U.S. South is Home to $1.25 Billion in Refining Project Completions this Year

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The U.S. South has been the prime destination for the Petroleum Refining Industry for generations, and the current quarter has a variety of projects that indicate the breadth and depth of refining in the region. Industrial Info is tracking $1.25 billion in active Petroleum Refining projects in the Southwest and Southeast regions that are set to be completed in the second half of 2018, although almost all of the capital projects are in Texas.

Click on the image at right to see a graph from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showing how U.S. refinery capacity barely increased between 2017 and 2018.

The highest-valued project is Exxon Mobil Corporation's (NYSE:XOM) (Irving, Texas) $450 million gasoline hydrotreater addition at its refinery in Beaumont, Texas. Construction of the 40,000-barrel-per-day (BBL/d) unit began in the second half of 2016, with Bechtel Group (San Francisco, California) providing engineering and construction services.

The Beaumont Refinery processes 365,000 BBL/d of crude oil and produces 2.8 billion gallons of gasoline annually. The hydrotreater is intended to comply with the U.S. government's Tier 3 gasoline requirements, which mandate the sulfur content of gasoline to be reduced from 30 parts per million (ppm) to 10 ppm. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

MMEX Resources Corporation (Fort Stockton, Texas) began construction late last year on the $50 million first phase of a crude oil refinery in Fort Stockton. The project, which is the initial phase of a planned, $1 billion refinery complex, features a 10,000-BBL/d crude distillation unit that will produce mid-range diesel to be used for non-transportation purposes. Earlier this month, MMEX announced it would add a solar farm to power the facility, with excess power sold into the electricity grid. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

The Texas Gulf Coast is home of a wide range of refinery additions and upgrades that are under construction and set to wrap up in the coming months. The largest in terms of investment value is Targa Resources Corporation's (NYSE:TGRP) (Houston) $115 million addition of a condensate splitter at its storage and marine terminal facility in Channelview. The 35,000-BBL/d splitter will produce naphtha, kerosene, jet fuel and liquefied petroleum gas. Earlier this summer, Targa signed KP Engineering LP (Tyler, Texas) to design and build the splitter and a related tank farm. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

Flint Hills Resources Limited Partnership, a subsidiary of Koch Industries Incorporated (Wichita, Kansas), has a series of upgrades and additions underway at its West Refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas:

• $50 million hydrotreater conversion, which will switch the 53,000-BBL/d gas oil hydrotreater to a distillate hydrotreater; see project report
• $50 million continuous catalytic reformer upgrade, which will enhance the 58,000-BBL/d unit; see project report
• $50 million in offsite utilities additions; see project report
• $40 million addition of a saturated gas unit, to recover propane and heavier hydrocarbons from refinery streams; see project report
• $20 million naphtha hydrotreater upgrade, which will enhance the 50,000-BBL/d unit; see project report

Outside Texas, most of the refining projects are related to upgrades or maintenance. Delek Group Limited (Herzlia, Israel) is preparing for $20 million in Tier 3-related upgrades to its refinery in El Dorado, Arkansas, which includes constructing a selective hydrogenation unit (SHU) that would increase its hydrotreating capacity from 8,000 to 11,200 BBL/d, while Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) (Findlay, Ohio) expects to finish a $10 million wastewater treatment plant upgrade at its refinery in Garyville, Louisiana, which includes the addition of a 25,000- to 30,000-gallons stainless steel tank. For more information, see Industrial Info's reports on the Arkansas and Louisiana projects.

Industrial Info is tracking $294 million worth of maintenance-related projects set to kick off in the Southwest and Southeast in the second half of the year, including one in Alabama, one in Mississippi and two in Oklahoma.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. Follow IIR on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn. For more information on our coverage, send inquiries to info@industrialinfo.com or visit us online at http://www.industrialinfo.com/.