Jamaica’s sole refinery due upgrade, expansion
Jamaica is moving forward with the long-planned and earlier delayed expansion and modernization of the Jamaican-Venezuelan joint venture Petrojam Ltd.’s 36,000-b/d hydroskimming refinery in Kingston, Jamaica (OGJ Online, Sept. 22, 2017; Apr. 28, 2006).
Plans are now under way for installation of a new vacuum distillation unit (VDU) as part of the first phase of the Petrojam refinery’s upgrade, Dr. Andrew Wheatley, Jamaica’s minister of science, energy, and technology, told Jamaica Information Service (JIS).
The new VDU comes as part of the refinery’s plan to produce low-sulfur fuel for the bunkering industry that complies with pending sulfur specifications designed to reduce environmental pollution from the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to take effect in January 2020 (OGJ, Apr. 2, 2018, p. 60).
With $100 million now earmarked for Phase 1 of the refinery upgrade by Petroleum Corp. of Jamaica (PCJ), the Jamaican government already has reached an agreement with an unidentified contractor for engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) on the VDU project, Wheatley said, stressing the importance for Jamaica to be able to supply IMO-compliant fuels to cruise and cargo ships that use the island as a transshipment point, Wheatley told JIS.
Regarding ownership of the jointly held refinery—a subsidiary of state-owned PCJ 51% and Venezuela’s state-run Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) 49%—Wheatley confirmed Jamaica remains in the process of trying to reacquire PDVSA subsidiary PDV Caribe SA’s 49% interest in Petrojam as the parties evaluate potential tax implications related to the reacquisition.
“The necessary stakeholder consultations were conducted with Tax Administration Jamaica and the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service and a response duly provided to PDV Caribe on April 17. It is our understanding that PDV Caribe’s legal team is examining our response, and we will press for a response in short order,” Wheatley said.
Previously to be executed by joint funding from Jamaica, Venezuela, and general contractor Sinohydro Corp. Ltd. of China, the proposed $1-billion Petrojam Refinery Upgrade Project (PRUP) seeks to expand the hydroskimming plant into a full-conversion, 50,000-b/d refinery, and alongside the new VDU, was to include upgrades to the refinery’s existing crude distillation, gas recovery, and kerosine hydrotreating units, as well as the addition new unit capacities for the following:
• Distillate hydrotreating.
• Naphtha hydrotreating.
• Continuous catalyst regeneration platforming.
• Delayed coking.
• Sour water stripping.
• Amine absorbing.
• Sulfur recovery.
• Tail gas treating (OGJ Online, Feb. 23, 2017).
According to Petrojam’s website, the Kingston refinery is currently equipped with the following processing capacities:
• Atmospheric distillation, 35,500 b/d.
• Naphtha hydrotreating, 6,400 b/d.
• Kerosine hydrotreating, 6,000 b/d.
• Gas oil hydrotreating, 7,200 b/d.
• Deethanizing, 7,000 b/d.
• Debutanizing, 6,600 b/d.
• C3-C4 splitting, 1,050 b/d.
Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].
