Hellenic Petroleum prepares for tougher global marine fuel rules

MOSCOW (MRC) - Hellenic Petroleum, Greece’s biggest oil refiner, said it is preparing its operations to adjust to tougher global marine fuel rules due in 2020, said Reuters.

UN agency the International Maritime Organization (IMO) will prohibit ships from using fuels with sulphur content above 0.5 percent from Jan. 1, 2020, compared with 3.5 percent today, unless they are equipped with exhaust gas cleaning systems.

Hellenic, which exports more than half of its output, said it had successfully tested U.S. crude oil at one of its three Greek refineries, but gave no further details of its plans.

It reported earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) adjusted for oil inventory holdings at 156 million euros (USD178 million) for the fourth quarter, an eight percent year-on-year drop but in line with analysts average forecast of 158 million euros in a Reuters poll.

Refining sales volumes rose 6 percent in October to December to 4 million tonnes.

Hellenic last year raised 284 million euros from the sale of a stake in Greek gas grid DESFA. The proceeds helped it reduce net debt by 19 percent last year to 1.5 billion euros.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Linde Group has signed a contract with Praxair Inc., to supply a hydrogen (H2) plant. The plant will be part of Praxair’s hydrogen system in Louisiana, said Gasworld.

The H2 plant will have a production capacity of over 190,000 Nm3/hr of high-purity hydrogen and will also generate steam.

"We are very pleased with this second major order from Praxair to supply a large hydrogen plant within a few months,” said Dr Chrisitan Bruch, Member of the Executive Board of Linde AG and responsible for the company’s plant engineering business.

Linde receives major order from Praxair to supply a hydrogen plant in the US. "Our well-founded and customer-oriented engineering solutions are the basis of this success," Bruch continued.

The order included the steam-methane reformer, designed and supplied by Linde subsidiary Selas Linde in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, the pressure swing adsorption unit, and the balance of the core plant.

Linde’s Engineering Division is responsible for the design and supply of the equipment for the core components of the hydrogen plant.

The new plant will be highly modularised with reliability and energy efficiency and is scheduled to come on stream in 2021.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Maire Tecnimont S.p.A. has announced that its subsidiary Tecnimont S.p.A., through its affiliate Tecnimont Arabia Company Limited, has been awarded a reimbursable EPC contract by National Petrochemical Industrial Company (NATPET) for the reinstatement of the existing Polypropylene (PP) Plant located in Yanbu Industrial City, on the west coast of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The overall value of the contract is about USD 65 million on a reimbursable basis. The project scope of work entails Engineering and Procurement Services, Material Supply, Construction Supervision Services and Construction Works. The project has an estimated execution schedule of about seven months, up to Ready for Start-Up.

Pierroberto Folgiero, Maire Tecnimont Chief Executive Officer, commented: “With this award, we further consolidate our industrial footprint in Saudi Arabia leveraging our strong capabilities in carrying out revamping projects, as part of our business strategy. We are honored to put our technological know-how at the service of a prestigious client such as NATPET”.

As MRC wrote previously, in early April 2017, NATPET shut its PP plant in Yanbu for a maintenance turnaround. The plant remained off-line for around 4 weeks. Located at Yanbu in Saudi Arabia, the plant has a production capacity of 400,000 mt/year.

This plant is producing a wide range of PP product mix of (homopolymers, random & heterophasic copolymers) that is suitable for a wide variety of applications. Natpet has acquired state of the art Spheripol process to produce polypropylene from LyondellBasell, which is the world leader in polypropylene technology.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Total has announced that it has acquired Synova, a French leader in manufacturing high-performance recycled polypropylene for the automotive sector, as per the company's press release.

Synova produces 20,000 tonnes per year of polypropylene (PP) that meets the highest quality standards of original equipment manufacturers and automakers from recycled plastics.

Combining Synova’s recycling expertise and Total’s polymers know-how will increase the supply of recycled polypropylene for automotive applications that deliver the same performance as virgin polymers.

"By contributing to the lighter weight of vehicles, plastics improve their energy efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions. Producing them from recycled materials will also meet the challenge of managing their end of life," explained Bernard Pinatel, President Refining & Chemicals, Total. "The acquisition of Synova is a concrete proof of our commitment to developing plastic recycling. It reinforces the activities we already carry out in recycling and contributes to Total’s ambition to be the responsible energy major."

As MRC informed earlier, in April 2015, Total announced that its proposed new ethane cracker near its refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, is being designed to have a capacity of 1 million tpy.

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.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Negotiations over March shipments of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) began in the Russian market on Tuesday. As reported earlier, producers announced a further price increase for shipments to the domestic market, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

Prices of Russian polyvinyl chloride (PVC) have already risen twice since the beginning of the year, and March is most likely not to be an exception. Producers' stocks are small, there are no large quantities of import material. And these are the main factors for further price increases. Russian producers announced price increases of Rb1,000-2,000/tonne for March deliveries, depending on the resin.

The current situation is similar to the last year’s trend, when PVC prices rose monthly for Russian consumers until September. And converters were forced to transfer this upward trend to the finished products market.

Russian producers' capacity utilisation at PVC plants is quite high and exceeds 90%, but the excess resin is actively shipped for export. Although it is worth noting that export sales have begun to decline gradually since February. Because of exports, stocks are at a safe level, while some producers manage to contract all their monthly quotas in the first week of trading.

Large quantities of imported material are not available for Russian consumers. Some buyers nevertheless said there is a possibility of small and inexpensive PVC shipments from Europe and China. But they are not able to significantly increase and completely replace Russian resin.

Thus, the key suppliers in the past - producers from the north of China - have been limited in preferential supplies of acetylene PVC to Russia since last year. In fact, only one of the three manufacturers is able to partially offset costs for resin delivery to Russian consumers. And already for March shipments, the entire limit has been used, in fact, in March, we can only talk about April shipments.

Deliveries of acetylene PVC from China without benefits are unprofitable even taking into account the planned March price increase from Russian producers.

Converters’ attitude regarding March purchasing were mixed. Some companies do not intend to increase their purchases in comparison with February, whereas other converters still intend to raise their purchases, despite weak demand for finished products. Thus, converters intend to partially hedge themselves from risks of possible price increases in April.

Overall, March deals for resin with K=64/67 were negotiated in the range of Rb74,000-76,500/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, up by Rb1,000-1,500/tonne from February, for quantities of up to 500 tonnes. For special grades, particularly, with K=58/70, some producers intend to achieve a price increase of Rb1,500-2,000/tonne.
MRC