By an OGJ correspondent
PARIS, Oct. 30 -- Naphtachimie, the 50:50 joint venture of BP Chemicals SNC and TotalFinaElf SA's petrochemical branch Atofina Petrochemicals Inc., plans to invest 250 million euros over the decade to turn its Lavéra site on the French Riviera into a "star site" for further integrated development of refining and petrochemicals. BP first announced its intentions for the star site in 2001, the other two being Grangemouth in the UK and Texas City, Tex. in the US (OGJ Online, Mar. 30, 2001).
Modernization of the Lavéra steamcracker is a prelude to debottlenecking at the site by elevating production to 1.1 million tonnes/year from the current 720,000 tonnes/year during 2006-11, "depending on whether we wait or not for the 10-year maintenance shutdown," BP CEO Jean-François Rogeau told OGJ.
BP already is investing more than 120 million euros this year on the Lavéra site to integrate the refining and petrochemical businesses after having upgraded the capacity of numerous production plants at the site in 2001. This year's investment also was geared to the companies' integrating Naphtachimie's backup operations into their respective organizations, with BP and Atofina each sharing different backup services.
Aiming for significant scale savings, BP has assumed administration and management responsibilities for the steamcracker's manufacturing operations and has become autonomous concerning the backup activities that Naphtachimie previously ensured for the whole chemical site.
Naphtachimie's modernization program consists of replacing 20 furnaces having a total capacity of 25,000 tonnes with four or five 120,000 tonne units by 2007. The cost of 20 million euros each would result in savings both in ethylene production and energy as well as maintenance, said Rogeau. In addition, Naphtachimie plans a new column to improve ethylene production and a single control room for the entire site.
"The modernization stage," said Rogeau, "involves also treating other feedstocks from the refinery." To this end, a link is being mulled with TotalFinaElf's nearby la Mède refinery, which would optimize the feedstocks from BP's refinery. The two sites already exchange products by pipeline, and further integration would improve the steamcracker's flexibility.
A feasibility study is now being carried out to examine the parts on the steamcracker to be modernized.
