Indian Oil plans USD2.4 B expansion of Gujarat refinery

MOSCOW (MRC) -- India's top refiner Indian Oil Corp will spend USD2.4 B to increase capacity at its refinery in western India by about a third over the next few years to meet rising local demand for fuel, said Reuters.

The plan, announced on Friday, will enable the plant in Gujarat state to process 360,000 bdp of oil by the end of 2021. It is part of IOC's vision to increase its refining capacity by about 89 percent to 3 MMbpd by 2030 by building new plants and expanding some existing ones.

The 274,000 bpd Koyali refinery, built in 1965, has five crude units and IOC wants to replace four of them with a single 300,000 bpd crude unit.

The USD2.4 B expansion will also enable the Gujarat plant to process cheaper, tougher oil grades and improve profitability. The secondary units at the plant will be ready by the end of 2022, IOC said in a statement.

India has emerged as a bright spot amid soft demand for oil elsewhere in the world, but the South Asian nation's push to electric vehicles is forcing analysts to revise forecasts for fuel demand in the world's third biggest oil consumer.

The revamped plant will have the flexibility to withstand fluctuations in future demand and supply of fuels and to integrate with downstream petrochemical units, IOC Chairman Sanjiv Singh said.

The refiner is also setting up a 420,000 tpy polypropylene unit at the refinery.

IOC is bolstering its gas imports and retail business as well, as India seeks to increase cleaner fuel's share to 15% of the country's energy use in the next few years from 8% currently.

The company's board has approved a plan to buy up to a 50% stake in the 5 MMtpy Mundra LNG terminal on India's west coast.

The terminal, being set up by a joint venture between Gujarat State Petroleum and Adani Enterprises Ltd at a cost of about 50 B rupees, will start operations in the first quarter of next year.

IOC currently imports liquefied natural gas at Petronet LNG's west coast terminal for supplying to industries. It is also building a 5 MMtpy LNG terminal at Ennore on the east coast and hopes to commission the facility in 2018–2019.
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MOSCOW (MRC) — Royal Dutch Shell is considering expanding the capacity of one of its German refineries to make oil products that meet an upcoming cap on the sulfur content of fuels used in shipping, as per Reuters.

In the past few days, Rheinland refinery representatives met local officials and environmental groups to present preliminary plans for an investment at the plant's 140,000-bpd Wesseling site, Shell said on the refinery's website.

Shell is considering "a modernization of the residue processing unit at Rheinland refinery and to enhance the desulphurization plant there," Shell told Reuters in an emailed statement.

Shell declined to give further details on the project, saying it was in the "very early phase of the planning process."

The International Maritime Organization, the United Nations' shipping agency, set global regulations in late 2016 to cap sulfur content in shipping fuel at 0.5%, versus the current 3.5%, from 2020.

Although shippers in the United States and most of Europe already burn low-sulfur fuel oil, a global cap means refiners will need to find a way to eliminate some 3 MMbpd of high-sulfur fuel.

A survey by consultancy KBC last month showed that just 15% of the global refineries it surveyed know how they will manage the tighter sulfur regulations.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Braskem SA saw a large decrease in short interest during the month of July. As of July 14th, there was short interest totalling 831,237 shares, a decrease of 29.2% from the June 30th total of 1,174,193 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 384,525 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.2 days, said Stocknewstimes.

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Comerica Bank acquired a new position in shares of Braskem SA during the fourth quarter worth USD215,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Braskem SA by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,003,902 shares of the energy company’s stock worth USD21,291,000 after buying an additional 5,118 shares during the period. Rubric Capital Management LP increased its position in shares of Braskem SA by 1,311.4% in the first quarter.

Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 846,824 shares of the energy company’s stock worth USD17,233,000 after buying an additional 786,824 shares during the period. Eqis Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Braskem SA by 15.4% in the first quarter. Eqis Capital Management Inc. now owns 13,652 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $278,000 after buying an additional 1,818 shares during the period. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Braskem SA by 14.5% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 80,301 shares of the energy company’s stock worth USD1,634,000 after buying an additional 10,179 shares during the period. 0.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Shares of Braskem SA opened at 25.43 on Monday. Braskem SA has a 52 week low of USD11.05 and a 52 week high of USD25.66. The company’s 50-day moving average price is USD21.79 and its 200 day moving average price is USD21.09.
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MOSCOW (MRC) — South Korea's SK Engineering & Construction said on Sunday it had signed a deal with Iran's Tabriz Oil Refining Company worth USD1.6 B to renovate the Iranian company's refinery facility, as per Reuters.

SK E&C said in a statement that the project involves upgrading Tabriz Oil Refining Company's 110,000-bpd refinery, which opened in 1976 and is located in the northwest of Tehran.

Under the agreement, a consortium of SK Engineering & Construction and Iran’s Oil Design Construction Company would finance and implement the renovation project to increase the refinery's gasoline and diesel production capacity, according to the statement.

The project is scheduled to be completed within 36 months once the consortium breaks ground on construction.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Indian oil Corp Ltd (IOCL), India's largest refiner and oil marketing company, is likely to complete maintenance at its polypropylene (PP) plant in mid-August 2017, said Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in India informed that the plant is expected to resume operations following a maintenance turnaround. The company has undertaken a planned shutdown at its plant in mid-July 2017.

As per earlier plans, the plant was supposed to shut in early-July 2017.

Located at Panipat in the northern Indian state of Haryana, the PP plant comprising two units has a production capacity of 300,000 mt/year each.

As MRC wrote previously, IOCL took off-stream its HDPE unit at Panipat refinery in northern India on April 22, 2016. It remained shut for a brief maintenance turnaround until April 26, 2016. Located at Panipat in the northern Indian state of Haryana, the HDPE unit has a production capacity of 300,000 mt/year.

Indian Oil Corporation Limited, or IndianOil, is an Indian state-owned oil and gas corporation with its headquarters in New Delhi, India.
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