Sasol celebrates opening of new alkoxylation plant

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sasol Limited, an international integrated chemicals and energy company, has announced the opening of its new alkoxylation plant in Nanjing, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

This facility the company’s largest expansion project in China - will more than double its alkoxylation production capacity in the region and will be supported by growing research and development and technical customer support capabilities.

Mr Bongani Nqwababa, Joint President and CEO of Sasol, Ms. Debora Balatseng, Charge’d Affairs of South African Embassy in China, and Ms. Mpho Hlahla, Consul General Shanghai, South African Consulate-General, attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate this milestone achievement. Chinese government officials in attendance at the ceremony included Mr. Zhou Jinliang, Executive Deputy Director of Nanjing Jiangbei New Area Administrative Committee, and Mr. BIAN Zhongwu, Director of Nanjing Jiangbei New Materials High-Tech Park, along with other Sasol executives and employees, business partners and customers.

"Our expansion in China underpins our chemicals business ambitions to diversify geographically, participate in high-growth markets and grow in differentiated applications. For more than 25 years, we have been active in providing high-quality surfactants in China, where we see ongoing shifts towards high value and differentiated segments," said Nqwababa.

"I am confident this expansion will enable us to better support local customer requirements and our pursuit for continued long-term growth in the world’s most important emerging market," he added.

Located at the Nanjing Jiangbei New Material Hi-Tech Park (formerly known as Nanjing Chemical Industrial Park), construction of this 35-acre site commenced in June 2017 and the plant reached beneficial operation in April this year. The plant will expand Sasol’s current alkoxylation capability to approximately 150 kilotons per annum (ktpa), with additional facilities for the production of anionic surfactants.

The new plant can operate using either branched or linear alcohols to meet the differentiated customer requirements in applications such as detergents, personal care, textile and leather, metalworking and lubrication, inks, paints and coatings, as well oil and gas, enhanced oil recovery and industrial cleaning.

As the first fully Sasol-owned production facility in Asia, Sasol has been a producer of surfactants, including non-ionic alcohol ethoxylates as well as anionic alcohol ether sulfates, in China since 1992. The project is not only a significant expansion of Sasol’s current operational footprint in the market, but also the first step towards a robust, differentiated expansion strategy for Sasol’s Performance Chemicals business throughout the broader Asian region.

"Comprising state-of-the-art process technology, the plant will operate to the highest standards of operational safety, reliability and flexibility. Furthermore, this technology allows us to minimise environmental impacts in full compliance with stringent environmental protection measures set by the government," said Shentu Hongxing, Vice President Operations China and Managing Director Sasol China.

"We look forward to making a larger contribution to both the regional economy and a greener environment - all while continuing to serve our customers with high quality tailored solutions."

As MRC informed before, in May 2019, Sasol Ltd., the world's biggest maker of fuel from coal, said the cost of its giant Lake Charles chemicals project in Louisiana will balloon to as much as USD12.9 billion, or about 50% more than initially planned.
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Sherwin-Williams coating selected for corrosion protection at Aramco refinery

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Heat-FlexTM Hi-Temp 1200 from Sherwin-Williams was chosen as the single coating protection against corrosion and high heat for the oil and gas bulk valves at Saudi Aramco’s Ras Tanura refinery, said Hydrocarbonengineering.

Experts from Sherwin-Williams collaborated with contractor Tecnicas Reunidas on the clean fuels and aromatics project to protect bulk valves for all process conditions and temperatures and ensure fault-free continuous operations at the facility near the industrial port city Jubail in Saudi Arabia.

This product is a next-generation single-component corrosion under insulation (CUI) solution for high-heat applications. It offers excellent corrosion resistance and enhanced durability in reducing damage from shop to field with faster shop throughput. It also produces lower volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

"We were aware of the challenges associated with bulk valve packages for these projects and our R&D team came up with a versatile solution for our customer to provide the necessary level of protection with efficiencies in time and cost of using only one product," said Emre Karapinar, Project Development Manager for Sherwin-Williams.

Independently tested and certified for use in severely corrosive environments, Hi-Temp 1200 comes without the need of an inorganic zinc primer even when it is cured at ambient temperatures. It is approved under Saudi Aramco engineering standard SAES-H-101V / System APCS-11C as a high temperature resistant CUI coating for oil and gas projects in the Middle East.

It can be applied direct to steel or stainless steel, as a coating under insulation, and is acceptable for use on cryogenic equipment or over properly prepared steel surfaces either insulated or uninsulated. It is ideal for power plants, refineries, chemical facilities, offshore and marine and pulp and paper industries.
MRC

US crude oil stockpiles drop amid Barry, fuel posts large builds

MOSCOW (MRC) -- US crude oil stockpiles fell more than expected last week, while gasoline and distillate inventories rose sharply, the Energy Information Administration said, due to the impact of the first major hurricane to hit the US Gulf of Mexico this season, reported Reuters.

Crude and gasoline futures turned lower after the report. US crude fell 39 cents per barrel to trade at USD57.24 a barrel by 11:09 a.m. EDT (1509 GMT), while gasoline futures traded down 0.45 cent to USD1.8867 a gallon.

"A hurricane-impacted report shows a drop in production and imports offsetting lower refining activity to yield a draw to crude stocks," said Matt Smith, director of Commodity Research at ClipperData.

Barry, which came ashore on Saturday in central Louisiana as a Category 1 hurricane, prompted oil companies to shut nearly 74% of production at US Gulf of Mexico platforms ahead of the storm, the US offshore drilling regulator said.US offshore oil production remained cut by 58% on Tuesday.

US crude production dropped 300,000 barrels per day in the week to July 12 to 12 million bpd, according to the EIA, a decline that analysts attributed to the storm.

Crude inventories fell by 3.1 million barrels last week, more than analysts’ expectations for a decrease of 2.7 million barrels.

Stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub for U.S crude futures fell by 1.35 million barrels, EIA said.

Net US crude imports were marginally higher, rising 44,000 bpd, while exports alone fell about half a million bpd.

Most refineries in southeastern Louisiana kept running through the storm except for Phillips 66’s 253,600-bpd Alliance, Louisiana, refinery, which the company began restarting on Monday.

Total US refinery crude runs fell 171,000 bpd, EIA data showed. Refinery utilization rates fell by 0.3 percentage point to 94.4% of total capacity.

Gasoline stocks rose 3.6 million barrels, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 925,000-barrel drop.

Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, rose 5.7 million barrels, versus expectations for a 613,000-barrel increase, the EIA data showed.
MRC

New U.S. EPA ruling expands sale of 15% ethanol blended motor gasoline

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final rule allowing the year-round sale of motor gasoline blends containing up to 15% fuel ethanol, or E15, said Hydrocarbonengineering.

The ruling increases the availability of E15 blends in the United States, which are currently sold at more than 1,800 retail fuel stations across 31 states, according to Growth Energy, a trade association that represents producers and supporters of fuel ethanol.

Most motor gasoline fuel sold in the United States contains up to 10% ethanol, referred to as E10. Ethanol acts as a fuel oxygenate to create a cleaner burning fuel and to raise the octane rating of motor gasoline. Higher ethanol blends such as E15 may sell for lower prices relative to E10 when the price of ethanol is lower than gasoline blendstock on an energy equivalent basis. Presently, E15 is sold at a 3- to 10-cent/gallon price discount relative to E10, or 87 octane blends, in most markets.

In 2011, EPA granted a partial waiver under the Clean Air Act (CAA) to allow the use of E15 in motor vehicles manufactured in model year 2001 or later. Among other restrictions, the partial waiver did not change existing regulations that prohibited the sale of E15 in conventional fuel markets during the summer driving season, defined as June 1 to September 15 of each year. During the summer, EPA is more restrictive on the volatility of motor gasoline introduced into the market in order to limit evaporative emissions that contribute to ground-level ozone.

The expanded waivers for E15 were announced in October 2018, which will help to increase domestic energy production and to support the domestic agriculture industry. The final rule updated EPA’s interpretation of the statute. By considering E10 and E15 as substantially similar, the new interpretation effectively opened the opportunity for year-round E15 sales in most markets.

Although new fueling stations typically install fueling equipment that is E15 compliant, older stations may need to install new equipment to accommodate the slightly more corrosive nature of E15 gasoline. Retrofits may be cost-prohibitive if they require equipment, such as underground storage tanks, to be replaced.

Certain incentives could offset the cost of expanding fuel options to E15. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Biofuels Infrastructure Partnership program awarded USD100 million in grants to increase consumption of higher fuel ethanol blends during fiscal year 2015. State-level programs, such as the Iowa Renewable Fuels Infrastructure Program, have also encouraged station owners to offer E15 and higher ethanol blends.

E15 fuel is often marketed as an unleaded fuel with an octane rating of 88. According to Growth Energy, more than 1,800 stations offer E15. Minnesota is home to the largest number of E15 stations with 303 stations, followed by Wisconsin (197), Iowa (187), and Florida (185).

EIA does not collect E15 sales data, and state-level information is limited. The Minnesota Commerce Department reported 59.4 million gallons of E15 sales in the state in 2018, nearly triple 2017 levels. According to an Iowa Department of Revenue report, state E15 sales were about 35.5 million gallons of E15 in 2018, almost a 30% increase over the previous year. In 2018, E15 was sold at about 15% and 10% of retail fueling stations in Minnesota and Iowa, respectively. On a national level, however, less than 2% of retail fueling stations offer E15.
MRC

Chinese June crude oil imports climb as new refineries spur demand

MOSCOW (MRC0 -- China’s crude oil imports on a daily basis in June rose 15.2% from a year earlier, customs data showed on Friday, as the start up of new large-scale refiners spurred demand for feedstocks, reported Reuters.

A new plant owned by Hengli Petrochemical, capable of processing 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude, reached full operations in late May, while a similar sized plant owned by Zhejiang Petrochemical has started trial runs.

June imports by the world’s largest crude oil importer came in at 39.58 million tonnes, according to data from the General Administration of Customs.

That works out to 9.63 million bpd, up 1.7% from 9.47 million bpd level in May and up from 8.36 million bpd a year ago.

For the first six months of 2019, crude imports grew 8.8% from a year earlier to 244.6 million tons, or about 9.87 million bpd.

June imports rose despite poor margins limiting runs at some plants and amid shut downs for maintenance.

Last month, Sinopec’s 200,000-bpd Luoyang refinery, PetroChina’s 140,000-bpd Jinzhou refinery and a 200,000-bpd Liaoyang Petrochemical plant were shut for planned repairs.

Two coastal refineries under top state refiner Sinopec Corp suffered losses in June for the first time this year, plant sources have said, as they processed higher-priced crude while domestic fuel prices trended lower.

China’s crude oil purchases are expected to be subdued in July as fuel supply from mammoth new refineries stokes an already-sizeable glut.

Customs data also showed China exported 5.43 million tons of oil products in June, up 13.5% from a year earlier and rising from 4.49 million tons in May, reflecting the growing surplus.

Exports for the first half of 2019 totaled 32.52 million tons, up 7.3% from a year ago.

Natural gas imports, including liquefied natural gas (LNG) and pipeline imports, were 7.52 million tons last month, the customs data showed, easing from 7.56 million tons in May.

Imports of the cleaner fuel have slowed since March from peaks in the winter months when heating demand surges.
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