22-11-05
The Mexican government will permit
construction and operation of a pipeline to deliver crude oil to a proposed new
Arizona gasoline refinery that would be the first such project built in the
United States in nearly 30 years, the company behind the project said.
Arizona Clean Fuels Yuma said it has reached an understanding with a Mexican
ministry, the Secretariat of Energy of Mexico, regarding the pipeline, an
offloading facility for tanker ships and a tank farm for temporary storage of
oil.
David Traenor, a spokesman for Scottsdale-based Arizona Clean Fuels, called
the understanding an important milestone for the project planned in
south-western Arizona, with construction planned to start in late 2006 and be
done in 2010. Traenor said the offloading facility would be located on the
western coast of either Sonora or Baja California and that the company is now
negotiating with Pemex, Mexico's state-owned oil company, for crude oil to
supply the refinery.
Though crude from countries other than Mexico also could be used, "we anticipate
them being a major supplier," Traenor said of Pemex.
The refinery in eastern Yuma County would be Arizona's first. Most gasoline
now used in Arizona is carried by pipelines from California and Texas. The
Arizona Clean Fuels facility could produce approximately 150,000 bpd of motor
fuels, including approximately 85,000 bpd of gasoline, 35,000 bpd of diesel fuel
and 30,000 bpd of jet fuel.
Traenor said the company is now considering financing proposals for the $ 3.4 bn
project and is working on obtaining the remaining environmental permits needed
for pipeline pumping stations and other facilities.
The company earlier this year received the required US air quality permits.
Arizona Clean Fuels is partnering with Newport Beach, California-based WesPac
Pipelines to build and operate the offloading facility, tank farm and pipeline.
Traenor said the company is now considering two proposed sites for the
offloading facility: Puerto Libertad in Sonora and Punta Colonet in Baja
California. The Baja California site is preferred because its location on the
Pacific Ocean would accommodate bigger tankers with deeper drafts than would be
possible in the shallower Gulf of California, Traenor said.
The US House on Oct. 7 narrowly approved a bill which supporters said would
encourage oil companies to open new refineries by streamlining permits for
refineries and opening federal lands, including closed military bases, for
future refinery construction.
No new refinery has been built since 1976. The refinery would be located on
1,450 acres along Interstate 8 about 40 miles east of Yuma. Arizona Clean Fuels
picked the Yuma County site after abandoning plans to get approval for a site in
Maricopa County.
Source: Associated Press