Refinery

During 2007 the refinery processed a total of 868.671m ³  of crude, which would represent a 10% increase compared to 2006. A 4% (37.433m ³) of Boscan heavy oil and 96% (831.238m ³) of light crude was processed.

The plant remained in operation at a refining cost of U.S. $ 2.46 per barrel, explained by increased investment in maintenance of the plant, which amounted to 1,646 million colones in 2007.

Atmospheric Distillation Unit

The atmospheric distillation unit processed a total of 831.238m ³ of light crude in the year 2007. The composition of crude oils was as follows: Venezuelan Mesa 30 87.38%, 8.55% Belize Light and South Blend 4.1%.

When comparing the annual accumulation with the previous years, 2007 is the year of greater volume of crude processed, with a growth of 53.3% compared to 2005 and by 10.1% compared to 2006.

The unit exceeded the processing in the year 2006 achieving a timely placement in the market for heavy products: IFO bunker and 380. The service factor was 0.903, which is considered quite good, reaching 90% of the goal set.

Technical problems or repairs interrupted the operation of the unit.  For example, in January, climatic factors caused a delay in the supply of raw material; there was also a problem in the level of the valve control of the tower CV-2002, which brought the unit to a standstill, while in February, problems in the turbine of the gas furnace chimney CH-2002, prevented proper functioning on two occasions, one for 128 hours and another for 30 hours. The furnace CH-2002 was repaired before the end of the year.

A section of the pipe from the water cooling system in the refinery was manufactured and changed.

Similarly, during August and September there was an annual halt in maintenance, for a delay of nearly 11 hours with regards to the plan.

As a result of increased oil refining and the incorporation of crude with fewer bunker such as Belize Light, capacity rose 5.8% over the previous year, increased by 0.0377 and moved from 0.64 in 2006 to 0677 in 2007.

Viscoréducteur

In 2007 The Viscoréducteur had a service factor of 0567 and a capacity factor of 0754. The stoppages generated in this unit, mostly due to external failures, caused the interruption in the crude unit, and made it necessary to decode the unit.

Assessing the actual and theoretical yields of all crude processed and considering the bunker (residue), the theoretical performance without Thermo Cracker (TC) reached 46.6% and the actual performance 41.9%.

Other products such as diesel and kerosene, report a total theory of 33.9% and 35.2% real one.  Theoretical naphthas report 18.8% and 21.6% real.

Vacuuming unit
 
During 2007, the vacuum distillation unit processed 37.433m ³  of Boscan heavy oil; factor service was 0679 and the annual capacity factor was 0910. In addition, it met the goal of producing asphalt required, as planned.

The performance of asphalt was about 69% from the expected for the type of heavy crude that is processed normally. The plant operates at 67.9%, equivalent to 5,640 hours; it was out of service for 855 hours, mainly due to lack of raw materials and repairs to the pump load TP-7016 and the improvements in pilots VH-140.

Platformed

During the reporting period, the platform unit processed 11.987m ³ of naphtha. The plant operated 42% of the time, 2.511 hours. Service was interrupted primarily for maintenance and revisions.  The longest interruption was due to repairs of the compressor PC-301B, which required a total of 912 hours. There was also a stop off in April when there was no naphtha, to regenerate the catalyst.

Finished products

The total oil delivered to the Distribution Management in 2007 was 2.771.656m ³. The largest volume corresponded to diesel with 39% (includes diesel supplied to the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) 21.8% of regular gasoline and 10% super.

During this year, a total of 876.568m ³ gasoline mixtures was prepared, 33.1% super and the remaining 66.9% regular gasoline. The total naphthas used for the production was 174.959m ³; 5% was used in super and 95% in regular gasoline.

The production of diesel by blending was approximately 1.101.125m ³, with a 26.4% production and a 73.6% import.

At Port

In the case of shipments handled by the Department of port operations in 2007, the total proceeds received (2.916.178m ³), 2.810.046m ³ (96.4%) arrived to the port of Moin in Limon and the rest was received at Puerto Caldera, in Puntarenas.

A total of 136 shipments arrived to port.  131 (96.3%) were received at Moin and 5 shipments (3.7%) in Puerto Caldera. The total distribution between tankers, gas ships and asphalters was 91, 35 and 10 shipments respectively.

Lab Analysis

The quality tests performed in oil during the year was 72,232, distributed in various units. The greatest amount of analysis corresponded to the crude unit with a total of 30,684 (42.5%) and the Gascon unit with 22,730 (31.5%).