U.S. EPA to decide on 2017 biofuel waivers within week

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will decide on the seven pending applications for small refinery waivers from the nation's biofuel laws for the 2017 calendar year in the next week, agency administrator Andrew Wheeler said, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Once the 2017 applications are decided, the EPA will consider at least 37 waiver applications submitted for 2018, Wheeler said during an energy industry summit. The EPA is expected to rule on all of the applications by March 30.

The EPA, under former administrator Scott Pruitt, greatly expanded the number of small refineries receiving waivers from the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), a law that requires refiners to blend biofuels like ethanol into the fuel pool or buy compliance credits from those who do.

The program has been an economic boom for corn farmers in the Midwest, but merchant refiners say the program has added hundreds of millions of dollars in compliance costs.

Small refineries with capacity of less than 75,000 barrels per day can apply for exemptions from the RFS if they can prove complying with the law would create a disproportionate economic hardship.

Previously, refineries had to prove that complying would hurt profits, but the EPA scrapped that part of the test in 2017, aiding the expansion and allowing oil majors like Exxon Mobil Corp and Chevron Corp to get exemptions, Reuters reported.

Refiners have until early 2019 to comply with all or a portion of the 2017 obligation.

The EPA has already granted 29 small refinery exemptions for 2017, up from 19 in 2016 and just seven in 2015. The EPA has yet to deny any application for 2017.

The oil industry converges this week on Houston at CERAWeek, the largest gathering of top energy executives in the Americas, with oil majors showing a bigger presence as the United States has taken the crown as the largest crude producer in the world.

Both U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Energy Secretary Rick Perry will speak at the conference.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Global technology and engineering company Emerson announced it has signed multiple contracts totaling USD12 million with India’s largest commercial oil company, Indian Oil Corporation Limited, to modernize operations and emissions programs at the company’s refineries, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Under the contracts, Emerson will serve as automation contractor, combining its deep refining expertise and advanced technologies to help IndianOil meet the country’s new Bharat Stage VI (BS-VI) low-sulfur emissions standards, which take effect in April 2020. The BS-VI emission standards mandate a maximum sulfur content of 10 parts-per-million, which matches best practices set by Europe, the United States and other countries, and include limits on carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter.

"Companies that leverage automation technologies and digital transformation programs will have a significant advantage in their goal of reaching Top Quartile performance," said Lal Karsanbhai, executive president of Emerson’s Automation Solutions business. "IndianOil has long been a valued customer of Emerson, and we are proud to provide them with the technology and expertise they require to meet these new fuel regulations while also modernizing operations."

The project will upgrade 14 different process units, including diesel hydro-treating units designed to reduce sulfur content and octane-boosting units either being installed or augmented with desulfurization technologies.

As the country’s largest commercial enterprise with a workforce of more than 33,000, IndianOil plays a significant role in fueling the development of the economy. With a mandate to ensure India's energy security and self-sufficiency in the refining and marketing of petroleum products, IndianOil impacts the entire hydrocarbon value chain, including refining, pipeline transportation, marketing of petroleum products, exploration and production of crude oil, natural gas and petrochemicals.

To help IndianOil reach its goals, Emerson will install advanced technologies, including DeltaVTM distributed control systems; DeltaV safety instrumented systems and AMS asset management software; WirelessHART®-enabled instruments; wired field instruments including pressure, temperature and flow sensors; control and isolation valves; and gas analyzers. Emerson will also provide installation, commissioning, factory-acceptance testing and training support services for IndianOil’s refineries in Panipat, Vadodara, Haldia and Bongaigaon.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- At least six Chinese state-owned refiners will shutter some crude oil refining capacity for planned maintenance this year, according to people with knowledge of the matter, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

At least one Sinopec refinery and another three owned by PetroChina will launch a full plant overhaul, sources at the plants told Reuters. Two others will only close part of their crude oil distillation capacity for repairs.

With each shutdown estimated at 50 days, the planned overhauls are expected to remove close to 120,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude throughput on average if spread over the course of the year, according to Reuters’ calculations.

Most of the refiners plan to start their maintenance in the second quarter, avoiding the third quarter when local demand for fuel products will peak, including gasoline for the October holiday week and diesel for the harvest season.

The refineries that plan to close are PetroChina’s 10 MMtpy plant in Liaoyang, its similar sized WEPEC plant in Dalian and its 7 million-tpy Jinzhou plant, all in the northeastern province of Liaoning, the sources said. Sinopec plans to close its 3.5 million-tpy Qingdao refinery on the east coast and will shutter a 5.2 MMtpy crude unit at its Guangzhou refinery and an 8 MMtpy crude distillation unit at its Jinling refinery, also on the east coast, they said.

China, the world’s No.2 oil consumer, is expected to see a growing surplus of domestically produced fuel this year as two very large privately controlled refineries are due to come online, leading to growing exports of the refined fuel.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shell has joined a consortium that comprises Air Liquide, Nouryon (formerly AkzoNobel Specialty Chemicals), Enerkem and the Port of Rotterdam to construct Europe’s first waste-to-chemicals (W2C) plant at Botlek in the Netherlands, said Chemanager-online.

Marco Waas, chairman of the project and director of Research, Development & Innovation at Nouryon, said the project will be further strengthened with the addition of another leading global partner.

The Dutch energy and chemicals company will become an equal equity partner in the W2C project, which will convert up to 360,000 t/y of non-recyclable waste, including plastics, into 220,000 t/y of bio-methanol.

"Advanced biofuels, including those produced using bio-methanol, have the potential to decarbonize the transportation sector, in particular,” said Andrew Murfin, Shell’s general manager, advanced biofuels. “This is an exciting prospect given transportation accounts for one fifth of global energy-related CO2 emissions, and will continue to rely on liquid fuels, especially for long journeys and heavy-duty vehicles, for years to come."

To date, the consortium has set up a dedicated joint venture company and undertaken extensive preparatory work, including detailed engineering and permit applications. It aims to make a final investment decision later in 2019 as it continues with development work and finalizes the selection of an engineering and procurement contractor.

The companies have not yet revealed a start-up date for the plant, which will have two production lines and use Enerkem’s proprietary technology. Air Liquide will supply the necessary oxygen with Nouryon providing hydrogen. Both Nouryon and Shell intend to purchase the bio-methanol output.

The project is expected to help the Netherlands realize its ambition to become virtually carbon neutral by 2050. In separate news, the Dutch Public Prosecution Service has summoned Shell Nederland Chemie to appear in court over an explosion that occurred at its Moerdijk complex in 2014 and a leak of ethylene oxide at the site from November 2015 to January 2016.

Shell said it regretted the incidents and the impact on its neighbors and has since taken measures to avoid a repeat. The case is planned to start in Den Bosch on May 14.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sika AG announced it has agreed to acquire King Packaged Materials Company, an independent Canadian manufacturer of dry shotcrete and mortars for concrete repair, said the company.

Sika said, with the acquisition, it will further expand geographical footprint in Canada and improve growth potential in the home improvement, construction, mining and tunneling markets.

King is a family owned business and a manufacturer of products for the construction and mining industry as well as for the home improvement distribution channel. The portfolio includes shotcrete solutions, grouts, and repair and masonry mortars.

The acquired business generateed annual sales of CHF 61 million. Closing of the transaction is expected to take place in the second quarter 2019.
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