ANACORTES — A gravel lot used for storage at the Tesoro Anacortes Refinery could be the focal point of a proposed $400 million project to add to the facility’s product line.
The refinery wants to build a 200-foot-tall xylene extraction unit and three other units on the lot.
The extraction unit would pull xylene from crude oil, then ship it to Asia for making polyester fibers for clothing, X-ray films and other products. Xylene is a natural component of crude.
“The basic thought process is that polyester is coming back in style,” said refinery Vice President James Tangaro. “The price of xylene is going up and we already have it. All we have to do is remove it from gasoline.”
Once the xylene facility is complete, Tesoro estimates it will add 20 full-time jobs. Tesoro expects about 200 construction workers during the building process.
The project would create about $3.8 million in additional local and state taxes, refinery spokesman Matt Gill said, and each refinery worker job adds an additional 11.88 jobs in the state, according to the Washington Research Council. The average refinery worker makes $120,000 a year with benefits, Gill said.
Skagit County is deciding whether the project needs an environmental impact study under the State Environmental Policy Act. A study could take years.
Tangaro is expecting an environmental impact study will be required and said the county could make an announcement this month.
Tangaro said the refinery hopes to have the project done by 2018.
Besides the xylene unit, the other three projects are a unit that captures vapors when offloading crude at the dock, an isomerization unit that increases the octane in gas and a unit that removes sulfur from gas.
The vapor recovery unit at the dock will be good for the environment, Tangaro said.
“It’ll remove a whole bunch of volatile compounds, up to 300 tons a year,” he said.
The isomerization unit is necessary because removing xylene from crude reduces its octane rating. The sulfur-removal unit will help the refinery meet new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations.
From an environment standpoint, the xylene extraction unit will create more steam. That means more carbon dioxide.
“Overall, emissions will reduce or stay constant except for C02,” Tangaro said. “We are working with folks to see if there are offsets required.”
Shipping xylene to Asia will also mean an increase in tanker traffic. It will mean one to five extra tankers a month entering Fidalgo Bay.
Tesoro’s capacity of refining 120,000 barrels of crude oil a day won’t change.
