www.platts.com/Petrochemicals/News/7385590.xml?sub=Petr -
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Published on: 2/19/2009
Last Visited: 2/20/2009
the refinery in Okinawa, Samir Passos Awad, Petrobras' executive manager and
board member of the refinery operator Nansei Sekiyu said in Tokyo.
"Between Petrobras and Sumitomo, we have agreed to postpone finishing
study [on] revamping or expanding the Okinawan refinery to March 2010, which
was meant to be concluded in March 2009," Awad said in an interview this week.
"Market conditions are not leaving us comfort to conclude the study
because forecasts are very unpredictable both on cost side and oil price
side," he said, referring to current volatility in the market.
"We were seeing very cloudy scenarios for forecasting and putting
figures," Awad said.
...
their options, which include no spending at all, Awad said.
"We might reach 2010 to conclude that investments are not good enough to
pay [for] what we receive," Awad said.
"Keeping the refinery running as it is
might be one of the possible conclusions."
Should that be the final decision, it would not have been prompted by
Japan's declining domestic oil products demand, Awad said.
Rather, it would
have to do with unpredictability over the cost of materials and oil prices, he
added.
...
weakening demand, Awad said.
The refinery could go up to 80,000 b/d if demand returns, but not more
than that because of pipeline bottlenecks and storage issues, he added.
If the partners press ahead with the investment, the upgrading work or
modifications would take at least three years, Awad said.