Valero Energy begins cost review of renewable diesel plant

MOSCOW (MRC) -- US refiner Valero Energy Corp said it has started a cost review of a new plant in Port Arthur, Texas, along with food processor Darling Ingredients Inc., according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The facility, which aims to tap into the growing global demand for renewable diesel, is expected to produce 400 million gallons of diesel and 40 million gallons of renewable naphtha a year.

The final investment decision on the project is expected in 2021. If approved, the construction of the first renewable diesel facility in Texas could begin in the same year, with expected operations starting in 2024.

It will be owned and operated by Diamond Green Diesel Holdings LLC, a joint venture between Valero and Darling.

"We expect low-carbon fuel mandates across the globe to continue to drive demand growth for renewable fuels," Joe Gorder, Valero’s Chief Executive Officer said in a statement.

Production from the plant would increase Diamond Green Diesel Holdings’s annual renewable diesel production to about 1.1 billion gallons, with nearly 100 million gallons of renewable naphtha production, the companies said.

As MRC reported before, in early May 2018, CB&I has announced that its CDAlky technology had been selected by Valero Refining - New Orleans LLC for its St. Charles Alkylation Project located in Norco, Louisiana
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Azelis Americas CASE, LLC has agreed with Huntsman Advanced Materials’ for a territory expansion, as per Coatingsworld.

As of Oct. 1, 2019 Azelis will provide its customers access to HAM products in the West Coast and Northeast, complementing its existing relationship in other regions. The new agreement expands the geographic coverage to include the West Coast and Northeast.

Azelis Americas CASE will distribute the Huntsman brands including ARALDITE, ARADUR, ARA COOL, TACTIX, KERIMID, MATRIMID, as well as HAM’s full line of matting agents and accelerators. The expanded product offering allows Azelis to deliver complete formulation services to its CASE customers across the entire U.S.

Customers have access to Huntsman's product line from any Azelis Americas CASE region and applications labs nationwide.

"The expansion of our relationship with Azelis is a terrific opportunity to offer customers improved efficiencies and align our strategies for future growth," said Jim Coneys, distribution manager, Huntsman Advanced Materials. "Its technical sales teams and application labs have delivered exceptional value to users of Huntsman products and we are excited to take this next step with Azelis."

"The combination of HAM’s leading products and technologies with our technical expertise and market intelligence offers the best solutions for the needs of the high performance epoxy market across the country," added Dan Gruber, managing director, Azelis Americas CASE.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Vietnam is investigating the alleged dumping of plastic film material from China, Thailand and Malaysia, hurting the local industry, as per GV.

The investigation was initiated Monday (5 August 2019) at the request of two plastic producers, Taiwanese firm Hung Nghiep Formossa and South Korean firm Youl Chon Vina, on biaxially-oriented polypropylene (BOPP), a plastic film material used to make tapes.

They claimed that the imports of plastic products from these three countries have inflicted "significant damage" on local manufacturing, the Ministry of Trade and Industry said in a statement. As these firms account for up to 77 percent of the country’s production of related plastic products, they are eligible to represent local manufacturers in requesting an investigation, it said. The firms have proposed respective tariffs of 20.22 percent, 15.12 percent, and 20.35 percent on BOPP materials from China, Malaysia and Thailand.

As MRC informed earlier, the global demand for BOPP film market is anticipated to generate revenue of USD15.55 bln by end of 2020, expanding at a CAGR of 6.3% between 2015 and 2020, as per Zion Research.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil producing company, is expecting operations to commence in Jazan integrated petrochemical refinery and the PRefChem integrated refinery and petrochemicals complex to start operations by the end of the year, the state-oil giant said in its bond prospectus listed on the London Stock Exchange, said Argaam.

The two refineries will increase its gross refining capacity to 5.6 million barrels per day and net refining capacity to 3.7 million barrels per day. The net chemical production capacity will rise to 20.8 million and gross chemical production capacity to 40.2 million tons per year.

Read: Saudi Aramco world’s most profitable firm in 2018 with net income of USD111 bln Jazan will have a full capacity to process 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day in 2020, while PRefChem is expected to have the capacity to process 300,000 barrels of crude oil per day, according to the prospectus.

Meanwhile, Aramco said it expects international crude oil prices to remain volatile after the significant fluctuations of recent months. "Fluctuations in the price at which the company is able to sell crude oil could cause the company’s results of operations and cash flow to vary significantly," it added.

In 2018, Aramco produced 13.6 million barrels per day of oil equivalent, including 10.3 million barrels per day of crude oil. Ghawar field, the largest oilfield in the world, had 58 billion barrels of oil equivalent in combined reserves at the end of 2018, and 48.3 billion in liquid reserves, according to the bond prospectus.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Kenya exported its first crude oil amid pointed speeches by local leaders asking the government to stick to its commitment to share revenues from future shipments equitably, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Although commercial production is years away, the discovery of oil has heightened expectations that citizens, especially those living adjacent to the deposits, will benefit.

President Uhuru Kenyatta in March signed into law a long-awaited petroleum bill that regulates oil exploration and production and outlines how revenues will be shared between the government, local communities and companies.

Of the revenues due to the state, the law allocates 20% to local government, 5% to the communities living where oil was found and 75% to the central government. An earlier draft gave 10% to the communities.

The law also says parliament will review the percentages within 10 years.

The law is required for large-scale oil production but was delayed by tussles between layers of government and residents of Turkana, the impoverished northern region where the oil deposits were found.

As the first shipment left Kenya's port of Mombasa, three governors, an oil executive and the president compared carving up the profits to sharing a goat.

"When you slaughter a goat, the owner of the goat is left with the leg," Turkana County deputy governor Peter Emuria Lotethiro said. "Turkana want their leg."

Tullow Oil estimates that Kenya's Turkana fields hold 560 million barrels of oil and expects them to produce up to 100,000 barrels per day from 2022.

London-based Tullow said it and its partners had to date invested USD2 billion in Kenya.

"Having spent USD2 billion, the joint venture partners will be able to get a bit of that goat. There is much more investment to come which will create jobs across Kenya," Tullow Chief Executive Paul McDade said.

Mining and Petroleum Minister John Munyes said approval to pump water from neighbouring West Pokot County to pressurise oil wells had been granted. The deal is crucial for next year's final investment decision on proceeding to commercial production.

"By 2020 we should have the plans to let us proceed with the construction of the pipeline from Lokichar to Lamu," he said.

On 26 August, shipment was 250,000 barrels of oil. The crude was trucked to the port since there is no pipeline. The shipment's destination was not announced.

Tullow and partner Africa Oil discovered commercial oil reserves in Turkana's Lokichar basin in 2012. France's Total has since taken a 25% stake in the project.

About two weeks ago, Kenya and a group led by explorer Tullow picked trading company ChemChina UK Ltd to buy its first shipments. ChemChina UK's initial purchases are small-scale, with full commercial shipments due once the pipeline is built.

As MRC wrote before, in June 2019, Kenya’s government and oil firms Tullow Oil, Total and Africa Oil Corp signed agreements for the development of a 60,000-80,000 barrels per day crude oil processing facility for oil discovered in the country’s north west.
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