Key steps for refiners ahead of IMO 2020 - Shell Global Solutions

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The reality is that many refiners remain unprepared for the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) MARPOL 73/78 Annex VI (IMO 2020), as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

These regulations, which will substantially tighten the global cap on the maximum sulphur content of marine fuel oil, could have a major impact on an ill-equipped refiner’s profitability. Fortunately, it is not too late; they could implement several low-cost solutions over the next two years to safeguard their competitive position.

Because of these regulations, from 2020, refiners can expect demand for high-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) to fall, demand for low-sulphur fuel oil (LSFO) to increase and a corresponding price differential between the two to open up. This is because ships will only be able to continue using HSFO if they are fitted with on-board scrubbers, but on-board scrubbers are costly and it will only be possible to convert a modest percentage of the world’s fleet before the new global cap comes into force. Liquefied natural gas conversions are inappropriate for most ships, so most will turn to LSFO from 2020.

Fortunately, the LSFO–HSFO price differential is likely to close partially over time as scrubber technology improves and conversion facilities are built. Consequently, there will still be a market for HSFO and refiners do not necessarily need to eliminate their HSFO exposure, but they would be well advised to reduce it to retain their competitiveness.

How should you respond? There is a wide range of technology options available, but a rigorous evaluation study must be done to find the most cost-effective option for each refinery. Some of these options are shown in Figure 1. Should you install one of the highest-residue-conversion technologies, for example, ebullated-bed residue hydrocracking or slurry-phase residue hydrocracking? For many refiners, these options may not provide the optimum solution, in part because they are extremely capital intensive.

Shell Global Solutions helps identify the best responses. The business case for some of the integrated solutions, which often involve revamping existing process units, has tended to be far stronger than that for installing new high-residue-conversion technology.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Finding ways to minimize the amount of bottoms sent to the bunker fuel pool has become a strategic priority for many refiners, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Although many technical solutions are available, the optimum response for a specific refiner depends on individual circumstances. Refiners that already have a visbreaker unit (VBU), and are capital constrained, may find integrating it with the vacuum distillation unit (VDU) solvent deasphalting (SDA) unit and hydrocracking unit (HCU) - or fluidised catalytic cracker (FCC) - to be particularly attractive.

Visbreaking is a well-established process that has been around for more than 50 years. It has been a particularly popular bottom-of-the-barrel upgrading option in some regions, especially much of Europe and parts of Asia Pacific that have had a strong market for fuel oil. Although a VBU produces lower distillate yields than a delayed coker, it has clear strengths, in particular, a lower capital cost. It can also be revamped easily to achieve higher conversions if there is no need to produce stable fuel oil.

With outlets for fuel oil now diminishing, however, refiners with a VBU must evaluate new bottom-of-the-barrel solutions. Those with an abundance of capital could consider investing in the technologies that provide the highest conversion levels, such as residue gasification, slurry hydrocracking or ebullated bed residue hydrocracking, but these will be out of reach for most refiners.

However, as a VBU can integrate seamlessly with an SDA unit, which has a low investment cost, there is the opportunity to reduce fuel oil exposure significantly at a low cost.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Chinese government imposed anti-dumping duties on imports of styrene monomer (SM) from South Korea, the United States and Taiwan in its preliminary ruling amid escalating tensions between China and the U.S. in the trade sector, reported Pulse.

The China’s Ministry of Commerce on Tuesday slapped a preliminary anti-dumping duty rate of 7.8 percent to 8.4 percent on styrene monomer imports from Korea, 9.2 percent to 10.7 percent on U.S. products and 5 percent on Taiwanese products, saying that the styrene imports selling below normal prices have hurt domestic industry.

Styrene monomer is a raw material widely used to make polystyrene, synthetic rubber, plastic and ion exchange resin. Korea is the largest styrene monomer exporter to China. Korean companies including Hanwha Total Petrochemical Co. and Lotte Chemical Corp. shipped the products worth USD1.3 billion to China in 2016, commanding a 35 percent share among exporters of the item to China.

The latest move by Chinese authorities follows the U.S.’s decision last month to take safeguard actions imposing hefty tariffs on imported washers and solar panels from China and Korea, raising speculation that Beijing has taken steps to take retaliatory actions against the U.S. amid escalating trade war between the world’s two largest economies.

An official from the trade ministry said that Korean authorities have worked hard to protest against the charge, and added that the preliminary measure could be both good and bad for Korean exporters as Korean products were levied lower rate than the U.S. imports but higher than the Taiwanese products.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- CB&I announced it has been awarded a contract valued in excess of USD95 million by Samsung Engineering (Thailand) Co. Ltd. for a brownfield ethylene plant at PTT Global Chemical's (PTTGC) petrochemicals complex in Map Ta Phut, Rayong, Thailand, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

CB&I's scope of work includes the license and basic engineering of the ethylene plant and pyrolysis gasoline hydrogenation unit. It also includes detailed engineering and material supply of SRT® (Short Residence Time) pyrolysis heaters. The plant will use CB&I's latest generation ethylene technology for the production of polymer grade ethylene, propylene and other byproducts, with a nameplate capacity of 500,000 metric tons per year of ethylene and 250,000 metric tons per year of propylene.

"CB&I looks forward to providing the technology license and heater supply to this ethylene plant in Thailand," said Daniel M. McCarthy, CB&I's Executive Vice President of Technology. "This award is the third CB&I licensed ethylene plant for PTTGC and further expands our presence in Asia."
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Italian injection moulding machinery maker Negri Bossi SpA plans to invest USD5m (EUR4m) to expand capacity in India to meet increasing demand both in the country and in regional Asian and African markets, as per Plasticsnewseurope.

The Milan-headquartered company said it plans to make a wider range of moulding presses at its plant in Ahmedabad and increase its localization of components.

"An investment of USD5 million is planned for the India plant in the next three to five years, to hike capacity from 70 machines to more than 100 presses annually," said Tommaso Giusti, operations manager of Negri Bossi India.

He was interviewed at Plastindia 2018, held from 7-12 Feb, in Gandhinagar. The Ahmedabad plant, which started in early 2014, is an assembly operation with many critical components shipped from Italy. The company said it has about 50 vendors locally.

"We are also looking at increasing local sourcing for the machines assembled in India," Giusti said.

Negri Bossi India manufactures servo-driven machines starting from 70 tons up to 900 tonnes, with larger machines sourced from Italy. The company also has factories in the Czech Republic and China.
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