Beckers opens new site in Nghe An, Vietnam

MOSCOW (MRC) -- In November, Beckers opened a second manufacturing site in Vietnam, as per Coatingsworld.

Beckers’ existing facility near Ho Chi Minh City has been in operation since 2007.

Hua Hin Zow heads this small operation comprised of production and laboratory as well as all technical, financial and HR functions.

Initially, four mixers with an annual capacity of more than 1,000 tons will be largely dedicated to the new facility of one of Beckers’ customers, Vietnam’s largest coil coater, which is located close by.

According to COO Karsten Eller, Beckers’ strategy for local growth will be to focus on operational excellence, including the close contact and strong technological service that are essential to enable Beckers’ customers to become more successful.
MRC

BP to invest USD1 billion in South Africa, including refinery upgrade

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BP Southern Africa (BPSA) will invest USD1 billion in South Africa in the next five years with more than a quarter of that set aside to upgrade the SAPREF refinery to produce lower sulfur diesel, its chief executive said, reported Reuters.

The 180,00 barrels per day SAPREF refinery, South Africa’s largest, is a 50:50 venture between Royal Dutch Shell and BPSA, a subsidiary of British oil major BP. The plant is located in the east coast city of Durban.

BP would invest 3.5 billion-4 billion rand (USD252 million-USD288 million) in the refinery upgrade, Chief Executive Priscillah Mabelane told Reuters, adding that about 40 percent of the total USD1 billion investment would go on retail activities.

She said the upgrade would make "sure the refinery can meet the new specifications in terms of low sulfur and Marpol regulations."

The plant would shut for maintenance from May to June 2019, she added.

The upgrade has been driven by new rules demanding a lower fuel sulfur content and changing customer preferences for cleaner diesel, such as D50 and D10.

Refinery operators have been in long-running talks with the government on how to recover costs from upgrading work needed to produce cleaner fuel in South Africa, the continent’s most industrialized economy.

"From an industry perspective we are pushing very hard to ensure that there is policy clarity because we have been on this journey very long, almost a decade," Mabelane said about the ongoing talks.

Industry players estimated in 2009 that the cost to upgrade to cleaner fuels would be about USD4 billion.

Other operators in the sector include Total and Sasol.

Besides upgrading the refinery, Mabelane said BPSA would expand its retail activities in South Africa.

"We are aggressively going to grow our footprint in the country," she said on the sidelines of an event with retailer partner Pick n Pay to launch a new innovation for a loyalty card that will also work at BP fuel stations nationwide.

BP was looking at opportunities to expand its services in Mozambique, where it is the second largest oil company, Mabelane said. "The market is exciting and dynamic," she said.

As MRC wrote before, in May 2018, hte - the high throughput experimentation company was selected by BP to evaluate commercial catalysts for both naphtha reforming and hydrocracking applications using high throughput technology under commercially relevant conditions for its refineries around the world.

BP is one of the world's leading international oil and gas companies, providing its customers with fuel for transportation, energy for heat and light, retail services and petrochemicals products for everyday items.
MRC

Shell Convent refinery hydrocracker may be shut two months

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The heavy-oil hydrocracker at Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s 209,787 barrel-per-day (bpd) Convent, Louisiana, refinery may be shut for two months of repairs, reported Reuters with reference to two sources familiar with plant operations.

Shell spokesman Ray Fisher said planned work was being performed at the Convent refinery, but declined to identify the unit involved.

The 45,000-bpd hydrocracker, called the H-Oil Unit, was shut on Wednesday because of a hot spot developing in a reactor on the unit, the sources said.

Shell also brought forward planned work scheduled to be done the H-Oil Unit in June 2019, the sources said. The planned June 2019 overhaul was scheduled to last 40 days.

The hot spot may indicate a hole could develop in the reactor wall, the sources said.

The H-Oil Unit is an atypical hydrocracker that uses hydrogen and a catalyst under high heat and pressure to convert residual crude oil into motor fuels, especially diesel.

Residual crude is normally processed by coking units. Most hydrocrackers use gas oil as a feedstock.

As MRC wrote earlier, in March 2018, Shell EP Middle East Holdings B.V. completed the sale of the entire share capital of Shell Iraq B.V., which held its 19.6% stake in the West Qurna 1 oil field, for USD406 million, to a subsidiary of ITOCHU Corporation.

Royal Dutch Shell plc is incorporated in England and Wales, has its headquarters in The Hague and is listed on the London, Amsterdam, and New York stock exchanges. Shell companies have operations in more than 70 countries and territories with businesses including oil and gas exploration and production; production and marketing of liquefied natural gas and gas to liquids; manufacturing, marketing and shipping of oil products and chemicals and renewable energy projects.
MRC

Total Gonfreville refinery starting shut-down due to strike-CGT union

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Total’s 253,000 barrel-per-day Gonfreville refinery in Normandy has started the process of suspending production due to an ongoing strike in the oil sector, reported Reuters with reference to France’s CGT trade union.

A strike at the oil and gas company’s Grandpuits refinery has been extended until Tuesday, while CGT workers at Total’s Feyzin plant have opted to continue industrial action until Thursday, CGT spokesman Thierry Defresne said.

He added output from for the two refineries would be reduced and deliveries of refined products from them blocked. CGT members at Total’s La Mede and Flanders oil depots also voted to prolong the strike at their units.

The company could not be reached for comment.

The protest, which started last week in a dispute over pay and bonuses, has reduced output at some refineries and disrupted supplies.

Total said earlier on Monday that product dispatching from the Normandy, Grandpuits and Feyzin refineries was still blocked due to the strike.

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

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.
MRC

Stavrolen resumed PP production

MOSCOW (MRC) - Stavrolen, Russia's major producer of polyolefins, has resumed production of polypropylene (PP) after an unscheduled shutdown, according to ICIS-MRC Price Report with reference to the producer's customers.

The plant's clients said Stavrolen resumed its PP production at the weekend after the forced outage due to technical issues. The shutdown was short and lasted for about one week.

Stavrolen (part of Lukoil) with the annual PP production capacity of 120,000 tonnes. Overall production of propylene polymers exceeded 92,300 tonnes in the first ten months of 2018, up by 9% year on year.
MRC