Unipetrol refinery should get clean oil on 27 May

MOSCOW (MRC0 -- Clean Russian oil should reach Czech refiner Unipetrol’s Litvinov plant around May 27, reported Reuters with reference to head of the Czech state reserves body Pavel Svagr, who told CTK news agency on Friday.

Shipments of Russian oil through the Druzhba pipeline are being restarted after suspension last month due to contaminated crude in the system.

As MRC wrote earlier, in April 2019, Unipetrol trusted its engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) contract to McDermott International for its Litvinov refinery in Czech Republic. Under the contract, McDermott will be responsible to provide EPCM services for the upgrade of a hydrocracking unit at the Litvinov refinery.

Unipetrol , a.s. is a group of companies operating in the petrochemical industry in the Czech Republic. In 2005 Unipetrol became a part of the PKN ORLEN Group, the largest oil processor in Central Europe. The UNIPETROL Group is oriented mostly towards oil processing, fuel distribution and petrochemical production. In all of these business areas the Unipetrol Group is among the key players both in the Czech Republic and on the Central European market. The Group ranks among the leading firms in the Czech Republic in terms of its revenues, and employs almost 4,000 people.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Dialog Group said it has begun construction of a storage terminal, common tankage facilities and deepwater marine facilities for Phase 3 of the Pengerang Deepwater Terminals in Singapore, as per Apic-online.

Phase 3 will include more dedicated petroleum and petrochemical storage terminals for medium- to long-term customers.

It will support various downstream operations, including those of the refinery and petrochemical plants within the Pengerang integrated petroleum complex. An expected start-up date was not given.

The first phase serves as a tankage facility for han-dling, storage, blending and distribution of oil majors and traders.

Phase 2, expected to start up this year, is a dedicated industrial terminal with about 2-million cu m of storage capacity for crude, refined petroleum and petrochemical products.

It also includes liquefied natural gas (LNG) regasification facilities comprising a regasification unit and two units of LNG storage tanks.

As MRC reported before, in October 2017, Vopak, the world’s largest independent storage tank operator, has launched a new service that allows tankers docking at its Singapore Sebarok oil terminal to refuel while simultaneously loading or discharging cargoes.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia's production of high density polyethylene (HDPE) totalled 319,200 tonnes in the first four months of 2019, down by 2% year on year. Only two producers out of four reduced their output, according to MRC's ScanPlast report.

April total HDPE production in Russia grew to 82,900 tonnes, whereas this figure was 79,300 tonnes a month earlier. Gazprom neftekhim Salavat raised its capacity utilisation after March short outage. Thus, overall HDPE production reached 319,200 tonnes in the first four months of 2019, compared to 325,700 tonnes a year earlier. Gazprom neftekhim Salavat and Kazanogrsintez's higher output did not allow to compensate for the reduction in output of the two other plants.

The structure of HDPE production by plants looked the following way over the stated period.

Kazanorgsintez's total HDPE production rose to 47,200 tonnes in April from 46,700 tonnes a month earlier, despite partial switch-over to the linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) production. The Kazan plant's overall HDPE output reached 179,000 tonnes in January-April 2019, up by 5.7% year on year.

Stavrolen produced 26,600 tonnes last month, compared to 27,900 tonnes in March. The plant's overall output reached 99,500 tonnes over the stated period, down by 3% year on year.

Gazprom neftekhim Salavat increased its capacity utilisation in April, the plant produced 10,800 tonnes last month, compared to 8,600 tonnes a month earlier. The Baskhir plant's overall HDPE output reached 39,500 tonnes in the first four months of 2019, up 1% year on year.

Nizhnekamskneftekhim produced exclusively LLDPE over the stated period.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- McDermott International, Inc. announced that it has been awarded a sizeable* technology contract by MOL Petrochemicals for the basic engineering, technology license, catalyst and Front End Engineering Design (FEED) for an Olefins Conversion Technology (OCT) unit at MOL’s petrochemicals complex in Tiszaujvaros, Hungary, said the company.

Once complete, this unit will have a production capacity of 100,000 MTA of polymer grade propylene from steam cracker and refinery feedstocks, utilizing Lummus’ proprietary OCT, and CDHydro® Deisobutenizer. The unit will also produce an isobutene-rich stream.

Lummus Technology’s OCT is the most economical and commercially proven route to on-purpose propylene production, with very low energy consumption due to its energy-neutral chemistry, and low feedstock consumption due to high selectivity.

“We are honored by MOL’s selection to use OCT for integration into their petrochemicals business,” said Leon de Bruyn, Senior Vice President of McDermott’s Lummus Technology business. “OCT is recognized as the most economical route for utilizing C4 and C5 feeds from a steam cracker or refinery to increase propylene production in a petrochemicals complex.”

McDermott's Lummus Technology is a leading licensor of proprietary petrochemicals, refining, gasification and gas processing technologies, and a supplier of proprietary catalysts and related engineering. With a heritage spanning more than 100 years, encompassing approximately 3,100 patents and patent applications, Lummus Technology provides one of the industry’s most diversified technology portfolios to the hydrocarbon processing sector.

This award will be reflected in McDermott’s second quarter 2019 backlog.

in April, MOL Group announced that it has signed a sales-purchase agreement to acquire Aurora, a recycled plastic compounder with production plants located nearby automotive manufacturing and plastics conversion clusters in Baden-Wu?rttemberg, Germany.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- State-run Bahrain Petroleum Co (Bapco) has completed multi-billion-dollar financing aimed at expanding its refining capacity to 380,000 barrels per day (bpd) from 267,000 bpd, reported Reuters.

Bahrain, a small non-OPEC Gulf oil producer with around 124.6 million barrels of proven reserves, gets its oil revenue from two fields: the onshore Bahrain field, and the offshore Abu Safah field, which is shared with Saudi Arabia.

Around 88 percent of the crude that Bapco refines comes from neighboring Saudi Arabia, and the rest from Bahrain’s field.

The refinery’s expansion is projected to be completed by 2022, Bapco said in a statement on Sunday.

It did not disclose the size of the financing, but sources previously told Reuters it was over USD4 billion.

Five export credit agencies and a syndicate of 21 commercial banks - regional and international - took part in the financing, which includes conventional and Islamic loans, Bapco said.

BNP Paribas, HSBC Middle East and Verus Partners advised the firm on the deal.
MRC