September 4, 2015 [OPIS] - The proposal to build a refinery at the Port of Longview in Washington state now includes a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) export terminal.
The refinery and the LPG export terminal are being proposed by two subsidiaries of Waterside Energy Inc.
Riverside Refining LLC is proposing the refinery, and Washington Energy Storage and Transfer (WEST) is proposing the LPG export terminal.
Some details of the proposed LPG export terminal were presented at Wednesday’s meeting of the Port of Longview Commission.
The WEST LPG export terminal would receive up to 75,000 b/d of propane and butane by rail from Canada and North Dakota. The LPG would be stored at the terminal and exported to Asia, with up to four Very Large Gas Carriers (VLGC) getting exported each month.
The terminal would be designed to store up to 1.1 million bbl of LPG (approximately 88,600 mt) and would comprise: five spherical LPG tanks capable of holding 23,000 bbl each, one 550,000-bbl LPG tank and two 225,000-bbl refrigerated LPG tanks.
The LPG export terminal project would be a 50/50 joint venture with a partner that has not yet been named.
Both the refinery and the LPG export terminal would be built on private property totaling 75 acres. However, the Port of Longview would still have jurisdiction over an underground pipeline, a rail corridor and a wharf that would be needed to ship petroleum products.
As reported by OPIS, the proposed 45,000-b/d refinery would process 30,000 b/d of light, sweet shale-derived crude oil and 15,000 b/d of sustainable seed and vegetable oil, used cooking oils (UCO) or other renewable feedstocks.
The refinery would produce approximately 9,800 b/d of reformulated gasoline, 14,700 b/d of renewable diesel and jet fuel, 5,800 b/d of ultra-low-sulfur diesel, 4,900 b/d of kerosene jet fuel, 1,600 b/d of LPG and 8,300 b/d of atmospheric residuals.
Products would be transported via barge to local and regional markets, or by ocean vessels to other West Coast markets depending on arbitrage economics.
Permitting Timeline
Waterside will permit Riverside Refining, WEST and the associated rail elements via the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council (EFSEC), which describes itself as providing a “one-stop” siting process for major energy facilities in Washington state. The process results in a recommendation to the state’s governor, who must either approve or deny the permit.
The timeline presented by Waterside shows the recommendation not getting submitted to the governor until March 2017.
The timeline presented by Waterside also shows several other steps in the process. Preparation of the permit application would take place during the rest of 2015. Submission of the Application for Site Certification (ASC) would take place in January 2016. Public comment on the ASC and a land use hearing also would take place in January 2016.
A Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) would be pulled together by May 2016, and the first public comment on the DEIS would take place in June 2016. The final Environmental Impact Statement would be ready by January 2017, and a Draft Site Certification Agreement would be drawn up by February 2017.
Prior LPG Terminal Proposal Rejected
As reported by OPIS, Port of Longview commissioners in March of this year unanimously rejected a bid by Sage Midstream to construct an LPG export terminal at the port. The terminal would have been operated by Sage subsidiary Haven Energy Terminals LLC.
It was estimated that the Haven facility would create 110-125 jobs once it was operational, which Commissioner Lou Johnson said was “a little low” considering that the facility would have used “a real valuable piece of property.”
Johnson also noted that he was dissatisfied with the facility’s proposed location at Berth 4 on the Port of Longview. “We asked them to move that to a different part of the property or to a private area, and for whatever reason that didn’t happen,” he said.
The project also came under fire from local residents concerned about the potential safety risks associated with transporting large amounts of LPG offshore.
The environmental group Columbia Riverkeeper is raising similar concerns about Waterside’s proposals for the Port of Longview.
“Waterside’s proposals invite explosive trains and storage facilities into densely populated areas,” Brett VandenHeuvel, executive director of Columbia Riverkeeper, said in a statement Thursday. “A spill or explosion could devastate homes and businesses in Longview.”
