Petroecuador restarting FCC unit at Esmeraldas refinery

Ecuador’s state-owned Empresa Pública Petroecuador is in the process of progressively resuming operations of the fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit at the operator’s 110,000-b/d Esmeraldas refinery along the country’s the Pacific Coast.

Initiated on May 15, the FCC’s gradual ramp up to full operations is intended to enable increased domestic production of gasoline and LPG to bolster nationwide fuel supplies and reduce product imports from abroad as a means of strengthening Ecuador’s energy security, Petroecuador said.

Scheduled to be fully online and reintegrated with the refinery’s other operating units by June 2026, the company said it expects the FCC unit—which is configured to convert 18,000 b/d of heavy petroleum fractions into high-value, high-demand fuel products—to generate a profit margin of more than $170,800/day driven by its production of 4,000 b/d of LPG and 7,800 b/d of treated naphtha for use as a feedstock in gasoline production.

LPG production from the restarted unit also will help reduce LPG imports intended for internal consumption by the refinery by 3,000 tonnes/month, saving the nation more than $1.7 million/month in import costs, Petroecuador said.

The operator’s latest restart plans for Esmeraldas’ FCC unit follows completion of 188 days of maintenance and repair works at the refining complex in 2025 in the wake of extensive damage caused by a fire resulting from a 6.0 magnitude earthquake that occurred on May 26, 2025, the company said in December 2025.

Specific restoration works to return the FCC to safe operations involved three distinct phases, including:

• Initial repairs to the FCC unit’s existing electrical system.
• Rehabilitation of the refinery’s Catalytic 1 unit to support production processes at the plant through first-half 2026.
• Construction of the site’s new Substation D to enable full restoration of operational and electrical capacities required for the FCC unit.

Alongside production of high-octane treated naphtha and LPG, the Esmeraldas FCC unit—which is based on technology licensed by Honeywell UOP LLC—also produces cyclic oils used as components in fuel oil blending.