Usiminas Mecânicadelivered three crude oil storage Tanks to Petrobras’ Abreu Lima Refinery (Rnest) in Ipojuca, Pernambuco. On top of delivering the equipment, the company was in charge also of the tank erection at the refinery in a consortium with Techint and Confab Equipamentos.
The oil tanks are made from carbon steel and weigh 2,300tns, for a storage volume of 112,138m3. They are fitted with a heating system and floating type cover, and have been designed for crude oil and diesel oil storage.
Usiminas Mecânica’s Industrial Equipment head Osmar Martins Luz said “This is a quite important project, as Rnest is deemed as Brazil’s most modern oil refining unit. We have already supplied water tanks to the project and now we ended one more stage with the delivery of the oil storage facilities”, he pointed out.
Usiminas Mecânica was awarded the contract for the supply of storage tanks to Rnest in 2009, in a partnership with Techint and Confab Equipamentos. Altogether, the companies delivered and erected eight crude oil tanks and three water tanks; the latter were delivered in June 2011.
Abreu Lima refinery will be the first Brazilian oil refinery built with local technology. Occupying an area of 3.3km2, the refinery will have a processing capacity of 230,000bopd, which corresponds to 11% of the current Brazilian production. A highlight in this project is the output of low-sulfur diesel oil from heavy crude oil. The refinery will produce also LPG, naphtha and coke. The plant start-up is scheduled for November 2014.