Capacity at Sunocos Tulsa, Okla., base oil plant has risen 1,000 barrels per day in the past year, according to a report released by the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association last week.
Sunoco officials confirmed that the Group I plant took a series of debottlenecking steps that boosted capacity to 9,500 b/d, an increase of 11.8 percent.
We did a number of things to simplify and debottleneck, Sales and Marketing Director Patrick Gribbin said yesterday. In fact, that work is ongoing, and were hoping to push it a bit further.
The gain in Tulsa represents one of the biggest changes in U.S. base oil capacity during the year ended Jan. 1, the effective date for NPRAs Lubricating Oil and Wax Capacities report. (The report does not include the 15,000-b/d expansion of Motivas Port Arthur, Texas, Group II plant, which came online this month.) The document also shows smaller increases at ExxonMobils plant in Baytown, Texas, and the Lyondell-Citgo plant in Houston.
In addition, the report indicates that an expansion at Petro-Canadas Mississauga, Ontario, plant will raise capacity this year to 15,600 b/d, an increase of 3,100 b/d.
Base oil capacity in the United States now stands at 218,300 b/d, according to the report and research by Lube Report. That is up from 200,900 b/d since the beginning of 2005. Group II paraffinic capacity rose from 88,100 b/d to 100,800 b/d during that time, while Group I capacity climbed from 76,200 b/d to 80,000 b/d. Naphthenic capacity rose from 36,600 b/d to 37,500 b/d.
Capacity creep at Group II plants has been fairly common in recent years because they are relatively new and because of advances in catalyst technology. Group I plants are older and do not use catalysts. Gribbin said the changes at Sunocos base oil plant were part of a company-wide effort to optimize refinery operations.
Obviously it helps profitability, but it also helps the market, given the strength of demand, he said. The Tulsa plant also added 1,200 b/d of semi-finished wax capacity.
NPRAs report indicated that total capacity at ExxonMobils Baytown plant increased 500 b/d to 21,500 b/d. Group I capacity rose 300 b/d to 9,800 b/d, while capacity for Group II and Group III oils increased 200 b/d to 11,700 b/d. Naphthenic capacity at Lyondell-Citgos plant rose 400 b/d to 3,600 b/d.
Petro-Canada announced plans to expand its base oil plant in December, but did not disclose the size of the expansion. At the time,market sources said it planned a 4,000-b/d expansion, though the increase might be achieved in stages. Sources said the first phase of increase was targeted for June.