Nghi Son oil refinery in Vietnam is ready for start-up on 28 February

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Vietnam's second oil refinery, Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical, will be ready for start-up on Feb. 28, its parent firm Vietnam Oil and Gas Group, or PetroVietnam said, reported Reuters.

The USD9 billion plant, co-owned by Kuwait Petroleum Europe BV and Japanese firms Idemitsu Kosan and Mitsui Chemicals , is designed to help Vietnam cope with a shortage of refined oil products.

Vietnam's first refinery Dung Quat currently supplies 30 percent of the country's total domestic fuel demand. The 200 Mbpd Nghi Son plant along with Dung Quat will help Vietnam meet 80 percent of its fuel demand.

Operations at Nghi Son, in Thanh Hoa province south of the capital of Hanoi, were previously delay but are now expected to begin producing commercial products such as paraxylene starting in April and, starting in May, A95 gasoline and diesel fuel, PetroVietnam said.

Nghi Son will process Kuwaiti crude oil to produce liquefied petroleum gas, gasoline, diesel, kerosene and jet fuel, mainly for the domestic market.

Kuwait Petroleum International and Idemitsu Kosan each own 35.1 percent, while PetroVietnam holds a 25.1 percent stake and Mitsui Chemicals has 4.7 percent.

Vietnam exports some crude oil but its shipments have been decreasing as production declines from older fields and as some production has become uneconomic amid lower oil prices.

Late last week, Thailand's Siam Cement and PetroVietnam started construction of a USD5.4 billion petrochemical site at Long Son, near the city of Vung Tau, east of Ho Chi Minh City. The site is scheduled to start operations in 2022.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- There is a significant new player in the Brazilian biofuels industry. A grand opening was held this past week signaling the start of operations at FS Bioenergia, a USD115 million corn-only ethanol production facility located in Lucas do Rio Verde, Mato Grosso, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

FS Bioenergia is the first large-scale corn ethanol production plant in Brazil and is the result of an international collaboration between Brazilian agribusiness Fiagril and U.S.-based Summit Agricultural Group headquartered in Alden, Iowa. FS Bioenergia is the first corn-only ethanol production facility in Brazil. The landmark $115 million plant is an international collaboration between U.S.-based Summit Agricultural Group and Brazilian agribusiness Fiagril.
FS Bioenergia is the first corn-only ethanol production facility in Brazil. The landmark $115 million plant is an international collaboration between U.S.-based Summit Agricultural Group and Brazilian agribusiness Fiagril.
In its initial phase of operations, FS Bioenergia will annually process 22 million bushels of corn and produce more than 60 million gallons of corn ethanol, 6,200 tons of corn oil and 170,000 tons of valuable feed rations for Brazil's growing livestock industry. By 2018, FS Bioenergia's second phase of operations will increase corn processing and ethanol production two-fold.

"FS Bioenergia is the most modern and efficient ethanol production operation in the world and will revolutionize the biofuels landscape in Brazil," said Bruce Rastetter, founder and CEO of Summit Agricultural Group. "Summit Ag Group and Fiagril are proud to have delivered this historic project to Mato Grosso, and we look forward to the development of the region as a leader in ethanol, corn and livestock production."

FS Bioenergia's corn ethanol operation is considered a landmark project in Brazil that will deliver immediate value to the country. First, the plant will offset the country's increasing demand for domestic ethanol, which can't be met by the existing sugarcane ethanol production. Second, the facility will introduce to Mato Grosso valuable fiber and protein co-products known as dried distillers' grains (DDGs), which will serve as high-value feed for the expanding Brazilian livestock industry.

"This is a transformative moment for both agriculture and the renewable fuels industry in Brazil, said Marino Franz, founder of Fiagril. "FS Bioenergia will not only meet Brazil's growing demand for ethanol but it sets the stage for Mato Grosso to become a global leader in the production of corn ethanol."

Brazil began sugar cane ethanol production in the mid-1970s and today produces approximately 25 percent of the world's ethanol. Bank of America estimated that annual ethanol sales in Brazil could reach 13.5 billion U.S. gallons in 2022, two-thirds greater than the 8.1 billion gallons estimated in sugar cane ethanol production in 2016. The Mato Grosso region's substantial corn production – both proven and potential – make corn-derived ethanol the most viable option to complement existing sugar cane ethanol production and fulfill an annual multi-billion gallon shortfall.

Summit Agricultural Group and Fiagril broke ground on the corn-only ethanol production facility in early 2016. FS Bioenergia will employ roughly 150 full-time workers. In addition to ethanol and co-products for livestock feed, the ethanol facility will generate 60,000 megawatts of electricity to the local power grid.

FS Bioenergia utilized process technologies from ICM, Inc. of Colwich, Kansas. Since 1995, ICM has provided engineering, construction and operational services for more than 100 ethanol plants in North America.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - India is seeking a reasonable price for crude oil from Saudi Arabia, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said, as per Reuters.

"Some instrument can be developed so that the pricing is suitable for both of us," Pradhan said after a meeting with Saudi Arabian counterpart Khalid al-Falih. "We must get a reasonable price for crude oil and LPG (liquefied petroleum gas)," he said.

Asia has become the biggest and most important buyer of crude oil from Saudi Aramco and the oil company wants to secure Asian markets for the long term as it faces competition from suppliers such as Russia and the United States.

In a bid to woo Saudi Arabian investment, India has offered Saudi Arabia a stake in the second phase of the country’s strategic oil reserves storage facility, Pradhan said. India is building a six million ton strategic oil reserve. It already has a 5 million ton strategic reserved stored at three locations.

"The way we have done an arrangement with ADNOC (Abu Dhabi National Oil Company) for storage facility, the same way we are discussing with Aramco (Saudi Aramco)," Pradhan said.

India and Saudi Arabia also discussed investment opportunities in a proposed oil refinery on the west coast of India with a capacity of 1.2 million barrels per day and a petrochemicals project in the southern city of Kakinada, Pradhan said.

"They are more than interested, we are discussing the nitty gritty of the projects " he said.

Saudi Aramco, world’s biggest oil producer, is investing in refineries abroad to help lock in demand for its crude and expand its market share ahead of its planned initial public offering. Last year Saudi Arabia pledged billions of dollars of investment in projects in Indonesia and Malaysia as part of long-term oil supply deals.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Keiyo Monomer is likely to restart its vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) plant following a maintenance turnaround, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Japan informed that the plant is planned to be brought on-stream in end-March 2018. The plant was shut for miantenance in mid-February 2018.

Located in Chiba, Japan, the plant has a production capacity of 200,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed before, Keiyo Monomer shut its VCM plant in Chiba for maintenance turnaround in mid-February 2015. It remained off-stream for around one month.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Houston-based Citgo Petroleum has slowed work on an overhaul of its 235 Mbpd Aruba refinery due to a lack of financing stemming from U.S. sanctions on Venezuela's state-run PDVSA, the refining firm said, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Sanctions imposed last year by the United States on Venezuela have limited access to long-term credit for PDVSA and its subsidiaries, affecting many oil projects in the South American country and Caribbean islands where they operate.

"Citgo Aruba ... needs to slow down the refinery revamp project due to sanctions by the U.S. government on PDVSA which are not allowing us to get additional financing for the project," the unit said in a press release late on Tuesday.

The Caribbean refinery has been leased since 2016 by Citgo, the U.S. refining subsidiary of PDVSA, under a 25-year agreement with the Aruba government that also includes an extensive USD685 million overhaul aimed at restarting operations at the inactive refinery and converting the facility to a crude upgrader.

"We are working hard to find a solution and hope to fully resume the project in the near future," said James Cristman,Citgo's refining vice president, in the release, adding that 600 workers had been hired for the project.

Citgo Aruba did not say how long work would be delayed at the refinery, which has remained idle since 2012. The Aruba government declined to comment.

At the end of 2016 two consortia, including Japanese engineering firm JGC Corp and French oil services company Technip, were shortlisted to handle the refurbishment.

Months later Citgo asked its cash-strapped parent company PDVSA to provide initial funding of $100 million, according to an internal document seen by Reuters, but the credit was not granted and there has been little progress since then due to the lack of financing.
MRC