Motiva Port Arthur Refinery Crude Expansion Project
Project Name
Motiva Port Arthur Refinery Crude Expansion Project
Location
Port Arthur, TX, USA
Type
Dual Polarity Desalters
Size
Four 12’ x 90’ vessels
@ 150,000 bpd each
Total 600,000 bpd
Environment
Refinery
Year Awarded
2007
Project Value
$9.3 MM
Scope (Brief)
Crude desalters
Status
Equipment delivered 2009
Project Description
The Motiva Port Arthur Refinery Crude Expansion Project, through a joint venture of Shell and Saudi Aramco, is currently under construction to become the largest refinery in the United States and among the top ten worldwide. This project is designed to increase capacity and reduce emissions from operations by upgrading and replacing current systems. Projected start-up is slated for 2012, and once completed the Motiva refinery will increase its current capacity to 600,000 BBL per day.Motiva selected four NATCO Dual Polarity Desalters for this large expansion project.
Scope of Supply
NATCO supplied a total of four Dual Polarity desalters each including internals, composite grids, one 250 KVA transformer, level instrumentations, and mixing valves. Each desalter also included provisions for an additional 250 KVA transformer for future use if required, based on crude blend conductivity characteristics.
NATCO provided R&D Consulting to Shell’s Westhollow Research personnel, and crude testing for highly-conductive refinery blends, in the early stages of project development. Engineering and design for all desalters were completed by NATCO Houston with fabrication in New Iberia, LA, working with EPC contractor Bechtel-Jacobs.
Milestones
- Project Awarded- 2007
- Equipment Delivered- 2009
- Start-up- 2012
Achievements
- Exceeded client’s expectations despite delivery delays
- Job completed without any safety related incidents
- Project completed on budget