Replan refinery back to full capacity as regulator reopens unit

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Brazil’s Paulinia refinery (Replan), the country’s largest, is back to operating at full capacity after the ANP oil regulator said it had authorized the reopening of a unit shuttered in the wake of a 2018 accident, reported Reuters.

The ANP said the refinery, owned by state-run oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro SA, was still without one of the three units that had been closed after the accident, but noted it did not affect production.

As MRC wrote before, on 5 December 2018, Brazil's state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA said it had halted operations at its Abreu and Lima refinery in Pernambuco state after a fire broke out there early in the morning. The fire, which occurred in a tower of the coking unit, caused no injuries and has been put out, Petrobras said, adding that it should not affect fuel supply.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Par Pacific Holdings, Inc. announced that it has successfully completed its previously announced acquisition of U.S. Oil & Refining Co. and certain affiliated entities, a privately-held downstream business, for USD358 million plus net working capital, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The transaction was financed with proceeds from a USD250 million Term Loan B issuance, a USD45 million Par Pacific Term Loan funded by Bank of Hawaii ("BOH"), the issuance of approximately 2.4 million shares of Par Pacific common stock to the seller of U.S. Oil, and available liquidity.

These shares represent the initial tranche of shares issuable to the seller at closing. Par Pacific elected not to exercise its right to issue additional shares to the seller to fund the transaction. Additionally, the Company has executed a non-binding term sheet with BOH that contemplates replacing the Par Pacific Term Loan with a newly-issued loan secured by certain unencumbered real estate assets in the State of Hawaii.

"We are pleased to close the U.S. Oil transaction, which balances our Pacific and mainland market exposure," said William Pate, President and CEO of Par Pacific. "We expect the transaction to be immediately accretive to our 2019 earnings and cash flow. We would like to take this opportunity to welcome our new colleagues to the Par Pacific organization."
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BP and Lotte have agreed on a major expansion of production capacity at their joint venture Lotte BP Chemical Company Limited facility in Ulsan, South Korea, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The expansion is expected to add 100,000 tonnes a year (tpa) of acetic acid capacity by May 2019 through debottlenecking, and to double the current 200,000 tpa vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) capacity with the addition of a second VAM plant by the end of 2020. The new expansion will bring total production capacity of the site to over 1 million tpa.

Nigel Dunn, BP petrochemicals vice president for acetyls, said: "This project demonstrates our ability to execute low capital cost debottlenecks to meet customer needs. Building on the long-standing success of our partnership with Lotte, this expansion will allow us to continue to meet Korea’s growing demand for these key petrochemicals."

Soo-Young Huh, vice chairman of Lotte, said: "We are pleased with the successful launch of this project, based on the track record of manufacturing excellence of Lotte BP and expect it to strengthen the partnership between BP and Lotte."

The expected investment of USD175 million will be funded by the joint venture.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- India's state-run Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) 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, reported Reuters with reference to three industry sources.

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 US 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.

As MRC informed before, BPCL plans to build a USD3 billion petrochemical unit to serve the Mumbai region, a company official said in March 2018, to profit from the country's expected surge in demand for petrochemicals as its economy expands.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF to bundle development and marketing activities in the field of asphalt in one central hub
Material-saving, resilient, long-lasting and easy to repair – the list of requirements to be met by the roads and streets of tomorrow is long, said the company.

Hence, great future challenges lie ahead of road construction companies. In order to offer comprehensive solutions for the production of asphalt and bitumen, BASF combines, from now on, the development and marketing activities in the EMEA region in one central hub.

"Road-based freight transport across Europe will continue to increase significantly in the future; sustainability is therefore a key issue when it comes to infrastructure. This is why we work on new solutions to meet customer needs such as longer durability and improved maintenance as well as energy and carbon-dioxide savings," said Christoph Hansen, head of the Dispersions & Resins Europe business unit where the central platform is going to be based.

"Additives for bitumen and asphalt are instrumental in making road surfaces more effective and longer-lasting. There are, however, great differences between one asphalt recipe and another. What matters therefore is to focus on the development of tailor-made, local solutions to meet customer requirements. I am very much looking forward to this exchange," underlined Dr. Mario Sandor, head of the new EMEA asphalt platform.

The current BASF portfolio includes asphalt modifiers of the Butona® brand, that will be marketed in future by BASF and BTC, the European distribution organization of BASF. The high-quality polymer dispersions that are based on styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) will primarily be used for asphalt emulsions providing them with superior durability among other things.
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