PTTGC plans maintenance at No. 1 cracker

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC), Thailand’s largest petrochemical producer, is likely to take its No.1 cracker off-stream for a maintenance turnaround, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Thailand informed that the cracker is expected to be taken off-line in early-September 2018. The planned maintenance is likely to remain in force for around 40 days.

Located at Map Ta Phut in Thailand, the cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 460,000 mt/year and a propylene production capacity of 125,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed previously, initially, PTTGC intended to take its No.1 cracker off-stream for a maintenance turnaround in end-August 2017. The planned maintenance was to remain in force for around 2 or 3 weeks.

PTT Global Chemical is a leading player in the petrochemical industry and owns several petrochemical facilities with a combined capacity of 8.45 million tonnes a year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) --GTC Technology is providing a gasoline production complex project for ABG (Al Barham Group Companies) for the refining and distribution of petroleum products, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The grassroots complex will process 12 Mbpd of straight run naphtha (SRN) and untreated natural gasoline (UNG) blend feed to produce high octane gasoline meeting Euro-V specifications. The plant will be located in the city of Kirkuk, in northern Iraq and is supported by the Iraqi Oil Ministry.

The project consists of three units – a naphtha hydrotreater including a naphtha splitter, a C5/C6 isomerization unit, and a heavy naphtha reforming unit.

The project will be the first to utilize a network of three dividing wall columns (DWCs) in a single gasoline complex. The first application utilizes GT-LPG MAX®, a process developed by GTC using Uniting Wall Column (GT-UWC?) technology which combines adsorption and distillation in the same column to optimize the overall operation and enhance C3+ recovery. The second application of DWC technology is a three-cut naphtha splitter column capable of producing three high purity fractions. The third application is a super deisohexanizer (Super DIH) combining the conventional depentanizer and deisohexanizer columns.

GT-LPG MAX will collect and process LPG-rich streams, both vapor and liquid, from different stabilizers within the complex to produce on-spec LPG product at one central location (also within the complex) – thereby, eliminating duplicate equipment across different units. The unit will utilize GTC’s proprietary tower internals for the three DWCs as well as specialty heat transfer equipment to maximize productivity and minimize plot space.

"We are pleased to work with ABG to provide our full suite of naphtha processing technology and advanced distillation expertise. We are confident that ABG will enjoy the robust, reliable performance of the hydrotreating, isomerization and reforming process designs which are optimized using the latest advanced distillation integrated solutions to maximize the return on investment of the project” said Ilya L. Aranovich, GTC Licensing Manager. “We are excited to extend our track record of providing leading-edge solutions to improve the economics of naphtha processing facilities in the Middle East and around the world."
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Longtime Dow Chemical Co. leader Andrew Liveris plans to step down next month, ending a nearly 14-year tenure that culminated with the chemical giant’s combination last year with rival DuPont Co, as per Wsj.

Mr. Liveris will relinquish the role of executive chairman of the combined company April 1, it announced Monday. Co-lead director Jeff Fettig will assume that role at the company, now known as DowDuPont Inc. DWDP -0.72% and soon to be broken apart.

Liveris lieutenant Jim Fitterling will be chief executive of the materials-science company that is expected to be created when the breakup takes place next year.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the news of the executive changes early Monday.

Mr. Liveris, 63 years old, had said he would likely depart this year, but he had delayed the move once already and the advisory board of the materials-science company, to be known as Dow, hadn’t yet named a successor.

Dow’s board and Mr. Liveris had gone through a search process that involved Mr. Fitterling, who is chief operating officer for the materials business, and Howard Ungerleider, DowDuPont’s chief financial officer, according to people familiar with the matter. The candidates, both of whom have spent their entire careers at Dow and held several roles, met with directors and made presentations in recent months, the people said.

Mr. Fitterling, 56, won the job in recent weeks, they said. Mr. Ungerleider, 50, will be named president on top of his CFO role.

In an interview, Mr. Liveris said he decided the timing was right with the stock hitting all-time highs this year and the company completing two projects he bet his legacy on: the combination with DuPont and a gigantic petrochemical plant in Saudi Arabia, the people said. He said he made up his mind while on Christmas holidays with his family in his native Australia, feeling the transformation he had wanted was done.

A 40-year veteran of the company, Mr. Liveris will remain a director on the combined board until July 1.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) – Venture Global LNG, Inc. announced that its subsidiary, Venture Global Calcasieu Pass, LLC (Venture Global Calcasieu Pass), has agreed with Shell NA LNG LLC (Shell) to increase their existing sales and purchase agreement (“SPA”), under which Shell will now purchase 2 MMtpy of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Venture Global Calcasieu Pass’s LNG export facility under development in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Shell’s commitment, together with an SPA previously executed by Venture Global Calcasieu Pass with Edison S.p.A., brings the facility’s total committed capacity under binding, twenty-year FOB contracts to 3 MMtpy.

Mike Sabel and Bob Pender, co-CEOs of Venture Global LNG, jointly announced that “Shell’s additional purchase is a huge milestone, we believe a breakout event, and a significant validation of our best in class approach on our path to commencement of construction later this year. We are delighted that we continue to execute and achieve our development targets as we implement our strategy, alongside world-class partners, to become one of the lowest cost producers of LNG to the world’s most important energy customers."

Venture Global LNG is developing both the 10 MMtpy Venture Global Calcasieu Pass facility on an approximately 1,000-acre site located at the intersection of the Calcasieu Ship Channel and the Gulf of Mexico and the 20 MMtpy Venture Global Plaquemines LNG facility in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana on an approximately 630-acre site on the Mississippi River, approximately 30 miles south of New Orleans, Louisiana.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Brazil's state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro said that it will invest 137 million reais (USD42 million) this year in the Presidente Bernardes refinery in the industrial hub of Cubatao, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) southeast of metropolitan Sao Paulo, reported Reuters.

The money will go toward improving operation efficiency in the unit and is part of the company's overall 2018-2022 investment plans, Petrobras said in a statement.

The refinery has the capacity to process 27 million liters of petroleum per day, which is 8 percent of Brazil's overall refining output.

As MRC wrote earlier, in October 2017, Petrobras’s (Rio de Janeiro) minority stakes in Braskem and Deten Quimica was excluded from Petrobras’s divestment program, according to a government decree published in Brazil’s Official Gazette. The decree prevents Petrobras from immediately selling its minority stake in Braskem, which had been announced last year. A new decree will be required to release the stock sale.

Headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Petrobras is an integrated energy firm. Petrobras' activities include exploration, exploitation and production of oil from reservoir wells, shale and other rocks as well as refining, processing, trade and transport of oil and oil products, natural gas and other fluid hydrocarbons, in addition to other energy-related activities.
MRC