Posted on 12/18/2013 9:35:07 AM PST by thackney
BP has turned on a key new unit to process more Canadian oil sands crude at its Whiting refinery in Indiana, the British oil giant announced Wednesday.
The company has spent billions of dollars in recent years upgrading the facility, its largest. The last major milestone was the startup of the refinery’s new, 102,000 barrel-per-day coker, which began operating in November, the company said.
A coker is a processing unit that makes oils and other products used in chemicals or transportation fuels.
“The safe startup of this world-scale coker is the last major step in unlocking the full potential of the Whiting refinery for our shareholders,” said Iain Conn, chief executive of BP’s downstream segment, in a statement. “The reconfigured refinery now has the flexibility to greatly increase heavy sour crude processing, delivering an expected incremental $1 billion of operating cash flow per year, depending on market conditions.”
The Whiting refinery can process up to 413,000 barrels of oil per day.
The upgrade will let BP buy and process more oil sands crude from Canada, which is significantly cheaper than other crudes.
“The Whiting refinery project has been at the heart of our U.S. fuels strategy to operate sophisticated, feedstock-advantaged refineries tied to strong logistics and integrated into fuels marketing,” Conn said. “This world-class refinery is in the right location with the right equipment to process growing supplies of North American crude oil, including heavy grades from Canada.”
Foster Wheeler USA Wins Coker Contract For BP Whiting Refinery In U.S.
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=80422&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1189337&highlight=
Can the BP refinery in Whiting take delivery of crude by water?
I looked and I can’t find the dang sand filter to keep out that Canadian sand. What’s up with that? LOL!
An acquaintance of mine made many dollars as an electrician on that BP Whiting job the last few years.
More great news. Hop the muzzles in the middle eastt are saving their money.
if it’s for Canadian Crude perhaps they should name it the Seth Rogan Refinery...
Since Whiting is on the southern shore of Lake Michigan I would say yes
BP Whiting Refinery is located on the
southwestern shore of Lake Michigan and the
Indiana Harbor Ship Canal in the communities of
Whiting, East Chicago and Hammond, Indiana.
The refinery is fuel via pipeline but I think there are ship to pipeline docks in the area.
Are the Great Lakes the new transport lane for Alberta crude oil?
http://business.financialpost.com/2013/12/12/are-the-great-lakes-the-next-pipeline-for-alberta-crude-oil/?__lsa=64d5-a357
I was part of the design team a few years ago.
That refinery has been there for a long time. I recall when it was the Standard Oil refinery. I have lots of friends in The Region, most of them were kids of mill rats, but the refinery has been a big part of industry up there, too.
Given that it is such a large refinery with no real source of local crude to process, I was wondering earlier today if it would not be an ideal place to refine Canadian tar sands oil since Keystone XL is still not built. This answers that question.
This should not be considered a replacement for Keystone XL. They are separate projects and the need is for both and more.
Before her marriage to my son, my daughter in law was doing archeological site work for the Flanagan South pipeline in Illinois and Missouri.
And yes, we do still need Keystone XL.
I’ve got a relative with contacts at the Whiting refinery; if Keystone is blocked, they’re prepared to expand rail traffic, which is already (I believe) bringing in a bunch of Canadian crude.
What is amusing is that hauling that stuff by rail car has got to be more environmentally problematic than piping it around.
And the enviro’s have already started gearing up against BP in Whiting; their shill in the Chicago Tribune, some jagoff named Michael Hawthorne, has already started agitating over the solid tailings from the process building up at storage sites on the shores of the nearby Calumet River.
So people can understand and be profitable off of that but the Obama administration can’t build a functioning website for over $600 million. Makes sense.
Well thanks for contributing to commerce in the state of Indiana!
The Keystone XL won't feed this area via pipeline connections. It goes east to Patoka, Illinois but the pipelines North of it flow towards the south.
I hope Mr. Jagoff or Hawthorne or whatever his name is able to buy a nice Christmas for his family with all that Chinese money lining his pockets.
As to the Chicago Tribune articles, Hoosiers are more amused than threatened by Illinois' distaste for productive business enterprises.
I know they had to spend money to make a dock capable of receiving some very large and heavy vessels and prefabricated piping modules. Cokers are VERY heavy.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.