L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering wins EPC contract from HPCL-Mittal Energy

MOSCOW (MRC) -- L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering (LTHE), a wholly-owned subsidiary of engineering giant Larsen & Toubro, has announced it has won an onshore Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract from HPCL-Mittal Energy (HMEL), a joint venture between Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited and Mittal Energy Investment, as per EnergyWorld.

Under the contract, LTHE would set up seven cracker furnaces at the Bathinda refinery in Punjab. The order for setting up the furnaces of 1,200 kilo-tonne per annum (KTPA) dual-feed cracker unit is part of HPCL-Mittal Energy's Guru Gobind Singh Polymer Addition project.

The firm said that the scope of work under the contract covers project management, residual engineering, procurement and supply of cracker furnace systems, components, auxiliaries, fabrication in modules, erection, construction and commissioning.

LTHE plans to use its modular fabrication facilities in Hazira, Gujarat for fabrication of furnace modules.

The process licensor for the cracker unit was McDermott, an American multinational EPC and installation company, the company in a statement.

As MRC informed before, in March 2018, HMEL received clearance from India’s ministry of environments for the polymer addition project at its Guru Gobind Singh refinery and petrochemical complex.

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) is an Indian state-owned oil and natural gas company with its headquarters at Mumbai, Maharashtra and with Navratna status. HPCL has about 25% marketing share in India among PSUs and a strong marketing infrastructure. The Government of India owns 51.11% shares in HPCL and others are distributed amongst financial institutes, public and other investors.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- RDS, a KCA Deutag business, and Kavin Engineering And Services Private (Kavin) have partnered to combine their strengths and expertise to jointly pursue design and engineering projects across the upstream and midstream oil and gas market, as per Compelo.

RDS is a leading drilling facilities design and engineering specialist, which has been delivering world-class projects for over four decades and has over 60 designs in operation.

Kavin is a global leader in design and engineering of process facilities for FPSO Topsides, having successfully delivered complete process topside solutions for 7 FPSOs and single/multiple modules for about 80 FPSOs, over a period of 16 years.

Working closely together, RDS and Kavin will provide services from their operations across five continents, focusing on innovative, cost effective, fit for purpose solutions for clients.

This alliance enables RDS and Kavin to execute onshore and offshore projects from the seabed up, leveraging the strengths and experience of the combined companies across the full project lifecycle.

Albert Allan, Senior Vice President of RDS said, “This exciting new relationship presents a broader and deeper market offering that will enable us to draw on the strengths of both organisations to deliver high value, high quality projects across a wider spectrum and I look forward to our first joint delivery."

Ramachandran, CEO of Kavin said, “We feel proud to have achieved this important milestone. This agreement will strengthen the co-operation between RDS and Kavin and will be an enabler for delivering quality custom built solutions. We are very hopeful that the two organisations will leverage each other’s strength to achieve success."

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The August contract price of ethylene was settled in Europe at the level of July.
However, European producers reduced their low density polyethylene (LDPE) prices for August shipments to the CIS markets, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

Negotiations over August polyethylene (PE) shipments from Europe to the CIS countries began last week.
On the back of the ethylene price stability, most European producers announced a roll-over of July high density polyethylene (HDPE) prices for this month, whereas LDPE prices, on the contrary, went down.

Negotiations over August HDPE shipments were held in the range of EUR1,080-1,155/tonne FCA, which virtually corresponded to July prices. European producers had no major restrictions on August shipments, despite shutdowns for maintenance at a number of plants.

Prices of black PE 100 remained unchanged with a few exceptions, deals for August deliveries were discussed in the range of EUR1,360-1,415/tonne FCA. Most producers had no restrictions on shipments this month.

Deals for August shipments of European LDPE were negotiated in the range of EUR1,045-1,090/tonne FCA, whereas prices were at an average of EUR1,100/tonne FCA a month earlier.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - China proposed retaliatory tariffs on USD60 billion worth of U.S. goods ranging from liquefied natural gas (LNG) to some aircraft on Friday, as a senior Chinese diplomat cast doubt on prospects of talks with Washington to solve their bitter trade conflict, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The Trump administration tightened pressure for trade concessions from Beijing this week by proposing a higher 25 percent tariff on USD200 billion worth of Chinese imports. China vowed to retaliate while also urging Washington to act rationally and return to talks to resolve the dispute.

The United States and China implemented tariffs on USD34 billion worth of each others’ goods in July. Washington is expected to soon implement tariffs on an additional USD16 billion of Chinese goods, which China has already announced it will match immediately.

China has now either imposed or proposed tariffs on USD110 billion of U.S. goods, representing the vast majority of China’s annual imports of American products. Last year, China imported about USD130 billion of U.S. goods.

China’s finance ministry unveiled new sets of additional tariffs on 5,207 goods imported from the United States, with the extra levies ranging from 5 to 25 percent.

Timing will depend on the actions of the United States, the Chinese Commerce Ministry said in a separate statement.

"The U.S. side has repeatedly escalated the situation against the interests of both enterprises and consumers," it said. "China has to take necessary countermeasures to defend its dignity and the interests of its people, free trade and the multilateral system."
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- As of January 1, 2018, U.S. operable atmospheric crude distillation capacity totaled 18.6 million barrels per day (MMbpd), a slight decrease of 0.1% since the beginning of 2017 according to EIA’s annual Refinery Capacity Report, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Annual operable crude oil distillation unit (CDU) capacity had increased slightly in each of the five years before 2018.

Refinery capacity is measured in two ways: barrels per calendar day and barrels per stream day. Barrels per calendar day reflect the input that a distillation unit can process in a 24-hour period under usual operating conditions, taking into account both planned and unplanned maintenance. Barrels per stream day reflect the maximum number of barrels of input that a distillation facility can process within a 24-hour period when running at full capacity under optimal crude oil and product slate conditions with no allowance for downtime. Stream day capacity is typically about 6% higher than calendar day capacity.

The Refinery Capacity Report also includes information about secondary units—downstream refinery units that are used to process the products coming from the atmospheric crude distillation unit into ultra-low sulfur diesel and gasoline, as well as other products. Secondary refining capacity, including thermal cracking (coking), catalytic hydrocracking, and hydrotreating and desulfurization, increased slightly, up 1% from year-ago levels. These downstream capacity increases are primarily the result of changing processes that can increase refinery throughput rather than building new refining units.

The number of operating refineries decreased from 141 on January 1, 2017, to 135 on January 1, 2018, largely reflecting classification changes in EIA’s survey: four refineries previously considered separate in survey data were merged into two, and two refineries were reclassified from idle to shut down. Consequently, the decrease in the number of operating refineries does not necessarily represent a meaningful change in U.S. refinery operating capacity.
MRC