(Reuters) -Delek US Holdings has sued London-based Marex Group and Texas-based BTX Energy, accusing them of supplying contaminated crude oil that damaged one of its U.S. refineries and caused more than $30 million in losses.
In a filing in Texas’ Chambers County district court, Delek said it began buying crude from Pinnacle Fuel in January, with deliveries handled through BTX Energy’s terminal in Winnie, Texas.
By February, Delek detected unusually high levels of organic chlorides in its Heavy Naphtha Hydrotreater unit, according to the complaint.
Marex declined to comment and BTX Energy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Delek says tests showed chloride concentrations as high as 5,668 parts per million, nearly 1,000 times above contractual limits, which damaged refinery units, forced lower processing rates and contaminated about 300,000 barrels of clean oil.
Marex, which acted as the guarantor of Pinnacle’s supply contract, has filed a petition to move the case from the Chambers County court to a federal court.
(Reporting by Sumit Saha in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid and Sahal Muhammed)
