Earlier, Singapore's Business Times had reported that Chevron and PetroChina, joint owners of Singapore Refining Company, have decided to postpone a $300-$400 million investment to build a "green" gasoline and on-site cogeneration plant at the 290,000 b/d Jurong Island refinery
"The shareholders of [SRC] have reached a decision to defer the gasoline production upgrade project. They expect to resume this project subject to market conditions in two years' time," the spokeswoman said in her e-mail. "The associated construction of an electricity and steam Cogeneration Plant [Cogen] will also be deferred for two years."
Partners in the refinery had first planned the upgrade for 2009, but it was delayed 12 months because of the global downturn, according to the Business Times report. The final investment decision had been expected around this time, once the front-end engineering design had been completed, the newspaper said.
The project had called for an ultra-low sulfur plant to treat the 25,000 b/d of gasoline currently coming out of SRC's catalytic cracker to meet Euro IV specifications -- that is to give it a sulfur content of 50 ppm. Gasoline currently sold in Singapore has a maximum allowable sulfur content of 500 ppm,
which meets Euro II specifications.
Included in the project proposal was a 60-70 megawatt in-house cogeneration power plant to supply the refinery with steam, cooling water and electricity.
The postponement comes as Singapore refineries continue to face a challenging market and competition from new regional refineries in China and India, said the Business Times.
PetroChina holds its 50% stake in SRC through its ownership of Singapore Petroleum Company - a holding it took on in 2009 after making a bid for Keppel Corp.'s 45.51% stake in SPC and then buying up the remaining shares.
