70 million euro expansion project for Spanish Repsol-YPF refinery

Gouda - Imtech (technical services provider in Europe) has been selected by international oil and gas company Repsol-YPF as technology partner for an important part of the technology in a new high-tech cooking plant at the Repsol refinery in Cartagena, Spain. The contract represents a value of over 70 million euro.

Imtech Chairman, René van der Bruggen: ‘This project will make a significant contribution to the growth of Imtech in Spain. The assignment serves as a token of confidence in Imtech’s specific knowledge and expertise of in the abundantly investing oil and gas sector and is also a good reference. ’

Double capacity for Repsol-YPF refinery in Cartagena
Repsol-YPF is one of the biggest oil and gas companies in the world, with refineries in Spain, Argentina and Peru and a distribution channel comprising some 7,000 service stations in Spain and South America. Spain is currently facing a shortage of oil products. That is why Repsol-YPF intends to further increase its capacity in Spain and invest 3.2 billion euro in the next few years to double the production capacity of its refinery in the Spanish Cartagena to 11 million tons a year. The efforts will focus on highly eco-friendly production efficiency of oil, gas and biodiesel with optimum safety and the least possible impact on the immediate surroundings.

High-tech cooker
The investment includes the realisation of a new high-tech cooking plant. This mega-sized oven will form the heart of the refinery process. The cooker will be used to heat up crude oil to a maximum of about 350-370°C at which temperature the oil turns into a vapour. In the remaining steps of the refinery process, the vapours are separated, distilled, processed and cooled to produce oil-based products such as LPG, petrol, kerosene and diesel. Imtech will be responsible for all the mechanical engineering processes in and around this cooker, including all relevant technical systems. The cooker has a capacity of 3 million tons of crude oil a year and will be put into operation in 2011. Over 350 Imtech specialists will be closely involved in the activities during the three-year period.

Strong position on Spanish industrial market
Imtech holds a strong position on the Spanish market for the provision of technical industrial services. Activities are conducted from eight Spanish branches, with a concentration in the south and around Madrid, with services including industrial assembly, maintenance, shutdowns and revamping. Most of the focus is on the growing oil and gas sector, of which Imtech has in-depth knowledge of the technology around complex refinery processes. Imtech is active across a broad front for Repsol-YPF, as is evident from the recent large-scale shutdown at the Repsol-refinery in Puertollano. Last year Imtech already received a major long-term order worth 55 million euro from Spanish oil and gas concern Cepsa, the largest of its kind in Spain after Repsol-YPF, for the expansion of the Cepsa refinery in Huelva.