Ecuador's Esmeraldas Refinery Running at Normal Capacity after Maintenance Turnaround

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Petroecuador's (Quito) 110,000-barrel-per-day (BBL/d) Esmeraldas refinery is processing at normal rates after finishing a planned maintenance turnaround in the 55,000-BBL/d Crude 2 and 15,900-BBL/d Vacuum 2 units.

Before the maintenance turnaround began on June 10, the crude unit was processing at 79% and the vacuum unit had been derated because of the lack of feed. Visbreaking 2 was also derated, processing at minimum rates because of the vacuum unit. As maintenance was being performed on the units, the visbreaking unit was kept offline, and the refinery's capacity was reduced to 50,000 BBL/d. Maintenance was completed on June 17, and the units were restarted the next day after tests were completed. Crude 1 is running at 89% because of furnace coke accumulation. Plant authorities said the isomerization unit remains offline in order to have its catalyst regenerated; it is expected to be online by July 7. The isomerization unit is the only unit currently offline at the refinery.

Ecuador is the fifth-largest oil producer in South America with a 532,000-BBL/d oil-production capacity. Petroecuador owns three refineries: the 43,000-BBL/d La Libertad, the 110,000-BBL/d Shushufindi and the 110,000-BBL/d Esmeraldas. The latter processes 65% of Ecuador's fuel production, 40% of which is used for internal consumption.

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