Polish Plock refinery, eyeing sulphur rules, to install visbreaking unit

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Poland's PKN Orlen is building a clean fuels upgrading unit at its 330,000 barrel bpd Plock refinery this year, as oil companies across Europe prepare for stricter environmental rules on shipping from 2020, reported Reuters.

The unit, a visbreaker, helps cut output of sulfur-rich fuel oil in favour of more valuable cleaner products such as distillates.

A spokesman said the company is investing USD176 million with completion expected by the end of 2020.

PKN Orlen has said the visbreaker will enable an additional product yield of 1,200 tonnes per day
From 2020, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) will slash the amount of sulfur that can be emitted from ships, which is expected to cut demand for fuel oil and has created a serious challenge for refiners.

Companies including ExxonMobil and Total have invested in refinery upgrades to produce lower sulfur fuels in advance of the new shipping rules, and also tighter limits worldwide on sulfur in automotive fuels.

As MRC informed before, in early May 2016, PKN ORLEN signed a contract with Saudi Aramco for the supply of ca. 200 thousand tonnes of crude oil monthly to its refineries. The contract was effective from May 1st to December 31st 2016, with an option of automatic renewal for successive years. The oil will be processed by all PKN ORLEN's refineries in Poland, the Czech Republic and Lithuania.

PKN Orlen is a major Polish oil refiner and petrol retailer. The company is a significant European publicly traded firm with major operations in Poland, Czech Republic, Germany, and the Baltic States.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Iraq has signed an agreement to build a 70,000-Mbpd oil refinery near the northern city of Kirkuk, the oil ministry said on Thursday, reported Reuters.

The agreement was signed with Ranya International, a company based in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, north and east of Kirkuk, which would be an investor in the refinery, the ministry said in a statement.

The plant would produce high octane gasoline for cars and other petroleum products, it said, without giving details about the cost or further information about Ranya International.

Iraq, OPEC’s second largest oil producer, wants to build new refineries as its oil processing capacity was severely curtailed by damage to its largest plant in Baiji, north of Baghdad, when it was captured by Islamic State militants in 2014.

Baiji was retaken by Iraqi forces in 2015 and it should be brought back on line partially this year. Iraq now relies on the Doura refinery, in Baghdad, and Shuaiba, in southern Iraq.

The Kirkuk project follows the announcement in January of plans for four other refineries to be built in the port of Fao on the Gulf, the southern region of Nasiriya, the western Anbar province and Qayara near the northern city of Mosul.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Following the recent successful contract award from PETRONAS in Malaysia, CTCI once again delivers a bright record in implementing its southbound strategy by securing the JG Summit Stage-1 Expansion Package 2 Aromatics Extraction and Butadiene Extraction Unit Project in the Philippines, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The contract signing ceremony between JG Summit Petrochemical Corporation and CTCI was recently held in Manila in December 2017.

CTCI Group Vice Chairman Michael Yang (left) and JG Summit Petrochemical Corporation Chairman Mr. James Go
CTCI Group Vice Chairman Michael Yang (left) and JG Summit Petrochemical Corporation Chairman Mr. James Go
This project is an important milestone which marks CTCI’s re-establishment in the Philippines market, having completed the LVN Isomerization and Gas Oil Hydrotreater units project with Petron, the largest oil refining and marketing company in the Philippines.

JG Summit Petrochemical Corporation is a wholly-owned subsidiary of JG Summit Holdings, Inc., one of the largest publicly-listed trading companies in the Philippines, with business areas covering petrochemicals, telecommunications, power, food and beverage, retail, banking, publishing, aviation, real estate and property development. JG Summit Petrochemical Corporation is currently the country’s largest manufacturer of polyethylene and polypropylene resins, while its affiliate company, JG Summit Olefins Corporation, owns and operates the first and only naphtha cracker plant in the Philippines.

With years of active development in the Southeast Asia market, CTCI has garnered JG Summit’s trust, which has commissioned CTCI for this contract with its outstanding technological expertise and competitiveness in the global market. Once the project is completed, the local market will be able to enjoy more competitive petrochemical products from a well-integrated supply chain, starting with the naphtha cracker facility upstream, and with the butadiene, aromatics, polyethylene and polypropylene plants downstream, all located within the JG Summit Petrochemicals Complex.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Analysis of the planned delayed coking units (DCU) capacity of refineries shows that the Jieyang refinery in China has the highest planned DCU capacity globally with 153 Mbpd, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Saudi Arabia has the second highest with 104 Mbpd and Panjin II and Palu are jointly in third with 78 Mbpd, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

The Jieyang refinery in China has the highest planned DCU capacity globally with 153 Mbpd during 2018 to 2022. The refinery is expected to start operations in 2020 with a total capex of USD9.5bn and Petrochina Pdvsa Guandong Petrochemical Co Ltd is the operator of the refinery

The Jizan refinery in Saudi Arabia has the second highest planned DCU capacity with 104 Mbpd. The refinery is expected to start operations in 2018 with a total capex of USD7.0bn. Saudi Arabian Oil Co is the operator for the refinery.

The Jieyang refinery in China has the highest planned DCU capacity globally with 153 Mbpd during 2018 to 2022.
The Jieyang refinery in China has the highest planned DCU capacity globally with 153 Mbpd during 2018 to 2022.
Panjin II and Palu refineries are jointly in third for planned DCU capacity in 2022, each with a capacity of 78 Mbpd. The refineries are expected to start operations in 2021 and 2019, respectively. China North Industries Group Corporation is the operator for Panjin II refinery, while PT Palembang GMA Refinery Consortium is the operator for Palu refinery.

Duqm I has the fourth highest planned DCU capacity with 52 Mbpd. The refinery is located in Oman and is expected to start operations in 2021. Duqm Refinery and Petrochemical Industries LLC is the operator. The refinery has a total capex of USD7.0bn.

The Barmer refinery in India has the fifth highest DCU capacity with a capacity of 47 Mbpd. The refinery is expected to start operations in 2022 with a total capex of USD6.5bn and HPCL Rajasthan Refinery Ltd is the operator.

The remaining refineries with planned DCU capacities are Pulau Muara Besar in Brunei, Aliaga in Turkey, Zhanjiang III in China, and Mostorod II in Egypt. These have capacities of 46 Mbpd, 40 Mbpd, 32 /Mbpd and 25 Mbpd, respectively.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- To Build New Olefins Facility in Yeosu, South Korean GS Caltex is planning to invest approximately USD1.8-billion to build a new olefins production plant in Yeosu, South Korea, reported Apic-online with reference to several industry sources citing a company statement.

The project involves construction of the company's first mixed feed cracker, which will have the capacity to produce 700,000 t/y of ethylene and 500,000 t/y of polyethylene. Construction is expected to start this year with operations anticipated to begin in 2022.

According to GS Caltex's website, the company has a 790,000-b/d refinery at Yeosu, as well as an aromatics facility producing over 1.35-million t/y of paraxylene, 900,000 t/y of benzene and other aromatics products. It also produces 180,000 t/y of polypropylene.

As MRC informed before, in 2013, CB&I was awarded a contract by GS Caltex for the license, basic engineering and catalyst supply for a new paraxylene (PX) unit to be built in Yeosu, Korea. The unit uses the BP paraxylene technology, exclusively licensed by CB&I, and has a world-scale design capacity. Start-up took place in 2016.

GS Caltex is an equally-owned joint venture of GS Holdings and Chevron.
MRC