Low Sulfur Gasoline Projects Underway in Louisiana Exceed $1 Billion

---

Researched by Industrialinfo.com Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). The U.S. petroleum refining industry is in the midst of complying with the EPA's Tier II sulfur mandate, requiring most refiners to lower the sulfur content in gasoline to 30 parts per million (ppm) by 2006, with the exception of California. California had previously implemented a 30 ppm specification back in 1996.

Construction time schedules vary for low sulfur gasoline projects, but the majority of refiners will meet the mandate by the end of 2005. In Louisiana, eleven refineries will have completed and will be processing approximately 500,000 barrels per day of low sulfur gasoline by that time. These projects represent over $1 billion in capital expenditures for just Louisiana alone.

One of the eleven projects is Chalmette Refining LLC's plans to add a 40,000 bbl/day desulfurizer utilizing SCANfining technology. The company began demolition work last fall and plans to begin civil work for the new unit this summer.

Details of all eleven low sulfur gasoline projects in Louisiana are included in the attached Louisiana survey sample.

Click on the image at right to view the Louisiana Low Sulfur Gasoline Projects Survey Sample.

Most refiners have elected to go with the addition of a new desulfurizer, rather then converting and upgrading an existing unit, to take advantage of newer, state-of-the-art technologies available. In Louisiana, CDTECH's CDHDS technology seems to be the preferred choice, while others have elected to utilize ExxonMobil SCANfining, ConocoPhillip's Szorb, Axens Prime G, UOP and Unipure technologies.