27-04-2015

Refinery projects going forward

Recently announced capital projects in the refining industry reflect the downstream industry’s focus on going forward with process “reconfigurations,” such as for propylene production, ultra-low sulfur fuel projects and resid conversion via delayed coking. For example, CB&I recently announced it has been awarded contracts by Naftna Industrija Srbije for the technology license and front end engineering design (FEED) of a delayed coker unit in Pancevo, Serbia. The project scope includes an extensive process planning study for the refinery, which will evaluate how to best integrate the delayed coker with the refinery's existing CB&I fluid catalytic cracking unit (FCCU) and Chevron Lummus Global hydrocracker. However, some other projects announced since late 2014 have been delayed, For example, Mexico’s PEMEX recently said that major budget adjustments will result in major refinery projects being deferred.  The company had previously said it would add deep conversion coking units to three of its six domestic refineries, as part of a $20 billion investment package that also included clean fuels initiatives.

 As refined product values don’t drop as rapidly as crude prices, there are compelling reasons for going forward with refinery upgrades. In many cases, the compelling reasons revolve around many refiners planning to process unconventional crudes that include blends of heavy asphaltenic crudes and shale based crudes, such as light tight oils (LTOs), as will be discussed at the RefComm Galveston 2015 conference. For example, a paper to be presented by Bechtel on "Maximizing Coker Value While Processing Shale Oil" is intriguing because LTO processing hasn’t usually been associated with the coker. 

With refiners like Marathon showing a 238% improvement in margins compared to this same time last year, innovations in domestic oil production have opened unique options in supply for US refiners. However, just like PEMEX and other refiners, Marathon’s CEO, Gary Heminger recently announced postponement of a major resid upgrading product at its Garyville refinery. The blending of light sweet crudes from shale formations in the USA with conventional crudes or heavy bituminous oils from Canada has provided a new opportunity for cokers to maximize value of the existing assets. So, the industry narrative now revolves around when these previously announced (and now deferred) projects will re-emerge, perhaps with new process objects.  

In terms of process objectives, one emerging operational issue refiners must cope with in some regions is declining coker rates due to the significantly smaller resid fraction in light shale-derived crudes. Depending on the refinery configuration, owners may choose to compensate by buying heavier crudes to fill the coker back up, or reducing the coker throughput. In cases where it is not desirable to heavy up the crude slate, the available capacity can be leveraged to selectively adjust the product yields in favor of the intermediate streams that provide more value to your specific refinery configuration. A Bechtel case study to be presented at RefComm Galveston2015 will illustrate how distillate recycle (DR) can take full advantage of the existing asset, and explore the yield adjustments that may be realized by varying the recycled stream.

For mome infomation, please visit www.refiningcommunity.com/galveston2015