Valero plans to invest US$700m in the expansion of its refinery in St Charles Parish (Louisiana, US). The expansion would include construction of a large methanol unit, designed to compress natural gas into liquid in order to manufacture chemicals and plastics. Valero plans to start the construction in late 2015 or early 2016, when the group will have received the necessary permits.
Valero acquired the refinery in 2003 (270,000 bbl/d) and has invested since then in the facility, with the commissioning of a new hydrocracker (60,000 bbl/d) in early July 2013. The group plans to expand throughput capacity to 75,000 bbl/d at each of the new hydrocrackers. With successful permitting, the expansion projects are expected to be completed in 2015. In addition, Valero is pursuing a 20,000 bbl/d expansion of the existing hydrocracker at its Meraux refinery that should be complete by the end of 2014.
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