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Global refining news: 15 July 2015

Hydrocarbon Engineering,


Azerbaijan

A loan worth 1.2 billion Azerbaijani manats has been given to SOCAR for the reconstruction of the Baku refinery. Within this project, a new oil and gas processing and petrochemical complex will be built and will commence in 2016. It is hoped that the project will be finished by 2018 and that Euro 5 gasoline production will be able to start.

France

In the early hours of Tuesday morning following two reported explosions, a fire broke out at the LyondellBasell owned refinery in Berre-l’Etang. Hundreds of fire fighters attended the blaze and managed to put it out without anyone suffering injuries. Two storage tanks housing gasoline and naphtha were affected by the fire. The smoke emitted from the fire has been confirmed as not causing significant or immediate health risks.

South Africa

Chevron has announced that repairs at a section of its refinery in South Africa have now finished and it is now hoped that the shortages in petroleum products being felt in the Western Cape since the start of the work will now end. The supply and production of liquid petroleum products has now been restored to normal levels.

UK

The potential sale of Ireland’s only crude oil refinery in Cork is now back in play, this is following a scare last year that the refinery’s current owner was pulling the plug. Phillips 66 has reportedly confirmed that it is looking into selling the refinery which currently employs 300 people.

USA

A new report has said that whilst refineries are taking advantage of the cheap oil currently on the market, there is a lack of in house construction experience that is increasing the risk of project delays and cost overruns. The reason for this is said to be because refiners are lacking the experienced staff that are needed to execute such projects.

Following the shutdown of the Capwood pipeline, Phillips 66 has said that it does not anticipate there to be an impact on operations a the Wood River refinery in Illinois. The plant has a processing capacity of 336 000 bpd. The pipeline is offline due to a crude leak at one of its pumping stations.

Yemen

It has been reported by witnesses that earlier this week, Houthis forces fired mortars at an oil refinery in Aden. Rounds are reported to have hit three full storage tanks and started a fire. Houthis took over Sana, Yemen’s capital in September last year and have attacked the refinery in the South once before.

Edited from various sources by Claira Lloyd

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/refining/15072015/global-refining-roundup/

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