Having completed its Orinoco Belt production facilities in Zuata in February, Sincrudos de Oriente Sincor CA is working to commission its heavy oil upgrader in the Jose industrial complex by the end of this year.
The upgrader will transform the 8.5° API extra heavy oil from Orinoco to Zuata Sweet, a light, sweet crude mainly targeted for the US market in February 2002.
Fig. 1 shows the location of production and upgrading complexes owned by Sincor. After being mixed with a diluent, production from Sincor's San Diego de Cabrutica field in southern Anzoáteugi state will go to an upgrader in Jose, 200 km miles away.
Sincor is an association formed by TotalFinaElf (47%), Petróleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA, 38%), and Statoil AS (15%). It plans to manufacture 180,000 b/d of 32° API Zuata Sweet in the first quarter of next year (OGJ, Oct. 19, 1998, p. 49).
Among its peers stationed in the Orinoco Belt, Sincor will have the lightest quality syncrude for sale. Petrozuata, a JV between Conoco Inc. and PDVSA, will be selling a 19-25° API crude; Cerro Negro, a JV among ExxonMobil Corp., PDVSA, and Veba Oel, will be marketing a 16.5° API crude; and Ameriven Hamaca, a JV among Phillips Petroleum Co., PDVSA, and Texaco Inc., plans to sell a 26° API crude.
Sincor's syncrude will also have the lowest sulfur content among its peers, less than 0.1 wt %. The next sweetest offering will be Ameriven Hamaca's 1.2 wt % sulfur syncrude.
Unlike the other production investments in the Orinoco Belt, Sincor's partners have no dedicated outlet for its crude on the US Gulf Coast and must sell it via international merchant markets. It will be targeting its crude to mainly the US market.
Construction plans
Sincor has drilled 193 of the 244 wells that will be online by the end of 2001. Thirty are already in production.
In an interview for OGJ Online in June, José Hidalgo, president of the firm, said the company's most important challenge in 2001 will be to "consolidate production." That is, Sincor must increase its production capacity to meet the upgrader's intake needs; test the whole field including the surface facilities to ensure reliable operational rates, which are higher than current ones; and perform further well testing to increase the understanding of the reservoir.
Since Dec. 17, 2000, Sincor has been producing extra heavy crude from the Orinoco Belt. The production rate is 40,000 b/d, but Hidalgo expects it to climb to 200,000 b/d by the end of the year for a 35-year life.
On Jan. 30, 2001, Sincor sent its first shipment of crude to the US Gulf Coast. It shipped 600,000 bbl of diluted crude, called Zuata 16. This 16° API crude is a mixture of the 8° API extra heavy crude from Sincor's San Diego de Cabrutica field and 30° API Mesa crude.
With the Mesa crude, Sincor currently produces 65,000 b/d of diluted crude oil.
According to Hidalgo, construction of the upgrader was 84% complete at the end of April (Fig. 2). With expected completion at the end of the year, Sincor will make its first shipment of its light sweet crude in February 2002.
"Our challenge for the next year," said Hidalgo, "is to initiate and stabilize upgrader operations at design capacity and pass the first-stage completion test." The company will emphasize organization development issues, he said, to ensure that the team is fully prepared to manage the changes ahead and become a fully operational and integrated oil company.
Product dispositions
In March 2001, Sincor announced that it had signed a pre-agreement for the sale of Zuata Sweet to a US refinery. The syncrude, said Hidalgo, will be sold on a combination of term and spot sales, mainly targeting US Gulf Coast refineries. By-products, however, will be sold on term contracts only.
"Given the high quality of the syncrude," said Hidalgo, "principally its low sulfur and high gravity, we foresee an ample market."
Also in March, Sincor signed agreements with TCP Petcoke Corp. and SSM Petcoke LLC, both based in the US, for the sale of its coke. The upgrader's future delayed coking unit will produce about 5,600 tons/day of coke.
With the signing of these agreements, Sincor has guaranteed the sale of its total coke production for the next 10 years.
The company is still looking for long-term contracts for its sulfur by-product. During normal production, Sincor will make 900 tons/day of sulfur.
Assay
The following preliminary assay, completed in December 2000, was taken from synthesized production of Zuata Sweet in a pilot plant. Sincor added 0.75 wt % LPG to the sample to make it in line with design expectations and 1.7 wt % naphtha to the sample to compensate for measured losses.
The crude produces a sizeable middle distillates fraction (53.5 vol %) with much less naphtha than Forcados, Brent, and WTI crudes, and no residual oil. The average sulfur content of the diesel fraction is 0.05 wt %.
The assay suggests a 33.6 vol % yield of vacuum gas oil (VGO). VGO sulfur contents are less than 0.15 wt %, and nitrogen contents are less than 0.1 wt %.
Whole Crude
- Gravity (liquid fraction only), °API: 32.2
- Specific gravity at 60° F.: 0.8641
- Salt content, lb/1,000 bbl: 3.80
- Total sulfur, wt %: 0.07
- Total nitrogen, ppm: 311
- Rvp, psi: 1.45
- Pour point, °F.: 5
- Neutralization number, mg KOH/g: 0.06
- Viscosity @100° F., cSt: 6.52
- Viscosity @122° F., cSt: 4.7
- Viscosity @140° F., cSt: 3.75
- Vanadium, ppm: <50
- Nickel, ppm: <50
- Iron/sodium, ppb/ppm: <50/0.26
- Pentane insolubles, wt %: 0.008
- Asphaltenes (C7 insolubles), wt %: <0.05
- Light ends recovery, liquid vol %
- Propane: 0.22
- iso-Butane: 0.52
- n-Butane: 0.39
- Total C3 to C4: 1.13
Light straight-run gasoline
- Boiling range, °C.: IBP-74
- Yield, vol %: 3.65
- Cumulative yield, vol %: 3.65
- Yield, wt %: 2.67
- Cumulative yield, wt %: 2.67
- Gravity (liquid fraction only), °API: 81.2
- Specific gravity at 60° F.: 0.6653
- K factor: 12.56
- Total sulfur, wt %: 0.0094
- Total nitrogen, ppm: 22
- Research octane number (clear): 71.6
- Motor octane number (clear): 69.6
- Rvp, psi: 9.2
- Freezing point, °F.: -86.4
- Viscosity @122° F., cSt: 0.4
Naphtha
- Boiling range, °C.: 74-166
- Yield, vol %: 9.28
- Cumulative yield, vol %: 12.93
- Yield, wt %: 8.00
- Cumulative yield, wt %: 10.68
- Gravity (liquid fraction only), °API: 58.3
- Specific gravity at 60° F.: 0.7454
- K factor: 11.95
- Total sulfur, wt %: 0.0097
- Total nitrogen, ppm: 23
- Research octane number (clear): 43.1
- Motor octane number (clear): 41.1
- Paraffins, liquid vol %: 49.9
- Naphthenes, liquid vol %: 28.8
- Aromatics, liquid vol %: 21.3
- Flash point (API), °F.: 30.0
- Freezing point, °F.: -71.9
- Smoke point, °F.: 22.3
- Aniline point, °F.: 92.0
- Cetane index: 19.3
- Viscosity @122° F., cSt: 0.5
Naphtha jet
- Boiling range, °C.: 166-232
- Yield, vol %: 12.37
- Cumulative yield, vol %: 25.29
- Yield, wt %: 11.69
- Cumulative yield, wt %: 22.37
- Gravity (liquid fraction only), °API: 41.6
- Specific gravity at 60° F.: 0.8172
- K factor: 11.59
- Total sulfur, wt %: 0.0103
- Total nitrogen, ppm: 25
- Paraffins, liquid vol %: 46.8
- Naphthenes, liquid vol %: 30.8
- Aromatics, liquid vol %: 22.4
- Flash point (API), °F.: 142
- Freezing point, °F.: -54.6
- Smoke point, °F.: 18.6
- Aniline point, °F.: 111.8
- Cetane index: 34.1
- Cetane number (estimated): 36
- Viscosity @122° F., cSt: 1.1
Jet
- Boiling range, °C.: 232-282
- Yield, vol %: 13.17
- Cumulative yield, vol %: 38.47
- Yield, wt %: 13.06
- Cumulative yield, wt %: 35.43
- Gravity (liquid fraction only), °API: 33.37
- Specific gravity at 60° F.: 0.8568
- K factor: 11.49
- Total sulfur, wt %: 0.0121
- Total nitrogen, ppm: 30
- Hydrogen content, wt %: 12.7
- Aromatics, liquid vol %: 26.1
- Flash point (API), °F.: 205
- Freezing point, °F.: -41.5
- Cloud point, °F.: -45
- Smoke point, °F.: 15.9
- Aniline point, °F.: 126.4
- Cetane index: 39.9
- Cetane number (estimated): 36
- Viscosity @122° F., cSt: 2.3
Diesel
- Boiling range, °C.: 282-340
- Yield, vol %: 18.15
- Cumulative yield, vol %: 56.62
- Yield, wt %: 18.57
- Cumulative yield, wt %: 54.00
- Gravity (liquid fraction only), °API: 28.5
- Specific gravity at 60° F.: 0.8843
- K factor: 11.50
- Total sulfur, wt %: 0.0350
- Total nitrogen, ppm: 63
- Hydrogen content, wt %: 12.4
- Flash point (API), °F.: 250
- Cloud point, °F.: -25
- Smoke point, °F.: 13.4
- Aniline point, °F.: 139.9
- Cetane index: 41.1
- Cetane number (estimated): 39
- Viscosity @122° F., cSt: 5.4
Atmospheric gas oil
- Boiling range, °C.: 340-371
- Yield, vol %: 9.80
- Cumulative yield, vol %: 66.42
- Yield, wt %: 10.22
- Cumulative yield, wt %: 64.22
- Gravity (liquid fraction only), °API: 25.5
- Specific gravity at 60° F.: 0.9012
- K factor: 11.56
- Total sulfur, wt %: 0.0998
- Total nitrogen, ppm: 337
- Hydrogen content, wt %: 12
- Flash point (API), °F.: 282
- Pour point, °F.: -6
- Aniline point, °F.: 151.1
- Cetane index: 38.9
- Viscosity @122° F., cSt: 11.6
Light vacuum gas oil
- Boiling range, °C.: 371-427
- Yield, vol %: 15.20
- Cumulative yield, vol %: 81.62
- Yield, wt %: 16.07
- Cumulative yield, wt %: 80.29
- Gravity (liquid fraction only), °API: 23.4
- Specific gravity at 60° F.: 0.9135
- K factor: 11.67
- Total sulfur, wt %: 0.1199
- Total nitrogen, ppm: 614
- Hydrogen content, wt %: 12
- Flash point (API), °F.: 301
- Pour point, °F.: 12
- Aniline point, °F.: 161.9
- Viscosity @122° F., cSt: 24.9
- Conradson carbon residue, wt %: 0.27
- Vanadium, ppm: 1.49
- Nickel, ppm: 0.54
- Pentane insolubles, wt %: 0.14
Medium vacuum gas oil
- Boiling range, °C.: 427-510
- Yield, vol %: 15.19
- Cumulative yield, vol %: 96.81
- Yield, wt %: 16.27
- Cumulative yield, wt %: 96.56
- Gravity (liquid fraction only), °API: 21.4
- Specific gravity at 60° F.: 0.9256
- K factor: 11.90
- Total sulfur, wt %: 0.1310
- Total nitrogen, ppm: 785
- Hydrogen content, wt %: 12
- Flash point, °F.: 324
- Pour point, °F.: 34
- Aniline point, °F.: 179.3
- Viscosity @122° F., cSt: 82.6
- Conradson carbon residue, wt %: 0.26
- Vanadium, ppm: 1.47
- Nickel, ppm: 0.54
- Pentane insolubles, wt %: 0.14
Heavy vacuum gas oil
- Boiling range, °C.: 510-566
- Yield, vol %: 3.19
- Cumulative yield, vol %: 100.00
- Yield, wt %: 3.44
- Cumulative yield, wt %: 100.00
- Gravity (liquid fraction only), °API: 20.6
- Specific gravity at 60° F.: 0.9300
- K factor: 12.24
- Total sulfur, wt %: 0.1361
- Total nitrogen, ppm: 861
- Hydrogen content, wt %: 12
- Flash point (API), °F.: 338
- Pour point, °F.: 44
- Aniline point, °F.: 198.8
- Viscosity @122° F., cSt: 260.9
- Conradson carbon residue, wt %: 1.21
- Vanadium, ppm: 6.93
- Nickel, ppm: 2.54
- Pentane insolubles, wt %: 0.68 F