Imperial to upgrade four refineries

Gary Park

Imperial Oil is spending C$500 million to upgrade its four refineries across Canada to comply with new federal standards for low-sulfur diesel.

Half of the budget will go to the company’s largest refinery near Edmonton to meet government regulations reducing the sulfur levels in on-road diesel to 15 parts per million by June 1, 2006.The Edmonton facility turns 187,000 barrels per day of crude into a range of products, with diesel accounting for about 30 percent.

Imperial has already poured more than C$600 million into the refineries — one in Alberta, one in Nova Scotia and two in Ontario — to lower the sulfur content in gasoline by more than 90 percent to 30 parts per million.

The objective now is to have the refits completed in time for the introduction of 2007 model vehicles, whose engines can burn ultra-low-sulfur diesel.