2 May: Global downstream round up

Brazil

Petrobras is currently carrying out investigations surrounding the arrest of its former head of refining. The head allegedly took bribes for contracts involved in the construction of two refineries worth approximately US$ 32 billion. The two refineries in question are the Abreu e Lima and Comperj plants.

India

Indian Oil Corp has announced plan to carry out major maintenance work at its Panipat refinery. The company will shut the 300 000 bpd facility for 40 days and work on the plan from 8 May. The refinery has two crude units.

USA

After an explosion at the Opal gas plant in Wyoming a week ago, the plant is now operating at only 40% of its typical level for this season. The plant is owned by Williams Partners. The explosion damage was limited to a small part of one of the two cryogenic units.

As part of a long term expansion plan at the Calumet owned refinery in Great Falls, a number of storage tanks were removed from the facility approximately a year ago. Now thousands of tons of contaminated soil are being removed and excavated. 15 000 yd³ of soil is being shipped away from the site and has been reported to have no health concerns surrounding it.

It was reported that a flare from the Phillips 66 owned Santa Maria refinery could been seen across the Five Cities area. The flare was caused by an upset in the facility’s steam power plan, which did result in an unscheduled shutdown of the unit.

As of Monday 5 May, a two month turnaround period will begin at the Alon refinery in Big Spring. 1000 contractors are expected to be employed to carry out maintenance work at the facility. The work will be done in sections to avoid plant shutdown.

Flint Hills Resources has announced that gasoline production has ended at the North Pole refinery. This is the first step towards taking the entire facility offline. The production of jet fuel and heating fuel is expected to end later this month.

LyondellBasell has received a key permit required in the company’s multi plant ethylene program, which when fully operational is expected to increase ethylene production by 1.85 lbs/y. This will mean that the company’s ethanol production in North America alone will be 11.8 billion lbs.

Edited from various sources by Claira Lloyd

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/gas-processing/02052014/2_may_downstream_global_news/