WOODS CROSS — Officials at Silver Eagle Refinery have postponed the start-up of a low pressure crude unit which had been tentatively set to go back online Sunday.

“We weren’t ready,” J. Michael Redd, vice president of refining and operations for the refinery, said Wednesday.

“We told the community we wouldn’t start up the operation until we were confident it was safe.” He said that inspections aren’t complete, nor are analysis they believe they need before the refinery begins operating again.

However, an open house scheduled Wednesday evening went ahead as planned. “It was planned as much to let the community know what we’re doing as anything,” Redd said.

The refinery was shut down after a Nov. 4 explosion rocked south Davis County and beyond, damaging 271 homes in Woods Cross.

Since the explosion, the refinery has reorganized its key leadership. Refinery officials are now working with the Chemical Safety Board to get a procedure protocol in place for removing the pipe which exploded for analysis.

The refinery has also brought in consultants to review refinery plans and help the plant get to the point it can safely operate again.

Redd said refinery officials have not set another tentative date to restart the first unit, but that they would like to see it happen “as soon as possible.”

Wednesday’s open house provided the community with the opportunity to meet refinery officials for one-on-one discussions, view a presentation of the refinery, and meet with insurance adjusters to have questions answered on insurance claims on area homes.

mwilliams@davisclipper.com