Work on potholes and other road projects will be delayed because the state's only supplier of liquid asphalt is stopping production for a month.

Several projects will be affected by the temporary shutdown of Tesoro Hawai'i's oil refinery, said Scott Ishikawa, spokesman for the state Department of Transportation. He said the shortage should not hamper the H-1 Freeway widening project.

Larry Leopardi, the city's Road Maintenance Division chief, said crews who fix potholes daily will work on other things.

"We can't pave if we can't get any asphalt," he said.

It will be the second time Tesoro Hawai'i has quit production in the last three months, according to Bob Wilkinson, president and chief executive officer of Grace Pacific Corp.

Grace Pacific is a major supplier of road asphalt, which is made from a mix of liquid asphalt and other materials.

Wilkinson, whose company has about three days of supply left, said he would meet with 70 to 80 employees tomorrow to discuss how they'll adjust.

Wayne Matsunaga, executive vice president of Ron's Construction Co., said he might have trouble shifting at least five workers to another job.

"The men are kind of disheartened. We can't pave in the rain so they can't work, and now we have this. It's not helping them at all," said Matsunaga, who laid off workers following the last asphalt shortage and during recent heavy rain.

Wilkinson said a shortage of asphalt nationwide is linked to refineries that prefer to use higher-grade crude oil rather than heavy crude for environmental reasons.

Liquid asphalt is made from the tar and other heavier products left after the refining process, according to Wilkinson, who noted that oil companies are processing even heavy crude to get more fuel and less asphalt.

He said Chevron stopped refining asphalt about a year ago.