Cadereyta Refinery Reconfiguration, Mexico

Pemex's (Petroblas Mexicanos) oil refinery expansion in Cadereyta, Mexico, had its official start in April 2002. For a year previously the plant had been undergoing tests to guarantee safety and efficiency.

The Cadereyta Refinery Reconfiguration Project (CRRP) is improving the structure of the Mexican petroleum industry, which is set for an upturn in sales of gasoline and diesel in northern Mexico. It was an unprecedented huge-scale construction, building ten new plants, expanding four plants and constructing a crude oil pipeline covering 1,317km.

14 other plants, including a refinery plant producing 155,000bpd of fuel and a 65,000bpd fluidised catalytic cracking plant, have been revamped, modernised and expanded.

The project boosted the northern refinery's output of unleaded and cleaner diesel, reduced sulphur emissions, and allowing it to process heavy crudes more efficiently.

The 275,000bpd refinery is located on the outskirts of Monterrey, Mexico's northern industrial capital.

DELAYS IN THE CADEREYTA REFINERY

The project was delayed twice. The first time was for a 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 a year in 2000 because of Force Maejure, Pemex Acts and Omission 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 before in Mexico. As soon as the plant was completed, the consortium Conproca handed the refinery back over to Pemex.

LEAD CONTRACTORS

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 for the whole project as a consortium leader.

Other leading members were Siemens, who 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 gasoline, diesel and kerosene. It 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 in turn awarded a contract to ILF Consulting Engineers for a 1,200km 24in crude oil pipeline. The company provided extensive consultation in process hydraulics, operation commissioning and line-fill of the pipeline system. They also provided 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 south eastern Mexico, and also improves the capacity of other pipelines in the area.

Rotork Houston successfully bid to supply 800 IQ actuators and Pakscan systems for the refinery. It won the contract despite fierce competition from Europe and the USA, all of which were bidding aggressively. Tribasa began to construct the long distance crude line, but went bankrupt in October 1998. SKEC took over all responsibilities of Tribasa for the Cadereyta Project and carried out the construction works for the long distance pipeline, which was completed in 2002.

NEW REFINERY UPGRADE

In February 2007 Pemex announced a $600m upgrade of the Cadereyta refinery as part of a $3bn commitment to produce gasoline and diesel with ultra-low sulphur content.

The project will include construction of six new plants and modernisation of a seventh. In addition, a $30m water-treatment plant is to be built. Tenders are to be invited in the first quarter of 2007 with a view to issuing contracts for the completion of work in 2008 and 2009. The $3bn program will aim to reduce sulphur content in vehicle fuels by 88% from the 2004 level.

As many as 22 new plants will be constructed across six refineries and half of these will be dedicated to the post-treatment of gasoline. Four plants at each refinery will be for hydrodesulphuration and the production of hydrogen and three for sulphur treatment. In addition, 18 plants producing intermediate distillates are to be modernised.