By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Jan. 31 -- Chevron Corp. unit Chevron Lubricants will build a lubricants plant at the company's Pascagoula, Miss., refinery. It estimated the cost of the Pascagoula base oil project at $1.4 billion.
The plant will manufacture 25,000 b/d of premium base oil, the main ingredient in production of top-tier motor oil that, the announcement said, helps “improve fuel economy, lower tail-pipe emissions, and extend the time between oil changes.” In addition to motor oil, base oil is also used to make lubricants for high-tech machinery and equipment used in the commercial and industrial sectors of the economy.
Construction is to be completed by yearend 2013. The project will roughly double Chevron's premium base oil production, said the announcement. The company currently manufactures premium base oil at its refinery in Richmond, Calif., and a joint-venture plant in Yeosu, South Korea.
Premium base oil produced in Pascagoula is to serve markets in North America, Latin America, and Europe.
The base oil plant will use Chevron's Isodewaxing technology, which it began using commercially in 1993. The company said about two-thirds of the world's premium base oil is manufactured with this technology.
The Pascagoula plant is Chevron's largest wholly owned refinery with capacity to process 330,000 b/d of oil to produce gasoline, jet fuel, diesel, and other products. The refinery began operating in 1963.
Photo from Petróleo Brasileiro SA.
Photo from ExxonMobil Corp.
