Esmeraldas Refinery Shuts Down Two Units After Exchanger Issue

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Petroecuador's 110,000-barrel-per-day (BBL/d) Esmeraldas refinery was forced to shut down two units on December 27 after problems arose in the CE-28 exchanger. Maintenance was being performed on the units, the 55,000-BBL/d Crude 2 and 15,900-BBL/d Vacuum 2, but a restart date has not yet been determined.

The 18,000-BBL/d fluid catalytic cat cracker has not been affected, since it is mostly fed by the 55,000-BBL/d Vacuum 1 unit, which is processing at normal rates. The remaining units are fully operational, and the refinery is currently processing 50,000 BBL/d.

A maintenance turnaround initially scheduled for November 2008 remains postponed to May 2009 because of the delay in the delivery of the new uninterruptible-power-supply backup equipment and the Vacuum 2 tower back-filling. For more details, view related September 5, 2008, news article - Petroecuador's Esmeraldas Refinery Delays Overhaul Because of Equipment Delivery Delay.

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