American International starts refinery runs for Sargeant Bulktainers

Feb. 23, 2001
American International Petroleum Corp. said Friday that 10,000 b/d of crude oil processing had begun at its Lake Charles, La., refinery for Sargeant Bulktainers (SB), a unit of the Sargeant Cos. American's subsidiary, American International Refinery Inc. (AIRI), operates the 30,000 b/d plant.


By the OGJ Online Staff


HOUSTON, Feb. 23
�American International Petroleum Corp. said Friday that 10,000 b/d of crude oil processing had begun at its Lake Charles, La., refinery for Sargeant Bulktainers (SB), a unit of the Sargeant Cos.

American's subsidiary, American International Refinery Inc. (AIRI), operates the 30,000-b/d plant.

The processing agreement requires AIRI to refine, for a fee, SB's crude oil into naphtha, distillates, vacuum gas oil, and asphalt (OGJ Online, Sept. 4, 2000).

American's Gulf Coast Petroleum Trading Inc. subsidiary will market the refined products, except for the asphalt, which will be sold to the AIRI/Sargeant asphalt joint venture.

AIRI and SB entered a joint venture agreement last year under which SB will supply AIRI with all its requirements of conventional bulk asphalt and raw materials, while AIRI will blend to blend the asphalt into high-margin polymerized asphalt and market it in the Gulf Coast and other areas of the country.

The joint venture has a $7 million backlog of orders for asphalt.