With the startup of a new coker at BP Whiting Refinery, the last major milestone is complete in the $4.2 billion upgrade that has greatly increased the refinery’s processing capacity of heavy sweet crude, reports The Post-Tribune.
The 102,000-barrels-per-day coker opened in mid-November, capping a project that started in May 2008 and employed more than 10,000 contractors. It was the largest private sector investment in Indiana history, reports The Post-Tribune.
The modernization allows BP Whiting to process as much as 85 percent heavy sweet crude, compared to 20 percent capacity before the project began. Previously, the refinery processed the more expensive light, sweet crude, but much of its new supply will be oil-sands crude from Alberta, Canada.
