Meridian Energy Group, Inc., which is building a greenfield refinery in North Dakota to process Bakken crude, reported recently that it will build a similar facility in the Permian Basin.
As Rigzone has reported, Meridian’s 49,500-barrel per day (bpd) Davis Refinery in Belfield, N.D., will qualify as a “Synthetic Minor Source” from an emissions perspective. Bearing that designation reflects the regional refinery’s measures to:
- remove benzene and sulfur from gasoline production
- curb releases of carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from the flare stack
- monitor valves, gaskets and seals for volatile organic compound releases.
On Feb. 11 of this year, Meridian announced that it had struck a deal with a unit of Winkler Co. to build a 60,000-bpd full-conversion refinery in Winkler County, Texas, in the Permian’s Delaware Basin.
The Permian refinery will be similar to the North Dakota facility and will also be permitted as a Synthetic Minor Source, Meridian added. The company asserts that the Davis Refinery, which it expects to begin commercial operations in 2021, will be the first full-conversion refinery to be designated in that manner.
In a recent conversation with Rigzone, Meridian CEO William Prentice offered additional insights on the North Dakota and Texas projects. Read on for his perspective.