Staatsolie Maatschappij Suriname launched construction works on the expansion of its Tout Lui Faut Refinery, located 20km south of Paramaribo, the capital city of Suriname, in February 2012. The expansion is scheduled for completion in October 2014.
The Tout Lui Faut Refinery, opened in 1997, consists of a vacuum distillation unit and a visbreaker unit with a processing capacity of 7,000 barrels a day of diesel and fuel oil. The new facilities to be added during the expansion will increase the processing capacity to 15,000 barrels a day of diesel (EURO IV type), fuel oil and asphalt bitumen for the local market and sulphuric acid for export. The refinery will exclusively use drilled crude from the Saramacca District.
The project is being implemented to make Suriname completely self-sufficient in engine fuels.
Saipem was awarded the $424m engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the refinery expansionproject in September 2009.
Tout Lui Faut background and expansion financing
The refinery expansion project has been planned since 2002. Two Front End Design (FED) phases were carried out from 2002 to 2007. The final design for the expansion was carried out by CB&I Lummus, a subsidiary of Chicago Bridge & Iron Company (CB&I). The company also designed and built the existing refinery.
The embankment of the project site, with 2.5m of river sand, construction of a jetty along the adjacent Suriname River and placement of the supports for the new storage tanks, were carried out prior to the commencement of the main construction works. These activities were carried out by Boskalis International.
Staatsolie Maatschappij Suriname is providing the funds for approximately 75% of the $1bn expansion project, while $275m is being borrowed from ING, Credit Suisse and other regional banks. Local bonds worth A$55m were also issued for the project.
Related project
Mangalore Refinery Expansion, India
Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL) is located in the city of Mangalore about 350km from Bangalore in the state of Karnataka, India.
Staatsolie Suriname refinery expansion details
The Staatsolie Refinery Expansion Project (REP) will be built in a nine hectare area located east of the existing refinery. Staatsolie has ordered for around 600 custom-made components from all over the world for the project.
A 700t hydrocracker reactor will be used to produce diesel oil, while an 180t vacuum tower will be used as the feeding module. The two facilities were shipped to the project site in March 2013.
The new refinery will be equipped with Hitachi’s Tribune compressors. The Hydrogen compressors used for the gasoline units will be constructed by Dresser Rand.
A Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) unit, used for purifying hydrogen from the hydrogen production unit, was installed in February 2013. The PSA unit consists of a large vessel measuring 22m in height, four metres in diameter, and weighing 30t.
The PSA unit further comprises six smaller vessels weighing 18t, and measuring eight metres in height and 2.4m in diameter. The valves skid for the vessels weighs approximately 30t and measures 27m in height and four metres in diameter.
“Staatsolie has ordered for around 600 custom-made components from all over the world for the project.”
Other support facilities such as a waste water treatment plant, a thermo-physical deaerator, pipe racks, storage tanks and fuel package boilers will also be constructed as part of the refinery expansion.
The waste water treatment plant and the thermo-physical deaerator will have hourly flowrates of 102m3 and 82t respectively. The two fire tube heavy fuel package boilers will produce 12t of steam an hour at a temperature of 260°C.
A total of 373 steel piles and 13.5m tall pipe racks are being installed at the project site. Construction of 11 storage tanks and two water tanks are also part of the project.
Contractors involved with the South American Refinery Expansion Project (REP)
A joint venture between (JV) of IREM and SICES provided the mechanical contractor for the project. The JV installed the first pipe racks for the project in October 2012. SICES will also construct 24 package plants under a €27m ($36.68m) contract awarded in January 2012.
The hydrocracker reactor and vacuum tower for the project were manufactured by Larsen & Toubro.
The initial Project Management Consultancy (PMC) contract for the project, during the design phase, was awarded to Aker Solutions.
Bono Artes has been contracted to construct the waste water treatment plant and the thermo-physical deaerator, while the two fire tube heavy fuel package boilers will be supplied by Bono Energia.
Skema will provide design, manufacturing, inspection and testing services for the switchboards and all the electrical control and monitoring systems (ECMS). Ballast Nedam is performing the civil and steel piling works under a €25m ($33.96m) contract awarded in January 2012.
Honeywell will install its Integrated Control and Safety System (ICSS) and Manufacturing Execution System (MES) at the refinery. Techimp Impianti is performing the electrical and instrumentation works for the expansion project.
