Global mineral base oil capacity rose 1.4 percent over the past year, now topping 962,000 barrels per day, according to the 2009 Guide to Global Base Oil Refining. API Group II capacity rose a hefty 12 percent and Group III capacity shot up 33 percent since last June, while Group I capacity continued to shrink, dropping 4 percent.
Published this month by LubesnGreases magazine, the completely updated 2009 Guide lists 164 mineral base oil plants, giving locations and capacities. In addition to identifying paraffinic and naphthenic refineries, the Guide includes a growing number of rerefineries that use hydrotreating or solvent refining processes and have capacities of 800 b/d or more.
Group I base oil capacity now stands at 597,000 b/d, or 62 percent of the worlds total mineral base oil capacity. A year ago Group I accounted for 65.5 percent of total capacity, down from 68 percent in 2007. The decline in Group I capacity was greatest in North America, which lost 18 percent of its capacity, primarily with the closing of Citgos and Marathons plants last year. Group I capacity in Western Europe declined 8 percent from 2008.
Sharp increases in Group II and Group III capacity reflect the opening of new high-end plants in the Asia/Pacific region. Worldwide Group II capacity is now 223,300 b/d, up from200,000 a year ago. Group III capacity now tops 60,000 b/d, up from just 45,280 in 2008.
New Group II/III plants include Formosa Petrochemicals 10,000 b/d Group II plant in Taiwan, the Pertamina-SK 7,000 b/d Group III joint venture in Indonesia, and Petronas 6,500 b/d Group II/III plant in Malaysia.
The worlds naphthenic capacity, now just under 82,000 b/d, was essentially unchanged from 2008 to 2009. But one feature of the Guide, a list of upcoming capacity additions, shows that pale oil capacity is slated to shoot up 13 percent before this year is out. Ergons Vicksburg, Miss., plant plans a 3,000 b/d expansion, and a new CNOOC plant in China will introduce 7,650 b/d of new naphthenic capacity.
Looking ahead to 2013, 95,700 b/d of new capacity is slated to come on stream, an amount almost equal to 10 percent of current global capacity; however, a mere 1,000 b/d of that new capacity will be Group I. The largest announced additions are Shell/Qatar Petroleums 28,800 b/d Ras Laffan, Qatar, gas-to-liquids plant now expected to stream around 2011, and Chevrons 25,000 b/d Group II plant in Pascagoula, Miss., also scheduled for 2011.
Western Europe saw the largest regional decline in base oil capacity from 2008 to 2009, losing 5 percent. North America lost 4 percent of its total base oil capacity. At the other end of the spectrum, Japan and Korea together saw capacity rise 4 percent. And base oil capacity in the Asia/Pacific region soared by 33 percent. Changes were smaller in other regions.
Seventeen rerefineries made the cut for inclusion in the 2009 Guide, with total capacity of almost 28,000 b/d, an increase of 12.5 percent from 2008.
The 2009 Guide to Global Base Oil Refining is the first of three base stock guides from LNG Publishing Co., created in close cooperation with Pathmaster Marketing Ltd. of the U.K. It has been mailed to all subscribers to the print edition of LubesnGreases magazine, polybagged with the June issue.
In July, the regional Base Stock Guide for Europe, the Middle East and Africa will be mailed with the July/August issue of LubesnGreases Europe-Middle East-Africa. And in September the Global Guide to Nonconventional Base Stocks will be published and mailed to LubesnGreases print edition subscribers.
Information about ordering copies of the 2009 base stock guides is available at LNG Publishing: Base Stock Guides.