Global refining and oil storage news: 17 November 2014

Ecuador

Petroecuador has announced that operations have partly resumed at the Esmeraldas refinery. The 110 000 bpd facility was halted for repairs for 40 days and following a part restart, the plant is now operating at 35% capacity.

India

The much anticipated 15 000 tpy Indian Oil Corporation refinery is expected to be inaugurated by India’s prime minister in March 2015. The Rs 35 000 crore facility is currently in the final stage of completion and the foundation stone for the polypropylene plant has now been laid.

Iran

It has been announced that Iran is going to construct a number of oil storage tanks in Indonesia. This is part of an ongoing agreement to expand cooperation in the oil and petrochemical sectors between Tehran and Jakarta. The tanks will be built by the National Iranian Petrochemical Commercial Company in one of Indonesia’s free zones.

Nigeria

The Nigerian Navy has said that it is going to continue to invade and destroy any illegal refineries and camps along with vessels and other business items. This reinforcement has been made, as, despite actions against illegal bunkering crews, there has been no drop in illegal refining activity. It was reported just a few days ago that approximately 936 000 ltrs of crude oil that was stolen from pipelines in Warri were destroyed by the Nigerian Navy Ship Delta and its crew. The oil was found across a selection of camps in the Warri South Local Government Area of Delta State.

USA

It has been reported that Quantum Energy Inc. is no longer going to build a refinery at a site in Billings, Montanna. The company had originally announced plans to construct refineries in Montana and North Dakota as part of a larger plant to develop up to five refineries to process Bakken crude.

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District of Martinez, California has ordered Tesoro to pay US$ 260 000 in fines. The fines are for air quality violations at the Martinez refinery in 2011. There were 23 reported violations including excessive nitrogen oxide emissions, sulfur dioxide emissions, tank leak violations and reporting an monitoring violations.

Venezuela

Following power failures at the Paraguana refining Centre, Falcon, Northwest, Venezula, PDVSA has said that operations at the site have resumed. The main crude processing units and blending production for gasoline and diesel were impacted by the power outages which spanned over a few days.

Edited from various sources by Claira Lloyd

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/refining/17112014/oil-refining-storage-news-17-nov/