First Axens unit successfully starts at Petrobrazi refinery

MOSCOW (MRC) -- After four years of teamwork for project development and execution, the new PolyFuel unit at Petrobrazi refinery was started-up and is fully functional since April 2019, said Chemengonline.

Based on the PolyFuel® technology licensed by Axens, the OMV Petrom’s project at Petrobrazi refinery enables to increase the FCC products value by upgrading LPG and Light Cracked Naphtha into high quality fuels.

In June 2019, the unit test-run was successfully completed, demonstrating that the unit performances are well in line with the expectations.

"The PolyFuel® unit of Petrobrazi refinery is the first of its kind valorizing C4 and C5 / C6 fractions into high quality gasoline and middle distillates, increasing the overall production of these products” said Bruno Domergue, Axens Clean Fuels, Bio, Olefins and Gas business line Director.

"The new Polyfuel unit brings the state-of-the-art technologies used in the petrochemical and refining industry to the Petrobrazi refinery. Due to sustained investments, Petrobrazi continues to rank among the most important refineries in Romania, operating at the highest standards –energy efficiency and environmental standards included – and contributing to the economic development of the area", said Radu Caprau, member of OMV Petrom Executive Board, responsible for Downstream Oil.
MRC

Refinery expected to shut remaining units as crude dwindles

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery, the oldest and largest on the U.S. East Coast, is expected to shut its remaining units on Monday as the plant uses up the last of its crude supplies, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The refinery is still weighing the economics of running more crude oil to keep the units active for an extended period, the sources said. Crude shipments destined for PES have been diverted in the weeks after the June 21 fire and explosion at the 335,000-barrel-per-day refinery, according to data and trade sources.

The fire, which started in an alkylation unit in the Girard Point section of the Philadelphia complex caused PES to begin closing the facility without an intended restart. Roughly 1,000 workers are expected to be laid off and contractors who do business with the refinery will also be affected by the shutdown.

PES, which emerged from bankruptcy last year, has multiple owners, including investment bank Credit Suisse and investment firm Bardin Hill. Refinery officials were not immediately available for comment.

PES has long been a steady buyer of imported crude oil, particularly from West Africa. Its loss as a buyer threatens to shrink the last steady U.S. market for West African crude.

Last year, U.S. refiners imported 180.7 million barrels of crude oil from Africa, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration figures. The PES refinery imported 43.1 million barrels from Africa in 2018, second only to the Phillips 66 refinery in Linden, New Jersey among U.S. refineries.

A cargo with 1 million barrels of Nigerian crude oil chartered by the PES refinery was rerouted on Wednesday to Point Tupper, Nova Scotia, a crude oil storage hub in Canada, according to data intelligence firm Kpler.

Another cargo chartered by PES carrying 1 million barrels has been sitting idle in the waters near the refinery for about two weeks, Kpler data shows. Three additional crude ships originally bound for Philadelphia are discharging or recently unloaded, at the Monroe Energy refinery, owned by Delta Airlines Inc, in Trainer, Pennsylvania, data from Refinitiv Eikon showed.

"Delta has bought some cargoes," a foreign buyer of West African crude said, noting the refinery had extracted heavy discounts for the crude originally bound for PES. It was not clear how much of the cargoes were initially destined for PES as opposed to other refineries in the area.

As of last week, PES had roughly 3 million barrels of crude in storage, sources said. That supply has since largely been processed after PES restarted a larger crude unit at the Point Breeze section of the plant.

With a small number of East Coast refineries compared with the U.S. Gulf Coast, PES has been left with few options to trade away the barrels without taking a financial hit, one U.S. source familiar with the situation said.

PES could sell the barrels to a nearby refinery, but those plants have typically already secured supplies for a further three weeks to a month, the source said, meaning vessels would have to wait for weeks before being offloaded.
MRC

Haiwan Chemical selects KBR technology for Chinese phenol and acetone plant

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Haiwan Chemical Co. (Haiwan Chemical) has awarded a technology contract to KBR for a new 320,000-t/y phenol and acetone facility to be built in Dongjiakou Industrial Zone, Qingdao City, Shandong Province, China, as per Apic-online.

Under the terms of the contract, KBR will provide the technology license and basic engineering design, as well as technical and training services to Haiwan Chemical.

"KBR's phenol process has been on the leading edge for more than 60 years and KBR is continuously making innovative technical improvements to maintain its competitiveness," said Gao Zijian, general manager of Haiwan Chemical.

"I believe this phenol plant will be playing an important role in our corporation's progress of industrial transformation and upgrading."

We remind that, as MRC wrote previously, in April 2019, KBR, Inc. announced that it had been awarded a contract by Saudi Aramco for KBR's market-leading Supercritical Solvent Deasphalting (SDA) technology ROSE.
MRC

Index of chemical production in Russia grew by 2.8% in H1 2019

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia's output of chemical products rose in June 2019 by 5.5% month on month.
However, production of basic chemicals increased only by 2.8% in the first six months of 2019, according to Rosstat's data.

According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, ethylene accounted for the largest increase in production year on year. Thus, 260 ,000 tonnes of ethylene were produced in June, compared to 262,000 tonnes a month earlier.

Thus, 1,578,000 tonnes of this olefin were produced in January-June 2019, up by 3.8% year on year. June production of benzene was 124,000 tonnes, compared to 128,000 tonnes a month earlier. Overall output of this product reached 743,000 tonnes in the first six months of 2019, up by 1.8% year on year.

June production of sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) were 110,000 tonnes (100% of the basic substance) versus 107,000 tonnes a month earlier. Overall output of caustic soda totalled 645,000 tonnes over the stated period, compared to 630,500 tonnes a year earlier.

1,920,000 tonnes of mineral fertilizers (in terms of 100% nutrients) were produced in June versus 2,098,000 tonnes a month earlier. Overall, Russian plants produced 12,324,000 tonnes of fertilizers in January-June 2019, up by 2% year on year.

Last month's production of polymers in primary form decreased to 747,000 tonnes, up 3.5% from May. Overall output of polymers in primary form totalled 4,244,000,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by only 3.1% year on year.
MRC

SOCAR Energoresource tenders to sell oil products from Antipinsky refinery

MOSCOW (MRC) -- SOCAR Energoresource LLC is to tender to sell oil products originated from the Antipinsky refinery for loading from Baltic ports in August, industry sources said Reuters.

The buyers are being offered up to 90,000 tonnes of ultra-low sulfur diesel, produced at the Antipinsky refinery, for delivery on Aug. 1-31 via the Baltic Sea ports of Primorsk or Vysotsk, the sources said.

SOCAR Energoresource also plans to sell up to 30,000 tonnes of gasoline AI-80 for delivery in August via the Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga and up to 30,000 tonnes of naphtha for delivery via the Baltic Sea ports Ust-Luga or Vysotsk.

The tenders close on July 22 and results are expected to be announced on July 24.

SOCAR did not respond to a request for comment.

SOCAR Energoresource, a joint venture between Russia’s largest lender, Sberbank, and a group of investors, acquired an 80% stake in the Antipinsky refinery last month.

Russian oil pipeline monopoly Transneft on Thursday resumed oil supplies to the Antipinsky refinery.
MRC