July 27, 2017:

VALLEJO (KPIX 5) — The Phillips 66 Refinery in Rodeo wants to double the number of tankers that deliver crude to be refined, but concerns about the environment have prompted opposition from residents in the city of Vallejo.  Vallejo resident Robert Brekke said, “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”  Brekke will have the opportunity Thursday night to fight plans to increase traffic at the Phillips 66 oil refinery across the bay. 

The oil company wants to more than double the number of tankers bringing in crude oil every year.  If this permit request is approved, it will mean a lot more oil tankers in San Pablo Bay. Currently only 59 tankers are allowed to deliver crude oil to the refinery in Rodeo each year, this proposal ups that number to 135 each year.  Erica Maharg, managing attorney for the environmental protection group Baykeeper, says this expansion puts the bay directly at risk for more oil spills.  Maharg said, “I think the size of the expansion is the big concern for us.”  She said, “The increase in ship traffic I think increases the potential that a ship will have some sort of catastrophic accident and have a major oil spill.”  Less than 10 months ago an oil spill at the Phillips 66 refinery sent more than 100 people from Vallejo to the hospital because of noxious odors. 

The air quality district released a list of preliminary concerns it’s addressing with residents Thursday night, like diminished air quality, increased diesel emissions, impact on coastal marsh habitat, increased greenhouse gas emissions, risk of toxic exposure, fires and emissions.  Baykeepers is asking concerned citizens to sign an action letter to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District to block the expansion. Phillips 66 will not attend Thursday night’s meeting but tells us this won’t impact production levels at the refinery. They say the plan is to decrease transports from the pipeline and increase transports on the water. Opponents say the plan is a step in the wrong direction. Brekke said, “We should be thinking of more sustainable ways of living in this world and not just increasing more oil.” We asked the air quality district if the Phillips 66 violation from September would have any impact on the refinery’s future plans. They told us because it’s still under investigation, they can’t answer that. Public comment on this topic is still open online through August 28th. 

By Sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com

July 27, 2017:

A comprehensive upgrade of the bitumen facility at the Gazprom Neft Omsk Refinery has now been completed, allowing an expansion in the product range of bitumen binders, as well as improving the energy efficiency of the plant, extending run-life from two to four years, and reducing environmental impacts. Total investment in the project, undertaken as part of the full-scale modernisation of the Omsk Refinery, totalled RUB1.4 billion. Modern equipment allows more flexible adaptation of operating processes at the facility in producing different brands of bitumens, improving efficiency in fulfilling orders and despatching finished products to customers. The inclusion of an additional block for component mixing as part of the manufacturing chain has made possible the production of 14 different brands of bitumens, all compliant with the latest GOST 33133-2014 and STO 2.1-2011 standards. The key feature of the plant’s revamped range is the extended performance metrics of each brand, giving consumers the opportunity of choosing precisely the product most durable under specific climatic conditions and traffic loads. Bitumen materials produced by the Omsk Refinery are traditionally supplied — as well as throughout the Siberian Federal Okrug — to the Russian Far East, the Urals, and the countries of Central Asia. The project is being undertaken by Gazpromneft Bitumen Materials, operator of the Gazprom Neft bitumens business. Eliminating the use of recycled water, through the use of antifreeze in a closed-circuit cooling system, will significantly reduce the environmental impacts of bitumen production. Cutting-edge energy-efficient design solutions envisage using the heat reclaimed from bitumen production to heat feedstock, reducing consumption of process fuel by 66 percent, with steam consumption being reduced by 90 percent through steam pumps being replaced by modern electric ones.

Dmitry Orlov, CEO, Gazprom Neft Bitumen Materials, commented: “Modernisation of the bitumen plant at the Omsk Refinery is directed at addressing our core business objective of providing consumers with high-tech and high-quality cement materials. At the same time, this is also a challenge of national importance, because the extent of the bitumen industry’s successful development depends, ultimately, on the quality and modernity of Russia’s roads.”

NOTES FOR EDITORS 

The Gazprom Neft Omsk Refinery, a subsidiary of Gazprom Neft, is Russia’s largest such facility by refining volumes, and one of the most cutting-edge refineries in the country. The Omsk Refinery produces in the order of 50 types of petroleum products, including high-octane gasolines, diesel and marine (bunkering) fuels, aviation kerosene, bitumen, household gas, heavy fuel oil (mazut), industrial sulphur, and other products in line with market demand.  Gazpromneft Bitumen Materials is a subsidiary of Gazprom Neft, specialising in the production and sale of bitumen products.  The company now holds a leading position on the Russian bitumens market, with total sales of Gazpromneft-Bitumens’ products in 2016 reaching 1.88 million tonnes.  The company’s key production facilities are based in the Moscow, Vyazma, Omsk, Yaroslavl and Ryazan Oblasts, as well as in Serbia and Kazakhstan. The company produces road, construction and roofing bitumens, as well as polymer-modified bitumens (PMBs) and binders (specifically G-Way Styrelf), and a range of bitumen derivatives (mastic compounds, sealants, bridging tapes and more). All bitumen materials produced by Gazprom Neft are fully compliant with Russian and international quality standards.  Gazprom Neft uses a variety of transport solutions to ensure the supply of bitumen materials throughout Russia, the CIS, and abroad.

By Gazprom Neft

July 25, 2017:

Construction of a delayed coking unit (DCU) has now begun at Gazprom Neft’s Omsk Refinery.* Annual raw material consumption at the complex will be two million tonnes. The CDU is set to become one of the largest facilities of its kind in Russia, and has been approved by Glavgosekspertisa (the organisation responsible for certification and permitting in the Russian Federation). Construction of the DCU is one of the key projects in the second phase of modernising Gazprom Neft’s refining assets, directed at improving refining depth and increasing yield of light petroleum products. The new facility will allow additional yield of light petroleum products — gasoline and diesel fuels — as well as increasing production of high-quality petroleum coke**— a raw material for the aluminium industry, produced through the production of heavy fuel oil from preceding stages of production. The CDU will consist of five sections, including a coking section, a gas fractionation unit, a section for cleaning liquefied hydrocarbon gases, and an amine regeneration unit. Infrastructure facilities under construction at the plant include facilities for dehydration, storage, and the transportation and shipment of coke to railway cars. The design documentation for the DCU was developed by Rustechnip. The licence for the technology is held by Foster Wheeler, a world leader in delayed coking processes. Construction of the complex is expected to be complete by 2020.

Anatoly Cherner, Deputy CEO for Processing, Logistics and Sales, Gazprom Neft, commented: “Implementing the DCU project addresses a number of major objectives in terms of the technological development of the Omsk Refinery. We will be increasing production of motor fuels, and supplying a growing market with high-quality petroleum coke. Apart from which, the energy efficiency of technological processes will be improved, and operating costs optimised through the deep refining of oil residues. Construction of the CDU, together with other projects that form part of the second phase of modernising the plant, allow us to achieve a synergistic effect, bringing the Gazprom Neft Omsk Refinery closer to achieving the best international standards, increasing refining depth to 97 percent and yield of light petroleum products to 80 percent.”

NOTES FOR EDITORS

* Delayed coking is a technological process for refining heavy oil raw materials (predominantly tar), contributing to greater refining depth. Together with the petroleum coke, the fractionation of the coking products in the distillation column during the coking process produces hydrocarbon gas, as well as gasoline fractions, and light and heavy gas oils for use as feedstocks in hydro-catalytic refinery processes, resulting in the production of high-quality motor fuels.

** Petroleum coke is a by-product of secondary oil refining. It is used in the aluminium industry as a reducing agent (anode paste) in the smelting of aluminium from aluminium ores.

By Gazprom Neft

July 24, 2017:

RICHMOND, Calif. (AP) - Chevron Corp. and state regulators have reached a settlement related to a 2012 fire at its Richmond refinery that will require the company to spend about $20 million on safety improvements, officials announced Monday.  The agreement requires Chevron to replace all carbon steel piping that transports corrosive liquids with chrome-alloy piping, which is better at resisting corrosion. Chevron will also have to implement procedures to monitor equipment that alerts operators when replacements are needed, Cal/OSHA, the state’s workplace safety agency, said in a statement.  “This means safer operations at the refinery, which will help protect refinery workers and those who work and live nearby,” Cal/OSHA Chief Juliann Sum said.  In 2013, the state fined Chevron nearly $1 million after a fire at the company’s Richmond refinery sent a cloud of gas and black smoke over residential areas.  Investigators found “willful violations” in Chevron Corp.’s response before, during and after the Aug. 6, 2012, fire caused by an old, leaky pipe in one of the facility’s crude units that the company had neglected to replace, even after inspecting areas near the segment that failed less than a year earlier. Cal/Osha also said at the time the company didn’t follow recommendations its own inspectors and scientists made in 2002 to replace the corroded pipe that ultimately ruptured and caused the fire.  Smoke and gas from the blaze prompted thousands of people to seek medical treatment, with many complaining of eye irritation and breathing problems. No workers were seriously injured in the incident.

By Associated Press

May 29, 2017:

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Iraqi government has given permission for an oil refinery to be built in Kirkuk that is expected to cost $5 billion.“The oil ministry has given approval for a new refinery to be built in Kirkuk," Asim Jihad, the spokesperson for the Iraqi oil ministry, told Rudaw. "The project will be implemented in the future.”Baghdad’s decision to build a huge refinery in Kirkuk comes after the Black Force of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) seized control of the North Oil Company in the city of Kirkuk in early March, stopping the oil export for several hours before it resumd.The Kurdish force, backed by all Kurdish parties in Kirkuk, seeks to force Baghdad to implement an agreement between the Kirkuk governor and Baghdad reached in January, notably in opening an oil refinery in the multi-ethnic Kirkuk.Several days after the force deployment, the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al Abadi met with a PUK politburo delegation led by the party’s first deputy Kosrat Rasul Ali, Hero Ibrahim Ahmed (the wife of Jalal Talabani) and the party’s Kirkuk officials. They subsequently announced they had reached an agreement regarding the problems of the North Oil Company.According to Point 6 of the January agreement, the oil ministry should "help the Kirkuk province to begin expanding the Kirkuk oil refinery and its work with Barham company to install a new refinery."Some other large companies in the Kurdistan Region have submitted their proposals to the Iraqi oil ministry, including Faruq Holding, owned by Faruq Mala Mustafa, who is very likely to receive the project. If he does, he will be borrowing a $1 billion loan from a Chinese bank. “The project has not been officially given to anyone. We will talk about it after it is announced,” Faruq Mala Mustafa told Rudaw.The oil minister had earlier said that the plan to invest in Kirkuk’s oil infrastructure had long been pursued, but the situation in Kirkuk and Iraq was not helpful at this stage. Jihad told the local media about two weeks ago that the oil ministry had tried to set up a refinery in Kirkuk, but due to the city’s security and political situation, no company was ready to go to Kirkuk.3 to 5 years to finish the refinery“The Iraqi oil ministry has given the go-ahead for a modern refinery to be built which will cost $5 billion," Rebwar Taha, an Iraqi MP from the PUK, told Rudaw.

 "The project will be implemented in phases and might take 3 to 5 years to finish,”

“Kirkuk has a refinery that is 65 years old, refining only 30,000 oil barrels per day," Taha who represents Kirkuk in the Iraqi parliament added. "It cannot fulfill Kirkuk’s demands. This is while Kirkuk is Iraq’s second biggest oil city. This is why we have asked for the refinery’s production rate to be increased to 70,000 barrels a day so that oil from Kirkuk is no longer taken elsewhere under the pretext of refining it."Building this refinery will create hundreds of job opportunities for the people of Kirkuk, especially for the graduates of the mechanical and other technical departments at Kirkuk University.“Some companies have submitted their proposals via Baghdad, the Iraqi government and the oil ministry," Rebwar Talabani, head of Kirkuk’s provincial council, told Rudaw. "It is important for us that the priority be given to Kirkuk’s people in building the refinery and then staffing it.

” How is Kirkuk’s oil sold?

The North Oil Company produces nearly 160,000 barrels of oil daily, from which 20,000 barrels of oil are transported through tankers to Dora Refinery in Baghdad order to fulfill the fuel demands of Al-Quds power station just north of Baghdad.In addition, 30,000 more oil barrels are used to account for internal needs. The remaining 110,000 oil barrels are exported. Half of it is sold by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), and the other half by the Iraqi government.According to the agreement between Kar Group and the Iraqi government, Kalak Refinery near Erbil, which is owned by Kar Group, receives 40,000 barrels of oil every day from the North Oil Company in order to refine it for the Iraqi government.

By RUDAW