BP sees Brazilian new biofuels policy boosting investment

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Brazil’s latest policy to boost biofuels use has improved the outlook for ethanol production and should attract new investment in plants, reported Reuters with reference to BP Plc’s chief executive for biofuels, Mario Lindenhayn.

Brazil is advancing with additional regulation for the policy, called RenovaBio and expected to be enacted in 2020, Lindenhayn said, adding that he does not see signs that the government of President-elect Jair Bolsonaro, which kicks off in January, would put up obstacles.

"We are very positive. This is a very important signal the country is giving, creating a stable regulatory environment that will allow companies to invest," Lindenhayn told Reuters on the sidelines of an energy presentation at the company’s corporate office in Sao Paulo.

RenovaBio will mandate fuel distributors to gradually increase the amount of biofuels they sell. The program aims to double the use of ethanol by 2030 from around 26 billion liters currently. The program also targets increases for other renewables such as biodiesel.

BP has three ethanol mills in Brazil, crushing 10 million tonnes of sugar cane per year. It formed a venture last year with Brazil’s Copersucar, a leading global ethanol seller, to jointly operate one of the largest fuel terminals in the country located in Paulinia, in Sao Paulo state.

Lindenhayn said the program provides an opportunity for mills in Brazil, which have experienced stagnation caused by years of low sugar prices and a long period of subsidized gasoline prices that led to the closure of many firms.

"If the program advances as planned, it will be a large opportunity. There are no greenfield projects around, and the country is a net fuel importer," he said.

Asked if BP would be interested in increasing ethanol capacity via acquisitions, since there are several assets being offered in Brazil by companies with financial difficulties, Lindenhayn said: "We will see, we will consider."

On Wednesday, Brazilian oil and fuels regulator ANP published in the official gazette another part of RenovaBio complementary legislation, with rules for biofuel companies to obtain certification.

With that, the plants will be able to issue and trade emissions reductions credits, called CBios, that fuel distributors could buy to comply with targets in case they fall short. It would be Brazil’s first emissions reductions market, although limited to the fuels industry.

As MRC informed previously, British oil and gas company BP will increase investment in the United States after the lowering of tax rates under President Donald Trump, Chief Executive Bob Dudley said in February 2018.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Linde and PBF Energy announced that the companies and their guests broke ground for a new hydrogen plant that is being built in Delaware City, DE, in partnership with PBF subsidiary Delaware City Refining Company (DCRC), as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Delaware Gov. John Carney; U.S. Senators Tom Carper (D-DE) and Chris Coons (D-DE); Delaware City Mayor Stanley E. Green; and other dignitaries joined executives from Linde, PBF Energy, and DCRC in the groundbreaking ceremony. Also in attendance were Kevin Herbein, President of United Steelworkers Local 4-898, and James Maravelias, President of the Delaware State AFL-CIO and Delaware Building Trades Council.

Investments by Linde and DCRC in this project, which include a 25 million standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD) hydrogen plant and supporting infrastructure, are expected to exceed US USD100 million. As part of this initiative, Linde will design, build, own and operate the hydrogen plant, which is targeted for start-up during the second quarter of 2020. The hydrogen plant project will generate about 80 to 100 construction jobs at peak workload, seven permanent positions, and 25 to 30 local contractor employees during major turnarounds.

"Our partnership with Linde has allowed us to progress this attractive project, which will make our Delaware City Refinery even more competitive," added Tom Nimbley, PBF Energy’s Chairman and CEO. "The refinery already features complex crude processing flexibility, and the new hydrogen plant will expand our ability to convert our heavy feedstock slate into cleaner, higher-value products, including marine fuels that meet new global, ultra-low sulfur standards established by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) that go into effect in 2020."

Dr. Raghu Menon, Vice President of Onsite Investment Projects for Linde Americas, remarked, "Linde is committed to development and delivery of exceptional value for our customers. Linde customized our solution to meet PBF’s and DCRC’s criteria, including critical parameters such as plant efficiency, project schedule and environmental performance. Our plant will include a Steam Methane Reformer with a proprietary Linde design and a Selective-Catalytic Reduction process unit that will reduce plant emissions and deliver excellent environmental performance."

As MRC reported earlier, in June 2018, The Linde Group and the specialty chemicals company Evonik Industries concluded an exclusive cooperation agreement on the use of membranes for natural gas processing.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- India’s top refiner, Indian Oil Corp (IOC), has issued a global tender to charter scrubber-fitted oil tankers for at least five years to import Iraqi oil, a tender document seen by Reuters showed.

The tender says Indian shippers will be given first right of refusal for the contract as the nation seeks to boost its shipping industry. It is seeking bids from vessels that are less than 10-years old.

A scrubber is a product that strips out sulfur emissions and, in doing so, can allow shippers to use dirtier fuel oil but still meet new global requirements for lower emissions.

IOC and the country’s second biggest state-owned refiner, Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL), last year also issued similar tenders seeking vessels for five years.

The two refiners, however, could not award the tenders as there were very few bids by shippers because at the time they were seeking clarity on the new fuel emissions requirements.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is introducing the rules on marine fuels from the beginning of 2020, limiting the sulfur content to 0.5 percent, down substantially from the current 3.5 percent, to curb shipping pollution.

IOC’s tender document is seeking global bids for a very large crude carrier (VLCC) capable of carrying Iraqi Basra Light and Basra Heavy crude for five years and grants Indian shippers the right of first refusal.

BPCL will soon issue a domestic tender seeking to hire Suezmax tankers capable of carrying up to 1 million barrels of oil for a five-year period, two industry sources said.

The IMO says that when the new rules come into force it will ban ships that do not have scrubbers from carrying any fuel oil, making it easier to catch cheaters.

The duration of the IOC contract can be extended by another two years to a total of seven, the tender document showed. The tender will close on January 7 and bids will remain valid until March 11, the document showed.

As MRC wrote before, Indian Oil Corporation's Rs 34,555-crore 15 million tonnes per annum Paradip Refinery was commissioned in phases from March 2015 onwards. Indian Oil Corporation was conducting feasibility studies to set up a petrochemical complex at Paradip in Odisha for Rs 20,000 crore. The petrochemical complex will be built in the vicinity of the company’s to-be-commissioned 15-mln tpa greenfield refinery at Paradip. The petrochemical complex will be in addition to the already announced Rs 3,150-crore polypropylene project at the same location, the foundation stone for which was laid by MOS for petroleum and natural gas.

Indian Oil Corporation Limited, or IndianOil, is an Indian state-owned oil and gas corporation with its headquarters in New Delhi, India.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- The addition of a new production line in the Malaysia plant emphasizes KRAIBURG TPE’s commitment to providing customers with the best quality, satisfaction and value, as per the company's press release.

Kuala Lumpur, December 2018, KRAIBURG TPE’s will begin operations of a new production line at its Malaysia plant this month to boost production capacity by 35% and increase KRAIBURG TPE’s total production capabilities to 60,000mt worldwide.

KRAIBURG TPE is expanding its offices and warehouse in Malaysia in tandem with the new production line to complement its production expansion. The company will also be extending its sales network in Hanoi, Vietnam, to increase its brand presence and enhance its customer serve in the region.

KRAIBURG TPE has relied on its three production sites for many years, namely Waldkraiburg (Germany), Atlanta (Georgia, USA) and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) to guarantee delivery of its TPE compounds on a long-term basis.
Franz Hinterecker, CEO of KRAIBURG TPE says: "Our success in the market is based on strong customer orientation, global presence and influential innovations. Continuously investing in the international network of our production plants and sales offices is a mainstay of our strategy."

The consistent expansion of production capacities follows KRAIBURG TPE’s strategic approach to focus on its core competences. KRAIBURG TPE measures its success by customer satisfaction through a unique quality concept that takes people, processes and products into account, centred on exceptional, high quality and custom-engineered compounds.

As MRC wrote before, in October 2018, KRAIBURG TPE has presented its market-driven and customer-oriented development expertise. In addition to current applications for its thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs), the company also showcased two advanced new material series that provide excellent properties for automotive interior and consumer applications.

Kraiburg Rubber (Suzhou) Co. Ltd. was established in 2005 and is part of the Waldkraiburg-based German company Kraiburg Holding GmbH & Co. KG. The company produces a wide range of standard rubber compounds (based on NR, EPDM, CR, AEM, SBR, FKM, etc.) for automotive, building and construction applications, and other industrial markets as well as highly customised products for all kinds of industries at its Suzhou site. The compounds are produced on highly automated and fully process-controlled mixing lines, based on state-of-the-art technology. The company has 130 employees.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- The national hydrocarbons group Sonatrach and ESSO Italiana (a subsidiary of the US group ExxonMobil) closed Saturday in Milan (Italy) the transaction on the Augusta refinery, said Sonatrach in a statement, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The scope of this transaction includes the Augusta refinery (Sicily), the three oil terminals in Palermo, Naples and Augusta, as well as interests in pipelines linking the refinery to the various terminals, the source said.

As a result, Sonatrach's Italian refining subsidiary, named Sonatrach Raffineria Italiana Srl, became the owner of these assets from Saturday, December 1, 2018.

The closing of this transaction follows a 6-month transition process that allowed Sonatrach '' to lift all suspensive conditions, including those related to anti-trust agreements '', explains Sonatrach. Through this acquisition, the Sonatrach refining system will be reinforced with an additional refining capacity of 10 million tons of treatment per year and a storage capacity equivalent to an additional autonomy of 3 days of gas oil consumption. and 3 days of fuel consumption.

This refining capacity places this refinery second among Sonatrach's capacity positions after the Skikda refinery (16 million tonnes / year). The same acquisition will allow Sonatrach to close its local gas and gasoline deficit and sell surplus products in international markets.

As a reminder, when Sonatrach signed the agreement with Esso Italiana in Rome in May 2018 for this acquisition, it then announced that the transfer of the property of the refinery and its assets would take place at the end of 2018, subject to compliance with certain conditions, including the approval of this sale by the authorities in charge of competition.

Sonatrach, after obtaining the agreement of the Algerian authorities, had responded favorably to the consultation launched by ExxonMobil at the end of August 2017 for the sale of this refinery whose market share in the Mediterranean is 25%.

Capable of processing both Sahara Blend and residual fuel from the Skikda refinery, the Augusta refinery integrates directly into Sonatrach's refining system. It can also directly process products that are surplus in Algeria in order to re-import products that are currently in deficit, such as gas oil and gasoline.

The Augusta refinery is a refinery that processes light crudes such as Algerian Sahara Blend, Arabian Light (Saudi Arabia) or Azeri (Azerbaijan). In the Mediterranean, Augusta is best known for being the leading producer of base oils in this region.

During the 90s, this refinery regularly obtained from Sonatrach in Zarzaitine (Illizi) which offers a good yield in base oil. Until 2009, this refinery also sourced low-sulfur fuel from the Skikda refinery.
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