Prairie Energy Partners LLC, a subsidiary of Southern Rock Energy Partners LLC (SREP), El Campo, Tex., has selected Cushing, Okla., for its proposed construction of a grassroots, full-conversion, decarbonized refinery to process US-produced light, sweet conventional and shale crudes into low-carbon transportation fuels (OGJ Online, Oct.12, 2022).
Officially confirmed to proceed for development in Cushing on May 24, the proposed $5.56-billion project will include a new 250,000-b/d decarbonized refinery to be built over a 36-month period beginning in 2024 for targeted startup of operations in 2027, the government of Oklahoma’s Department of Commerce and House of Representatives said in separate releases between May 24-25.
Designed to reduce and eliminate 95% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the proposed decarbonized refinery will produce about 91.25 million bbl/year (3.83 billion gal/year) of cleaner transportation fuels—including gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel—using domestically produced light, sweet West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and sweet shale West Texas Light (WTL) and West Texas Condensate (WTC) crudes sourced from the Anadarko, Permian, Denver-Julesburg, and Bakken basins, the state government divisions said.
“We have passed legislation off of both the [state house and senate] floors this session that will support the construction and expansion of oil refinery infrastructure in Oklahoma,” said Oklahoma State Rep. Kyle Hilbert (R-Bristow), who also serves as house speaker pro tempore.
“As we work on finalizing language in Senate Bill 210, we are sending a message to the world that here in Oklahoma, we support the energy industry,” Hilbert said.
SB 210 would exempt newly constructed establishments primarily engaged in the refining of crude petroleum into refined petroleum from the corporate income tax for the first 5 years of service beginning in tax-year 2024 and ending in tax-year 2034 based on compliance with employment and wage requirements set out in the Oklahoma Quality Jobs Program Act, according to the bill’s text.
Alongside supportive legislation, Oklahoma State Rep. John Talley (R-Stillwater) confirmed in a separate May 25 release that he has worked over the past 2 years with leaders at the Cushing Economic Development Foundation Inc. and the city of Cushing to secure SREP’s selection of Oklahoma for the project.
In addition to creating more than 400 full-time jobs, the refinery will bring an estimated $18 billion of economic benefits to the state and Cushing area during its first decade of operation, the state government said.
Total economic impact for the first decade of operations to the Cushing area and the state of Oklahoma is estimated to be more than $18 billion.
Final selection of Cushing for the refinery follows a mid-May post to SREP’s official LinkedIn account that the operator had decided to focus on alternative sites for the project outside of Victoria County, Tex., an original contender for the refinery’s planned construction.
SREP said its decision to disqualify the Texas location from the running resulted from unnecessary, costly, and avoidable bureaucratic delays, as well as the inability to secure satisfactory tax abatements, economic incentives, and site control from various Victoria County stakeholders.
Additional project details
In addition to its outfitting with technologies and processes capable of reducing or eliminating GHG emissions—including carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane, nitrogen oxide, and sulfur oxide—the proposed decarbonized refinery will include technologies to reduce water production and consumption by 90%, with 80% of waste water further recycled and repurposed.
Unlike most conventional refineries that power process heating units with natural gas, Prairie Energy Partners’ planned refinery would instead combine pure oxygen with blue hydrogen (produced from refinery offgases) and green hydrogen (from electrolysis) to yield a primary waste stream of steam.
Alongside including an associated carbon capture and storage (CCS) system for its hydrogen complex, the refinery also would be powered by 100% renewable electricity, either sourced from the grid or generated on-site from recycled and repurposed waste heat or geothermal and solar assets.
SREP previously said project plans also include construction of:
- A new bidirectional refined products pipeline connecting to nearby terminals.
- An 8-bay truck terminal.
- A 300-car rail terminal.
- A 4-barge marine terminal located at or near the project site.
In an August 2022 update to its original May 2022 application filed with Victoria County officials for potential tax reductions on the project, Prairie Energy Partners said the 250,000-b/d decarbonized refinery would include the following major installations:
- A crude distillation unit consisting of two 125,000-b/d process trains.
- Naphtha, diesel hydrotreaters.
- Isomerization units.
- Continuous catalytic reformers (CCR).
- Hydrocrackers.
- Renewable diesel unit.
- Autothermal reforming (ATR)-based hydrogen complex and associated CCS complex.
- Water, waste-water production and recycling complex.
- On-site renewable-electricity production plant.
