Indias BPCL to buy Iranian oil after 3-month gap

MOSCOW (MRC) - State-run Bharat Petroleum Corp will import 1 million barrels of Iranian oil in February after a gap of three months, with the nation's overall purchases from Tehran remaining at 9 million barrels, three industry sources said, as pe Reuters.

The United States in early November granted India a six-month waiver from sanctions on Iran's oil exports. Under the agreement, New Delhi must restrict its Iranian oil purchases to 1.25 million tonnes, or 9 million barrels.

BPCL and Hindustan Petroleum Corp will lift 1 million barrels each of Iranian crude oil in February, the sources said. HPCL this month resumed purchases of Iranian oil after a gap of six months. The company halted Iranian oil purchases in July after its insurance company refused to provide cover for the crude because of U.S. sanctions, although its chairman said HPCL may resume buying Iranian oil under sanctions waivers.

Indian Oil Corp, the country's top refiner, will lift 5 million barrels of Iranian oil in February, the same as this month. Mangalore Petrochemicals Ltd will buy 2 million barrels compared with 3 million barrels this month, the sources said.

An IOC official had previously said his firm would lift 180,000 bpd - the full volume contracted under an annual deal with Iran for this fiscal year ending March 31, 2019.

India recently exempted rupee payments to the National Iranian Oil Co (NIOC) for crude oil imports from a steep withholding tax, paving way for pending dues to be cleared.

HPCL, IOC and BPCL did not immediately respond to requests for comment, while MRPL declined comment.
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MOSCOW (MRC) - Malaysian state oil company Petronas started trial runs at the crude distillation unit (CDU) for a joint-venture refinery with Saudi Aramco in Malaysia last week, two sources with knowledge of the matter said, as per Reuters.

The move marks a major milestone for the USD2.7 billion project known as RAPID - or Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development - located in Pengerang in Johor, at the southern tip of peninsular Malaysia. The test runs put the project on track for commercial operation in 2019.

The company also received its second cargo of 2 million barrels of Saudi crude last week, according to the sources and data on Refinitiv Eikon. Petronas could not be immediately reached for comment.

RAPID consists of a 300,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) refinery and secondary refining units that will allow the companies to produce refined oil products that meet Euro 5 fuel specifications. The refinery is linked to a petrochemical complex with a capacity of 7.7 million tonnes a year.

The first crude oil cargo for RAPID was offloaded at Pengerang in September. The refinery is one of four new complexes in Asia that represent a combined processing capacity of nearly 1.3 million bpd scheduled to start up from late 2018 to 2019.

Another of the four complexes, a 400,000-bpd refinery, owned by Hengli Petrochemical in Dalian in northeast China, started trial runs in December.

These plants will increase Asia’s crude demand while adding to fuel output in the region.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- A new bitumen plant and liquefied gas filling station were launched as part of the 1st phase of Heydar Aliyev Refinery’s reconstruction and modernization program, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev attended the opening ceremony.

SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev reported to the head of state that the opening of the bitumen plant would increase the annual production from 250,000 up to 400,000 tons. High-quality bitumen PEN 40/60 will be produced in the plant to meet domestic demand.

The new facility will save energy and make a significant contribution to environment protection in Baku. It will also minimize the plant's operational costs. The construction of the new bitumen plant was necessary because of the reconstruction of the Heydar Aliyev Refinery and the phased cleaning of the former Azerneftyag’s territory to involve it in the White City project.

The 1st phase of the modernization project consists of 3 main parts: construction of the new bitumen plant and gas-filling station, demounting and cleaning work in the areas where new plants are planned to be built in the next phases plus preparation for the construction work.

In 2016, a detailed engineering, procurement, construction and management contract (EPCm) for a new bitumen plant was signed with Poerner Gruppe, Austria. Azfen, the construction contractor began building of the facility in April, 2017. 400 local workers and specialists were involved in the construction.

Reconstruction work at the Heydar Aliyev Oil Refinery is being done in 3 phases. The 2nd phase of reconstruction work to be completed by the end of 2020 will facilitate the production of Euro-5 diesel fuel while the 3rd phase scheduled for the beginning of 2021 will enable the production of Euro-5-standard A-92/95/98 gasoline.

As MRC reported earlier, in October 2018, Azeri state energy company SOCAR started up its new oil refinery in Turkey. The USD6.3 billion Star refinery, the first in Turkey built in 30 years, will supply feedstock to Turkish petrochemicals firm Petkim to help to cut Turkey’s dependence on imported refined oil products. It will boost Turkish refining capacity by 30%.

SOCAR, which is keen on expanding operations in the retail oil products market abroad, is involved in exploring oil and gas fields, producing, processing, and transporting oil, gas, and gas condensate, marketing petroleum and petrochemical products in the domestic and international markets, and supplying natural gas to industry and the public in Azerbaijan.
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MOSCOW (MRC) – The new application allows personnel to accurately record field condition data and automatically deliver that data to other plant systems where decision makers can drive effective action, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Most plants rely on manual inspection rounds to detect abnormal plant conditions not identified by sensors. With AMS Inspection Rounds, operators on rounds can electronically record any abnormal or hazardous conditions immediately, such as unusual equipment noise, spills, smells, excessive corrosion, or safety hazards. Condition data can be entered on the ruggedized AMS Trex in real-time—timestamped for compliance and audit requirements.

AMS Inspection Rounds delivers condition data to other plant systems via a wired or secure wi-fi connection, eliminating the need for manual entry. It also provides automated workflows to operations and maintenance personnel while they are in the field, ensuring complete, consistent, and repeatable collection of condition data.

"Route-based inspections are a key line of defense for identifying abnormal and unsafe conditions that may reduce efficiency or put personnel in danger,” said Mani Janardhanan, vice president of product management, Plantweb and reliability solutions, Emerson Automation Solutions. “AMS Inspection Rounds helps ensure that issues impacting safety and reliability are detected, reported, and resolved earlier."

With clear dashboards of routes, status, alerts, and action items, users can identify, schedule, and coordinate steps for resolving issues more quickly. Electronic recording of route data saves hours of time typically lost in transcribing paper notes to electronic media and simplifies the generation of audit trails—freeing personnel to focus on more important tasks. Operations and maintenance teams can also access historical data to identify and eliminate root causes of recurring problems.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Total has agreed to develop joint activities in the downstream petroleum sector in Angola, with national company Sonangol, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Already long-term partners in the upstream business, the two companies have decided to establish a Joint Venture company to develop a common retail and distribution activity in the country, the fourth largest market in sub-Saharan Africa.

While developing B2B activities, the Total-Sonangol Joint Venture will initially focus on fuel distribution and lubricants sales on the B2C segment, starting with a network of service-stations under the TOTAL brand.

Depending on the outcome of the ongoing liberalization process, Total also intends to address through this partnership both petroleum products logistics and supply, including imports and primary storage of refined products.

Under the current agreement, Sonangol will bring in 45 already existing urban and highway service-stations, with a key presence on selected locations in 10 coastal and central provinces. Total will work alongside his partner to rapidly develop this network, in order to meet the highest international retail standards and improve fuel quality distribution throughout the country. The newly-established company will invest in both infrastructures and marketing activities and will benefit from Total’s expertise in retail and its customer-minded approach.

"Total is very pleased to establish a new partnership in Angola, following decades of collaboration in upstream with Sonangol. Through the establishment of these joint fuel distribution activities, Total is further strengthening its footprint in the country,” commented Momar Nguer, President Marketing and Services and Executive Committee Member at Total. “This agreement is in line with our strategy to expand in large growing markets worldwide. Already the largest retailer in Africa, we intend to capitalize on this opportunity to roll out in Angola our offer of products and services and to develop additional synergies, for the full benefits of the Angolan customers."

As MRC informed before, 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.
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