Lunchtime date with SONHOE

London - Sonhoe Development Co. will present supplier opportunities surrounding its project to build a £2-billion crude oil processing facility in the Tees Valley in the North East of England at a networking lunch, 10 July at Middlesbrough Football Club.

The event is being organised by NOF Energy Networking - a business development organisation for companies in the oil, gas and energy-related sectors - in partnership with Tees Valley Regeneration, UK Trade & Investment, One NorthEast, NEPIC & TVEP.

“Construction is due to start in 2010 but SONHOE are keen to engage with the supply chain at a very early stage to ensure all their future requirements for products/ services / technologies can be met,” said an NOF announcement.

Sonhoe’s new facility has been designed to process 200,00 barrels a day of heavy crude oil into high quality, low sulphur diesel, petrochemical feedstock naphtha and kerosene for use in the UK or for export.

The plant also incorporates the production of hydrogen and would be one of the largest hydrogen producing plants in Europe. The development would create between 2,00 – 2,500 construction jobs over a three to four year period with 300 – 400 core employment positions on site once the plant is operational plus an opportunity for 1,500 associated jobs in the future.

The project has the support of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, (BERR), UKTI, One NorthEast, Tees Valley Regeneration and Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council as well as key industrial companies in the area.