With budgets in the billions, timelines spanning years, and the world energy market at its most volatile in the last decade, refining capital projects and maintenance activity present enormous management and budgeting challenges for U.S. energy companies. Petrochemical Update spoke to senior-level industry experts at Valero, Tesoro, Jacobs, Bentley, IPA and more to gather crucial insight on what the key challenges are and how refiners are tackling them.

Download your complimentary copy of the 2016 Refining Capital Projects Outlook & Strategies Whitepaper here

While many upstream projects are getting cancelled and some refining projects are getting delayed, U.S. refining capital project spending is still expected to remain in the billion-dollar range for the next few years, according to market research firm Industrial Info Resources (IIR). U.S. and Canada refinery capital spending is expected to hit $6 billion for those projects beginning construction in 2016, with another $14.49 billion planned for construction kick-o  in 2017 and $17.32 billion planned for 2018, according to IIR’s database.

Future spending in the U.S. will be mostly driven by smaller, quick-return optimization and reliability projects, facility upgrades to address octane loss issues, as well as gasoline production increases as domestic refiners take advantage of cheap domestic feedstock, comply with environmental regulations and export more petroleum products to meet rising global demand.

While North America’s capital project spending is big, the problems confronting the industry are daunting as well – from fluctuating world crude prices to shrinking margins, from increased retail gasoline demand to changing exports and emerging markets, from the desire for feedstock flexibility to the need to update old refineries, from increasing regulation to growing environmental concerns. In this market environment, refining capital project teams need to make the right investments at the right time to move forward while safeguarding their business against future uncertainty.

The volatile conditions call for new strategies and extra due diligence to handle the new challenges and opportunities – whether it is choosing to delay or shelve a planned project, or deciding between a large new capital investment and a smaller budget maintenance activity.

To help project owners and contractors in the refining sector navigate the current marketplace and improve their project execution strategies, this whitepaper provides:

• Market analysis of U.S. refining capital investment amid low and volatile oil prices
• Look into how spreads, margins and volatile pricing play into the decision-making process
• Update on projects taking priority and projects most likely to be cancelled or deferred
• Sampling of planning strategies refiners are using to determine which capital projects make the cut

Download your complimentary copy of the Whitepaper here

I hope you find this useful – your feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Karla

Karla Michelle Sharp

Senior Conference Director

Petrochemical Update

T: +44 (0)20 7422 4321 (UK Office)                            

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E: karla@petchem-update.com