Robert Brelsford
Downstream Technology Editor
Marathon Petroleum Corp. has let a contract to Fluor Corp. to provide engineering and procurement (EP) for a major reconfiguration project involving works at both the 459,000-b/d Galveston Bay and 86,000-b/d Texas City refineries in Texas City, Tex.
Designed to improve operational efficiency, the reconfiguration project will enable the two refineries to achieve the US Environmental Protection Agency's updated Tier 3 gasoline sulfur standards, Fluor said.
Fluor's scope of work under the contract will include delivery of EP for a new unit, modernization of several existing units, as well as modifications to the utilities and off sites to support scheduled process changes and refinery connections, the company said.
Fluor, which provided initial studies and early engineering for these latest reconfiguration works at the two Texas refineries, will book the undisclosed EP contract value into its backlog for this year's first quarter.
The new unit and existing units involved in the reconfiguration project were not identified.
This latest contract complements Marathon's previously announced South Texas Asset Repositioning (STAR) program, which aims to enhance profitability and reliability by unifying the Galveston Bay and Texas City refineries to form a fully integrated 585,000-b/d Texas refining complex (OGJ Online, Jan. 23, 2017).
STAR program
First announced in fourth-quarter 2015, the $1.5-billion STAR program includes a series of staged project investments at the Texas refineries that, alongside expanding crude processing capacity and production of ultralow-sulfur diesel, also will enable increased upgrading of residual oil into high-quality products as well as higher recovery of distillates and gas oil.
Integration of the refineries into a single complex additionally will allow Marathon to reduce overall production costs of its Texas refining operations.
Marathon completed a first phase of the multiyear STAR program in 2016 at the Galveston Bay refinery with a project that increased conversion of residual oil into lighter products by 20,000 b/d, according to the operator's latest annual report.
Scheduled to be fully completed in 2021, the STAR program will in result in an integrated Galveston Bay-Texas City refining complex (the Galveston Bay refinery) equipped with the following capacities: crude distillation, 585,000 b/d; resid processing, 142,100 b/d; catalytic cracking-hydrocracking, 258,400 b/d; alkyation, 52,800 b/d; and aromatics, 33,800 b/d, Marathon said in Mar. 2 presentation.
In announcing its EP contract for the reconfiguration project at Marathon's Texas refineries, Fluor also confirmed it is providing front-end engineering and design for the STAR program.
