West Coast Petroleum Refining Industry Sees Healthy 2006 with Over $800 Million in Capital & Maintenance Spending Planned

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). After a pair of slow spending years, in terms of capital and maintenance work, the Petroleum Refining Industry is starting to come alive once again on the West Coast. Currently, the industry is planning on spending over $800 million in the region during 2006.

Click on the image at right to view a breakdown of project spending in the industry by year.

In 2005, the resurgence of spending began, with over 40 projects, worth in excess of $600 million, beginning construction, or anticipated to begin construction during the last quarter of the year. This is an increase of over 200% when compared to spending for the region in 2004 and 2003.

At this early stage, 2006 is showing signs of exceeding 2005’s spending by over $200 million, a rather significant increase for a region that is not known for its sizable investments in the industry. Typically, the lion’s share of capital spending that goes on within the industry will take place either on the Gulf Coast, where refining is still the crown prince of spending, or in the last decade, in Western Canada where the oil sands bonanza is chugging along at a steady money eating pace.

Some examples of the spending anticipated to take place in 2006 on the West Coast will include a $100 million delayed coker unit addition, an $80 million gasoline hydrotreater unit addition, a $35 million sulphur recovery complex addition in Washington state, a $100 million fluid cat cracker unit addition, $50 million worth of crude unit expansions, and a $50 million alky unit addition in California.

Only time will tell if the West Coast holds up to the early promise it is showing for the refining industry and to what effect, if any, the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina will have on spending in the region during the coming year. However, with 2005 having an encouraging increase in overall spending numbers, 2006’s continued increase in spending has a better then even shot of coming to fruition, which would mean that the refining industry is poised for a monster spending year when compared to its recent history in the region.

Click on the image at right to view Industrialinfo.com's 2005 North America Refining Wall Map.

View Plant Profiles - 1507139 1013115 1007691
View Project Reports - 21001366 21000923 21001383 06004507 06002259 06004521

For details on the projects mentioned in this article check out Industrialinfo.com's Petroleum Refining Database, or contact Member Services at 1-800-762-3361.

Industrial Information Resources (IIR) is a Marketing Information Service company that has been doing business for over 22 years. IIR is respected as a leader in providing comprehensive market intelligence pertaining to the industrial processing, heavy manufacturing, and energy-related industries throughout the world.