Petroteq announces refinery production milestone
Published by Tom Mostyn,
Editorial Assistant
Hydrocarbon Engineering,
Petroteq Energy Inc. has announced that after a scheduled temporary maintenance shutdown in January 2020, during which various process improvements and adjustments were completed, it recommenced production at its Asphalt Ridge facility located in Vernal, Utah. Since recommencement on 19 February 2020, the plant has produced approximately 1900 bbl of oil, thus achieving an average daily production rate of over 300 bpd on a continuous basis.
The maintenance shutdown allowed the team to make adjustments and complete installation of critical additional equipment. Furthermore, Valkor Engineering used this time to run a testing regimen on the plant which will provide the final data points needed for a proposed expansion of the Asphalt Ridge Facility to up to 4000 bpd of capacity.
The technology at the plant is flexible enough that it can produce a wide range of different characteristics of oils, which enables the company to cater to the specific needs of its customers. The company’s sweet heavy oil is being sold at West Texas intermediate (WTI), less the cost of transportation with no further deductions. Based on the current production rate of 300 bpd and production costs of approximately US$30 – 32/bbl (inclusive of the costs of all plant expenses), the plant is currently operating on a break even basis.
Petroteq received a payment of US$96 500 from the State of Utah County Roads Department for delivery of heavy unrefined oil to be used in their road paving operations. In addition, the plant has received an additional purchase order for a further US$250 000 of the same product from the same state agency.
With the International Maritime Organization’s new low-sulfur fuel regulations (IMO 2020) becoming effective, the company announced plants to produce a high quality sweet heavy crude oil consistent with refiner and customer demand. Petroteq heavy sweet oil has an American Petroleum Institute (API) gravity in the range of 14 to 20 and a sulfur content of less than 0.5%.
Petroteq believes that its technology can produce a relatively sweet heavy crude oil from deposits of oil sands without requiring the use of water, and therefore without generating wastewater which would otherwise require the use of other treatment or disposal facilities which could be harmful to the environment. The process is intended to be a more environmentally friendly remediation technology that leaves clean residual sand that is free of hydrocarbons, and can be returned to the environment, without additional remediation.
According to Alex Blyumkin, Executive Chairman of Petroteq, “The company has been working with our engineering partners to improve production levels while still maintaining our high quality oil. We have also been conducting engineering and process testing that is critical in moving us toward our target expansion of 4000 bpd in capacity. The work carried out this last month has been extremely beneficial in terms of increasing productivity and is expected to enable us to achieve actual production closer to our current nameplate capacity of 1000 bpd. I would like to personally acknowledge the workers onsite who have carried out this remarkable achievement while working in what can only be described as very cold and inhospitable weather conditions in January and February.”
Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/refining/03032020/petroteq-announces-refinery-production-milestone/
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