ConocoPhillips' Whitegate Refinery Undergoing Overhaul

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) (Houston, Texas) shut down its 75,000 barrel-per-day (BBL/d) Whitegate Refinery in Cork, Ireland, for maintenance on 31 August.

The turnaround primarily entails cleaning and inspection and is expected to last approximately 30 nonproduction days. The overhaul will affect the crude, isomerization unit, continuous catalytic reformer, diesel hydrotreater 500, diesel hydrotreater 900, sulphur recovery unit, gasoline hydrotreater, debutanizer, kerosene hydrotreater and vapor recovery unit. For more details, view related May 22, 2009, news article - Overhaul Scheduled for ConocoPhillips Refinery in Ireland.

The Whitegate complex, Ireland's only refinery, commenced operations in 1959. The facility was designed as a hydroskimming refinery to process high-sulphur Middle Eastern crudes. The refinery's current capacity is 75,000 BBL/d, but there are plans to increase this to 100,000 BBL/d because of market demands. In 2006, the refinery started producing renewable diesel from soybean oil. The fuel is produced using existing equipment at the plant and is blended and transported with petroleum-based diesel. Currently, Whitegate produces 1,000 BBL/d of renewable diesel.

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