Royal Dutch/Shell Group's Godorf, Germany, crude distillation unit is now undergoing repair for damage sustained in a fire Mar. 23. The unit could be restarted in July but will not reach full capacity until long-lead-time equipment is installed in September. Damaged adjacent units were restarted Apr. 9. An investigation into the cause of the fire is continuing. A spokesman said the refinery is satisfying customer demands by importing intermediate products to load secondary units in the Godorf refinery and by drawing on the support of Shell's other European refineries.
Perth-based chemical and agricultural group Wesfarmers Energy Pty. Ltd. will spend $20 million (Aus.) to expand its LPG plant in Kwinana, Australia, by as much as 25%. The 60,000 tonne/year expansion would boost the plant's capacity to 300,000 tonnes/year. The plant extracts LPG from natural gas brought in from the North West Shelf via the Bunbury trunkline. The expansion includes a new 5-year gas supply contract with AlintaGas to supplement the existing supply contract between the firms and an associated transport agreement with Epic Energy Ltd, the company that paid Western Australia $2.4 billion (Aus.) for the Bunbury trunkline 2 years ago. Western Australian company Clough Engineering Ltd. has been awarded the engineering contract for Wesfarmers� expansion, which is due on stream in January 2001.
