Including lower capacities for two ExxonMobil base oil plants, base oil capacity in the United States stood at 218,900 barrels per day as of Jan. 1, down 1.4 percent from the beginning of 2007, according to the 2008 Lubricating Oil and Wax Capacities Report by the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association.
The largest drop shown in the 2008 NPRA report is the 2,500 b/d capacity decrease, to 10,000 b/d of API Group I capacity, at ExxonMobils Beaumont, Texas, plant. The company also reported a lower Group II capacity for its Baton Rouge, La., plant, from 2,000 b/d as of Jan. 1, 2007, to 1,500 b/d this year.
Calumet Lubricants Shreveport, La., refinery expansion, once expected to go onstream in 2007s third quarter, has been rescheduled to 2008. The company still indicates it will expand Group I capacity to 4,800 b/d and Group II capacity to 7,000 b/d, according to the report.
Jennifer Straumins, vice president of investor relations for Calumet Specialty Products Partners, told Lube Report the Shreveport expansion construction is mostly complete, and that the company expects to ramp up production during the second quarter of this year.
Ergon Vice President James Mike Burnett Jr. said that Ergon was still on track to complete its planned 7,500 b/d expansion of its naphthenics plant in Vicksburg, Miss. early in 2008s fourth quarter. While the NPRA report lists the Ergon plants capacity at 11,300 b/d, Burnett said the updated current capacity is actually about 12,500 b/d.
Weve got all the vessels in Vicksburg already, Burnett told Lube Report. When we had our shutdown/turnaround in January, which was actually most of January and part of February, we extended that turnaround intentionally to make all the tie-ins so we wouldnt have to come down as long to do the tie-ins in the fourth quarter.
Evergreen Oil, which produces rerefined base oils, anticipates expanding to 1,500 b/d its Newark, Calif., severe hydrotreating and Group II or Group III capacity; it stands at 800 b/d of Group I now.
ExxonMobil did not respond by press time to Lube Reports inquiries about the reasons for capacity changes at its Beaumont and Baton Rouge plants.
In Canada, the report showed no changes, with overall base oil capacity remaining at 27,100 b/d.
The 13-page 2008 Lubricating Oil and Wax Capacities Report is free to NPRA member companies, and costs $25 for nonmembers. For ordering information, go to http://www.npra.org/publications/statistics/