ANCAP La Teja, Uruguay
Platts 23Dec11Uruguayan state-owned oil company ANCAP plans to restart
operations at its 50,000 b/d La Teja refinery in Montevideo at the
first of the year, a source familiar with the refinerys operations said
Thursday. In anticipation of the start-up, ANCAP is loading a 1 million-
barrel cargo of Venezuelan crudes (Santa Barbara, Leona, Merey
16) on January 4 from the port of Puerto La Cruz for delivery to
Uruguay, the source said. The refinery was brought down on September
21 for planned maintenance that included prep work for the
installation of new crude units designed to improve the refinerys
conversion factor and gear it to be able process Venezuelan heavy
crude oil, a source said in September. The upgrade, slated to be
completed by 2016, would include the installation of a 17,000 b/d
coker unit, producing more petroleum coke instead of fuel oil.
Diesel and gasoline products refined at La Teja would also have
lower sulfur content, the source said at the time. The La Teja refinery
upgrade, expected to cost $1 billion, would be a joint venture
between ANCAP and Venezuelas PDVSA. ANCAP is a net importer of
crude and is supplied in part by a long-term contract with
Venezuelas state PDVSA and through tender purchases.
