A consortium led by Foster Wheeler and including Toyo Engineering (Japan) and Y&V Ingeniería y Construcción (Venezuela) has been awarded a contract by PDVSA for the engineering, procurement services and construction management (EPCm) for the El Palito refinery expansion project in Venezuela. The El Palito refinery is located close to Pto. Cabello, Carabobo state, Venezuela. Foster Wheeler has previously designed and built several units of the refinery.
The major expansion of the refinery will include a number of new units, including a 140,000 bbl/d crude/vacuum distillation unit, a 24,500 bbl/d naphtha hydrotreating/continuous catalytic reformer complex, a 58,000 bbl/d vacuum gasoil hydrotreater, a 45,000 bbl/d diesel hydrotreater, a 2.3 Mcm/d hydrogen production unit, a 250 t/d sulfur recovery/tail gas treatment unit, a new flare system, amine regeneration and sour water stripper facilities, and relevant utilities, interconnecting and off-sites, including marine facilities and a new product storage tank farm.
The expansion is intended to double the refinery’s capacity to 280,000 bbl/d, processing heavy and extra-heavy crudes from the Orinoco Belt, and increasing production of clean fuels. The project is expected to be completed during 2016.