Sep 14, 2008
"Tamoil has always supplied the fuel Switzerland in a reliable and will continue"
Sirous Ammar was appointed to head the Collombey refinery (VS) last July. The huge industrial site at the end of the lake has found the heart of the diplomatic crisis between Switzerland and Libya this summer, because of its dependence vis-à-vis the Libyan crude supplies. A crisis "policy" which, he said, came hide the enormous investment made by Tamoil in Switzerland - almost a billion euros - to develop and adapt the facility since its acquisition in 1990.Le Temps: The crisis this summer and the evocation of threats on Libyan crude oil supplies have they threatened your business?
Sirous Ammar: This is an issue foremost policy, which has nothing to do with the refinery. The site provides Tamoil 2.2 million tonnes of oil annually, the fifth of Swiss needs, a level that represents dependence on Libyan crude. However, we must keep in mind that since the resumption of the site in 1990, Tamoil has always provided a reliable supply without any interruption, and wishes to continue.
-- You can not transform the Libyan oil?
-- From the beginning of its operation, in 60 years - ie well before Tamoil being the owner - the refinery was "set" to work on Libyan crude oil, light and low sulphur. It can also work for minor Algerian, Tunisian or North Sea. However, this facility is not suited to Iranian oil or the Gulf, much sulphur. The light will also get a better return. The black [ie: the residuals of the distillation] is limited to 30% of the original volume so that it can achieve more than double in refineries dealing with the heavy oil.
-- What is behind this presence of Tamoil in the Chablais?
-- At the end of 80 years, NOC, the oil company of the Libyan State, wanted to invest in an industrial tool and seized the opportunity to buy the refinery - and a network of service stations - for sale in 1990 Gatoil, the firm of Lebanese businessman Khalil Ghattas. The latter had himself taken control with a consortium of a dozen oil companies, including Esso, a majority. The refinery was called South-West was built in 1963 before coming under the ambit of these majors three years later.
-- The refinery, however, failed to be sold last year ...
-- It has been put up for sale during the summer of 2007, discussions were held with the investment fund Colony. They were unsuccessful because of the financial crisis, and the fund Libyan ruler has finally regained control.
-- What were the investments made by Tamoil since the acquisition of the refinery in 1990?
-- At the time, it did not contain a single column and a line treatment of gasoline. With current standards, the refinery could simply no longer exist if it had not been updated. We have invested enormously: In total, with other activities such as marketing, the envelope reached nearly one billion francs. The gas lines were completed, the hydrotreater kerosene for aviation fuel - and that of light diesel oil to make diesel - put in place. We also coupled with energy savings. The last phase of this modernization has focused on the conversion of heavy residue, which exported so far: In 2004, we have started a cracking unit, whose construction has cost nearly 500 million francs. This has enabled us to increase our production capacity to over 60000 barrels per day currently.
-- And what is your economic clout in the region?
-- We employ 265 people on the site and do work number of subcontractors Chablais, a height of more than 50 million francs per year.
-- Despite this economic clout, the presence of a refinery causing a steady opposition from local residents ...
-- Noise is our horse battle. We have reached the current technological limits in this area: a refinery can not be completely silent, its facilities to remain in the open air for security reasons.
-- What about emissions of harmful products that worry much more?
-- Initially, the Swiss limits are the strictest in Europe. We have made enormous efforts in environmental investing 30 million euros simply for the treatment of smoke. In a radius of 1000 kilometers, I do not know a refinery which would have made such efforts.
Our activity has also changed. Twenty years ago, heavy fuel oil with 1% sulphur, accounted for about one third of our production, against 2% today. Thanks to the hydrotraiteur put in place one can extract sulphur to be sold to the chemical industry, to be converted into fertilizer or fungicide. Same for heavy metals. Collombey can recover 95% of sulphur content in the crude entering the refinery! These efforts are often not recognized. But we must admit that the refinery has emerged as an intrinsic reducing pollution of what remains - whether we like it or not is another problem - the primary source of energy always used ...
-- Europe suffers from a shortage of refining capacity, particularly in the diesel. How did you come here?
-- First, many refineries have been closed for twenty years. The concept for 60 years, that small refineries could supply local networks simply did not survive the introduction of fuel increasingly complex, the environmental requirements become more stringent: absence of lead in gasoline, less and less sulfur in diesel.
An example? At the time, the oil could contain up to 1% sulfur, whereas today a proportion of 50 ppm (parts per million) shocked! And I am not talking about the viscosity, density, octane ... Problem, crude, he always arrives with 2% of sulphur, and this transition in its treatment demand huge investments. Today, the construction of a new refinery outgoing 100000 barrels daily cost 1.2 billion euros. This does not include many major groups have sold their small sites for investing in giants in Antwerp, Rotterdam and Marseille producing 200000 or 400000 barrels per day. Either three to six times more than Collombey! These sites often operate with the same number of people, and are therefore more profitable.
-- A refinery as Collombey thus appears to be an incongruity?
-- Not as able to produce locally 50000 to 60 000 barrels per day of the most complex provides access to lower prices than just relying on imports. Especially when the two refineries in the country [ie: the second being that of Petroplus in Cressier (BN)] supply 40% of the market. It is a matter of proximity, integration in the distribution network. Besides industrial activity generated by these sites.
-- What is the impact of the soaring price of crude oil on your business?
-- We buy crude 2 months in advance. Its price per se affects us somewhat, because ultimately postponed on prices of products: one works the same way if the barrel is stable at 80 dollars or 100 dollars. What disturbs us on the other hand, the sharp fluctuations that we have seen in recent months, which can be disconnected commodity prices and make us lose money.
-- These violent cycles explain the under-investment which has long suffered the sector?
-- Yes, because refining is a difficult profit margins are low, even ... negative, as has already happened in the late 90. If this sector is viable since 2003, it has never been a gold mine economically: a few tens of dollars per tonne.
"Tamoil has always supplied the fuel Switzerland in a reliable and will continue"
The Collombey refinery, which is responsible Sirous Ammar, found itself at the heart of the diplomatic crisis between Switzerland and Libya. (Photo: Keystone)
Sirous Ammar, head of the refinery at Collombey Tamoil (VS).
Pierre-Alexandre Sallier
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Sirous Ammar was appointed to head the Collombey refinery (VS) last July. The huge industrial site at the end of the lake has found the heart of the diplomatic crisis between Switzerland and Libya this summer, because of its dependence vis-à-vis the Libyan crude supplies. A crisis "policy" which, he said, came hide the enormous investment made by Tamoil in Switzerland - almost a billion euros - to develop and adapt the facility since its acquisition in 1990.
Le Temps: The crisis this summer and the evocation of threats on Libyan crude oil supplies have they threatened your business?
Sirous Ammar: This is an issue foremost policy, which has nothing to do with the refinery. The site provides Tamoil 2.2 million tonnes of oil annually, the fifth of Swiss needs, a level that represents dependence on Libyan crude. However, we must keep in mind that since the resumption of the site in 1990, Tamoil has always provided a reliable supply without any interruption, and wishes to continue.
-- You can not transform the Libyan oil?
-- From the beginning of its operation, in 60 years - ie well before Tamoil being the owner - the refinery was "set" to work on Libyan crude oil, light and low sulphur. It can also work for minor Algerian, Tunisian or North Sea. However, this facility is not suited to Iranian oil or the Gulf, much sulphur. The light will also get a better return. The black [ie: the residuals of the distillation] is limited to 30% of the original volume so that it can achieve more than double in refineries dealing with the heavy oil.
-- What is behind this presence of Tamoil in the Chablais?
-- At the end of 80 years, NOC, the oil company of the Libyan State, wanted to invest in an industrial tool and seized the opportunity to buy the refinery - and a network of service stations - for sale in 1990 Gatoil, the firm of Lebanese businessman Khalil Ghattas. The latter had himself taken control with a consortium of a dozen oil companies, including Esso, a majority. The refinery was called South-West was built in 1963 before coming under the ambit of these majors three years later.
-- The refinery, however, failed to be sold last year ...
-- It has been put up for sale during the summer of 2007, discussions were held with the investment fund Colony. They were unsuccessful because of the financial crisis, and the fund Libyan ruler has finally regained control.
-- What were the investments made by Tamoil since the acquisition of the refinery in 1990?
-- At the time, it did not contain a single column and a line treatment of gasoline. With current standards, the refinery could simply no longer exist if it had not been updated. We have invested enormously: In total, with other activities such as marketing, the envelope reached nearly one billion francs. The gas lines were completed, the hydrotreater kerosene for aviation fuel - and that of light diesel oil to make diesel - put in place. We also coupled with energy savings. The last phase of this modernization has focused on the conversion of heavy residue, which exported so far: In 2004, we have started a cracking unit, whose construction has cost nearly 500 million francs. This has enabled us to increase our production capacity to over 60000 barrels per day currently.
-- And what is your economic clout in the region?
-- We employ 265 people on the site and do work number of subcontractors Chablais, a height of more than 50 million francs per year.
-- Despite this economic clout, the presence of a refinery causing a steady opposition from local residents ...
-- Noise is our horse battle. We have reached the current technological limits in this area: a refinery can not be completely silent, its facilities to remain in the open air for security reasons.
-- What about emissions of harmful products that worry much more?
-- Initially, the Swiss limits are the strictest in Europe. We have made enormous efforts in environmental investing 30 million euros simply for the treatment of smoke. In a radius of 1000 kilometers, I do not know a refinery which would have made such efforts.
Our activity has also changed. Twenty years ago, heavy fuel oil with 1% sulphur, accounted for about one third of our production, against 2% today. Thanks to the hydrotraiteur put in place one can extract sulphur to be sold to the chemical industry, to be converted into fertilizer or fungicide. Same for heavy metals. Collombey can recover 95% of sulphur content in the crude entering the refinery! These efforts are often not recognized. But we must admit that the refinery has emerged as an intrinsic reducing pollution of what remains - whether we like it or not is another problem - the primary source of energy always used ...
-- Europe suffers from a shortage of refining capacity, particularly in the diesel. How did you come here?
-- First, many refineries have been closed for twenty years. The concept for 60 years, that small refineries could supply local networks simply did not survive the introduction of fuel increasingly complex, the environmental requirements become more stringent: absence of lead in gasoline, less and less sulfur in diesel.
An example? At the time, the oil could contain up to 1% sulfur, whereas today a proportion of 50 ppm (parts per million) shocked! And I am not talking about the viscosity, density, octane ... Problem, crude, he always arrives with 2% of sulphur, and this transition in its treatment demand huge investments. Today, the construction of a new refinery outgoing 100000 barrels daily cost 1.2 billion euros. This does not include many major groups have sold their small sites for investing in giants in Antwerp, Rotterdam and Marseille producing 200000 or 400000 barrels per day. Either three to six times more than Collombey! These sites often operate with the same number of people, and are therefore more profitable.
-- A refinery as Collombey thus appears to be an incongruity?
-- Not as able to produce locally 50000 to 60 000 barrels per day of the most complex provides access to lower prices than just relying on imports. Especially when the two refineries in the country [ie: the second being that of Petroplus in Cressier (BN)] supply 40% of the market. It is a matter of proximity, integration in the distribution network. Besides industrial activity generated by these sites.
-- What is the impact of the soaring price of crude oil on your business?
-- We buy crude 2 months in advance. Its price per se affects us somewhat, because ultimately postponed on prices of products: one works the same way if the barrel is stable at 80 dollars or 100 dollars. What disturbs us on the other hand, the sharp fluctuations that we have seen in recent months, which can be disconnected commodity prices and make us lose money.
-- These violent cycles explain the under-investment which has long suffered the sector?
-- Yes, because refining is a difficult profit margins are low, even ... negative, as has already happened in the late 90. If this sector is viable since 2003, it has never been a gold mine economically: a few tens of dollars per tonne.
Diving in the bowels of the beast of Collombey
Collombey is just his machine. Twenty-nine years to go corridors of steaming maze of tubes and pipes, enrolling as the ivy between the metal towers burning and flowering in hundreds of engines, pumps, compressors whistling night and day. Since the takeover of this gas plant by Tamoil in 1990, Ashok Koul-Watt, head of production, was all stages of modernization. The distillation column and the four "are of origin (ie: 1963), an extraordinary quality," boasts the Switzerland of Indian origin. This is not to say that the gas plant has been neglected. Every four years, it is completely dismantled. Dozens of inspectors inspect parts scattered on the ground for weeks.
Behind the interminable bleached concrete wall surrounding the site, a large machine in shades of ochre lights up, so oil terminal in the Persian Gulf, chablaisiennes Alps as a backdrop. Couronnée by the flame of its flare, the subject of all suspicions. "In reality, the remains lit to burn gas - butane and propane - could break the installation is a security issue," the man replied calmly to the orange helmet. As a brand match near a gas cooker, in order to avoid any incident.
At the peak of "cracking"
The basic principle seems simple: the crude distillation arriving in Genoa by a tube through the tunnel du Grand Saint-Bernard. The boil over 400 ° C. Get the precious vapors. The challenge is to replicate the "manip" large-scale, in order to remove every hour 100 m3 of gasoline and more than 150 m3 of diesel and fuel oil.
The great pride Ashok Koul-Watt? The cracking unit installed in 2004; "dual regenerator, the top of the technology." An installation of 450 million francs, the size of a building, to restate the "bottom of column." This black and viscous residue of distillation is sprayed to 30 metres high to meet for two seconds the flow of sand 160 tons of alumina turning point in the circuit. "In the end, we end up with 10% residue heavy arms, against 35% four years ago," boasts the chemical engineer. Despite the growing popularity of diesel engines in Switzerland, gasoline still represents a third of the liquid leaving the site, against fourth distillates (heating oil and diesel) and 15% of kerosene. The bulk is intended to Switzerland, but some products could not find taker - as LPG very green - are exported.
Sus Sulphur
A refinery does not produce that fuel and handles virtually all sulfur, nitrogen and metals contained in the rough. More than 12 tonnes of sulphur (once considered an impurity left in the heavy fuel oil ...) start each day by truck to nearby chemical plants.
The machine operates through Collombey energy provided by its own functioning. It gets in stacks of four (20 tons of steam per hour) or cracker (35 tons) in order to run generators. "Autonomous electricity, we provide the same 15MWh local network," said former student in chemistry. Nearly 265 employees are needed to heat the human beast, adjust, measure his pulse, monitor its products: single operators monitoring facilities, laboratory technicians, electricians, or computer operating the new checkpoint computerized.
In wheezing and aromas reminiscent of the airport tarmac, Ashok Koul-Watt apologized almost an aspect brown rust heart of the machine. "These are the walls of the oven, inside the crude oil is heated to 400 degrees, we tried all kinds of paintings, they do not."
Bio Express
On the Iranian origin, Sirous Ammar has come as a student in Paris at the end of 70 years to graduate out of high school French engineers Central in 1984.
He then directly joined the site as an engineer Collombey production - well before the site goes under the control of Libya. After a short transition in 80 years at Ciba - whose plants are adjacent to the refinery in the Rhone Valley - it was all stages of the transformation of the refinery in Tamoil, including the leader of a startup unit "conversion" of crude oil.
In recent years, this man the imposing stature of 53 years had made his behalf, the amount an oil consultancy firm involved including the United Kingdom and Iran. Married, father of two children, he returned last July in Collombey, the refinery where he began his career there are twenty-eight years, in order to take the lead.
by erectusplus at 9:33 PM |
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