Valero seeks to maintain lawsuit against PG&E over refinery outage

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Refiner Valero Energy Corp is asking a bankruptcy court to allow its lawsuit against PG&E Corp over an emergency shutdown to move forward, arguing the USD75 million case will not interfere with the power producer’s Chapter 11 proceeding, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

In a filing, Valero urged US Bankruptcy Court Judge Dennis Montali in San Francisco to lift the litigation stay on the grounds that the dispute will be more efficiently resolved outside of bankruptcy.

As MRC wrote earlier, in late February 2018, CB&I announced that its CDAlky technology had been selected by Valero Refining - New Orleans LLC for its St. Charles Alkylation Project located in Norco, Louisiana. CB&I's overall scope of supply on the project includes CDAlky technology license, basic engineering and proprietary equipment. When it becomes operational in 2020, the new CDAlky unit will produce 25,000 BPD alkylate from FCC-derived olefin feedstocks.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Following the acquisition of Heurtey Petrochem and Prosernat, Axens expands its portfolio of solutions and introduces its new brand architecture, identity and logo, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Axens, a subsidiary of the IFP group, is now capable of supplying its customers with an integrated offer including a comprehensive range of solutions for the conversion of oil and biomass into clean fuels, the production and purification of the major petrochemical intermediates, along with the treatment and conversion of natural gas.

Prosernat’s input reinforces Axens natural gas treatment technologies and enables synergies between catalysts, technologies and proprietary equipment, notably for the modularization of Axens technologies.

Heurtey Petrochem’s industrial legacy expands Axens offer in the field of process furnaces, which will be developed through synergies with its own technologies, combining them with its energy efficiency and digitalization services.

This acquisition has led Axens to design and roll-out a new identity and brand architecture:

Axens becomes the global brand for all its activities represented by the following commercial brand names:

- Axens Solutions for activities currently performed by the Global Business Units Catalysts & adsorbents and Process Licensing, including the modular units business formerly offered by Prosernat,

- Heurtey Petrochem Solutions for the furnace business and Axens Horizon for the auditing, consulting and digital applications activities, promoted by the Performance Programs Business Line, both within the Global Business Unit Engineering & Solutions.

This new identity reflects the scope of Axens’ integrated offer, which now includes a wide range of technologies, proprietary equipment, furnaces, modular units, catalysts, adsorbents and related services.

Through its 50% stake in the capital of Eurecat, Axens expands its offer to all services dealing with the catalysts management, including catalyst conditioning and regeneration along with reactor loading and unloading operations. Axens is thus ideally positioned with its customers to cover the entire value chain from feasibility studies to the start-up and follow-up throughout the entire unit cycle life.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Eni and SABIC today signed a Joint Development Agreement to further develop an innovative technology for natural gas conversion into synthesis gas that can be further transformed into high value fuels and chemicals, such as methanol, said the company.

The partnership will involve, among other activities, the construction of an Industrial Demonstration Plant that will be built and operated inside an Eni industrial premises. The development project will advance the technology, which is based on the Short Contact Time Catalytic Partial Oxidation (SCT-CPO) of natural gas, to further sustain the Eni and SABIC business by using in a more efficient way the cleanest and lower GHG emission fossil fuel.

This technology was initially developed by Eni after an intensive R&D period. This was coupled with SABIC’s short contact time reactor R&D and the company’s extensive knowledge of the integration of synthesis gas generation into processes to produce derived chemicals. With this agreement, Eni and SABIC will be able to leverage world class R&D and operational experience to enable the success of the project.

The joint technology will be a truly innovative way of making synthesis gas and integration into high value applications to achieve lower CAPEX and OPEX, higher energy efficiency, lower CO2 footprint and wide feedstock flexibility.

The agreement was signed by Fahad Al-Sherehy, Acting, Executive Vice President Technology and Innovation (SABIC), Giuseppe Tannoia, Executive Vice President Research & Development (Eni), and Giacomo Rispoli, Executive Vice President Licensing & Supply (Eni).

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Kemira has announced a two-year investment of around EUR 60 million to significantly increase production of high molecular weight emulsion polymers at its manufacturing site in Mobile, Alabama, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

These polymers are primarily used in the oil and gas industry, where Kemira is a leading supplier. Additionally, this expansion allows Kemira to modernize into bio-based acrylamide capabilities at the Mobile site.

"For Kemira this investment is an important step towards the growth objectives outlined in our strategy. It also secures our position as a leading global polymer producer and demonstrates our continued commitment to the oil and gas industry." said Pedro Materan, SVP, Oil & Gas.

Construction at Mobile is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2019 with full commercial operation in early 2021. The project will also create 20 new full-time positions at the site which currently employs about 60 people.

As MRC informed before, in December 2018, Kemira received final authority permits and closed the deal announced on September 29, 2017. Kemira formed a joint venture with an AKD producer in China. Kemira forms a joint venture - Kemira TC Wanfeng Chemicals Yanzhou - with Shandong Tiancheng Wanfeng Chemical Technology.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- In June, the High Seas tanker ship loaded up on ethanol in Texas and set off for Asia, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Two months later - after a circuitous journey that included a ship-to-ship transfer and a stop in Malaysia - its cargo arrived in China, according to shipping data analyzed by Reuters and interviews with Malaysian and Chinese port officials.

At the time, the roundabout route puzzled global ethanol traders and ship brokers, who called it a convoluted and costly way to get U.S. fuel to China. But the journey reflects a broader shift in global ethanol flows since U.S. President Donald Trump ignited a trade war with China last spring.

Although China slapped retaliatory tariffs up to 70 percent on U.S. ethanol shipments, the fuel can still legally enter China tariff-free if it arrives blended with at least 40 percent Asian-produced fuel, according to trade rules established between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the regional economic and political body.

In a striking example of how global commodity markets respond to government policies blocking free trade, some 88,000 tonnes of U.S. ethanol landed on Malaysian shores through November of last year - all since June, shortly after China hiked its tax on U.S. shipments. The surge follows years of negligible imports of U.S. ethanol to Malaysia.

In turn, Malaysia has exported 69,000 tonnes of ethanol to China, the first time the nation has been an exporter of the fuel in at least three years, according to Chinese import data. Blending U.S. and Asian ethanol for the Chinese market undermines the intent of Beijing’s tariffs and helps struggling American ethanol producers by keeping a path open to a major export market that would otherwise be closed.

“Global commodity markets are incredibly creative in finding ways to ensure willing sellers are able to meet the demands of willing buyers,” Geoff Cooper, head of the Renewable Fuels Association, said in a statement to Reuters. The group represents U.S. ethanol producers.

In at least two cases examined by Reuters, including that of the High Seas, blending of U.S. ethanol cargoes with other products appeared to have occurred in Malaysia before the cargoes were shipped on to China, according to a Reuters analysis of shipping records and interviews with port officials.

Chinese merchants including the state-backed oil company Unipec notified Chinese authorities about the unusual activity last summer - which represented competition they had not anticipated under the tariff scheme, according to two industry sources.

Unipec’s parent company Sinopec did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesman for China’s General Administration of Customs declined to comment. Norazman Ayob, deputy secretary general of the Malaysian trade ministry, confirmed that Malaysia exported ethanol to China this year. The ministry was unable to confirm whether it had been mixed with U.S. fuel, he said, but noted such blending would be legal under the ASEAN-China pact.

Malaysia has no track record of significant domestic ethanol production, so it is unclear where the ethanol blended with the U.S. product originates.

Additional U.S. ethanol has flowed in unusual volumes to other destinations since Trump’s trade war began, including other ASEAN member nations the Philippines and Indonesia, according to shipping and trade data, though Reuters could not confirm its final destination.
MRC