The base oil capacity on Jan. 1 in the United States was 237,800 barrels per day, down from 241,500 b/d a year earlier, according to the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers 2015 Lubricating Oil and Wax Capacities Report.
The drop of 3,700 b/d of the total capacity was solely due to changes at a Calumet Specialty Products plant, said the report, which was released last week. Since the reporting deadline for the document, U.S. capacity has increased due to an expansion at ExxonMobils base oil plant in Baytown, Texas.
U.S. API Group I capacity at the start of this year stood at 64,300 b/d, down from 65,100 b/d last year. Group II and III capacity was 125,300 b/d, a decrease of 3,000 b/d from a year earlier, and naphthenic capacity remained at 43,500 b/d.
The change for Calumet occurred at its plant in Shreveport, La. According to AFPM, the plants overall capacity fell from 11,900 b/d to 8,200 b/d. Most of the decrease was in the plants capacity to make Group II oils, which fell from 7,000 b/d to 4,000 b/d, but Group I capacity dipped from 4,800 b/d to 4,000 b/d. Calumet declined to comment on the changes. AFPM said Calumet provided the numbers that the organization published but that AFPM did not request an explanation for the changes.
ExxonMobil announced in April the completion of its Group II expansion at Baytown. The energy giant did not disclose the size of the project, but LubesnGreases estimates that the plants capacity rose 7,000 b/d to 28,500 b/d.
AFPMs lists capacities for base oil and wax plants in the Western Hemisphere. It also provides a wealth of data not available from other sources, including the types of refining technologies used at different base oil refineries and capacities of hydroprocessing, dewaxing and finishing units.
The base oil production capacity of used lubricant rerefiners listed by AFPM remained the same at 2,300 b/d. However, this data does not include several rerefiners that did not participate in the report: Avista Oil USA, Universal Lubricants, Heritage-Crystal Clean and Vertex Energy, which have combined base oil production capacity of 7,850 b/d. According to the LubesnGreases 2015 Guide to Global Base Oil Refining, Vertex has one rerefinery in Columbus, Ohio, with capacity of 1,500 b/d and another in Fallon, Nev., with capacity of 1,400 b/d. Avista operates a Peachtree, Ga., plant with capacity of 1,250 b/d and Universals plant in Wichita, Kan., has capacity of 800 b/d.
HCC Vice President of Base Oil Sales Cary A. Palulis told Lube Report yesterday that the companys Indianapolis plant has capacity of 2,900 b/d but will expand to 3,100 b/d in September.
Base oil capacity can be measured in different ways – a fact underscored by discrepancies between the numbers reported to AFPM and those published by some other sources. For example, AFPMs report shows capacity at Chevrons plant in Pascagoula, Miss., as 23,500 b/d even though the company gives a number of 25,000 b/d. The reason for the difference is that 25,000 b/d is the daily nameplate capacity of the plant, whereas AFPM asks companies to factor in an estimate of production days that will be lost to maintenance in an average year. For the same reason, LubesnGreases lists the capacity of Motivas Port Arthur, Texas, plant – largest in the world – at 40,300 b/d, while AFPM shows 39,000 b/d.
AFPMs Base Oil and Wax Capacities report lists locations, capacities, refinery configurations and ownership for 19 U.S. virgin base oil and wax plants, plus three in Canada and two in Latin America, along with four rerefineries in the U.S. and Canada. It is free to AFPM members and costs $35 for nonmembers. For ordering information, visit the AFPM Store at www.afpm.org.