By Jorge Montaño.

The industrial restructuring of Cartagena Refinery (Reficar) was successfully initiated. In December, the basic engineering finished and in January, the detailed one started.

Ecopetrol, owner of 100% of this Refinery, approved a purchase order worth of over 160 million dollars for machinery, whose construction is long-lasting overseas.

Meanwhile, some civil works are ongoing on the same place as well as permissions for the construction of piers in Mamonal.

Reficar President Mr. Orlando Cabrales in an interview with El Heraldo said that all necessary activities are being carried out.

The restructuring of the plant will bring about a 3.800 million dollar investment. Ecopetrol expects to have support from US Eximbank for this great expansion.

“Everything is being done as fast as possible”, said Cabrales. The restructuring is expected to be ready by November 2012; which means this work will take about three years.

Cabrales assured that when this remodeling comes to an end, the Refinery will start producing cleaner fuel. In order to meet the national requirements and specifications in terms of diesel, we must import it well treated and at low-sulfur levels, so it can be mixed with the one being produced at the moment at Cartagena Complex.

“All these issues will go vanished after modernization. Everything will be pollutant-free”, claimed Cabrales. Besides, the plant will start producing 165.000 barrels with its new face.

At the same time, the Complex will start producing raw material for the development of the Petrochemical Industry. 

According to Cabrales, the modernization of this plant will play a remarkable role for a major development of this industry in the country.

“After initiating the new Refinery in 2013, the favored elements will be vehicles with cleaner fuel, which also benefits the community in terms of environment”, he said.

The restructuring will allow to quadruple the number of jobs. Today, there are 400 and by the year 2013, there will be 1.600. During the construction, 5000 new jobs will be generated. The workload training has already begun. 

What the complex is doing today.

Cartagena Refinery has a capacity of 80.000 barrels per day and a production of gas, diesel and distilled products, also known as WHITE, which represent about 75%. The rest is fuel oil with lower prices than crude, which represents 25%. By the time the project is over, there will just be a 3% of these products with lower costs. The rest will be gas, motor fuel oil, and airplane fuel. At present, the Refinery exports 50% of gas production and motor fuel oil, but after the modernization, this figure is expected to rise. This will be 40.000 more barrels. This plant satisfies fuel needs in the Caribbean Coast.

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