UOP LLC, a Honeywell company, has announced that Petrobras has selected UOP to provide all of the process technologies for two new maximum diesel refineries to be built in Brazil. UOP hydrocracking and hydrotreating technologies will be used to produce high-quality diesel fuel from Brazilian national crude oils at the two new refineries. Petrobras plans to construct a two-train 600,000-bpd facility in Maranhão, Brazil, to be known as Premium I, and a single-train 300,000-bpd facility in Ceara, Brazil, to be known as Premium II.
Basic engineering for the refineries is underway. Commissioning of the first train at the Premium I facility is planned in 2014, and the Premium II facility in 2017. Both facilities will use UOP’s Unicracking hydrocracking process and Unionfining hydrotreating process to upgrade feedstocks to ultra-low-sulfur diesel. Selective-Yield Delayed-Coking (SYDEC) technology, provided by Foster Wheeler USA, will also be used to maximize diesel production by converting the crude oil’s residue portion to an intermediate product used in diesel production. UOP will also serve as the front-end-engineering design contractor to provide a firm basis for the site’s procurement and construction. Design of the crude and vacuum systems in the refineries will be provided by Process Consulting Services, Inc., through an alliance partnership with UOP.
PDVSA and Eni have contracts for creating two Mixed Enterprises (Empresas Mixtas): PetroJunín, dedicated to developing the Junín 5 Block, located in the Orinoco Oil Belt, some 550 km southeast of Caracas, Venezuela, and PetroBicentenario, dedicated to constructing and operating a refinery in the area of the existing industrial coastal complex of Jose, Venezuela. Participation in both mixed enterprises will be PDVSA 60% and Eni 40%, according to the terms of the new hydrocarbon law of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
The new refinery will have a capacity of 240,000 bpd, plus the ability to process additional volumes of approximately 110,000 bpd of intermediate streams from other PDVSA facilities, which will provide additional value to the project. Eni will pay a bonus of $646 million. $300 million of this will be paid at the publication of the Mixed Enterprises’ contracts of incorporation. The balance will be paid in tranches, according to achievement of project milestones. Awarding of major contracts is expected in 2011 for early production, and in 2013 for full field development.