Three Largest Refineries Set for Startup in 2024 Face Delays

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Written by Paul Wiseman for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Industrial Info has learned that dates for the world's three largest refineries slated for 2024 startups have been delayed, as follows:

Africa Dangote:
After numerous previous delays, Dangote Industries Limited has begun the cold circulation of crude oil at its lone 650,000-barrel-per-day (BBL/d) Lekki Refinery. By March 25 it expects to resume the unit's trial run. The first trial began on January 12, but stopped on January 30 due to a lack of crude.

Test runs halted when the refinery ran out of West African-sourced crude and only resumed when a shipment of WTI was delivered. "Consistent crude supply will be key to the successful operation of the refinery," Hillary Stevenson, Senior Director, Energy Market Intelligence at IIR Energy noted.

Additionally, the refinery has begun catalyst loading of its 143,000-BBL/d Mild Hydrocracker unit, 103,000-BBL/d hydrotreater and the 96,000-BBL/d reformer. Dangote expects to begin the trial run for these units by early April, with commercial operations to start by the end of that month.

North Asia: Shandong Yulong Petrochemical Company's Nanshan Yulong Grassroot Refinery Startup Change
In Shandong Yantai, China, IIR has learned that the test runs at Shandong Yulong Petrochemical Company Limited's grassroot 400,000-BBL/d Nanshan Yulong Refinery have been delayed. While test runs for both crude units were initially expected to begin in February, now the 200,000-BBL/d Crude Distillation Unit (CDU) 2 will start test runs in April with potential commissioning in June.

Other major units, including the 200,000-BBL/d CDU 1, 80,000-BBL/d Deep Catalytic Cracker (FCCU), 52,000-BBL/d Reformer 1, 52,000-BBL/d Reformer 2, 52,000-BBL/d Residual HDT 1, 52,000-BBL/d Residual HDT 2, 52,000-BBL/d Residual HDT 3, 52,000-BBL/d Slurry HDT, 40,000-BBL/d VGO Hydrocracker and 40,000-BBL/d VGO HDT, are expected to start a trial run possibly by June. Assuming this goes well, it also could begin operations by September 2024.

Mexico: Pemex TRI Dos Bocas Olmeca Mexico Grassroot Refinery Project Delay
Industrial Info has confirmed that Pemex (Mexico City) missed the February 28 public inauguration date of this 340,000-BBL/d facility, with commercial startup originally set for May. Research from Industrial Info indicates the new inauguration date could be in the second half of 2024, with commercial startup yet to be determined.

Meanwhile, Pemex continues with commissioning, testing and pre-startup activities of the processing units and auxiliary services at the refinery.

Details in IIR's Refining Webinar
Let Industrial Info's team of researchers and analysts keep you ahead of changes and updates in refinery activity of all types, worldwide. At a March 13 Refining Industry webinar, IIR's Hillary Stevenson will give real-time updates on 18.7 million BBL/d of new refinery capacity projects. Of that number, 2.7 million BBL/d are under construction, and 1.5 million BBL/d are expected to go online in 2024.

You'll hear updates on the many projects, such as Dangote, that focus on local crude consumption and fuel production. Timely updates are vital because these kinds of grassroot projects across the globe are often subject to delays, cancellations and other changes.

Let IIR's team keep you and your organization on top of those changes.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) platform helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking more than 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).