Bitor's Orimulsion Facilities in Venezuela chart (49249 bytes) Venezuela's Bitumens Orinoco SA (Bitor) plans to quadruple production capacity of its Orimulsion boiler fuel to more than 20 million metric tons/year by 2000.
Rising export demand for the fuel, an emulsion of heavy Orinoco crude oil in water, is expected to require construction of three more 5.2 million metric ton/year production units.
Bitor Europe Ltd. sees demand for Orimulsion in Europe rising to 10 million metric tons/year by 2000 from 1.4 million metric tons last year as a number of power station trial projects convert to sales contracts.
Bitor has formed a joint venture to process Orimulsion ash for recovery of heavy metals. The first recovery plant is to be built in East Germany for commissioning in 1996.
Manuel De Oliveira, president of Biter Europe, said reserves of heavy crude oil in Venezuela's Orinoco belt amount to 63.5 billion metric tons of coal equivalent, enough to last 500 years at planned production rates.
Orimulsion, composed of 70% natural bitumen and 30% water, is marketed by Petroleos De Venezuela SA (Pdvsa) unit Biter in competition with coal. De Oliveira said Orimulsion is priced to match the price of coal per unit of energy.
PRODUCTION
Bitor operates one Orimulsion production unit of 5.2 million metric ton/year capacity at Cerro Negro, just north of the mouth of the Orinoco River. This is said to meet current demand for Orimulsion but to require addition of three production units at Cerro Negro by 2000.
Bitor hopes to have two more 5.2 million metric ton/year production units under construction in 1996, with another to be built by 2000.
So far, production is planned only from fields in the Cerro Negro region. De Oliveira said fields in the Zuata region will be placed on production under the Orimulsion project in the next century.
Conoco Inc. last December disclosed plans to produce heavy oil from the Zuata area in a venture with Maraven SA. The project will export heavy oil to Conoco refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast as early as 1997 (OGJ, Dec. 26, 1994, p. 24).
Venezuela's Hamaca region is not slated for development under the Orimulsion project.
Orimulsion's heavy oil feedstock is processed at Morichal for export. Until last year, Orimulsion exports were held in check by the relatively small size of vessels that could berth at Punta Cuchillo terminal in the mouth of the Orinoco.
Bitor last year opened a deepwater terminal at Jose on the Caribbean Sea coast to allow Orimulsion exports in vessels holding more than 100,000 metric tons. The first load from the new terminal went to Denmark (OGJ, Nov. 21, 1994, p. 37).
Bitor hopes to export 50 million metric tons/year of Orimulsion worldwide by 2030. De Oliveira said market growth rate and costs of infrastructure mean at most 25 million metric tons /year of export capacity is likely in the next 20 years.
De Oliveira said Pdvsa spent $1.3 billion on research and development of Orimulsion before commercial production took place. Bitor was then said to have spent a further $1.2 billion in building one production unit and export infrastructure.
Investment required to 2000, which involves installation of the three modules to boost production to 20 million metric tons/year, will be another $1 billion, De Oliveira said.
Where Orimulsion Power Plant Customers Are chart (181802 bytes)
CONTRACTS
De Oliveira said seven electrical power generating plants around the world use a total of 5 million metric tons/year of Orimulsion at present. Three commercial agreements, not yet operational, will require a total 10 million metric tons/year of Orimulsion.
Trials of Orimulsion at four other generating plants in Europe are at an advanced stage and could be operational by 2000.
"Full trials for evaluating the use of Orimulsion take about 5 years," De Oliveira said. "We are now working with all but a few of the power utilities of Europe."
Bitor Europe expects to sell 2.8-3 million metric tons of Orimulsion to European power generators this year.
A vital step in acceptance of Orimulsion's ability to meet environment regulations lies in the decision by Danish utility SK Power last November to buy an initial 1.1 million metric tons of Orimulsion.
Orimulsion is sold only to coastal generating plants, De Oliveira said, because overland transportation costs would put the fuel at a cost disadvantage to coal.
De Oliveira said ability to deliver Orimulsion in large vessels is key to the economic argument that secured the Danish contract. Negotiations this year are expected to lead to a long term supply contract.
U.K. power generator National Power plc last January decided to convert an oil fired generating plant at Pembroke, South Wales, to run on Orimulsion. National Power is seeking government approval to burn 4-5 million metric tons/year of Orimulsion at Pembroke starting in 1998 (OGJ, Jan. 16, p. 31).
Deliveries to Pembroke will be in large vessels. A 300 million ($450 million) jetty expansion is planned there so the plant can accept vessels holding as much as 150,000 metric tons.
Among Orimulsion trials, Bitor reports an Ansaldo test plant in Italy ran a successful trial monitored by state electric utility ENEL, and a 250,000 kw plant at Setubal, Portugal, operated by CPPE ran 93,000 metric tons of Orimulsion during September 1994-January 1995.
Bitor said feasibility studies for plant conversions to Orimulsion fuel were completed in Italy, Finland, Denmark, Hungary, Israel, and Morocco. Small scale trials took place in Denmark, Italy, and Germany.
ASH RECYCLING
Bitor announced formation of Orbit Metallurgical Ltd., a joint venture to be based at its London office. Orbit will recover vanadium, nickel, and magnesium from Orimulsion ash, using a process developed by Bitor.
Biter will have a 45% interest in Orbit. Its partners are Reakt Ltd., a U.K. metals processor, 10%; and Strategic Minerals Corp., a U.S. producer and marketer of vanadium based products, 45%.
"The Orbit venture will effectively close the environmental cycle in the use of Orimulsion," De Oliveira said.
Orbit plans to build a commercial Orimulsion ash recycling plant in the former East Germany, slated for commissioning in 1996.
This first plant is expected to process 6,000 metric tons/year of ash to recover 1,150 metric tons of vanadium pentoxide, 700 metric tons of magnesium, and 130 metric tons of nickel.
De Oliveira said the East German ash recycling unit will treat ash from the Danish generating plant and most likely the Dalhousie unit. Biter has two sites in mind for the first plant and has approached German authorities for permission, to build.
A similar unit is planned for installation in the U.K. to process ash from the Pembroke plant, although it is too early to propose a site to authorities.
A third ash recycling unit is envisaged in the longer term for installation in southern Europe.
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