Phillips 66 to build rail-unloading facility for crudes at Washington refinery
By ALISON SIDER
Phillips 66 is seeking to build a crude-oil unloading facility at its Ferndale, Wash., refinery so the plant can take delivery of oil by rail.
The unloading facility would allow a train with 100 or more railcars to pull up at the refinery and have its cargo pumped to existing storage tanks, according to an application filed with the Northwest Clean Air Agency. The unloading facility would be able to transfer about 12,800 bbl of oil per hour, allowing a new train to be unloaded about every other day.
Refiners on the East and West coasts have worked in recent months to increase the amount of crude they can take in by rail to take advantage of inexpensive, domestically produced oil that isn't yet reached by pipelines.
The agency received Phillips 66's application April 1, which triggers a 15-day notice period for public comments. The agency will then evaluate the proposal for an air permit. Similar rail-unloading facilities have been approved at Washington refineries owned by Tesoro and BP, a spokeswoman for the agency said.
Work on Phillips 66's proposed unloading facility is scheduled to begin this summer and be completed by December 2014, according to the filing.
Larry Ziemba, Phillips 66's executive vice president for refining, project development and procurement, said last month that the company was considering a rail rack at the Ferndale refinery. Mr. Ziemba said the rack would allow the company to take in Canadian crude that could then be sent by ship to refineries in California.
The Ferndale refinery has a capacity of 96,000 bpd, according to reports.
Dow Jones Newswires
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