KRAIBURG TPE meets railway standards

MOSCOW (MRC) -- KRAIBURG TPE is expanding its flame-retardant product portfolio with innovative materials which, in addition to UL 94 V0, meet DIN 45545-2 for railway applications, as per the company's press release.

KRAIBURG TPE has extensive experience in the development of TPEs with halogen-free flame-retardant properties. A second product series with a V-0 nonflammability classification at wall thicknesses of 1.5mm in accordance with UL standard 94 V-0 has recently been introduced for multi-component applications with polypropylene.

This series is the only TPE material on the market that meets DIN EN 45545-2 for railway applications. The specially developed materials meet the requirements of R22 and R23 for hazard levels HL1-3 with a wall thickness of up to 3 mm.

In particular, makes it possible to implement sealing applications in the interior and exterior of trains, regardless of their design and operating class.

UL94 V-0 listed materials are self-extinguishing in case of fire and do not form into burning droplets. The materials meet this requirement without the use of halogen-containing flame retardants. KRAIBURG TPE flame-retardant compounds comply with the IEC 61249-2-21 standard’s definition of halogen-free.

If a fire breaks out, this means more safety for people involved, as less disorientating smoke develops and the flue gas is less toxic. In addition, flame retardants that are free of chlorine and bromine minimize the potential risk of damage to furniture and the building fabric caused by corrosive flue gases that develop when halogenated substances are burnt. Furthermore, their corrosiveness can even have a negative impact on maintaining the properties of old materials and their commercial usability, for example when recycling disused railways. The specialized THERMOLAST K materials meet these requirements even without halogenated flame-retardants being used.

The first railway applications have already been implemented: TPE compounds from the FR2 series are being used as sealing materials in cable glands and bushings. The materials of this flame-retardant series are produced at all three KRAIBURG TPE production sites in Germany, Malaysia and the USA.

As MRC informed earlier, in October 2018, the company presented two advanced new material series that provide excellent properties for automotive interior and consumer applications.

Kraiburg Rubber (Suzhou) Co. Ltd. was established in 2005 and is part of the Waldkraiburg-based German company Kraiburg Holding GmbH & Co. KG. The company produces a wide range of standard rubber compounds (based on NR, EPDM, CR, AEM, SBR, FKM, etc.) for automotive, building and construction applications, and other industrial markets as well as highly customised products for all kinds of industries at its Suzhou site. The compounds are produced on highly automated and fully process-controlled mixing lines, based on state-of-the-art technology. The company has 130 employees.
MRC

Petrobras distributor looks at buying parent refineries

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Petrobras Distribuidora SA, the fuel distribution unit of Brazilian state-run oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro SA, will study a possible purchase of refineries being sold by its parent company, reported Reuters with reference to an executive.

Petrobras, as the oil firm is widely known, announced in April a plan to sell eight refineries in a move it said could fetch some USD15 billion. Also in April, the firm confirmed plans to dilute its stake in Petrobras Distribuidora via a follow-on offering in a process that is expected to privatize the unit.

The newly privatized unit will then examine a purchase of the refineries, Petrobras Distribuidora Chief Executive Rafael Grisolia said on a call with analysts following first quarter results on Tuesday.

"It’s clear that, as a distributor, we have to look at this from various angles," Grisolia said.

Among the other possible buyers of the refineries, analysts say, are competing fuel distribution firms such as Raizen and Ipiranga, a unit of Ultrapar Participacoes SA. Trading firms with operations in Brazil’s downstream segment, such as Glencore PLC and Vitol SA, are also seen as candidates, as well as international oil companies with production activities in Brazil.

Brazil-listed shares in Petrobras Distribuidora were up 2.8 percent in afternoon trade after the firm posted a 93 percent rise in first-quarter net income on Monday night.

As MRC wrote previously, in October 2017, Petrobras’s minority stakes in Braskem and Deten Quimica was excluded from Petrobras’s divestment program, according to a government decree published in Brazil’s Official Gazette. The decree prevented Petrobras from immediately selling its minority stake in Braskem, which had been announced last year. A new decree will be required to release the stock sale.

Headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Petrobras is an integrated energy firm. Petrobras' activities include exploration, exploitation and production of oil from reservoir wells, shale and other rocks as well as refining, processing, trade and transport of oil and oil products, natural gas and other fluid hydrocarbons, in addition to other energy-related activities.
MRC

KBR earns extension on general maintenance services contract

MOSCOW (MRC) -- KBR, Inc. has announced that it has received a three-year extension to its existing General Maintenance Services (GMS) contract for the 440,000 bpd refinery at SATORP’s (a joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Total) refining and petrochemicals project in Jubail, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as per Hydrcarbonprocessing.

Under the terms of the GMS contract, KBR, through its local joint venture subsidiary, will continue to provide preventive, predictive, corrective and shutdown maintenance services most notably for the Crude Distillation Units, Distillate Hydrocracker, Sulphur Recovery Unit, Aromatics, Catalytic Cracking Unit, Tank Farms and Port Loading Facilities among others.

"This contract extension confirms SATORP’s continued confidence in KBR as a full-service partner throughout the lifecycle of their asset, and KBR’s position as the preeminent market leader in Industrial Services," said Jay Ibrahim, KBR President, Energy Solutions -- Services. "We are also proud that our strong commitment to ZERO HARM has achieved over 2.3 million safe man-hours on this project."

KBR’s strategic partnership with SATORP has the potential to stimulate industry-wide changes to current maintenance outsourcing philosophies, as KBR intends to drive its proven digital transformation initiatives to maximize asset utilization, minimize opex and augment asset ROI for customers.

KBR has capitalized on driving digital transformation including robotics, modeling & simulation, data analytics, and enterprise software development from its government services business into the energy space.

"KBR’s culture of excellence is evident in its people’s expertise and professionalism," said Suleiman Mansour Ababtain, SATORP CEO. "We appreciate KBR as a business partner in diverse business segments, and look forward to expanding our partnership to leverage off its advanced capabilities for delivering operational excellence in our refinery."

As MRC informed earlier, in July 2018, SATORP selected Axens to evaluate, develop, and implement an Advanced Process Control (APC) system for its aromatics complex ParamaX producing high purity paraxylene and benzene.

SATORP, located in Jubail, includes a 400,000-bpd refinery and petrochemicals units with a combined total of 1 MMtpy.
MRC

US refiners tap Iraq, West Africa and Brazil for scarce crude supplies

MOSCOW (MRC) -- US refiners have turned to several lesser-used oil suppliers in the wake of US sanctions that restricted usual providers of widely-used grades as they gear up for peak driving season, reported Reuters.

Iraq, Nigeria, Brazil and Angola combined last month are set to deliver their most crude oil to the United States in more than 18 months, according to Refinitiv Eikon data and trade sources, helping deliver needed heavy and sour crudes.

All told, May imports from those countries were expected to come in at about 1.23 million barrels per day (bpd), more than double April’s haul. Those cargoes include 11 tankers carrying about 600,000 bpd of Iraqi crude, the most from that country in a year, Refinitiv data showed.

The bump in imports from those nations versus the prior month reflects reduced supply from Venezuela and Iran due to US sanctions, and declining OPEC production that has cut availability of heavy and medium sour grades. US refiners also were finishing spring maintenance and gearing up for vacation-season gasoline demand.

Cargoes from these four countries are designed to “offset a majority of the loss” of Venezuelan heavy crude from sanctions, trade sources said. The move to bar the flow of dollars to the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro this year has halted US purchases from about 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) last year.

West African producers Nigeria and Angola are set to deliver 420,000 bpd combined this month, the highest in 13 months. Another 206,000 bpd of Brazilian crude were due to land in May, the most since August.

Receivers include the once-top US buyers of Venezuelan crude. Four tankers will deliver a combined 95,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude from Iraq, Nigeria and Brazil to Chevron Corp’s Pascagoula, Mississippi refinery, the most from those three countries in more than a year, the Refinitiv data showed.

Two tankers, the Leontios H, with about 500,000 barrels of heavy crude from Brazil, and the Richmond Voyager, with 1 million barrels of Iraq’s medium sour Basrah Light, discharged at Pascagoula in early May. The Cap Felix, with 1 million barrels of medium crude from Nigeria, and Myrtos, with 500,000 barrels of Brazilian crude, were scheduled to arrive last month, the data showed.

Three tankers chartered by Valero Energy Corp, the New Courage, the New Energy and the Pantariste, arrive this month in Louisiana, Texas and California with 187,000 bpd of Iraq’s Basrah Light.

Chevron does not comment on supply matters, spokesman Braden Reddall said. A Valero spokesman pointed to an April 25 earnings call where executives said a third of the crude processed in the first quarter came from “opportunistic” purchases from suppliers including Brazil.

Valero and Chevron were the top US buyers of Venezuelan crude last year, behind Citgo Petroleum, with 2018 imports of 166,000 bpd and 83,000 bpd, respectively. The two remain “very active in finding replacements,” one trader said.
MRC

PetroChina Lanzhou to restart PP unit

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PetroChina Lanzhou Petrochemical in in plans to brought on-stream its PP unit following a maintenance turnaround, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the company is likely to resume operations at the unit in mid-June 2019. The unit was shut in end-April, 2019.

Located at Gansu province in China, the PP unit has a production capacity of 110,000 mt/year.

As MRC reported earlier, PetroChina DaQing Refining & Chemical, another subsidiary of PetroChna, shut its PP unit for an unplanned maintenance work on January 22, 2019. The unit resumed production in end-January, 2019. Located in Daqing, China, the plant PP unit with production capacity of 300,000 mt/year.

We also remind that in April 2019, LyondellBasell (Rotterdam, the Netherlands) announced that PetroChina will use the LyondellBasell Hostalen "Advanced Cascade Process" (Hostalen ACP) technology to produce 1,100,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr) of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) capacity.

PetroChina Company Limited, is a Chinese oil and gas company and is the listed arm of state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation, headquartered in Dongcheng District, Beijing. It is China's biggest oil producer.
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