Motiva lets Port Arthur pet coke contract

HOUSTON, May 19 -- Motiva Enterprises LLC has let a contract to Roberts & Schaefer, a subsidiary of KBR, for construction of a petroleum coker material-handling system in the expansion of its 285,000-b/d refinery at Port Arthur, Tex.

When the expansion is complete early next year, the refinery will have distillation capacity exceeding 600,000 b/d and become the largest in the US.

Roberts & Schaefer will install, start up, and test the pet coke system and provide on-site construction management and technical support for commissioning and testing. It handled engineering and procurement.

Motiva, a 50-50 venture of Shell Oil Co. and Saudi Refining Inc., said on May 16 that it had completed placement of the expansion project’s 375-ft tall delayed coker, which has capacity of 95,000 b/d.

The expansion includes a new single-train crude distillation unit with capacity of 325,000 b/d.

Other new units include an 85,000-b/d catalytic reformer with associated isomerization and hydrotreating plants, a sulfur recovery facility, a 75,000-b/d hydrocracker integrated with a new 60,000-b/d diesel hydrotreater, and a 50,000-b/d hydrotreater for feed for the existing catalytic cracker