Crude Unit Additions Could Add 4 Million Barrels of Capacity at North American Refineries

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--North America's Petroleum Refining Industry is set to see more than 4 million barrels of crude oil capacity added from 65 projects, either through expansions or unit additions from now until April 2015. Expansions of existing crude units make up about two-thirds of the projects. Eight of the expansion projects have been canceled, and five were put on hold. In addition to crude unit expansions, there are 23 new crude units planned, either at grassroot sites or additions at existing sites, with no cancellations and none that have been put on hold.

Click on the image for a breakdown of future crude capacity through either expansions or unit additions by market region.

The North American Petroleum Refining Industry’s spending trends have been showing year-over-year increases from 2006 to 2008. A major trend affecting refineries across North America involves converting, modernizing and expanding refineries to process sour crude oil from western Canada and abroad. Companies are trying to either convert from sweet refining to sour refining, or they are trying to displace some of the sour crude that comes from unfriendly territories, such as Iraq and Iran, where the supplies of crude oil aren’t too reliable. Most projects are capacity expansions because the permitting process for an expansion is much easier to obtain than it is for a new plant. For related information, see North American Petroleum Refining Industry Could See Five-Fold Increase in Capital Spending in 2008 Compared to 2006.

In total, about 1.07 million barrels are planned through unit additions or expansions in Canada, and the U.S. has 2.06 million barrels planned. About 909,000 additional barrels of capacity could be added through upgrader projects in Canada. The Southwest market region leads U.S. regions in terms of future capacity and the number of projects with 792,000 barrels planned across 11 expansions and four unit additions. Motiva Enterprises LLC (Houston, Texas) is underway with construction at the Port Arthur refinery to add 325,000 barrels of crude, making it one of the largest capacity additions in the Southwest.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is a marketing information service specializing in industrial process and energy related industries with products and services ranging from industry news, forecasting, plant and project databases, as well as multimedia advertising campaign assistance.