Rosneft offered West Qurna 2 stake

(upstreamonline) -- Russia’s Lukoil has reportedly offered compatriot state-owned oil company Rosneft participation in its foreign oil projects, including a stake in the West Qurna 2 field in Iraq.

"We offered a whole package. If they are interested, it's both West Africa and West Qurna 2. But in Iraq, it's only possible after agreement with the local government," Lukoil chief executive Vagit Alekperov said.

Alekperov said Rosneft may be offered the 18.75% stake in West Qurna previously held by Norway’s Statoil before its exit from the project at the end of last month.

Lukoil was recently reported to be in talks with several potential bidders for the stake, including Asian players.

The Russian privately-owned company now holds 75% as operator of the Iraqi project, with state-owned North Oil Company on 25%, and is looking to bring another partner onboard.

Alekperov was earlier said to be interested in a possible alliance with Rosneft, similar to its recent joint-venture deals with ExxonMobil, Eni and Statoil, after the latter issued invitations earlier this year to selected companies for possible partnerships on offshore projects, including in the untapped Russian Arctic.
MRC

Indonesia to attract investment in its petrochemicals industry

(yourpetrochemicalnews) -- Indonesia continues to attract investment in its petrochemicals industry, which is insufficient to cover domestic demand, according to BMI's latest Indonesia petrochemicals report.

South Korea's Honam Petrochemical Corporation is planning to invest up to USD5bn in a complex in Cilegon, Banten province, with completion slated for 2016. It will have capacities for 1mn tpa ethylene 550,000tpa propylene and 140,000tpa butadiene. Downstream units would produce 600,000tpa PE, 600,000tpa PP and 700,000tpa ethylene glycol.

Saudi Aramco is also studying an integrated refining and petrochemical project at Tuban, East Java, based on a 300,00b/d refinery; the proposed configuration of downstream units has yet to be disclosed.

Meanwhile, Thailand's Siam Cement Group (SCG) and PT Barito Pacific (Jakarta) are studying ways to raise USD500mn for an expansion of their Chandra Asri Petrochemical joint venture, which should see ethylene capacity raised from 600,000tpa to 1mn tpa, a new 100,000tpa butadiene extraction facility and PE capacity increased by 220,000tpa to 540,000tpa.Work on the butadiene project began in Q311 and the plant is expected onstream in 2013, while expansion of the ethylene plant and the PE unit, as well as other facilities, is due to be completed in 2014.

Whereas a number of South East Asian economies are bracing themselves for stagnating growth, Indonesia powering on to relatively robust growth of 5.8% in 2012 on the back of strong domestic demand, even as net exports' contribution to growth wanes. At the same time, risks to growth will be skewed to the downside. A prolonged global economic downturn could affect the archipelago's ability to reach its full growth potential, but exposure is limited compared to the rest of the region.
MRC

Petronas signs North Malay PSCs

(upstreamonline) -- State-run company Petronas has signed three contracts that it says will pave the way for the implementation of the USD5.2 billion North Malay basin project, off Peninsular Malaysia.

Petronas said the first contract was the production sharing contract for offshore Block PM302 while the other two contracts cover new exploration PSCs for the adjacent PM325 and PM326B blocks.

Petronas holds an equal 50% share in all three PSCs with US independent Hess.The pair will invest about USD5.2 billion over the next five years into the phased development of the North Malay basin project, which is aimed at commercialising about 1.7 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves.

The project will see the development and commercialisation of nine stranded gas fields, the construction of a 300 kilometre pipeline and the development of a new gas gathering, processing and transportation hub.
MRC

Full closure planned for UK Coryton refinery

(downstreamtoday) -- There's no credible bid for Petroplus Holdings AG's Coryton refinery in England to operate it as a refinery, and the first 180 redundancies are planned by the end of next week, the administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers and the chairman of Unite labor union at Coryton said Monday.

Approximately 100 more jobs will be cut in July, with the rest by September, said Unite's Russell Jackson.

PricewaterhouseCoopers, the administrator of Petroplus's U.K. subsidiaries, confirmed Monday in a statement that around 180 staff will be made redundant next week, adding that "there would likely be a substantial number of redundancies from the 500 workforce."

PWC said: "Following cessation of refining activities last week, the program to safely wind down operations at the refinery continues."

It is highly unlikely Coryton will be sold as a refinery, but talks with "various parties who have expressed an interest in acquiring the Coryton site" continue, PWC said.

There is a high possibility a deal to turn the 220,000-barrel-a-day facility into a terminal will be struck, Mr. Jackson said.
MRC

China's thermoplastics demand can crack due to a lack of imports

(downstreamtoday) -- While China is all set to maintain Asia’s status as global thermoplastics leader, technological advancements and capacity additions are still needed to curb dependence on supply imports, according to market intelligence experts GBI Research.

While demand from China is currently driving the Asia-Pacific market’s demand for acrylonitrile, following the country’s rapid emergence as a global petrochemical products manufacturing hub, China still imports a considerable amount of acrylonitrile in order to produce acrylonitrile downstream commodities such as ABS, polyacrylonitrile and nitrile elastomer.

Production in China benefits from the advantage of very low operating costs, and this draw is expected to continue to drive demand in the coming years. As a result, there is huge scope for acrylonitrile capacity additions in China, which would help to shake off its reliance on foreign sources.

However, feedstock changes in the US are putting the worldwide production of acrylonitrile at risk, threatening China’s influx of acrylonitrile imports. This shortage is spurring on efforts to discover new ways of cracking natural gases.

Propylene is the main feedstock used for acrylonitrile production. However, over the last few years, the increased use of shale gas in some regions within cracking plants has changed the dynamics of the industry. The feedstock currently used in cracking provides a higher ethylene content product mixture, resulting in a corresponding decrease in propylene supply.

All over the world, producers are working on separate technology to produce propylene, which may provide comparable or even cheaper propylene than that produced traditionally as a byproduct during the cracking of ethylene. Unfortunately, to date, there has been no breakthrough, and until new technologies are fully implemented there is likely to be a shortage of feedstock for acrylonitrile in the future.

In 2000, global acrylonitrile demand stood at 4,427,469 tons, before increasing to 4,696,141 tons in 2011. Global demand for acrylonitrile is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.1% between 2011 and 2020, to reach 6,757,081 tons in 2020.
MRC