Hydrodec hit by delays to Canton-Ohio refinery

Hydrodec said production from its newly rebuilt refinery in Canton, Ohio had to be halted in the early stages after commissioning.

The AIM-listed company said during the production ramp-up at the rebuilt and expanded plant, "equipment integrity issues have caused production to be halted whilst necessary remedial work is undertaken".

The oil refining company said it was working with the principal constructor and the original equipment manufacturer to resolve the issues and expected to provide a further update to the market by the end of next week.

Hydrodec had last month said orders for the newly commissioned capacity at Canton were very encouraging and that it expected first sales of base oil shortly after production started, with transformer oil sales following three to four weeks later.

Its North America subsidiary expected to use the expanded capacity to broaden sales to a variety of new customers as well as reinitiate supply to most of the core customer base within a few months of start-up.

Once the issues are resolved, Hydrodec's transformer oil will be the first oil product in the market to generate a carbon credit which can be traded as a voluntary carbon offset in the US.