Valero Refining Plans Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel Project at Corpus Refinery

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) (San Antonio, Texas) is proceeding with detailed design and cost estimates for a diesel hydrotreater unit addition at its 340,000-barrel per day Corpus Christi, Texas refinery. The project, once complete, will allow the refinery to produce the new on-road diesel fuel, known as Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD), mandated by the EPA.

The ULSD project consists of constructing a new high-pressure hydrotreating unit with two reactors that will process up to 55,000 barrels per day of feed. The unit will process straight run and light cycle oil streams. A new 50 million standard cubic feet per day hydrogen unit is also being planned to support the hydrotreater.

Jacobs Engineering Group, Incorporated (NYSE:JEC) (Pasadena, California) is providing engineering and procurement services and expects to complete a plus or minus ten percent cost estimate by March 2006. Once the cost estimate is complete, the project will go before Valero’s decision review board (DRB) for Phase IV funding, which is full project funding. If approved, construction could begin in July 2006, with completion by end of 2007.

Valero is the largest refiner in North America with an extensive refining system consisting of eighteen refineries processing approximately 3.3 million barrels per day. There are two plants located in Corpus Christi: the West plant, which was commissioned in 1983, and the East plant, which was acquired from El Paso Corporation in 2001. The company's geographically diverse refining network stretches from Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast and the West Coast to the Caribbean. The company has total assets of $33 billion and annual revenues of nearly $75 billion, which ranks the company in the number fifteen spot on the current listing of the Fortune 500.

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