the new heater arrives and is installed.

Wyoming Refining Company is committed to fulfilling the supply needs of our customers and the Back Hills region throughout the process and beyond.

Wednesday March 5 Update

Heater Stack Removal

As reported in earlier updates, several heavy cranes have now arrived in Newcastle and are clearly visible at the facility.  The most noticeable visual change is the safe removal of the damaged crude heater stack, which could be seen leaning onto other structures.  This is an important milestone in removing a safety hazard that limited further assessment and repair.  While it is still too early to predict the full operational restart of the refinery, progress continues.

Our focus on safety continues every day.  Many man-hours have been devoted to date in protection and recovery operations.  This effort has been accomplished without injury or offsite impact.  We appreciate the support and the concern from the community and will continue to communicate milestones or changes as we have the facts.

Sunday March 2 Update – Power outage and flaring

The Newcastle Refinery suffered a disruption in electrical service from Black Hills Power last night (March 1, 2025) resulting in a full loss of power to all equipment.  There were no environmental releases nor any injuries.

This power disruption resulted in a visible flame from the flare.  Further investigation confirmed there was no fire at the facility and no additional damage.  Personnel were able to restart the cooling water and steam systems once it was deemed safe.  We are in communication with Black Hills Power to understand the disruption in service to the facility.

 

Wednesday February 26 Update

All of us at Wyoming Refining Company (WRC) want to assure the Newcastle community that safety of the public and workers is our top priority.  We are making every effort to minimize impact to the local community while keeping the public informed.

Improved weather conditions are providing an advantage this week.  Work plans are progressing along with assessment of freeze damage that occurred last week.  Simultaneously, the post incident assessment and surveys are ongoing.  This is a very detailed process and needs to be done while maximizing safety. WRC personnel are being augmented in this work with a host of subject matter experts, engineers, and contractors.

As mentioned in prior updates, we are expecting additional truck activity and crane deliveries along Main Street later this week and over the weekend.  We appreciate the community’s patience with any traffic modifications or closures.  These should be intermittent and will be coordinated with Newcastle PD and Weston County Sheriff’s department.

We will keep the community informed with future updates as work progresses.

Monday February 24 Update

What we know right now…

Conditions were very difficult last week with sub-zero temperatures confounding the important work around investigation, assessment and repair at Newcastle Refinery.  Conducting simultaneous prevention measures to prevent future damage from freezing kept the workforce very busy.  This was a challenging week, but we are very happy to report WRC had no environmental exceedances nor any personal work-related injuries.  Safely conducting all of these tasks is our primary objective.  Important progress was made though we still have work to do to better predict when the facility will be fully operational.  Community members will notice an increased cadence this week with arrivals of equipment and materials.  We ask for your patience as Main Street traffic may be temporarily diverted due to delivery of large equipment and cranes.  We will minimize this inconvenience as much as possible while working with Newcastle PD and Weston County Sheriff on traffic control.

Thank you again for your understanding and concern.

Wednesday February 19 Update

What we know right now….

Our efforts remain intently focused on the protection of people and the environment.

Residents of Newcastle will notice the refinery remains shrouded in steam.  While this is much more noticeable that normal, there are increased, ongoing efforts to prevent the current sub-zero temperatures from further damaging equipment.  This complicates our efforts in other areas of assessment and investigation.  There still may be some routine and intermittent flaring as described in prior updates.  While we cannot speculate at this time on scheduled completion or likely restart timing, rest assured that we will continue to communicate important milestones to the community and provide updates when we have confirmed facts.

Our employees want to acknowledge the positive comments heard in the community along with the care and concern for the hard work being done.  We want to also directly thank both the Pizza Barn and Isabella’s catering for providing hot meals around the clock for our personnel.  Warm food is the highlight of a cold workday.

WRC remains committed to a safe community and working in partnership with our residents and businesses.