South Korean SK E&C signs USD1.6 B deal to modernize Iran oil refinery

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.
MRC

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.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) — US refiners could face a continued squeeze on profit margins in the months ahead as dwindling supplies of heavy crude from Venezuela and elsewhere are leading several to switch to higher-priced but easier-to-refine light, sweet crude, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The shift also could mean higher prices for consumers in the last weeks of the summer driving season and into the fall if refiners are able to pass along those higher costs to drivers, analysts said.

PBF Energy Inc, Valero Energy Corp, Phillips 66 and Marathon Petroleum Corp said in earning calls over the past two weeks they are running more light crude as a result of narrower discounts for heavy crude. ExxonMobil Corp also is running a heavier slate of light crude at a Gulf Coast plant.

Refiners' "margins have already been heavily impacted," said John Auers, executive vice president at refining consultancy Turner, Mason & Co. "They will be impacted in the third quarter" as well, Auers said. The final period's outlook could depend on whether the US applies sanctions on Venezuelan imports, he added.

In part, the companies are reacting to high costs and anticipating weaker supplies of Venezuelan crude coming to the United States. Heavy crude prices also have been impacted by tax changes in Russia that have raised prices of its heavy crudes and by reduced production from Canada last quarter.

Through June, US imports of Venezuelan crude declined 7.1% compared with the same six-month period last year, to 654,078 bpd, according to Reuters data. Light, sweet crude costs more than heavier oils, narrowing the discount that US refiners, especially those along the Gulf Coast, have gained by configuring their plants to run heavy, sour crude over the past 20 yr.

Marathon's second-quarter income from its refining and marketing operations fell in part due to "unfavorable crude oil and feedstock acquisition costs, primarily due to lower sweet/sour crude oil price differentials," the company said on Thursday.

PBF also said narrower heavy crude discounts contributed to its second quarter loss of USD1.01 a share, compared to Wall Street expectations of a 2-cent a share gain.

Exxon is studying adding a light crude-processing unit at its Beaumont, Texas, refinery early in the next decade, spokeswoman Charlotte Huffaker said this week. It would be the second light-crude processing unit at the plant.

"These investments reflect the increased availability of abundant, affordable supplies of US light crude," Huffaker said in an email.

Valero and Phillips beat analysts' estimates, Valero by 13 cents at USD1.23 a share and Phillips by 5 cents at USD1.06 a share.

Other factors could balance the higher crude cost in the coming months, such as strong global demand for US refined products, said Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates in Houston. "Prices are going up because we're seeing the impact of the cuts by OPEC and non-OPEC countries," Lipow said.

Neil Earnest, president of Dallas energy consultancy Muse, Stancil & Co, said changes in the price of crude could also affects refiners' margins ahead.

"They don't move in lockstep," Earnest said. "It may, however, impact a refiner who has customized a process to run heavy crude. That refiner may see narrower margins."
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC)— Amec Foster Wheeler announces that it has been awarded a Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) contract by Total Raffinage France, a subsidiary of Total, the French multinational integrated oil and gas company, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Total has stated that the Donges refinery currently lacks desulphurization capacity, and a significant proportion of its fuels are therefore exported because they no longer meet fuel quality European Union specifications. The project, comprising a new vacuum gas oil hydrotreater unit and sour water stripping unit as well as modification of existing units and new interconnections, is part of the investment planned by Total to upgrade its Donges refinery, improving its performance.

Amec Foster Wheeler will support the modernization of Total Raffinage’s Donges refinery in Western France by combining its world-class refinery FEED expertise, integrated engineering systems capabilities and its innovative Asset Information Hub (AIH) with the visualization and digital asset Virtual Plant technology.

The AIH provides a digital representation of the physical plant. Collating documents, data, and models of the plant, the AIH is a powerful information management system with which to control and review aspects of the plant throughout its life in a secure environment. Combined with Virtual Plant technology, provided by Aveva, it allows a designer to move around an asset, zoom in, open documents and review data that is hosted in the AIH. Customers benefit by having global access to data and assured information. All this results in improved efficiency, predictable project delivery and safety.

Amec Foster Wheeler is currently the only company licensed by Aveva to provide this hosting service.

Amec Foster Wheeler’s activities related to this FEED contract are expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2017.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Dow Chemical Co. and DuPont Co., the two largest U.S. chemical makers, have received all the regulatory approvals needed to close their historic merger, said Bloomberg.

The deal will be completed after the stock market closes on Aug. 31, the companies said in a statement Friday. Shares of DowDuPont Inc. will begin trading Sept. 1 under the ticker DWDP.

The companies, with a combined market value approaching USD150 billion, would surpass BASF SE as the world’s largest chemical company. Within 18 months of closing, DowDuPont has said it will split into three separate companies focused on agriculture, specialty products and materials.

In response to investor concerns, the boards of both companies are reviewing the planned three-way separation to determine what combination of spinoffs would create the most value for shareholders. The review is being led by Dow Chief Executive Officer Andrew Liveris, DuPont CEO Ed Breen, DuPont lead director Sandy Cutler and Dow lead director Jeff Fettig.
MRC