By Nidaa Bakhsh
Nov. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Total SA, Europe’s third-largest oil company, is planning to source heavier crudes for its Lindsey refinery in the U.K. as North Sea supplies dwindle.
“Total foresees a requirement for the ability to bring deeper draught vessels into Immingham Oil Terminal” and is investigating the possibility of deepening the approach to the Humber estuary, the Paris-based company said yesterday in an e- mailed statement.
Total is planning to secure heavier, sour, highly sulfurouos crude grades from the Middle East and Russia as it shifts from using light, sweet oil from the North Sea, it said.
It’s investing 200 million pounds ($302 million) on equipment that removes sulfur from fuels at the Lindsey oil refinery in order to meet European Union directives on lower carbon-dioxide emissions from vehicles. A so-called hydro- desulfurization unit will be operational by mid-2009, according to the statement.
The company plans to dredge the estuary by about two meters (6.6 feet) to allow fully-laden 15-meter deep vessels to berth, the statement said. This project is estimated to cost 10 million pounds. The work will allow part-loaded very large crude carriers, or VLCCs, to dock as well as carriers transporting standard-size consignments of Russian oil.
The facility can accept carriers hauling 80,000 to 85,000 metric tons of oil whereas Russia routinely supplies minimum consignment sizes of 110,000 tons.
The Lindsey refinery, located in northeast England, has the capacity to process 221,000 barrels of oil a day, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. More than 90 percent of the refinery’s oil is from the North Sea, with occasional supplies from the Mediterranean and Russia, the statement said.
The plans are subject to regulatory approval and, if granted, dredging should begin next summer, Iain Hutchison, a Total spokesman in the U.K. said by phone yesterday.
To contact the reporter on this story: Nidaa Bakhsh in London at nbakhsh@bloomberg.net
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