Refinery Capacities

Japan Energy Corp. plans to spend about ¥2 billion at its Mizushima Refinery in Okayama Prefecture to increase capacity to 300,000 b/d and add processing units.

Repsol-YPF, planning to double the capacity of its 100,000 b/d Cartagena refinery in Spain, has awarded a $1.3 billion contract to Fluor for the project management of much of the project.

Citgo Petroleum Corp., Houston, has completed a crude vacuum expansion project at its Lake Charles, La., refinery, increasing the facility's crude oil processing capacity to 425,000-440,000 b/d from 325,000 b/d.

Flint Hills Resources LP plans a $100 million expansion of its Pine Bend refinery in Rosemount, Minn., that will increase the refinery's crude oil processing capacity to 330,000 b/d from 280,000 b/d.

Frontier Oil Corp. Tuesday announced plans to boost capacity at its El Dorado, Kan., refinery from 110,000 b/d to 118,000 b/d and increase the plant's coker capacity to 2,200 b/d. The expansion will cost $25.9 million -- $16 million for the crude unit and the remainder for the coker expansion.

Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd. (MRPL), a subsidiary of Indian government-owned Oil & Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC), unveiled plans to hike capacity of MRPL's refinery in Mangalore, India, to 225,000 b/cd from 180,000 b/cd by 2007.

President George W. Bush said Monday the US needs to develop more refining capacity to prevent future product shortages. Bush made the remarks following a meeting with his National Energy Policy Development Group, an interagency task force headed by Vice Pres.-Richard Cheney.