Mid December: Downstream update for the Americas
Alberta
North West Redwater Partnership has announced plans to build a new refinery in Alberta, Canada. Phase 1 is already being planned for the Sturgeon refinery and is expected to process 50 000 bpd of bitumen. It is expected to cost CAN$ 5.7 billion and be online by the middle of 2013.
California
BP PLC has now finished a short period of maintenance at the Carson refinery. The work did not affect supply at the 265 000 facility and a filing was made with the South Coast Air Quality Management District as the company anticipated the flaring of sulfur dioxide and other gases during the work.
Cuban-Venezuelan
A joint venture plant owned by Cuba and Venezuela believes it can increase crude processing capacity by 10 000 bpd before a large expansion is completed. It is believed with only minor technical adjustments the plant will be able to reach a processing capacity of 75 000 bpd.
Mexico
Pemex has filed a lawsuit against Siemens AG (SIE) and SK Engineering & Construction Co. The suit claims that the two companies bribed Pemex officials to win refinery construction contracts.
Philadelphia
Philadelphia Energy Solutions is going to shut the Girard Point refinery for 60 days at the end of December to carry out maintenance on the facility’s process units. Work at the facility has however not been officially confirmed by refinery representatives.
Texas
An instrumentation upset at the Valero Energy Corp. Three Rivers refinery caused flaring along with an issue with the hydrocracker. A filing was made with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
Motiva Enterprises had to abort the restart of a new crude unit at its Port Arthur refinery after a small fire caused by a fractured pipe. The fire occurred on Tuesday 11th December and it is thought it will only take a few days to repair.
Washington
Shell reported a pipe leak in the sulfur recovery unit of its Puget Sound refinery early last week. The company made a filing with the Northwest Clean Air Agency.
Edited from various sources by Claira Lloyd.
Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/gas-processing/17122012/mid_december_americas_roundup-643/
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