Asia/Pacific refineries spark growth in conversion capacity.(Worldwide Refining)(Industry Overview)

Led by refiners in the Asia/Pacific region, world-worldwide capacity for conversion processes, such as fluid catalytic cracking, hydrocracking, and coking, increased at a faster pace this year than did crude oil distillation capacity. Crude capacity showed only a small gain of 0.4% to 74.5 million b/d according to the Journal's most recent survey of refining capacity.

The refining survey, which begins on p. 47, reflects refinery capabilities as of Jan. 1, 1996. The results reveal an increase in crude capacity of 285,000 b/d. It is important to remember, however, that this net increase occurred despite removal of 11 refineries from the list.

Refinery shutdowns are listed on p. 47. This list includes several refineries that were shut down in late 1993 and 1994, but not reported as closed in last year's survey (OGJ, Dec. 19, 1994, p. 45).

Largest refiners

Table 1 shows net crude capacity for the world's 20 largest refining companies. Royal Dutch/Shell leads the list, followed by Exxon Corp. These two companies are continuing to expand their refining assets--Shell by 117,000 b/d since last December, and Exxon by 122,000 b/d.

The order of companies in Table 1 has changed little since last year, with the following exceptions:

* Mobil Corp. has moved into fifth place, ahead of BP

* Kuwait National Petroleum Co. has moved into fifteenth place, ahead of Total

* Conoco Inc. has moved into nineteenth place, ahead of Sun Co.

These changes are due mainly to incremental expansions at existing refineries. In the case of Mobil, however, an error in calculations last year …