Survey shows increase in gas processing construction

Nov. 4, 2013
Oil and Gas Journal's semiannual Worldwide Construction Update shows an increase in gas processing construction activity compared with the previous edition of the update.

Oil and Gas Journal's semiannual Worldwide Construction Update shows an increase in gas processing construction activity compared with the previous edition of the update (OGJ, May 6, 2013, p. 30). Following are details from the latest survey, which is available on OGJ Online (see box).

Refining

In May, BP PLC commissioned a diesel hydrotreater and hydrogen plant at its 234,000-b/d Cherry Point refinery at Blaine, Wash. (OGJ Online, May 10, 2013). The hydrotreater has production capacity of 25,000 b/d. The hydrogen unit's capacity is 44 MMscfd.

BP also started up a 250,000-b/d crude distillation unit at its Whiting, Ind., refinery. The unit returns the Whiting refinery to its 413,000-b/d nameplate processing capability.

Meanwhile, Repsol started up a 40,000-b/d delayed coker at the Petronor refinery at Muskiz near Bilbao, Spain, in a project that expands crude capacity to 240,000 b/d (OGJ Online, Apr. 3, 2013).

Chennai Petroleum Corp. Ltd. let a turnkey contract to Engineers India Ltd. covering the addition of a delayed coker at its 10.5 million tonne/year (tpy) Manali refinery at Tamil Nadu, India (OGJ Online, Aug. 14, 2013). According to press reports, the coker will have capacity of 2.2 million tpy.

Caballo Energy LLC, Tulsa, started up a 60 MMcfd gas processing plant near Carmen, Okla., in Alfalfa County, bringing Caballo's total processing capacity in the region to about 100 MMcfd. Photo from Caballo Energy.

Total SA plans a €1 billion modernization of its Antwerp, Belgium, refining and petrochemical complex that will include new upgrading capacity at the 338,000-b/cd refinery (OGJ Online, May 23, 2013).

Total will add a solvent deasphalting unit and a mild hydrocracking unit at the refinery to increase yields of desulfurized diesel and ultralow-sulfur heating oil from heavy fuel oil. The new upgrading facility is to start up in early 2016.

Nghi Son Refinery & Petrochemical LLC has let a project management and consultancy services contract to a Foster Wheeler subsidiary for its 200,000-b/d refinery and petrochemical complex in Thanh Hoa Province, Vietnam (OGJ Online, June 7, 2013). Foster Wheeler's Global Engineering and Construction Group will manage and administer the engineering, procurement, and construction contractor consortium through completion of performance testing. The complex is to begin commercial operations in 2017. The project is a joint venture of Vietnam Oil & Gas Group, Idemitsu Kosan Co. Ltd., Kuwait Petroleum Europe BV, and Mitsui Chemicals Inc.

Petrochemical

In May, ExxonMobil Corp. started ethylene production from the second steam cracker at its Singapore chemical complex (OGJ Online, Dec. 28, 2012). The expansion added 2.6 million tpy of finished product capacity, doubling capacity of the complex.

Qatar Petrochemical Co. Ltd. awarded another contract in the project to build the Al Sejeel petrochemical complex at Ras Laffan (OGJ Online, July 10, 2013). Bechtel, Houston, will provide project management starting with front-end engineering and design.

The complex will include an ethylene cracker fed by natural gas produced from Qatari projects and will produce ethylene, high-density polyethylene, linear low-density polyethylene, polypropylene, and butadiene. Start-up targets 2018.

In June, Qatar Petroleum and Qapco signed technology license contracts for the complex with Univation Technologies for the PE technology and with Dow Chemical Co. for the PP technology. With those signings, the Al Sejeel plant will be designed to produce 2.2 million tpy of polymers.

In February, QP and Qapco signed heads of agreement jointly to develop the petrochemical complex, with QP and Qapco holding 80% and 20% equity interest, respectively. The Al Sejeel petrochemical project is part of Qatar's large-scale expansion of the petrochemicals sector, the companies said in June. It will raise the country's petrochemical output to 23 million tpy by 2020.

Meanwhile, BASF Total Petrochemicals LLC (BTP) completed a revamp of its steam cracker in Port Arthur, Tex., enabling the 1-million tpy facility to process ethane, supply of which is increasing from US shale plays.

The existing cracker, adjacent to the 174,000-b/d Port Arthur refinery operated by Total Petrochemicals & Refining USA Inc., was commissioned in 2001 to process naphtha. The cracker now can use butane and propane, which also are cheaper than naphtha, as feedstock. After the revamp, the Port Arthur cracker can produce as much as 40% of its ethylene from ethane and another 40% from butane and propane. Total owns 40% of BTP, while BASF holds 60%.

The residue compressors, mole sieve dehydration vessels, and de-methanizer tower are part of Regency Gas Services' new 70 MMscfd cryo plant in Dubach, La. Photo from Regency Gas Services.

LNG

In June, Cabinda Gulf Oil Co. Ltd., a unit of Chevron Corp., confirmed that initial production of LNG has been shipped from the Angola LNG project, one of the largest energy projects in Africa (OGJ Online, June 17, 2013). The $10 billion project will collect and transport gas from offshore Angola to an onshore liquefaction plant on the coast near the Congo River. The project has the capacity to produce 5.2 million tpy of LNG, 63,000 b/d of natural gas liquids for export, and 125 MMcfd of gas for domestic consumption.

Cabinda holds a 36.4% interest in the joint venture, while Angola's Sonangol holds a 22.8% interest. Other partners include subsidiaries of Total SA, BP PLC, and Eni SPA, each with a 13.6% interest.

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. started construction on an LNG terminal at the southern port of Tieshan, Beihai City, Guangxi Province (OGJ Online, Aug. 6, 2013).

The 5 million tpy regasification terminal will be built in two phases: Phase 1, 3 million tpy; Phase 2, 2 million tpy. Upon completion in 2014, the project will complement and support the second West-East gas pipeline and Sino-Burma pipeline.

Natural gas

Enterprise Products Partners LP (EPP) started operations at its seventh NGL fractionator at Mont Belvieu, Tex., east of Houston in September. This seventh unit and an eighth at the site are being developed as part of a joint venture with Western Gas Partners LP, an affiliate of Anadarko Petroleum Corp., Houston. EPP will operate the new units and own 75%, while Western Gas holds 25% in each of the two fractionators.

The new unit, which can fractionate up to 85,000 b/d of NGL, increases total fractionation capacity at EPP's Mont Belvieu site to 570,000 b/d (OGJ Online, Nov. 1, 2012).

Enterprise Products Operation LLC (EPO), Houston, let an engineering, procurement, and construction contract for its planed propane dehydrogenation (PDH) unit at Mont Belvieu, Tex., to a subsidiary of Foster Wheeler AG's Global Engineering & Construction Group (OGJ Online, Aug. 6, 2013). No contract value was disclosed.

OGJ subscribers can download free of charge the 2013 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. Historical spreadsheets of data presented here are available for purchase from PennEnergy Research. Visit www.ogj.com, and click the "Research" tab.

EPO announced last year plans to build the 35,000 b/d PDH unit to take advantage of low-cost propane derived from increased NGL production out of nearby shale gas development.

The PDH unit will be able to produce as much as 750,000 tpy of polymer-grade propylene, a prime feedstock for plastics manufacturers. Start-up targets third-quarter 2015 (OGJ Online, June 21, 2012).

In July, Eagle Rock Energy Partners LP started up its 60-MMcfd cryogenic processing plant in Wheeler County, Tex., in the Granite Wash play (OGJ Online, Mar. 7, 2013). The plant includes the associated Mills Ranch compressor station and lies on a 50-acre site owned by Eagle Rock in the center of the company's existing high-pressure gathering system. With the completion of the plant, Eagle Rock said it will have more than 500 MMcfd of high-efficiency cryogenic processing capacity in the Granite Wash play.

ExxonMobil unit XTO Energy Inc. placed its NGL recovery plant in Butler County, Pa., into service (OGJ Online, June 19, 2013). The 125-MMcfd Butler plant is XTO's first in the Appalachia region, sits on 340 acres, and includes 40 miles of connecting pipeline. Two gas compressor stations feed the Butler plant.

SaskEnergy unit Bayhurst Energy Services Corp. will join Mistral Midstream Inc., Calgary, to build a liquids-extraction plant in southeastern Saskatchewan, just north of the North Dakota border (OGJ Online, Sept. 4, 2013). The $72.5 million (Can.), 50-MMcfd straddle plant will extract C2+ from gas moving on SaskEnergy's gas system from the Bakken formation in the region. Besco will hold a 10% share. Construction will begin next year; the plant will begin operating in early 2015.

Other gas, sulfur

In September, Royal Dutch Shell PLC, in a joint press statement with the state of Louisiana, reported the selection of Ascension Parish as a potential location for a $12.5 billion gas-to-liquids (GTL) facility (OGJ Online, Sept. 24, 2013). If built, the plant, to be located near Sorrento, La., would be one of the first commercial-scale plants of its kind in the US.

A decision on whether to begin construction of the facility is pending the completion of site evaluation and preliminary engineering studies, which would take several years, Shell said.

Also in September, Pinto Energy LLC, Houston, announced plans to build the first commercial small-scale GTL plant in North America to be built near Ashtabula, Ohio, on Lake Erie, northeast of Cleveland (OGJ Online, Sept. 27, 2013). The Ashtabula GTL project will install a 2,800-b/d plant on 80 acres to convert gas from the Utica and Marcellus shales into solvents, lubricants, and waxes, as well as transportation fuels.

Pinto selected Velocys PLC's Fischer Tropsch technology. It said it has agreed to commercial license terms with Velocys and made a down payment towards the FT reactors. Pinto has also selected Ventech Engineers International LLC as engineering, procurement, and construction contractor. Ventech specializes in design and construction of modular refineries and will build these GTL plants at its Pasadena, Tex., fabrication complex. The modules will be then transported to Ashtabula for installation.

Construction should start in first-half 2014. Pinto expects mechanical completion in late-2015, with start-up in early 2016.

In Oman, Black & Veatch is working on sulfur projects for Oman Refineries & Petrochemicals. A project in Sohar involves a 300-tonne/day tail gas treater.

Pipeline

In July, Enterprise Mid America Pipeline (MAPL) received approval from the US Bureau of Land Management to construct the 234-mile Western Expansion Pipeline III (WEP III) NGL project (OGJ Online, July 10, 2013). WEP III will transport NGL gathered in northwestern New Mexico to Hobbs, NM, and ultimately to markets in Mont Belvieu, Tex. The pipeline will cross about 67 miles of BLM land, 26 miles of tribal lands (Navajo Nation and Zia Pueblo) administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 27 miles of state land, and 114 miles of private lands.

Plains All American Pipeline LP (PAA) is building a 95-mile extension of its existing Oklahoma crude oil pipeline system to service increasing production from the Granite Wash, Hogshooter, and Cleveland Sands producing areas in western Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle.

The new Western Oklahoma pipeline will ship up to 75,000 b/d from Reydon, Okla., in Roger Mills Co., to PAA's Orion station in Major Co., Okla. From the Orion station, crude oil will flow on PAA's existing pipeline system to its terminal in Cushing, Okla. Long-term producer commitments support the new pipeline, which PAA expects to enter service by the end of first-quarter 2014.

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP will expand its Kinder Morgan crude and condensate pipeline system deeper into the Eagle Ford shale play in Karnes Co., Tex. (OGJ Online, June 4, 2013). The expansion, supported by a long-term contract with ConocoPhillips, will extend the 178-mile pipeline 31 miles from the KMCC DeWitt Station in DeWitt Co., Tex., to ConocoPhillips's central delivery facility near Helena in Karnes County. Completion is scheduled for third-quarter 2014.