Phillips 66 to expand Texas natural gas liquids project

MOSCOW (MRC) -- U.S. oil refiner Phillips 66 said on Wednesday it planned to spend up to USD1.5 billion on the expansion of its natural gas liquids project in Sweeny, Texas, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The expansion includes the construction of two natural gas liquids fractionators, with a capacity of 150,000 barrel per day (bpd) each, the company said.

DCP Midstream LP said it had an option to buy up to a 30 percent stake in the fractionators. The option would be exercisable once the project is completed and has a capital investment of about USD400 million.

The project, which is set to begin commercial operations in late 2020, will increase Sweeny hub's natural gas liquids refining capacity to 400,000 bpd.

As per MRC, Phillips 66 remains open to developing another ethane cracker for its Chevron Phillips Chemical (CP Chem) joint venture.
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MOSCOW (MRC) - Venezuela is considering refining foreign crude for the first time to produce fuels like gasoline or diesel, according to internal planning documents seen by Reuters, in the latest sign of the country's strain to meet obligations to customers despite having the world's largest crude reserves.

State-run PDVSA has drawn up a plan to process up to 57,000 barrels per day (bpd) of foreign crude in June at the country's largest refinery to fulfill export contracts and reduce purchases of fuels for domestic use, the documents showed.

As MRC informed earlier, Portugal is investigating alleged appropriation of funds belonging to Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA that were channeled through now-defunct Portuguese bank Banco Espirito Santo between 2009 and 2014.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Aramco plans to boost investments in refining and petrochemicals to secure new markets for its crude and sees growth in chemicals as central to its downstream strategy to lessen the risk of a slowdown in oil demand, as per Reuters.

Aramco, the world’s biggest oil producer, is expanding its footprint globally by signing downstream deals and boosting the capacity of its plants, ahead of an initial public offering next year - the largest IPO in history.
The state oil giant is moving ahead with multi-billion-dollar projects in China, India, and Malaysia and aims to finalize new partnerships this year, Abdulaziz al-Judaimi, Aramco’s senior vice president for downstream, told Reuters.
Aramco plans to raise its refining capacity to between 8 million and 10 million barrels per day, from some 5 million bpd now, and double its petrochemicals production by 2030, he added. Aramco pumps around 10 million bpd of crude oil.
“Our strategy is very simple. We want to be at 8 to 10 million barrels per day of participated (refining) capacity ... (and) we are going forward by trying to be a top leader in chemicals by 2040,” Judaimi said.

To help it reach these targets, Aramco has entered a 50 percent joint venture with three Indian refiners to build a USD44 billion, 1.2-million-bpd refinery integrated with petrochemical facilities on India’s west coast.

Aramco has said it may introduce a strategic partner to share its 50 percent stake in the Indian refining venture.
Judaimi said Aramco was working with Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) toward securing a partnership. It would be the first time for the two national oil companies to join hands in an international venture.

Apart from India, Aramco is also taking a 50 percent stake in Petronas’ huge RAPID project in the southern Malaysian state of Johor.

Aramco hopes this will help it dominate supplies in India and Malaysia, two of the world’s fastest-growing oil markets after China, and where growth potential is bigger than in other, more developed regions. Aramco is eyeing three separate refining and petrochemical projects in China, Judaimi said.

In April, Aramco said it was integrating a petrochemicals business into its subsidiary Motiva, the United States’ biggest oil refinery.

Aramco is strengthening its refining role in China, one of its biggest customers. It has a refinery joint venture with Sinopec and Exxon Mobil and is in talks with CNPC to finalize the purchase of a stake in a 260 Mbpd refinery in Yunnan. Judaimi said he expects to take a final investment decision on the Yunnan refinery, which is operational, by the end of this year.

Aramco plans to build a 300 Mbpd refinery with China’s Norinco. Judaimi said he expects to finish front-end engineering for the Norinco project by mid-2019, following which the company will take its final investment decision. Judaimi said Aramco had also started negotiations for a third refinery in China.
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MOSCOW (MRC) - Oil and gas major Total said that French farmers had started lifting a blockade of refineries and fuel depots that had led some petrol stations to run dry, as per Reuters.

The company expected the blockade, which started on Sunday, to be over by Thursday, a spokesman said.

The group's French refineries were not impacted by the protests but 145 of its 2,200 petrol stations across the country saw fuel outages, he said.

France's main farmers' union earlier on Wednesday called on members to end the blockade, linked to anger over competition from agricultural imports including palm oil used for biofuel.

As MRC informed before, in December 2017, Total inaugurated the new units at its Antwerp integrated refining & petrochemicals platform, which had progressively started up in the last few months of 2017.

Total S.A. is a French multinational oil and gas company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world with business in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia. The company's petrochemical products cover two main groups: base chemicals and the consumer polymers (polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene) that are derived from them.
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According to the National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus, the local LDPE producer - Polymir - shut down its production capacities for maintenance in May. Therefore, May polyethylene (PE) output was 3,400 tonnes, compared to 5,400 tonnes a month earlier. Thus, Polymir's total LDPE production was almost 25,400 tonnes in January-May 2018, compared to 25,800 tonnes a year earlier.

As reported earlier, Polymir shut down its LDPE production for a scheduled overhaul from 5 May to 20 May.

The Belarusian producer also plans to resume some of its ethylene production capacities in August after the forced outage because of fire, which took place in June 2016. When the ethylene unit achieves 100% capacity utilisation, LDPE production capacities will also reach the nominal level of its capacity utilisation.

Polymir (part of Naftan) is Belarus' largest petrochemical company, producing a wide range of chemical products, such as low density polyethylene (LDPE), acrylic fibers, products of organic synthesis, hydrocarbon fractions, etc. Polymir was founded in 1968. The producer uses technologies of the largest foreign companies from Great Britain, Japan, Germany, Italy (Courtaulds, Asahi Chemical Co. Ltd, Kanematsu Gosho, SNIA BPD, etc.), as well as the developments of scientific research institutes and design institutes of the CIS countries. The plant's annual production capacity is 130,000 tonnes.

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