SK Energy delays completion of hydrocracking center

SK energy Co., South Korea’s largest refiner by capacity, said it will delay by five years the completion of a hydrocracking center in Incheon to June 2016, due to the current economic slump. In April, SK energy said it would invest 1.52 trillion won (US$1.3 won) to build a hydrocracking center, its fourth upgrading facility, which was to begin commercial production in June 2011. The unit will produce 40,000 barrels a day of light products, boosting the refiner’s upgrading capacity to 202,000 barrels a day. The unit will also produce value-added products such as naphtha, diesel fuel, kerosene and lubricating base oils. (August 11, 2009)