Reliance selling fuels from India to avoid US sanctions

MOSCOW (MRC) -- India’s Reliance Industries, operator of the world’s biggest refining complex, has turned to selling fuels to Venezuela from India and Europe to circumvent sanctions that bar US-based companies from dealing with state-run PDVSA, reported Reuters with reference to trading sources and Refinitiv Eikon data.

Reliance had been supplying alkylate, diluent naphtha, and other fuel to Venezuela though its US-based subsidiary before Washington in late January imposed sanctions aimed at curbing the OPEC member’s oil exports and ousting Socialist President Nicolas Maduro.

At least three vessels chartered by the Indian conglomerate supplied refined products to Venezuela in recent weeks, and another vessel carrying gasoil is expected to set sail to the South American nation as well, according to the sources and data.

Reliance, an Indian conglomerate controlled by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, has significant exposure to the financial system of the United States, where it operates subsidiaries linked to its oil and telecom businesses, among others.

The Indian market is crucial for Venezuela’s economy because it has historically been the second-largest cash-paying customer for the OPEC country’s crude, behind the United States.

Additional sanctions against Venezuela are possible in the future, as US President Donald Trump’s administration has not yet tried to prevent companies based outside the United States from buying Venezuelan oil, a strategy known as "secondary sanctions."

Refinitiv Eikon trade data shows that Reliance shipped alkylate, a component for motor gasoline, to Venezuela on vessels Torm Mary and Torm Anabel in recent weeks. Those originated in India and passed through the Suez Canal.

It also shipped a gasoline cargo using tanker Torm Troilus to Venezuela and is preparing to send 35,000 tonnes of gasoil in a vessel called Vukovar to the South American nation.

"Reliance is also supplying some products from its Rotterdam storage," a source familiar with Reliance’s operation said.

Reliance did not respond to emails seeking comment. PDVSA did not reply to a request for comment.

In a statement last week, Reliance said its US unit has completely stopped all business with PDVSA. Reliance also halted all supply of diluents including heavy naphtha to Venezuela and does not plan to resume such sales until sanctions are lifted, according to the release.

Venezuela has overall imported some 160,000 barrels per day of fuel and diluents for its extra heavy oil output since the U.S. measures were imposed, according to PDVSA and Refinitiv data, below levels prior to the sanctions but still enough to supply gas stations and power plants.

Reliance is among the biggest buyers of Venezuelan oil, although the company has recently said it has not increased crude purchases from Venezuela. In 2012, Reliance signed a 15-year deal to buy between 300,000 to 400,000 bpd of heavy crude from PDVSA.

Ship tracking data obtained by Reuters showed that Reliance’s average purchases from Venezuela were less than 300,000 bpd in 2018 and in the first two months of this year.

Venezuela has suspended its oil exports to India, its main cash market, Azerbaijan’s energy ministry said on Tuesday, citing Manuel Quevedo, Venezuela’s oil minister and PDVSA president. Quevedo met with the Azeri minister of Industry and Energy Parviz Shahbazov in Baku.

But Venezuela’s crude exports to India have not stopped. A very large crude carrier (VLCC) is anchored off Venezuela’s Jose port waiting to load oil bound for India, and at least six other vessels of the same size are underway to India’s Sikka and Vadinar ports, according to the Refinitiv data.

PDVSA’s second largest customer in India is Nayara Energy , partially owned by Russian energy firm Rosneft , one of PDVSA’s primary allies.

As MRC informed before, in February 2016, RIL was awarded a contract worth Rs. 100 crore to Petron Engineering Construction Ltd for its linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) plant in Gujarat. The LLDPE plant is part of RIL's J-3 project in Jamnagar in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The J-3 project boasts of a petroleum refinery and allied petrochemical plants for the production of plastics and fibre intermediates.

Reliance Industries is one of the world's largest producers of polymers. Thus, the company produces among others polypropylene, polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Jiangsu Sailboat has selected Honeywell UOP's C3 Oleflex technology for the production of on-purpose propylene at its existing facility in Lianyungang City, Jiangsu Province, China, as per Apic-online.

The plant will be expanded to produce 700,000 t/y of polymer-grade propylene, which will further help China meet its growing demand for plastics.

"As demand for propylene derivatives for consumer products in China continues to rise, UOP's Oleflex technology provides greater energy and cost efficiency than other propane dehydrogenation technologies," noted Bryan Glover, vice president and general manager of Honeywell UOP's Process Technology and Equipment business.

As MRC informed before, in March 2018, Honeywell announced that Jiangsu Sailboat Petrochemical Company, Ltd. had accepted a new methanol-to-olefins (MTO) unit provided by Honeywell UOP, and that the plant was operating and had met all guarantees. With a production capacity of 833,000 metric tons per year, the unit is the largest single-train MTO unit in the world. Honeywell UOP, which pioneered MTO technology, started its first MTO unit for China's Wison Clean Energy in 2013.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia's output of chemical products rose in February 2019 by 1.5% year on year. However, production of basic chemicals increased only by 0.9% in the first two months of 2019, according to Rosstat's data.

According to the Federal Service of State Statistics, last month's output of basic chemicals grew by 1.5% year on year. Production of many products decreased last month.

Thus, 242 ,000 tonnes of ethylene were produced in February, compared to 275,000 tonnes a month earlier. Overall, 517,000 tonnes of this olefin were produced in January-February 2019, down by 0.5% year on year.

Last month's output of benzene were 119,000 tonnes versus 122,000 tonnes in January. Overall production of this product reached 241,000 tonnes in the first two months of 2019, down by 4.9% year on year.

February output of sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) was 101,000 tonnes (100% of the basic substance) versus 110,000 tonnes in January. Overall production of caustic soda dropped to 211,000 tonnes over the stated period from 217,000 tonnes a year earlier.

Last month's output of mineral fertilizers was 1,887,000 tonnes (in terms of 100% nutrients) versus 2,078,000 tonnes in January. Overall, Russian plants produced 3,965,000 tonnes of fertilizers in January-February 2019, up by 2.9% year on year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Firefighters extinguished a fire at a Mitsui & Co petrochemical storage site outside Houston that has been billowing acrid smoke for days, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The blaze at Mitsui unit Intercontinental Terminals Co in Deer Park, Texas, was put out by 3 a.m., but fire crews continued to spray foam and water on the tanks to help keep them cool and prevent the fires from starting again, the company said in a statement. No serious injuries were reported, it said. Fire officials were not immediately available for comment.

The fire began on Sunday when a leaking tank containing volatile naphtha, a fuel used in the production of gasoline, ignited and flames quickly spread to other tanks, ITC said. By Tuesday morning, the fire had ignited 12 of 15 tanks.

The tanks each hold up to 80,000 barrels, or 3.3 million gallons, of volatile liquid fuels, making the fire difficult to extinguish. There were no employees or firefighters injured since the blaze began, an ITC spokesman said on Tuesday.

State and federal monitors said air quality was safe, but environmental groups disagreed and said they would conduct their own monitoring.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality reported an increase in soot and other contaminants at ground levels around the site but said levels remained below those considered unhealthy. Monitoring by an Environmental Protection Agency aircraft also found “no significant detections," the EPA said.

"All the monitors are indicating no risk right now and they are looking at particulates,” said Ryan Sitton, a commissioner with the state’s energy regulator, adding there were no toxins released by the fire. Soot particles “are not at a level that causes risk to people," he said.

But Neil Carmen, a director at the Texas chapter of the Sierra Club environmental group, said the airborne plume likely contained tens of thousands of milligrams of particles, well above levels considered safe. The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), a nongovernmental organization, was deploying 10 air-quality monitors to check for nitrogen oxides and soot around Houston and adding another 10 monitors in the near future, said Matt Tresaugue, an EDF spokesman. He said the city had requested the EDF monitors.

As the company had struggled to contain the blaze earlier this week, it has changed its explanation for the fire’s spread and the number of tanks involved. On Monday, it said eight tanks were burning then revised the figure to seven. On Tuesday morning it blamed a failure of two water pumps for the fire’s expansion to more tanks, and by the afternoon said there were no pump failures.

Gasoline prices on the Colonial pipeline, which sends fuel to the U.S. East Coast from Houston, were up on Tuesday between 1 and 2 cents a gallon over levels prior to the fire.

Some of the water and chemicals have washed into the adjacent Houston Ship Channel that links the Gulf of Mexico to Houston, the nation’s busiest petrochemical port, ITC spokesman Dale Samuelsen said.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Dozens of Chinese children were injured when benzene exploded at a petrochemicals plant located near a school in rural China, sparking anger at a safety lapse, said the Financial Times.

A fire and explosion engulfed the Tian Jia Yi Chemicals plant on Thursday afternoon. The plant was operated by the Nee Group near Lianyungang, a port in Jiangsu province north of Shanghai. China’s industrial safety has improved in recent years, but dramatic accidents are often a trigger for public anger. Many have revealed the dangers of locating industrial plants close to residential areas.

Videos posted by angry parents and townspeople in Xiangshui, near Lianyungang, made their way rapidly on to social media, outpacing censors who have played down industrial mishaps in recent months. Most of the videos showed adults and young children bleeding heavily from the face and hands. Others showed patients crowding into an overwhelmed local hospital.

One video showed bodies sprawled along a road. Chinese media have not reported any deaths from the explosion. The people in some of the videos can be heard cursing at the chemicals plant.

Reached on his cell phone, a company sales representative declined to comment. The nearby school was hastily evacuated. Photos show glass covering the classroom floor, a damaged bookcase and children’s backpacks and jackets left at their desks.

Three years ago, an explosion at a chemicals factory in the port city of Tianjin killed 173 people and destroyed a whole neighbourhood, giving rise to new regulations on hazardous chemicals. A gas pipeline explosion levelled a neighbourhood and killed at least 62 people in the city of Qingdao in 2013.

MRC