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BP advances refinery sector refocusing Firm completes clean diesel upgrade at Cherry Point, draws closer to Carson sale; both plants process Alaska North Slope crude oil Wesley Loy For Petroleum News
BP is continuing a makeover of its U.S. refining position, with significant news coming in recent days concerning two plants that process a lot of Alaska North Slope crude oil.
At the Cherry Point refinery in Blaine, Wash., BP on May 9 announced the successful commissioning of a state-of-the-art diesel hydrotreater and hydrogen plant.
The commissioning caps a two-year, multimillion-dollar effort.
The project included construction of the new diesel hydrotreater unit, with a production capacity of 25,000 barrels per day, and a new hydrogen unit able to generate 44 million standard cubic feet of hydrogen per day.
A hydrotreater creates a chemical reaction that removes sulfur from diesel fuel by using hydrogen to help break the bond between sulfur and the fuel.
The new units enhance Cherry Point’s ability to meet regulations calling for lower sulfur diesel, BP said.
“These two units will significantly improve the plant’s efficiency and competitiveness,” said Stacey McDaniel, refinery manager. “The new units allow the refinery to make a full slate of ultra low-sulfur diesel fuels and provide hydrogen to other refinery operations.”
The Cherry Point project began in June 2011 and involved 25 contracting companies and more than 1,200 contract workers, BP said.
“Construction involved setting 206 pieces of equipment, driving 1,457 piles, pouring 13,500 cubic yards of concrete, erecting 1,250 tons of structural steel, laying 21 miles of pipe, and installing 170,000 linear feet of above-ground conduit,” the company said.
Cherry Point has an overall capacity of 234,000 bpd.
California refinery deal nearly done On May 17, BP announced it soon expected to complete the sale of another of its West Coast refineries, with the Federal Trade Commission having cleared the transaction.
The Carson, Calif., refinery processes crude from Alaska’s North Slope, the Middle East and West Africa.
Under the deal first announced in August 2012, BP plans to sell the refinery and related logistics and marketing assets to Tesoro Corp. for proceeds of about $2.5 billion.
The Carson refinery is one of the largest on the West Coast, with a crude distillation capacity of 266,000 bpd.
The plant is located in Los Angeles County near the Long Beach and Los Angeles harbors. Tesoro’s 97,000 bpd Wilmington refinery is adjacent to the Carson refinery.
BP picked up Carson through the ARCO acquisition in 2000.
“With FTC clearance, we have taken a significant step closer to completion of this sale and to the strategic refocusing of our U.S. fuels portfolio,” said Iain Conn, chief executive of BP’s global refining and marketing business. “BP’s future U.S. fuels business soon will be firmly rooted around three, highly sophisticated northern refineries, which are crude feedstock-advantaged, and tied to strong marketing businesses.”
The other two refineries to remain in BP’s stable are, like Cherry Point, receiving major upgrades.
The company is transforming its 413,000 bpd capacity Whiting, Ind., refinery to process heavy, sour crudes.
And BP recently started up a continuous catalytic reformer at its 160,000 bpd Toledo, Ohio, refinery, which is a 50-50 joint venture with partner Husky Energy Inc.
On Feb. 1, BP announced it had completed the sale of its giant 475,000 bpd Texas City, Texas, refinery and related assets to Marathon Petroleum Corp. for $2.4 billion.
BP had picked up Texas City through its 1998 merger with Amoco.
The Texas City and Carson refinery sales were part of BP’s campaign of divestitures in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
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