Global refining news update
Expansions and upgrades
US$ 700 million is going to be spent on the renovation and modernisation of the Esmeraldas refinery, Ecuador. The work is expected to last until 2013 when a much greener and safer facility will come back online.
Hindustan Petroleum Corp. is going to invest R2 13 000 crore in the Vizag refinery. The money will be used to expand the facility with the addition of a 180 000 bpd crude distillation unit (CDU). The facility currently runs three CDUs, one of which will be scrapped when the new one is built.
OAO Lukoil Holdings is going to invest US$ 1 billion in its Lukoil Neftochim Burgas refinery in Bulgaria. This is the biggest refinery in the Balkans. It has not yet been disclosed what the money will be used for.
CB&I have been awarded a contract for the construction of several storage tanks at the Ruwais refinery expansion project in Abu Dhabi. Daewoo Engineering and Construction Co. Ltd gave the US$ 60 million contract to CB&I.
New builds
The Government of Southern Sudan is seeking to construct three new refineries. One facility will be owned by the joint venture company Akon Refinery Co. and will cost approximately US$ 1.8 billion to construct. The Warrup project is another facility named in the proposed plans and will take approximately 3 years to build.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation is also looking to construct three new refineries in Africa. The company is looking to increase its refining capacity from 80 000 to 150 000 bpd.
On Sunday 14th November China National Offshore Oil Corp. began construction of a petrochemical facility in Hainan, southern China. The plant will be part of the Dongfang City industrial park, phase one of which has received investments of US£ 648 million.
Startups
The Hindustan Petroleum Corp owned Bathinda refinery will be online and running at full capacity by September 2011. The 180 000 bpd facility will be mechanically complete by May next year.
OAO Tatneft will begin sales from the first newly built refinery in Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union by Q2 of 2011. The refinery will cost approximately US$ 9.5 billion, a portion of which has been funded by the Russian government.
A new petrochemicals facility at the Masaeed industrial city, Doha, Qatar has been inaugurated. The plant cost approximately US$ 1.3 billion to construct and has a processing capacity of 700 00 tpy of polyethylene and olefins.
Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/gas-processing/16112010/global_refining_news_from_asia-middle_east_and_the_americas/
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