North American Petroleum Refining Industry Plans $104 Billion in Capital and Maintenance Projects

SUGAR LAND--August 11, 2008--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--In North America, 834 Petroleum Refining projects totaling more than $104 billion are scheduled to start construction in the future. The Southwest region, which includes the Gulf Coast states of Texas and Louisiana, as well as Arkansas and Oklahoma, has the most planned projects of any North American market region with 279 planned projects. The highest total investment value (TIV), however, exists in refining projects in Western Canada. The largest project in the region is Total S.A.'s (NYSE:TOT) (Paris) planned 200,000-barrel-per-day (BBL/d) bitumen processing plant in Alberta. Canada's largest planned Petroleum Refining project is actually slated for the island of Newfoundland. The Newfoundland and Labrador Refining Corporation (St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador) is seeking financing for the $6.5 billion Placentia grassroot refinery. SNC-Lavalin (TSX:SNC) (Montreal, Quebec), which is providing engineering services for the project, filed a bankruptcy application against Newfoundland and Labrador Refining in June because it was owed about $20 million. A court ruling stayed the proceeding, which will hopefully give the company enough time to secure financing. Construction of the 300,000-BBL/d crude oil refinery is scheduled to be complete in 2013.