Project Profile
Value: US$600 million
Location: Outskirts of Monterrey, Cadereyta, Nuevo Leon, in Mexico
Capacity: 275,000 bpd (storage), 155,000bpd of fuel (refining) and a 65,000bpd (fluidised catalytic cracking plant)
Length: 1,317 km (pipeline)
Start-up Year: 2Q 2014
Hector R Lara Sosa Refinery or Ing. Héctor R. Lara Sosa Refinery (also known as Cadereyta refinery) is a refinery owned by Pemex. Pemex\'s oil refinery expansion in Cadereyta had its official start in April 2002. Hector R Lara Sosa Refinery has undergone tests to guarantee safety and efficiency since 2001. The 275,000 bpd facility is located in Cadereyta, Nuevo Leon, on the outskirts of Monterrey, Mexico\'s northern industrial capital. The Cadereyta Refinery Reconfiguration Project (CRRP) was the first upgrade project and improved the structure of the Mexican petroleum industry, which was set for an upturn in petrol and diesel sales in northern Mexico. Mexico imports approximately 40% of fuel for domestic consumption and demand is expected to increase by 5% by 2013. The CRRP was an unprecedented huge-scale construction, with the construction of ten new plants, expansion of four plants and building a 1,317 km crude oil pipeline. Fourteen other plants, including a refinery plant producing 155,000 bpd of fuel and a 65,000 bpd fluidised catalytic cracking plant, were modernised and expanded. The CRRP was delayed twice.
The first time was for one year in 1997, when Pemex extended the bid submission date up to October 1997, even though the tender documents were issued in the middle of 1996. The second time was for one year in 2000 due to a force majeure, Pemex acts and omissions, and additional works requested by Pemex. Pemex granted an extension to the completion date from 2 July 2000 to 21 April 2001. The work was carried out under a public works financing project that had not been used in Mexico. As soon as the plant was completed, consortium Conproca handed the refinery back to Pemex. The Cadereyta refinery is the third-largest and most sophisticated plant of its kind in Mexico. The plant infrastructure includes atmospheric distillation, an alkylation plant supplied by UOP, a methyl tertiary-butyl ether plant, a sulphur recovery plant, a hydrogen plant, a sour water stripping and exhaust unit, an RFCC plant, two crude distillation plants, a light fractionation plant, a naphtha HDS plant, two intermediate distillated product HDS plants, an asphalt mixing unit, a sulphur recuperator plant and a naphtha reformer plant.
The winning consortium, Conproca, led by SK Engineering and Construction, was awarded the contract in November 1997. SKEC was in charge of financing, engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning of the entire project. Other leading contractors included Siemens, which covered the engineering and construction of all electrical instrumentation. Siemens\' role in this project was to modernise and install the control systems for the refinery, enabling the plant to double production of petrol, diesel and kerosene. The firm also implemented the automation systems for point-of-sale terminals and the Scada system for pump station monitoring and remote control. It also divided the Cadereyta crude oil pipeline into various sections. Siemens awarded a contract to ILF Consulting Engineers for a 1,200km, 24in-diameter crude oil pipeline. The company provided extensive consultation in process hydraulics, operation commissioning and line-fill of the pipeline system. It also gave a definition of the automation concept, issue of detailed logistics, contract management for application-specific software and consulting regarding contractual matters. The pipeline transports oil to the refinery from the oil production areas in southeast Mexico, and improves the capacity of other pipelines in the area. Rotork Houston successfully bidded to supply 800 IQ actuators and Pakscan systems for the refinery. It won the contract despite fierce competition from Europe and the US. Tribasa began building the long-distance crude line, but went bankrupt in October 1998. SKEC took over all of Tribasa\'s responsibilities for the project and carried out the construction works for the pipeline, which was completed in 2002.
New refinery upgrade
In February 2007, Pemex announced it would carry out a US$600 million upgrade of the Cadereyta refinery as part of a US$3 billion commitment to produce petrol and diesel with ultra-low sulphur content. The project includes the addition of catalytic petrol desulphurisation plants, amine regeneration units, utilities and offsites. The upgrade also covers the construction of six new plants and the modernisation of a seventh. In addition, a US$30 million water treatment plant will be built. In August 2009, international tenders were invited and a US$638 million EPC contract was awarded to ICA Fluor, a joint venture of Fluor Corp and Empresas ICA. The project was completed in 2012.
Operators:
Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX): Operator with 100% interest
Contractors:
Rotork Houston: Contract to supply 800 IQ actuators and Pakscan systems for the refinery
SK Engineering and Construction (SKEC): Main EPC contractor
Siemens: Contract covering the engineering and construction of all electrical instrumentation
Joint venture for EPC contract for a water treatment plant:
ICA
Empresas ICA
Joint venture for the revamp of one of the conversion unit of the Ing
Construcciones Industriales Tapia
Technip
Joint venture for EPCC of valve systems:
Foster Wheeler AG
Altair Strickland LLC
Subcontractors:
ILF Consulting Engineers: EPC contract for a crude oil pipeline