CITGO Delays Corpus Christi Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel Project Due to Oil Workers Strike

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). CITGO Petroleum Corporation (Tulsa, Oklahoma), owned by PDV America, Inc, an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA), the national oil company of the Bolivian Republic of Venezuela, has delayed a $40 million project at its 155,000 barrel per day Corpus Christi, Texas refinery, due to the on-going oil workers strike in Venezuela.

CITGO plans to expand a 50,000-barrel per day distillate hydrotreater using a proprietary PDVSA technology and add an oxygen injection system to an existing sulfur recovery unit to increase capacity. Construction was originally scheduled for mid 2003, but will be delayed by at least one year, depending on the outcome and length of the strike. Upon completion of the project, the refinery will be capable of producing ultra low sulfur diesel, an environmental mandate which requires the sulfur content in on-road diesel to be reduced to no greater than 15 parts per million. Compliance for the project is by June 2006.

Planned turnaround activity may be delayed as well due to the shortage of cash. CITGO manufactures and markets transportation fuels, lubricants, petrochemicals, asphalt and other industrial products throughout the world. CITGO directly owns or operates six refineries located in Illinois, Georgia, Louisiana, New Jersey and Texas with a combined daily capacity of 895,000 barrels per day.