PdV envisions coke power stations in oil belt

OREANDA-NEWS. April 23, 2015. Venezuela state-owned PdV plans to build two 900MW petroleum coke power plants in the Orinoco oil belt to absorb part of the main byproduct of planned extra-heavy crude upgraders, senior PdV officials say.

The upgraders transform extra-heavy crude mixed with around 30pc naphtha diluent into synthetic medium or light crude, stripping out the naphtha for reuse at the field.

One of the byproducts of the upgrading process is petroleum coke. Despite market appetite for Venezuela?s low-sulfur coke, PdV already has a significant accumulation piled up at the Jose industrial complex, where PdV runs four upgraders that the government nationalized in 2007. The coke accumulation is the result of chronic logistical problems at the Jose terminal.

PdV officials say they have repaired the infrastructure and are exporting an average of four coke cargoes a month from Jose, but exports are still not proceeding as quickly as the coke is accumulating.

Each of the six new upgraders that would be built at the planned Carabobo industrial complex on the eastern end of the oil belt would generate 6,000 tonnes per day of coke, in addition to 800 t/d of sulfur, another byproduct.

The new power stations, which would be built next to the new upgraders along with transmission lines, would entail \\$3.4bn in total capital investment under PdV proposed \\$143.7bn development plan for the Orinoco oil belt. The plants would absorb a combined 12,000 t/d of coke, leaving about 24,000 t/d for export.

PdV is also working on plans to utilize some of the coke at the state-owned Guayana heavy industries complex that lies just to the south of the oil belt on the other side of the Orinoco river.

The company is proposing to build a solids and liquids handling terminal at the Carabobo complex, with exports to be shipped through a rebuilt Orinoco river channel terminal at Punta Cuchillo.

A shortage of cash appears to pose the main constraint on PdV?s ambitious plans for the vast oil belt, which holds an estimated 270bn bl of remaining extra-heavy oil reserves, the world?s largest known oil deposit.

The company is seeking to produce 2.5mn b/d of fresh oil production from seven Orinoco new joint ventures with foreign companies, including Chevron, Russia state-controlled Rosneft, China state-owned CNPC, Italy Eni, Spain Repsol and India ONGC, among others.

The projects form the backbone of Venezuela ambitious plan to more than double current production to 6mn b/d by 2019.

Early production from the new joint ventures is running at around 50,000 b/d, but none of the ventures has taken a final investment decision. The output is processed at the existing upgraders at Jose.