China grants first crude import license to private trading firm

MOSCOW (MRC) - China’s commerce ministry granted a crude oil import license to Zhejiang Wuchan Zhongda Petroleum, a private trading firm based in the Zhoushan free trade zone in eastern China, the ministry said in a statement on its website, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Zhejiang Wuchan Zhongda, a venture between government fund Zhousan Communications Investment Group and Wuchang Zhongda Group, is the first privately owned company to receive a crude import license from the ministry.

The move could be an effort by the Chinese government to support the Shanghai crude futures contract that started up last year and attract institutional investors, according to Zhong Jian, chief analyst with consultancy JLC.

“The approval showed China is further opening up its crude market. More importantly, a trading firm can deliver crude oil to refineries against the Shanghai crude futures contracts,” Zhong said.

Zhejiang Wuchan Zhongda was set up in May 2018 with a registered capital of 1 billion yuan (USD147.97 million), according to a filing from its parent company Wuchan Zhongda Group to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

The company has not yet been granted a quota from the state planner, which will set the amount the trading firm can buy each year.

China first granted quotas to an independent refiner in July 2015. While the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) approves the qualifications, the Ministry of Commerce releases the allowances. The ministry last month issued the first batch of crude oil quotas 58 so-called “non-state trade”, including mostly these independents.

The actual allotments can be lower than the initial NDRC approvals, based on the plants’ import records.

Under rules issued in February 2015 by the NDRC, smaller refiners can gain permission to use imported crude oil if they meet certain environmental conditions, including closing old and polluting refining capacity.
MRC

Exxon Baytown, Texas refinery shuts large CDU for overhaul

MOSCOW (MRC) - Exxon Mobil Corp shut the large crude distillation unit (CDU) at its 560,500 barrel-per-day (bpd) Baytown, Texas, refinery for a planned overhaul, said sources familiar with plant operations, as per Reuters.

Exxon spokeswoman Sarah Nordin said the Baytown refinery was performing planned maintenance on several units. “This turnaround, the largest maintenance and improvement program in the site’s history, started January 2019 and is expected to last several weeks,” Nordin said.

The 280,300-bpd Pipestill 8 CDU may be shut up to two months for the planned overhaul at the Baytown refinery, which is the nation’s third-largest by capacity, the sources said.

Along with Pipestill 8, Exxon plans to shut a sulfur plant and the 55,000 bpd Gofiner hydrotreater, the sources said.

Pipestill 8 accounts for half of the refining capacity of the Baytown plant. It is the largest of three CDUs doing the primary refining of crude oil into hydrocarbon feedstocks for all other units at the refinery.

Reformers convert refining byproducts into octane-boosting components of gasoline. Sulfur plants extract sulfur from hydrogen sulfide removed during the production of motor fuels. Hydrotreaters extract hydrogen sulfide during the production of motor fuels in compliance with U.S. environmental rules.
MRC

CSPCL Nanhai, world-scale ethylene cracker, passes performance tests

MOSCOW (MRC) -- TechnipFMC’s technology and design are part of CSPCL’s 1.0 MTPA cracker which has recently passed all performance tests, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The tests confirm that the performance targets for the furnaces and recovery section have been met.

TechnipFMC’s scope included the technology and front-end engineering design for the cracker and the design of the 9 furnaces. This new ethylene cracker will more than double the current production level at the Nanhai petrochemical complex.

The furnaces are designed to crack ethane, Light Naphtha, Heavy Naphtha, Hydrocoked Naphtha and Refinery Dry Gas as well as other feedstocks and to produce polymer grade ethylene and polymer grade propylene which are the basic materials for making ethylene oxide, ethylene glycol, propylene oxide and high-quality polyol and polyolefins.

The work was executed by the company’s operating center in Houston, Texas, USA. Houston is also the headquarters for TechnipFMC Process Technology, a global network of centers which look after the company’s expanding portfolio of onshore process technologies in petrochemicals, refining, hydrogen and syngas, polymers, gas monetization and renewables.

The CSPCL Nanhai complex is the largest single-site complex in China. As a 50/50 joint venture between CNOOC and Shell, the complex is the largest Sino-foreign joint venture in history. Located in the Guangdong Province, CSPCL was designed to produce more and better chemical products to help meet the growing domestic demand.

As MRC reported previously, in May 2018, CNOOC and Shell Nanhai B.V. announced the official start-up of the second ethylene cracker at their Nanhai petrochemicals complex in Huizhou, Guangdong Province, China.

China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), the largest offshore oil & gas producer in China. CNOOC businesses cover the main segments of oil & gas exploration and development, engineering & technical services, refining and marketing, natural gas and power generation, and financial services.

Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.
MRC

Total says French palm oil curb threatens biofuel facility

MOSCOW (MRC) - French energy group Total said a move by lawmakers to exclude palm oil from raw materials approved for use in biofuel would put at risk its La Mede facility in southern France, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

French lawmakers last month voted to remove palm oil from the country’s biofuel scheme as of 2020, following longstanding controversy about the environmental impact of the crop that is mainly produced in Asia.

Total last year won the approval of the government to use palm oil to supply its former crude oil refinery at La Mede, which it is converting into a biofuel production site.

The company pledged that palm oil would account for less than half of raw material used, with French rapeseed crops and recycled oil also being used, but the plans caused an uproar among environmental activists and farmers.

"I hope lawmakers, who voted this amendment during the night at the end of December without realizing the consequences, will revert to a more reasonable position," Total Chief Executive Patrick Pouyanne told French daily Le Figaro.

"This potentially casts doubt on the viability of the production line, the overall profitability of the site and the maintaining of jobs in a factory where Total has invested 275 million euros (USD316 million)," he said in an interview published on Friday.

Pouyanne said criticism of deforestation caused by palm oil plantations was excessive given that it took up less land than other oilseed crops, and that he supported the use of palm oil certified as sustainable.

A debate in Europe over the environmental impact of palm oil has caused tensions with top producers Malaysia and Indonesia.

A Malaysian minister said this week that the country’s relations with Europe will be affected restrictions on the use of palm oil in biofuels and that Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad would write to French President Emmanuel Macron on the issue.
MRC

PVC production in Russia grew 6% in 2018

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia's overall production of unmixed polyvinyl chloride (PVC) rose in 2018 by 6% year on year to slightly over 958,600 tonnes. All producers increased production volumes over the reported period, according to MRC ScanPlast.

December total production of unmixed PVC grew to 87,600 tonnes from 86,100 tonnes a month earlier, Bashkir Soda Company and SayanskKhimPlast increased its capacity utilisation. Overall PVC production reached 958,600 tonnes in January-December 2018, compared to 906,200 tonnes a year earlier. All plants raised their production, with RusVinyl accounting for the greatest increase in the output.

The structure of PVC production by plants looked the following way over the stated period.


RusVinyl (JV of SIBUR and SolVin) produced about 29,000 tonnes of PVC in December, with emulsion polyvinyl chloride (EPVC) accounting for 2,200 tonnes, compared to 29,800 tonnes a month earlier. RusVinyl's overall output of resin reached 334,300 tonnes in 2018, up 7% year on year.

SayanskKhimPlast produced 27,300 tonnes of suspension PVC (SPVC) last month, whereas this figure was only 26,700 tonnes in November.
The Sayansk plant managed to produce about 278,800 tonnes of resin in 2018, compared to 263,500 tonnes a year earlier.

Baskhir Soda Company produced about 23,700 tonnes of SPVC in December, against 22,400 tonnes a month earlier. Producer's production of PVC in 2018 totalled 253,400 tonnes, up 4% year on year.

Kaustik Volgograd produced about 7,700 tonnes last month versus 7,200 tonnes in November. The plant's overall production of resin reached 92,200 tonnes over the stated period versus 87,000 tonnes a year earlier.

MRC