By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Oct. 16 -- Chevron USA Inc. plans to invest $500 million to build a continuous catalyst regeneration (CCR) unit at its 325,000 b/cd refinery in Pascagoula, Miss.
Project construction is scheduled to begin in early 2008, with completion anticipated by mid-2010. The company already has secured environmental permits.
The CCR unit, which replaces two older units, will improve equipment reliability and utilization, and allow the refinery to optimize product yields. The refinery's oil capacity will remain the same. But its gasoline production is expected to increase by about 10%, or 600,000 gpd.
This increase in gasoline production follows a previous increase of 10% to about 5.5 million gpd of gasoline production that was realized when the company brought online its fluid catalytic cracking unit in late 2006 (OGJ Online, Dec. 19, 2006).
Separately, Chevron announced that after further damage assessments of an Aug. 16 fire at the Pascagoula facility, it expects refinery repairs to be completed during first-quarter 2008.
The fire damage was largely isolated to the refinery's No. 2 crude unit. Plans and preparations for the repairs are underway. Additional conversion units, which were already off line for planned turnaround activities, have been recommissioned to increase the production of gasoline and distillates from the facility.
The company is utilizing its system of manufacturing plants and downstream infrastructure to minimize supply disruptions, and it said it expects to continue to meet all of its supply requirements and customer product commitments.
Chevron, in coordination with the appropriate local, state, and federal agencies, is still in the process of conducting a thorough investigation of the cause of the fire. There were no injuries related to the fire.