Regional update: The Americas
The Brazilian anti corruption watchdog has halted construction at two Petrobras refinery projects on overbilling charges. The company has apparently paid too much for both goods and services on work being carried out on two of the company’s facilities. Upgrade work at the Getulio Vargas refinery and construction of the Abreu e Lima refinery have come to a complete halt and will not resume until the investigation is complete.
UOP’s (a Honeywell Company) hydrocracking and hydrotreating technologies have been selected by Petrobras for two new refinery projects. The technologies will be used to produce high quality diesel.
California
Alon USA Energy has announced that it has shut part of its Los Angeles refinery. The Long Beach plant which has a capacity of 40 00 bpd has been taken offline due to poor economic returns. The Paramount facility is still online.
BP Plc started flaring gases at its Carson refinery on 5th November and flaring will continue until the 12th. The flaring period is not related to a breakdown or malfunction at the plant.
Oklahoma
The 155 300 bpd refinery owned by Holly Corp. in Tulsa will be shutdown for four weeks from the end of November for a turnaround. After this work has been carried out it is unlikely that the facility will need to be closed for maintenance in 2011.
Texas
On 6th November, ExxonMobil reported a release of volatile organic compounds at its Beaumont facility. The emissions came from Tank 2203 due to equipment failure during unit startup.
Washington
Tesoro Corp. is now under criminal investigation by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The investigation is looking in to the April 2nd explosion at the facility, which killed seven people.
Western Refining Inc.
Western Refining Inc. will carry out maintenance at its El Paso, Texas refinery during January 2011. The company are also looking to carry out scheduled maintenance at the Gallup, New Mexico facility in Q4 2011.
Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/gas-processing/12112010/regional_update_refinery_shutdowns_maintenance_and_upgrades_in_the_americas/
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