Sinopec Jiujiang refinery starts new unit for cleaner gasoline

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (Sinopec) said its subsidiary refinery Jiujiang Petrochemical Corp produced its first on-spec product from a newly started alkylation facility, as part of the country’s push for cleaner gasoline, as per Reuters.

The 300,000-tonne-per-year ionic liquid alkylation facility completed mechanical construction last December, making it the largest scale of its kind in the country, Sinopec said on its parent company’s website.

Alkylation facility produces a gasoline-blending component that is low in sulphur, high in octane value and zero in olefin and aromatics.

The refinery in the eastern province of Jiangxi is situated along the Yangtze river. It processed about 140,000 barrels of crude oil per day in 2017.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Citgo Petroleum is seeking to raise USD1.8 billion through a three-year term loan to cover operating expenses and to refinance existing debt, reported Reuters with reference to three people.

The financing would help Citgo, the US-based subsidiary of Venezuelan state-run oil firm PDVSA, fund operations and replace an existing revolving credit line, following US sanctions and its split from the parent company, which remains under control of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and a military-led management team.

As MRC informed before, in late February 2019, Houston-based Citgo Petroleum slowed work on an overhaul of its 235 Mbpd Aruba refinery due to a lack of financing stemming from US sanctions on Venezuela's state-run PDVSA.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LP has announced that it is considering the addition of a world-scale 1-Hexene unit, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The new Hexene unit would augment production of Alpha Plus®, the market brand name for normal alpha olefins (NAO). NAO is used extensively in the production of polyethylene, plasticizers, synthetic motor oils, lubricants, automotive additives, surfactants, paper and multiple other specialty products.

"As global demand for polyethylene continues to grow, this study demonstrates Chevron Phillips Chemical’s commitment to expand with customer demand and remain a leading supplier of 1-Hexene," said Dave Morgan, senior vice president of polymers and specialties.


The new unit would use the company’s proprietary, on-purpose technology to produce comonomer grade 1-Hexene with exceptional product purity from ethylene. 1-Hexene is a critical component used to produce high-strength polyethylene, a plastic resin commonly converted into film, plastic pipe and detergent bottles, as well as food and beverage containers.

Chevron Phillips Chemical is a leader in the development and production of NAO. The company currently operates two, full-range normal alpha olefin plants and the world’s largest on-purpose 1-Hexene plant.

As MRC informed before, in March 2018, Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LP announced that it had successfully introduced feedstock and commenced operations of a new ethane cracker at its Cedar Bayou facility in Baytown, Texas.

Chevron Phillips Chemical, headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas (north of Houston), US,l is one of the world’s top producers of olefins and polyolefins and a leading supplier of aromatics, alpha olefins, styrenics, specialty chemicals, piping, and proprietary plastics. Chevron and Phillips 66 each own 50% of Chevron Phillips Chemical.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- An agreement to build a proposed USD3.85 billion oil refinery in Sri Lanka will take at least a year to be finalized as its main investor, India’s Accord Group, says it is yet to recruit partners and conduct an assessment of the plan’s viability, reported Reuters.

The comments add to confusion about the project, which was announced last week by the Sri Lankan government as the nation’s largest single foreign direct investment ever, but has since been the subject of conflicting statements by various parties.

Accord’s Chairman S Jagatrakshakan, a former Indian government minister, said he has submitted a preliminary proposal to the Sri Lankan government to invest in the project but has not finalized any terms of the deal.

"The project assessment and financial viability assessment will take at least a year. We have not sorted out any of the equity partners for the projects, but are in talks with investors from many countries," he told Reuters over the phone from the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

The 68-year old politician is campaigning in Tamil Nadu for a seat in the current general election. He was an MP and minister in the last Congress-led government in 2009-2014.

When the Sri Lankan government made the announcement on March 19, it said the oil refinery would be a joint venture between Oman’s oil ministry and Accord and cost USD3.85 billion.

A day later, Omani officials denied involvement in the project, but the middle eastern country’s oil minister arrived in Sri Lanka three days later and said he was “excited” to inaugurate the project though there was no indication of a firm deal in place.

India and China have been vying for political influence in Sri Lanka in recent years, with investment a key part of the battleground.

The refinery’s proposed site is 585 acres of land near the site of the new Humbantota International port and a related industrial zone - both run by Chinese entities - on Sri Lanka’s southern coast.

A Sri Lankan government document seen by Reuters showed the previously proposed deal would have a debt to equity ratio of 51:49, and said the Accord Group’s Singapore entity, Silver Park

However, Jagatrakshakan said he expected 70 percent of the project to be bankrolled by debt from financial institutions, adding that Silver Park would get more investors to fund the equity stake.

"We are looking at getting 20-30 investors on board for the 30 percent equity investment in the project. We expect 70 percent of the project to be bankrolled by debt from financial institutions," he said.

A senior official at Sri Lanka’s Strategic Development and International Trade ministry, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said he was confident of the terms of the deal as originally announced by the government.

He said Jagatrakshakan’s son Sandeep was also present when the deal was signed. Sandeep Jagatrakshakan did not respond to repeated calls seeking comment.

China is the biggest buyer of Omani oil, importing about 80 percent of the Middle Eastern nation’s overall crude exports in January, according to Oman government data.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PBF Energy plans to restart the 50,000 bpd coking unit at its Delaware City, Delaware, refinery in mid-April after roughly six weeks of planned work, reported Reuters with reference to two sources familiar with the plant’s operations.

The unit, which helps make gasoline and diesel, was shut around March 3 for planned work.

As MRC wrote previously, PBF Energy Inc said a fire occurred around noon Sunda, 3 February, 2019, at its 175,000 barrel-per-day crude unit at its Delaware City, Delaware refinery. There were no injuries, a PBF spokesman said then. The company did not say what caused the fire or the extent of the damage.
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