ALON USA plans to Produce Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). ALON USA (NYSE: ALJ)(Dallas, Texas) is planning to modify an existing diesel hydrotreating unit at its 70,000-barrel per day crude oil refinery in Big Spring, Texas, in order to comply with the EPA’s new highway diesel mandate. Commonwealth Engineering and Construction LLC (Houston, Texas) is providing engineering and procurement services.

The capacity of the 20,000 barrel per day unit will remain unchanged once complete. The project scope includes installing a new reactor, modification of a wet gas compressor, amine contactor, and addition of feed effluent exchangers. Akzo Nobel is providing catalyst and internals for the new reactor. In November 2005, the reactor will be shipped to the site from Holland, The Netherlands, where it is being fabricated. It will arrive at the Port of Houston in December and then railed to the refinery site in January. Construction is scheduled to be completed by May 2006.

The new highway diesel mandate, commonly known as Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD), requires refiners to lower the sulfur content in the diesel pool to 15 parts per million (ppm), by June 2006. Although, most refiners are targeting to produce diesel of 8-10ppm due to contamination that may be picked up through the pipeline system or storage terminals.

ALON USA, is an independent refiner and marketer of petroleum products operating primarily in the Southwestern and South Central regions of the United States. Alon USA markets gasoline and diesel products under the FINA brand name and is a leading producer of asphalt in the State of Texas. ALON USA is a subsidiary of ALON Israel Oil Company Limited, formed when the Israeli company purchased FINA Incorporated's downstream operations in August 2000.

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