ExxonMobil Corp. subsidiary Esso Norge AS is planning to install a residual flash tower designed to replace heavy fuel oil production at its 6 million-tonne/year refinery at Slagen, Norway.
The new unit will enable the refinery to produce high-quality vacuum gas oil, a higher-yield feedstock that is used to produce cleaner transportation fuels such as diesel, ExxonMobil said.
The planned upgrade additionally will build on the Slagen refinery’s record of a 25% energy-efficiency improvement since 1990 by enabling the plant to improve its product yield in an energy-saving manner, the company said.
“The new investment in Slagen builds upon other strategic investments in Europe and further strengthens the industry-leading position of our advantaged assets in meeting increasing demand for energy,” said Jerry Wascom, president of ExxonMobil Refining & Supply Co.
The Slagen project, coupled with a recently announced major upgrade at the company’s Antwerp, Belgium, refinery, will further strengthen ExxonMobil’s integrated downstream operations to help the refinery better compete in the Europe’s challenging industry environment, Wascom added.
ExxonMobil previously announced it will invest $1 billion to install a delayed coker unit at its 320,000-b/d refinery at Antwerp (OGJ Online, July 2, 2014). The unit will convert heavy, higher sulfur residual oils into transportation products such as marine gas oil and diesel fuel.
