MOSCOW (MRC) -- BP announced plans for a USD269 million investment in three projects at its Cherry Point Refinery in Washington state, aimed at improving the refinery’s efficiency, reducing its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and increasing its renewable diesel production capability, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.
These projects are expected to create more than 300 local jobs over the next three years. This includes more than 200 construction jobs, 25 engineering jobs and approximately 40 support roles. bp currently supports more than 36,600 jobs in Washington. The investment is aligned with bp’s aims to be net zero across its operations by 2050 or sooner and to reduce the carbon intensity of the products it sells by 50% by 2050 or sooner.
David Lawler, chairman and president, bp America: “bp’s new investment in Cherry Point builds on a half century of innovation in Washington state. It will position us to provide lower carbon energy while creating jobs and reducing emissions in our operations."
The USD169m Hydrocracker Improvement Project (HIP) will improve efficiency and reduce periods of planned maintenance, resulting in fewer unit shutdowns and associated flaring events. The hydrocracker is the “heart” of the refinery. In this unit, heavy oils are subjected to high temperatures and pressure – in the presence of hydrogen – to produce gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.
Upon project completion, the hydrocracker will consume less hydrogen, which is produced at the refinery by conversion of natural gas, producing CO2 emissions. In addition, the hydrocracker will require less heat input from the consumption of gaseous fuel in refinery process heaters than it does today. Work on the hydrocracker will begin later this year and is expected to finish in 2023.
The USD55m Cooling Water Infrastructure Project (CWI) will enhance cooling water infrastructure, allowing for increased utilization, better energy efficiency, and a related reduction in CO2 emissions.
Just as a radiator in a car cools the engine, cooling towers in the refinery enable cooling for process units through circulation of water. Water is recycled in this system, and as much ambient heat as possible is recovered.
Cooling water is vital to safe operations. This project will improve reliability by enabling the refinery to maintain an optimum cooling water temperature year-round. Increasing efficiency in cooling produces fewer light hydrocarbons, such as methane and ethane, that are combusted in process heaters and utility boilers. Work on the cooling water infrastructure will begin later this year and is expected to be completed in 2023.
The HIP and CWI projects are together estimated to reduce CO2 emissions from operations at Cherry Point by approximately 160,000 tons per year, or seven percent – equivalent to taking more than 32,000 US cars2 off the road.
As MRC reported before, BP and Lukoil want to quit their Iraqi energy projects due to the current investment environment, the country's oil minister said earlier this month, as OPEC's second biggest producer faces an exodus of international oil companies that want to exit unattractive contracts. Lukoil wants to sell its stake in West Qurna 2 to Chinese companies.
Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,396,960 tonnes in January-July 2021, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 841,990 tonnes in the first seven months of 2021, up by 29% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymers (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.
BP is one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, serving millions of customers every day in around 80 countries, and employing around 85,000 people. BP’s business segments are Upstream (oil and gas exploration & production), and Downstream (refining & marketing). Through these activities, BP provides fuel for transportation; energy for heat and light; services for motorists; and petrochemicals products for plastics, textiles and food packaging. It has strong positions in many of the world's hydrocarbon basins and strong market positions in key economies.
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