Viva Energy schedules major 2020 turnaround at Geelong refinery

Viva Energy Australia Pty. Ltd. investing more than $100 million (Aus.) to execute a major maintenance turnaround of the residual catalytic cracking unit (RCCU) and other associated processing units this year at its 120,000-b/d Geelong refinery adjacent to Corio Bay, about 50 km west of Melbourne, in Victoria, Australia.

Scheduled to begin in late third-quarter 2020, the turnaround will involve shutting down the core of refinery operations to carry out a major overhaul of central elements of the RCCU plant and associated units to prolong operating life of the assets, Viva Energy said in its recently released 2019 annual report to investors.

While it did not disclose further details of the 2-month turnaround, Viva Energy said it expects to invest between $110-140 million to complete the planned maintenance project.

Alongside confirmation of the upcoming turnaround, Viva Energy also notified investors it completed work in 2019 to optimize crude selections as well as its production slate at the refinery to limit gasoline and increase diesel production.

The operator said it also commissioned a new 25 million l. gasoline storage tank in 2019 at Geelong that has enabled the refinery to efficiently aggregate gasoline parcels for coastal export and reduce associated demurrage costs.