Par Pacific Holdings Inc., Houston, has agreed to acquire Black Elk Refining LLC subsidiary Wyoming Refining Co., which operates a refinery in Newcastle, Wyo., and through its wholly owned subsidiary Wyoming Pipeline Co. LLC, related logistics assets in the region.
Valued at $271.4 million, the transaction is scheduled to close in mid-July pending customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, Par Pacific said.
Alongside the Newcastle refinery, which increased its crude processing capacity to 18,000 b/d in November 2015 with the addition of prefrac and crude units, Par Pacific said it will take ownership of the following Wyoming Refining assets:
• The 140-mile Thunder Creek crude oil pipeline gathering system in northeast Wyoming that provides the refinery direct access to Power River basin crude feedstock as well as direct connection to the Butte pipeline, which enables access to Bakken crude supplies.
• A 40-mile clean products pipeline system that feeds into the Magellan Products pipeline to serve markets in Rapid City, SD.
• A proprietary jet fuel terminal in Rapid City and jet fuel pipeline connecting the terminal to Ellsworth Air Force Base.
• About 650,000 bbl of crude and refined product tankage, with opportunities to expand these already identified.
Refinery operations
Strategically configured to meet fuel demand of primary markets in Wyoming and South Dakota, the Newcastle refinery has benefitted from its proximity and connectedness to growing supplies of Powder River basin crude feedstock, which it purchases at discounts relative to benchmark West Texas Intermediate, Par Pacific said.
With Wyoming Refining’s more than $95 million in investments over the past 4 years to modernize, expand, and upgrade operations at the site, Par Pacific said the Newcastle refinery generates a clean product yield of about 95% and includes the following processing capacities:
• Crude distillation: 18,000 b/d.
• Residual fluid catalytic cracking: 7,000 b/d.
• Catalytic reforming: 3,300 b/d.
• Alkylation: 1,300 b/d.
• Naphtha hydrotreating: 3,300 b/d.
• Diesel hydrotreating: 6,000 b/d.
The refinery also will add 4,000 b/d of isomerization capacity during this year’s second half following completion of a project currently under way, according to a June 14 presentation by Par Pacific.
Formerly Par Petroleum Corp. (OGJ Online, Oct. 16, 2015), Par Pacific also operates a 94,000-b/d refinery in Kapolei, Ha., as well as related storage and logistics assets, which it purchased from Tesoro Corp. in 2013 (OGJ Online, Sept. 27, 2013).
Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].