BP has completed commissioning and start-up of its new 250,000 bbl/d crude distillation unit at the Whiting Refinery.
The strat-up of this crude processing unit has returned the refinery to its nameplate processing capability of 413,000 bbl/d, initially of mostly light, sweet crude, which paves the way for the remaining upgrades to the plant to be brought on-line. When the new coking and hydrotreating units are commissioned and operating at full rates in the second half of 2013, the reconfigured refinery will have the flexibility to greatly increase heavy, sour crude processing, delivering an expected incremental US$1bn of operating cash flow per year, depending on market conditions.
Construction of the Whiting Refinery upgrade project is more than 95% complete. BP expects to commission a new 105,000 bbl/d gasoil hydrotreater, a large 102,000 bbl/d coker and other associated units in the second half of 2013. When all of the new equipment is in full operation, the refinery will have the ability to significantly increase heavy, sour crude processing to roughly 80 percent of its overall crude run.
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