India did not let Russian-owned refinery buy Iranian oil: Iran minister

MOSCOW (MRC) - Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said that, because of U.S. sanctions, India had refused to allow a Russian-owned Indian refinery to use Iranian crude oil that India had obtained under waivers, as per Reuters.

Zanganeh was responding to a question in an interview on Iranian state television about why Iran had not bought refineries overseas. He said large investments were needed, and the refineries would be under the jurisdiction of the host country.

"Even if you own a refinery, ...it is under the sovereignty of the country where it is located.... For example, a Russian company has bought the Essar refinery in India. But it is not allowed to take oil from Iran,”"Zanganeh said.

"The Indian government had obtained a waiver (to import Iranian oil) but it uses it for its state refinery. It did not allow them (Russians) to take oil," Zanganeh said.

Indian officials could not be contacted for comment, following the late evening interview. Russian oil major Rosneft (ROSN.MM), fund UCP and Swiss commodities trader Trafigura bought Essar Oil’s large refinery, 3,500 fuel stations and infrastructure for USD12.9 billion last year.

U.S. President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of a multilateral nuclear deal with Iran in May and reimposed sanctions on Iran’s oil industry last month.
Washington had been pushing governments to cut imports of Iranian oil to zero, but fearing a crude oil price spike, it granted Iran’s biggest buyers - China, India, South Korea, Japan, Italy, Greece, Taiwan and Turkey - sanctions waivers.
MRC

Mexican government promises refinery tenders by March

MOSCOW (MRC) -- President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Sunday that Mexico would tender out the building of a refinery near the Dos Bocas oil port by March, part of his government’s plan to try to reduce the country’s gasoline imports, reported Reuters.

In a presentation in Tabasco state, where the refinery is due to be built, the government said the new oil refinery would process 340,000 barrels per day (bpd).

The refinery, which will cost about USD8 billion, should produce 170,000 bpd of fuel, including 120,000 bpd of diesel.

Afterward, Energy Minister Rocio Nahle said the government had not decided on the format for the contract for building the refinery. She added that the reduction in crude exports in order to refine in Mexico would be gradual.

As MRC informed before, Mexico’s next government plans to build what could be the country’s largest oil refinery, with construction set to begin as soon as next year, said president-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in September 2018. The winner of July’s presidential election is seeking to end Mexico’s massive fuel imports, nearly all of which come from the United States, while boosting domestic refining during the first half of his six-year term.
MRC

Hengli Petchem to test new oil refinery

MOSCOW (MRC) - China’s Hengli Petrochemical Group (600346.SS) will start test-running its new oil refinery in the northeastern city of Dalian on December 15, according to a company statement, slightly behind an earlier timeline of around the end of November, as per Reuters.

Once operational, Hengli will become the country’s first privately owned refinery and chemical complex. With a refining capacity of 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil, the site will rival the largest oil refineries in China, the world’s biggest importer and second-largest consumer of oil.

“Hengli has completed building the 20 million ton per year refinery and chemical complex, with public utilities and auxiliary facilities also ripe for operations,” the firm said in a statement posted on its social media platform late on Wednesday.

Diesel fuel will first be injected into the pipes to run through the facilities, before crude oil is fed into the distillation tower about a week to 10 days later, said an industry source involved in the test operation.

A total of 500,000 tonnes of Saudi crude oil will be used for experimental operations for about 20 days, said the source, who declined to be named as not authorized to speak to press.

It normally takes several months for a new refinery to begin stable operations after test runs. Hengli has agreed to buy 130,000 bpd of crude oil from state-owned Saudi Aramco under an annual supply agreement for 2019, becoming a new major customer for Saudi Arabia which competes with Russia for the top spot in oil sales to China.

Zhejiang Petrochemical Corp, controlled by private chemical group Rongsheng Holdings, is expected to start partial test operations at some units around end of this year and early 2019 at its similar-sized complex.
MRC

Emerson acquires advanced engineering valves

MOSCOW (MRC) – Emerson announced it has acquired Advanced Engineering Valves (A.E. Valves), a leading manufacturer of innovative valve technology that helps LNG customers operate more efficiently, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The transaction will enable Emerson, a global leader in automation solutions and technology, to provide its customers with the world’s broadest portfolio of valves to improve process performance and reliability. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The addition of A.E. Valves supports Emerson’s Main Valve Partner™ initiative to be the premier supplier of final control solutions for the LNG industry, and complements its Vanessa triple-offset valve range to create a single technology leader for process isolation in critical cryogenic and severe service applications.

Both Emerson and A.E. Valves are focused on innovating to deliver superior technology that helps customers achieve project delivery success and operational excellence in their end markets. A.E. Valves is a leader in torque-seated, friction-free, zero-leakage ball valve technology that drives performance, cost and reliability improvements over traditional ball valves. This technology is a strong complement to Emerson’s portfolio of solutions that help customers achieve Top Quartile performance.

"Adding A.E. Valves makes Emerson’s value to customers along the entire global LNG value chain even more compelling as a single, accountable partner for all of their valve needs,” said Lal Karsanbhai, executive president of Emerson Automation Solutions. “Our expanded portfolio of leading valve technology will help customers unlock greater capital efficiency and asset productivity as they embark on a wave of investment to meet rising global energy demand."

A.E. Valves is headquartered in Verviers, Belgium, and has a nearly 10-year track record as a valve manufacturer at the leading edge of innovation. Its breakthrough ball valve design creates a step change in safety, environmental and performance outcomes for the LNG industry, as well as oil and gas, chemical, and petrochemical customers.

“A.E. Valves is a natural addition for Emerson and shares the same commitment to developing value-creating solutions for our customers’ most challenging process applications,” said Ram Krishnan, group president of Emerson’s Final Control business. “This acquisition represents another important investment that builds on our final control technology portfolio to help customers unlock greater profitability and productivity in their businesses.”
MRC

US probe cites "ineffective" safeguard in Husky oil refinery blast

MOSCOW (MRC) -- An “ineffective” safeguard failed to prevent an explosive mixing of air and fuel at a Husky Energy refinery in Superior, Wisconsin, leading to a blast and fire in the plant’s gasoline-producing unit in April, a US industrial safety group said, reported Reuters.

Air seeped through a hole in a valve within a fluidic catalytic cracking unit (FCCU), the US Chemical Safety Board (CSB) said, causing an April 26 explosion that led to a massive fire and a 24-hour-long evacuation of residents living within miles of the plant.

The board said 36 people sought medical treatment after the blast, including 11 working at the refinery. The plant was undergoing maintenance at the time.

Air seeped through a hole in a valve within a fluidic catalytic cracking unit (FCCU), the US Chemical Safety Board (CSB) said, causing an April 26 explosion that led to a massive fire and a 24-hour-long evacuation of residents living within miles of the plant.

The board said 36 people sought medical treatment after the blast, including 11 working at the refinery. The plant was undergoing maintenance at the time.

Husky, according to the CSB, had only considered a failure of the valve when locked open, not a failure when it was closed, according to an updated report the board presented of its months-long investigation at a meeting Wednesday in Superior.

The failures leading to the Superior refinery explosion were similar to those that caused a 2015 explosion in an FCCU at a Torrance, California, refinery then owned by Exxon Mobil Corp. Exxon sold the refinery to PBF Energy in 2016.

"Prior to both incidents, the process hazard analyses identified scenarios in which hydrocarbons flowed into the air side of the FCCU and vice versa due to a failure of the spent catalyst slide valve (SCSV), but the safeguards listed to protect against those scenarios were ineffective," the board said.

The CSB, created by the US Clean Air Act, has no regulatory or enforcement authority but is charged with determining the causes of chemical plant explosions and fires and making recommendations to government and industry.

"Given the similarities between these two incidents, the CSB will be examining areas of further improvement that need tobe taken by industry," the board said.

FCCUs use a fine, silica catalyst in high heat to make gasoline from gas oil and the passage of the sand-like catalyst over the slide valve at the Superior refinery wore a hole in it.

A mixture of air and hydrocarbon within the unit can easily find an ignition source in the 1,300 degree Fahrenheit (715 Celsius) operating temperature of the FCCU.

The Husky refinery was shut after the April explosion. Husky expects to restart production at the plant in 2020.

Most CSB investigations take up to a year to complete.

As MRC informed previously, Canadian oil and gas producer Husky Energy Inc said this autumn it had made an unsolicited bid to acquire rival MEG Energy Corp in a deal valued at USD5 billion including debt. The combined company would have total production of more than 410,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) and refining and upgrading capacity of about 400,000 barrels per day (bpd).
MRC