China willing to invest USD3B in Nigerian oil operations

MOSCOW (MRC) - China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) is willing to invest USD3 billion in its existing oil and gas operation in Nigeria, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said on Sunday following a meeting with the Chinese in Abuja, as per Reuters.

During a visit to Nigeria's state-owned NNPC, CNOOC Chief Executive Yuan Guangyu said the Beijing-based oil company had invested more than USD14 billion in its Nigerian operations and expressed readiness to invest more.

Guangyu said Nigeria was their largest investment destination and also asked the NNPC to seek common grounds with CNOOC for enhanced productivity.

Nigeria has been holding talks with oil majors over new finance agreements for joint ventures since last year. The NNPC last year signed financing agreements with Chevron and Shell worth at least $780 million to boost crude production and reserves.

Other western oil companies, including ExxonMobil (XOM.N), operate in Nigeria through joint ventures with NNPC.
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MOSCOW (MRC) --Explosions at a gas plant in Bellville Tuesday prompted evacuations of residents and businesses in the area, local officials said, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Smoke and fire could be seen for miles from the Western International Gas plant where a series of early morning explosions were reported. The plant provides bulk industrial gases such as acetylene.

Austin County Sheriff Jack Brandes said mandatory evacuations were ordered for anyone within a 1-mile radius of the plant. A voluntary evacuation was also ordered for anyone within two miles of the plant.

Brandes said the fire was still active hours after the initial incident was reported. Local emergency responders said they did not have a time frame as to when the fire would be out or when a nearby highway would reopen.

There were no reported injuries.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sinopec Maoming Petrochemical has shut its No. 2 low density polyethylene (LDPE) unit for a brief maintenance, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the unit was shut for a maintenance turnaround on July 14, 2018. It is likely to resume production on July 19, 2018.

Located at Guangdong in China, the No. 2 unit has a production capacity of 280,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed before, Sinopec Maoming Petrochemical conducted a brief turnaround at its LDPE unit No. 1 in early September 2017. Thus, the company resumed operations at this unit on September 2, 2017. The plant was shut for a maintenance on September 1, 2017. Located at Guangdong in China, the unit has a production capacity of 120,000 mt/year.

Sinopec Maoming Petrochemical Company (Maoming Company) - a subsidiary of Sinopec- is located in Maoming, Guangdong and was founded in May 1955. The company now has a crude oil processing capacity of 13.5 million t/a and an ethylene production capacity of 1 million t/a. Maoming Company has turned out to be a large-scale integrated refining and chemical enterprise with refining as the leading business and petrochemical sector as the mainstay.

China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation, or Sinopec Limited is a Chinese oil and gas company based in Beijing, China. It is listed in Hong Kong and also trades in Shanghai and New York . Sinopec is the worlds fifth biggest company by revenue.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Thailand's HMC Polymers, owned by PTT Global Chemical Public Company Limited (PTTGC), LyondellBasell and Thai investors, will resume full polypropylene (PP) production at Map Ta Phut in August, as per Apic-online with reference to a company source.

The company has three lines which were each shut for around 10 days, the source added. The No. 1 PP line has a nameplate capacity of 200,000 mt/year, No. 2 PP unit with a capacity of 250,000 mt/year and No. 3 PP line has a 300,000 mt/year capacity.

As MRC wrote previously, in 2010, HMC Polymers increased the production capacity of its PP plant by 300,000 tonnes from 450,000 tonnes in a bid to serve growing demand for polypropylene both domestically and internationally.

HMC Polymers is one of the leading companies in the manufacturing and marketing of polypropylene (PP) for Asia and worldwide. HMC Polymers is the first PP manufacturer in Thailand with its first PP production facility to have been established in Rayong Province, Thailand in 1987. The company's PP production facilities output is over 750,000 metric tons per year and comprise two Spheripol lines and a latest technology Spherizone line from LyondellBasell. HMC Polymers produces a wide range of Moplen polypropylene grades including homopolymer, heterophasic and random copolymer resins, as well as specialty polypropylene resins such as Adstif, Clyrell and Purell. In addition, a strategic investment in upstream integration was made in parallel with the construction of a Propane Dehydrogenation plant (PDH) at a site adjacent to our Map Ta Phut plant.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Motiva Enterprises completed repairs to the gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracking unit (FCCU) at its 603,000 barrel per day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas, refinery over the weekend, reported Reuters with reference to sources familiar with plant operations.

Motiva may cancel a July 23 shutdown of the 81 Mbpd Fluidic Catalytic Cracking Unit 3 the company began planning after a July 4 malfunction on the unit, the sources said.

Motiva on Thursday began planning the shutdown of the 81 Mbpd gasoline-producing Fluidic Catalytic Cracking Unit 3 (FCCU 3) at its 603 Mbpd Port Arthur, Texas, refinery due to excessive catalyst loss, the sources said.

If Motiva puts off the Monday, July 23 shutdown, it would be the second time this month the refinery has avoided shutting FCCU 3, the sources said.

The problems with catalyst clogging and loss began on Wednesday and Motiva planned to shut the catcracker on Thursday, but was able to keep the unit running at reduced production levels.

While keeping FCCU 3 operating, Motiva also began preparing to take the unit out of production on July 23 for a period that could be measured in weeks.

Within the refinery's FCCU 3, the fine powder catalyst breaks down gas oil into gasoline and other products.

As MRC informed previously, in March 2018, Motiva Enterprises' new Chief Executive Officer Brian Coffman said that no decision had been made on how to spend USD18 billion corporate parent Saudi Aramco has pledged for expansion. Aramco said in May 2017 it wanted to spend USD18 billion in the next five years and was interested in adding petrochemicalproduction capacity. The company's 603,000 barrel per day plant at Port Arthur, Texas, is the largest refinery in the United States.
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