Crude Processing

As part of the Panipat Refinery Expansion Project, which will raise the capacity of the 15MM-mt/y (300K-b/d) refinery to 25K mt/y (500K b/d), state-owned Indian Oil Corp. (IOC) will license ...

Russian refiner Gazprom Neft has selected Neftekhimproekt to perform engineering work for the complex, which will house a 2.4MM-mt/y delayed coker, a 2MM-mt/y hydrocracker, and a hydrogen and sulfur unit.

Ecuador's state-owned company is looking for a private company to construct and operate a high conversion unit that will process residue from its 100K-b/d Esmeraldas refinery.

In 2023, ExxonMobil will add a 250K-b/d CDU at its 345K-b/d Beaumont refinery, which will allow it to process more oil from the Permian Basin.

The new complex will house a 2.110MM-mt/y delayed coker, a 1.5MM-mt/y diesel and gasoline hydrotreater, a 50-normal m³ hydrogen unit, a 425K-mt/y gas fractionation unit, and an 81K-mt/y sulfur unit.

Originally, the project was expected to be completed this year, but the pandemic has pushed its completion back to by two years.

State-owned INA had already begun work on the complex, which will include a delayed coker, in 2021 after making an FID in 2020.

The $7B upgrade, which has been delayed to 2024 because of the coronavirus pandemic, will raise the plant's refining capacity by 100K b/d to 370-380K b/d and will allow heavier crudes to be processed, according to Chief Executive Officer Mark Thomas of state-owned energy firm Nogaholding.

While the delayed coker was previously expected to come online in 2020, the 95K-b/d refinery in Belarus is expected to have the unit produce its first batch by the year's end.

An initial agreement has been signed by Turkish conglomerate Limak Holding and Swedish company Seab with Iraq's state-owned North Refineries co. to invest in a 70K-b/d refinery in Qayara.