Conoco Inc. said Tuesday it would expand the sulfur recovery capacity of its Ponca City, Okla., refinery by 50% to reduce SO2 emissions and take advantage of less-expensive sour crude available to the refinery. Conoco will spend $22 million to install a new amine regeneration unit at the refinery.
The project is a joint effort by Conoco and the adjacent Jupiter sulfur plant, owned by Tessenderlo Kerley Inc., Phoenix, in which Conoco is a 50% joint-venture partner. The Jupiter plant processes the sulfur produced at Conoco's refinery and converts it to products for agricultural use, a spokesman said.
"Increasing the refinery's sulfur recovery capacity will allow us to take full advantage of recent pipeline projects that give us better access to Canadian sour crude oil," said Mike Fretwell, general manager for Conoco's Midcontinent business unit.
In recent months, Conoco has expanded its pipeline capacity to give the Ponca City plant access to less-expensive sour crude from Canada and the Gulf of Mexico as feedstock for the refinery. Canadian sour crude is flowing to Ponca City from Calgary via a pipeline Conoco recently converted to transport the crude, a company spokesman said.
