Robert Brelsford
Downstream Technology Editor
State-owned Petroleos del Peru SA (Petroperu), through a contractor, has let a contract to Flowserve Corp., Irving, Tex., for the supply of pumping systems to be installed as part the long-planned modernization and upgrade of its 62,000-b/d Talara refinery at Piura, about 1,200 km north of Lima (OGJ Online, Dec. 19, 2013).
From its operations in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and Lawrence, Mass., Flowserve's engineered product division will provide the Talara refinery more than seven types of pumps as part of the order, which includes Flowserve's proprietary horizontal overhung process pumps (OH2 and OH3) and horizontal between-bearing pumps (BB1, BB2, and BB3), the service company said on May 20.
Pump orders for the contract, which were booked during fourth-quarter 2014, amount to about $18 million, according to Flowserve.
This will be the first major pump installment at the Talara refinery since the 1970s, Flowserve said.
In 2014, Petroperu let a $2.7 billion lump-sum turnkey contract to Tecnicas Reunidas (TR) for upgrade and modernization of the refinery (OGJ Online, May, 29, 2014).
Slated to be completed within 55 months from the start of construction, the project is designed to equip the refinery to produce diesel and gasoline fuels conforming to new Peruvian environmental requirements of a maximum sulfur content of 50 ppm at competitive prices as well as increase the plant's ability to process heavy crudes to improve operational flexibility.
TR's scope of work will involve:
• The expansion and modification of existing process units, including the refinery's primary distillation unit, catalytic cracking complex, and vacuum distillation unit.
• The construction of processing units, which include a diesel hydrotreater, cracked naphtha and naphtha hydrotreaters, a vacuum distillation unit, flexicoker, naphtha catalytic reforming unit, amine unit, and cogeneration units.
• The expansion and upgrade of the utilities and off-sites installations.
Following completion of the $3.5 billion project, which previously was scheduled for 2017, crude oil processing capacity at Talara will rise to 95,000 b/d.
The project also will enable the refinery to have minimal emissions, generate its own electricity, and maintain on-site operations for desalination of seawater and purification to avoid altering aquifers in the area.
Construction status
Initial construction on the Talara modernization project began last year, but Petroperu plans to start building foundations for new units included as part of the upgrade during second-half 2015, German Velasquez Salazar, president of Petroperu, said earlier this month.
Work will include clearing areas for the new units as well as installing piles to support the new infrastructure, the company said.
While Petroperu continues to seek local workers to fulfill regional labor requirements as dictated by the environmental impact assessment as part of the project's approval, to date, the project has achieved a completion rate of about 10%, Velasquez said.
