End of October: Global downstream roundup
Ghana
Ghana’s only refinery, Tema Oil Refinery Ltd, has reopened after securing funds to purchase Nigerian crude. Letters of credit enabled 600 000 bpd of crude to be delivered to the facility on 15th October. Since April the 45 000 bpd plant has shut down operations three times.
Indonesia
Tax issues have caused Pertamina to break off talks with Kuwait Petroleum and Saudi Aramco to build two new refineries. This has struck a blow to the country as it was trying to move away from dependence on foreign oil products. The negotiations broke down with Saudi Aramco as the Indonesian government denied request for lower taxes and a tax holiday.
Iraq
At the start of next year, a US$ 4 billion engineering, procurement and construction contract will be signed to build the Karbala refinery. This project is part of an initiative by Baghdad to boost the neglected refining sector in the region.
Mexico
Pemex is apparently expecting to incur losses of US$ 7.7 billion in its refining unit for 2013. This is almost a loss of 1% of GDP. The loss is not as much as in 2012, but it has been said that in order to improve crude output Pemex needs to invest US$ 4.6 billion in its refining sector. This would help reduce the number of imports into the country and reduce these losses.
Nigeria
A fire started at 11 am at the Niger Delta Warri refinery on Tuesday 22nd October. The Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company were aided by Chevron Nigeria Limited and Shell Petroleum Development company in controlling the fire.
Saudi Arabia
A gradual startup of operations has begun at the Sartorp refinery and is expected to reach full capacity by the end of this year. The facility is a joint venture between Total and Saudi Aramco and will process 400 000 bpd.
USA
On Wednesday 23rd October a fire broke out at the Citgo Lemont refinery. The blaze started in the plant’s crude oil unit and it was immediately taken offline. The Citgo fire brigade and local departments helped to control the fire which began at 7:40pm.
Edited from various sources by Claira Lloyd
Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/gas-processing/25102013/late_oct_downstream_roundup/
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