Oil & Gas Journal’s semiannual Worldwide Construction Update shows a slight increase in refining and sulfur projects in the engineering stage as well as gas processing construction activity compared with the previous edition of the update (OGJ, Nov. 19, 2007, p. 18).
Following are project details from the survey tables available online (see box).
Refining
Total SA announced plans to build a 50,000-b/d coker and desulfurization, vacuum distillation, and related units at its 231,000-b/d refinery in Port Arthur, Tex. The $2.2 billion increase in the refinery’s deep-conversion capacity will boost output of ultralow-sulfur automotive diesel by 3 million tonnes/year (OGJ Online, Mar. 11, 2008). The project will be completed in 2011.
In January, Marathon Oil Corp. let an engineering, procurement, and construction contract to Fluor Corp. for the $1.9 billion expansion and upgrade of its 100,000-b/cd Detroit refinery. The project will include a 28,000-b/d delayed coker, a 280-tonne/day sulfur-recovery complex, and a 33,000-b/d distillate hydrotreater. Completion is scheduled for late 2010.
Newfoundland & Labrador Refining Corp. selected UOP LLC to supply technology, basic engineering services, and equipment for a 300,000-b/d refinery to be built in the Placentia Bay area of Newfoundland and Labrador. It will be the first refinery built in North America since 1984. Completion is scheduled for 2011.
Ivory Coast started construction on its second refinery, a 60,000-b/d facility in the Vridi district of Abidjan. It is being funded by US energy firms Energy Allied International and WCW International, and Ivory Coast’s state-owned Petroci.
Meanwhile, Repsol-YPF SA plans to double the capacity of its 100,000-b/d Cartagena refinery in Spain. It awarded a $1.3 billion project management contract to Fluor.
“This is a milestone project for both Repsol-YPF and Fluor as it is the largest refinery upgrade and expansion project in Spain in the past 30 years,” said David Seaton, president of Fluor’s energy and chemicals group.
The $4.8 billion project includes the design and construction of new units and the refurbishment and expansion of existing units, as well as construction of utilities and offsites. Commissioning is scheduled for 2011.
Vietnam’s central Phu Yen Province licensed a joint venture of the UK’s Techno Star Management and Russia’s Telloil to build a 4-million tonne/year refinery (OGJ Online, Nov. 21, 2007). Capitalized at more than $1.7 billion, the Vung Ro refinery in the province’s Dong Hoa district will be the country’s first wholly foreign-owned refinery. It will be operational in 2012.
Petrochemicals
Jurong Aromatics Corp. let a contract to UOP for the basic engineering and design for an aromatics plant to be built on Jurong Island in Singapore. When completed in 2011, the complex will produce 800,000 tonnes/year of paraxylene, 200,000 tonnes/year of orthoxylene, and 450,000 tonnes/year of benzene (OGJ Online, Jan. 31, 2008). It will be one of the largest privately owned petrochemical facilities in Singapore.
Total and Sonatrach signed a framework agreement to build a $3 billion petrochemical complex with a 1.4 million tonne/year ethane cracker in Arzew. The signing follows a memorandum of understanding signed in July (OGJ Online, July 19, 2007).
The facility will produce 1.1 million tonnes/year of ethylene, which will be processed into polyethylene (two units with a total capacity of 800,000 tonnes/year) and monoethylene glycol (550,000 tonnes/year). Total holds a 51% stake in the joint venture and Sonatrach 49%. Commissioning is scheduled for 2012.
Other petrochemical projects are in the engineering stage and under construction in China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Thailand.
LNG
Nigeria LNG Ltd.’s Train 6 on Bonny Island was completed in January. It has a design capacity of 4 million tonnes/year. NLNG awarded KBR the lump sum EPC contract in July 2004.
Meanwhile, Excelerate Energy began commissioning the Northeast Gateway LNG receiving facility in Massachusetts Bay (OGJ Online, Feb. 21, 2008). It will be able to handle peak deliveries of 800 MMcfd of gas through two turret buoys and under normal operations will deliver about 500 MMcfd (OGJ, June 4, 2007, Newsletter).
LNG projects are under construction in the US, China, and Qatar.
Gas processing
Enterprise Products Partners’ Pioneer natural gas processing plant in Sublette County, Wyo., began operating on Feb. 1. The plant will process up to 750 MMcfd of gas and extract as much as 30,000 b/d of natural gas liquids.
Currently under construction are cryogenic LPG recovery projects for QatarGas III and QatarGas IV in Ras Laffan. These two projects, each with capacity of 1.45 bcfd, will be completed in 2009 and 2010 respectively. The projects will use Ortloff Engineers’ licensing technology.
GTL, other gas
Great Northern Power Development LP and Allied Syngas Corp. developed a $1.4 billion coal gasification project in southwestern North Dakota (OGJ Online, Nov. 26, 2007). The South Heart project will use coal in a chemical process to create substitute gas. It involves seven British Gas Lurgi gasifiers that will use North Dakota lignite to produce as much as 100 MMcfd of pipeline-quality synthetic gas. Existing pipelines will transport the gas throughout North America, GNPD reported.
The BGL technology is jointly owned by Envirotherm and Advantica Ltd., both of which will provide the technology license, process design, and related technical support for the gasification process.
Sulfur
In India, Black & Veatch is working with several new sulfur projects in the engineering stage. A project for Indian Oil Corp. in Panipat will process 225 tonnes/day of sulfur from refinery acid gas. The project will be completed in 2009. A similar project is being completed in Gujarat.
Other sulfur projects under construction and in the engineering stage are in Italy, China, and the US.
Pipelines
Oneok Partners LP plans to construct a 78-mile NGL gathering pipeline to connect a gas processing plant being built by Devon Energy Corp. in Hughes Co., Okla., and a recently constructed gas processing plant owned by Antero Resources Midstream Corp. in Coal Co., Okla. It is scheduled for completion in the second quarter. Project cost is $25 million.
Aspen Aerogels was awarded a contract to supply its advanced Spaceloft aerogel insulation for a 13-mile, subsea gas pipeline being built by Technip for Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) in Brazil. The pipeline will connect the Canapu field (in 1,700 m of water) to the Cidade de Vitoria floating production facility (in 1,400 m of water). This will be the first pipeline in Brazil to use a pipe-in-pipe design (production pipe surrounded by carrier pipe with insulation in between). It will be completed in the fourth quarter.
Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline plans to invest $240 million to expand the capacity of the 330-mile US mainline portion of its gas pipeline system (OGJ Online, Feb. 7, 2008). The decision followed a successful open season for the additional capacity.
M&NP will install additional compression at existing compressor stations and lay about 4.5 miles of 24-in. loop on its existing 24-in. mainline to enable transmission of as much as 170 MMcfd year-round and an additional 30 MMcfd during winter months. The expanded system will be in service in November 2010.
OGJ subscribers can download free of charge the 2008 Worldwide Construction Update tables at www.ogjonline.com: Click on OGJ Subscriber Surveys, then Worldwide Construction. This link also includes previous editions of the update. To purchase spreadsheets of the survey data, please go to www.ogj.com/resourcecenter/orc_survey.cfm or email [email protected].
Click here to download the 2008 Worldwide Construction Update.
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