Tag Archives: Valero Benicia Refinery

Repost from the San Antonio Business Journal
[Editor: Note brief reference to Valero’s Benicia Refinery at end of this article. – RS]

Valero will soon have fifth refinery processing 100 percent North American crude

By Sergio Chapa, Sep 11, 2015, 6:44pm CDT

File photo Valero Energy Corporation's Jean Gaulin Refinery in Quebec City — File photo – Valero Energy Corporation’s Jean Gaulin Refinery in Quebec City

San Antonio-based Valero Energy Corp. is expected to have its fifth refinery capable of processing nothing but North American crude by the end of the year.

Valero (NYSE: VLO) revealed in an investors’ presentation released earlier this week that its Jean Gaulin Refinery in Quebec will be processing 100 percent North American crude oil by the end of the year.

Company figures show that the refinery was 100 percent dependent on foreign crude oil in first quarter 2013, but production from the tar sands region of Canada and the shale plays of the United States has dramatically changed the situation.

The Jean Gaulin Refinery is processing about 80 percent North American-sourced crude oil but will be at 100 percent once a project to modify the Enbridge Line 9B Pipeline is completed in the fourth quarter. The project will reverse the flow of the pipeline to enable oil from the tar sands region of Alberta to flow east to Valero’s refinery in Quebec.

Most refineries were built decades ago and were configured to process to Middle Eastern oil, but Valero spokesman Bill Day told the San Antonio Business Journal that the Jean Gaulin Refinery is lined up to be the fifth of the company’s refinery capable of processing 100 percent North American crude oil.

Day said Valero’s Ardmore, McKee, Memphis and Three Rivers refineries can already process 100 percent North American crude oil, while other plants are processing an increasing amount of North American crude.

The investors presentation shows that Valero is expanding its capacity to process a total of 185,000 barrels per day of light sweet crude from the Eagle Ford and other shale plays at the company’s McKee, Houston and Corpus Christi refineries in Texas.

Day said that the addition of the Keystone XL Pipeline would enable Valero to replace foreign heavy crude with heavy crude from Canada. He also noted that a proposed rail terminal at the company’s Benicia refinery in California, would enable Valero to offset foreign crude brought in by ship with North American crude brought in by rail.

Air Quality, Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD), Bay Area Refineries, Benicia CA, Crude By Rail, Revised Draft EIR (RDEIR), Valero Benicia Refinery, Valero Crude By Rail

League of Women Voters to host Benicia forum on refinery rules

September 8, 2015 Roger Straw

Repost from the Benicia Herald

Benicia forum on refinery rules set

September 8, 2015 by Nick Sestanovich

Air District to have 2-hour ‘open house’ at Robert Semple Elementary on Sept. 17

Debate over the Valero Crude-by-Rail Project — now well into its third year — intensified last week after the release of the revised Draft Environmental Impact Report. But even as residents, businesses and others in the city continue to pore over that massive document, they will have the opportunity to learn more about newly drafted state rules for refineries at a forum here next week.

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District will host a series of open houses at elementary schools in the refinery-heavy nexus of Benicia, Martinez and Richmond this month to present the agency’s four new and amended rules to reduce refinery emissions.

“This is part of an effort to reduce emissions from Bay Area refineries by 20 percent or as much as feasible by 2020,” Air District spokesperson Ralph Borrmann said Friday.

The four rules deal with limiting ammonia from fluid catalytic cracking units; broadening equipment leak standards to include all equipment that handles heavy liquids; reducing sulfur dioxide from coke calcining processes; and regulating cooling towers to reduce emissions of organic compounds, toxics and methane by being able to detect and fix leaks.

“The Air District passed a resolution almost a year ago to develop a strategy to reduce refinery emissions,” Borrmann said. “Bay Area refineries are among the most regulated in the country, if not the world, but these meetings are presenting the public with an ambitious approach to reduce emissions that are part of an aggressive approach to regulate refineries in our area.”

The open houses, Borrmann said, will not be lectures but rather forums for people to discuss and gather information. Tables will be set up with in-house experts so attendees can ask questions about the new rules, he said.

“We hope the communities and other stakeholders will have an opportunity to learn about air quality and have a role in the rule-making process,” he said.

The BAAQMD’s Benicia open house will be from 6-8 p.m. Sept. 17 at Robert Semple Elementary, 2015 East Third St.

The two other open houses will be Sept. 15 from 6-8 p.m. at Las Juntas Elementary School, 4105 Pacheco Blvd., in Martinez; and Sept. 28 from 6-8 p.m. at Lincoln Elementary School, 29 Sixth St., in Richmond.

Crude By Rail, Public permitting, Revised Draft EIR (RDEIR), Valero Benicia Refinery, Valero Crude By Rail

Benicia posts additional Reference Documents on Valero Crude-by-Rail RDEIR

September 4, 2015 Roger Straw

By Roger Straw, Benicia Independent Editor

This morning, I discovered that the City of Benicia posted 90 new documents on its website sometime AFTER the official August 31 release of the Recirculated Draft Environmental Report (RDEIR).

The City’s new page, “Revised Draft EIR Reference Documents” contains a variety of supporting documents, some of which are familiar and others which contain interesting new information.

Those who are carefully reading and reviewing the RDEIR should not rely on previous downloads or announcements that do not show the Reference docs.

Here is the link to the new page: http://www.ci.benicia.ca.us/index.asp?SEC={CA5CAF51-2ABC-4E34-A195-C894F062FED7}&Type=B_BASIC&persistdesign=none

Crude By Rail, High Hazard Flammable Trains (HHFTs), League of Women Voters, Valero Benicia Refinery, Valero Crude By Rail

Benicia League of Women Voters to host oil train forum, 9/17

September 4, 2015 Roger Straw

Repost from the Benicia Herald
[Editor: See also calendar of events on LWVBenicia.org. – RS]

LWV to host oil train forum

By Nick Sestanovich, September 4, 2015

As they have for most issues du jour in Benicia, the local chapter of the League of Women Voters will open the floor this month on the subject currently foremost on residents’ minds.

These days, that can only mean one subject: Valero’s proposed Crude-by-Rail Project.

The controversial project will be the subject of a LWV informational forum on Sept. 17.

In 2012, Valero applied for a permit to have crude oil delivered by rail car into its refinery. The move prompted an outcry from some residents over potential environmental and safety concerns.

The matter is currently before the city Planning Commission. Public input is being accepted until Oct. 15 on the latest environmental review of the project.

The goal of the forum, LWV Treasurer Judy Potter said, is to provide clarity in a nonpartisan way on a crucial, complicated topic.

“We’re not planning to present a pro-and-con argument on the crude-by-rail issue,” Potter said. “We’ll just be providing general information on what it is, where we are and what the planning process is.”

She said the forum will feature an overview by featured speaker Leslie Stewart, an energy and air quality reporter for the LWV Bay Area Monitor. Planning, policies and regulation related to the transportation of petroleum and other hazardous materials, particularly as it relates to Benicia, will also be discussed.

“People have lots of questions about how this project, if approved, will impact our community and surrounding communities,” Potter said. “It’s an issue that’s fraught with strong opinions from both sides, so it’s important for the community to get as much information as possible.”

The Sept. 17 forum will be from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at Southampton Swim Club, 10 Chelsea Hills Drive. It is free and open to the public.