9 May: Europe and North America petrochemical and refinery news
France
LyondellBasell Industries has confirmed with the French government that it will keep a petrochemical facility near Marseille open in the long term but will permanently take offline a refinery in the same region. The company has said that operations at the petrochemical facility will not be impacted by the closure of the refinery and LyondellBasell has made an agreement to clean up the refinery site for future industrial use.
UK
INEOS has announced that it is increasing an order for ships that will bring shale gas to Europe from the US. The company is increasing its ethane order from Evergas to six vessels from four. The decision was made to ensure the future security of the Grangemouth petrochemical facility. The carriers are expected to enter service in 2015.
USA
The Chalmette refinery in Louisiana has confirmed that it will no longer produce conventional gas for gas stations. The plant is now only going to process convention gasoline for use in industry.
Light crude oil processing capacity has been increased at the El Dorado, Arkansas refinery according to plant owners Delek US Holdings Inc. The company made the announcement following the completion of planned maintenance at the 80 000 bpd facility. The company has increased light crude oil processing capabilities by 10 000 bpd.
The final report, looking at the impact of closing Hawaii’s refineries has been submitted. The report was created by the Hawaii Refinery Task Force and has now been submitted to Governor Neil Abercrombie.
It has been reported that one of the world’s largest cranes is working on the Flint Hills Resources’ Pine Bend Refinery. The crane is being used to replace a regenerator in a fluid catalytic cracker at the plant. The Versacrane TC-36000 can hold as much as 4 000 000 lbs of counterweight and has just under nine miles of cable.
Shell Martinez has confirmed that on Tuesday 6th May an electrical issue with a HVAC system caused smoke to fill a control room at the refinery. No flames were seen but Shell emergency crews and the Contra Costa Fire Protection District crew responded to the incident.
Edited from various sources by Claira Lloyd.
Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/gas-processing/09052014/9_may_europe_usa_downstream_news_498/
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