Shell Australia and Mobil Oil Australia have disclosed plans to obtain feedstock for their Victoria refineries as Bass Strait oil flow declines.
They agreed to jointly acquire the former BP Australia refinery site at Crib Point on Westernport Bay near Melbourne. Plans call for spending $30 million (Australian) to redevelop the site, vacant since the mid-1980s. That involves building a tank farm and terminal to enable them to import and store crude before moving it via pipeline to their Melbourne area refineries.
The site has deepwater berths and is near the pipeline that moves crude directly from Bass Strait to their refineries, both of which recently have undergone cat cracker upgrades to handle a broader slate of crudes.
The final redevelopment plan is subject to government approvals. Construction is to begin in the second half, and the site should be operational by late 1993.
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