Honeywell helps Braskem Idesa incorporate intelligent wearables to enhance training and safety

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Honeywell has announced that Braskem Idesa has adopted a hands-free, wearable connected technology solution at its plant in Veracruz, Mexico, according to Plastemart.

Honeywell's Intelligent Wearables will allow Braskem Idesa to improve productivity and compliance with process procedures, capture the expertise of experienced workers and provide critical insights and information effectively to trainees and support workers in the field. Honeywell is delivering a complete outcome-based solution that tracks specific key performance indicators and integrates hardware, software and services, and a full Wi-Fi infrastructure to support use of the solution across the plant. The wearable technology will also accelerate training and ensure safety for field operators at the Braskem Idesa facility.

"With this solution, Braskem Idesa is embracing the digital transformation that will enable us to retain our leadership in the petrochemicals industry," said Roberto Velasco Gutierrez, industrial director, Braskem Idesa. "Capturing all the relevant expertise and data within the organization and getting it to workers wherever and whenever needed, will help get trainees safely into the field faster and ensure that every worker operates to Braskem Idesa's best standards."

"Braskem Idesa has not only taken an important step toward Industry 4.0 but has now also replaced paper-based and manual operations with a sophisticated solution that's both digital and wireless," said Vincent Higgins, director of technology and innovation, Honeywell Connected Enterprise, Industrial. "Wearable, voice-controlled computer headsets and software eliminate the need for clipboards, pens, and flashlights. Our offering will help Braskem Idesa capture expertise and document critical tasks to ensure operational compliance." Honeywell's solution for field worker competency and productivity enables Braskem Idesa to tie its plant performance directly to the performance of its workers, critical to the success of any industrial enterprise. By connecting field workers with remote advice, Honeywell Intelligent Wearables also reduce the need for site visits from experts, empower workers to continue learning, become their best and effectively share their knowledge with peers.

The Braskem Idesa petrochemical complex has a production capacity of 1.05 million tons of ethylene and polyethylene. It is one of the largest petrochemical production sites in the Americas.

As MRC informed earlier, in late June 2016, Braskem Idesa, the 75-25 joint venture of Braskem and Idesa (Mexico City), inaugurated the Ethylene XXI complex at Nanchital, part of the Coatzacoalcos petrochemical hub in the southern Mexican state of Veracruz. The USD5.2-billion dollar project took some five years to complete. The 1.05-million m.t./year cracker feeds the complex’s two HDPE plants, which have capacities of 400,000 m.t./year and 350,000 m.t./year, each unit based on Ineos technology. The third PE unit has capacity of 300,000 m.t./year of LDPE, using LyondellBasell technology.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polyprolypele (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,255,800 tonnes in the first seven months of 2019, up by 9% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, the estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 796,120 tonnes in January-July 2019, up by 11% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.

Braskem S.A. produces petrochemicals and generates electricity. The Company produces ethylene, propylene, benzene, toluene, xylenes, butadiene, butene, isoprene, dicyclopentediene, MTBE, caprolactam, ammonium sulfate, cyclohexene, polyethylene theraphtalat, polyethylene, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Axens and SP3H have signed a strategic partnership to develop and commercialize an industrial application of the microanalyzer developed by SP3H for the refining, biofuel and petrochemical markets, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

This rugged, smart and highly efficient microanalyzer, allows in situ analysis of liquid fluids, in particular to measure octane number and biofuel, olefin, benzene and aromatics content. The information thereby collected is transmitted in real time to the industrial plant's control system.

The solution developed will be integrated into the digital service offer that is already marketed by Axens, especially the APC (Advanced Process Control) and Connect’InTM, which features the latest information processing innovations developed by Axens, for process control and optimization.

The microanalyzer uses part of the optical and electronic components of the low-cost infrared scanner developed by SP3H and approved by the automotive industry. It will be adapted to meet the highest level of anti-explosion standards (ATEX zone 1 or IEC/Ex). Axens provides its expertise and skills regarding design and engineering in the Oil & Gas industry.

On signing the partnership, Pierre Beccat, Executive Vice President of Axens in charge of Technology, Development and Innovation, stated: “This partnership is in line with our objective to provide high-quality digital services to our clients, enabling them to significantly improve their operating margin and the reliability of their facilities, all while respecting the environment."

"This strategic partnership agreement with Axens will enable us to integrate and combine our connected sensors with Axens' solutions to accelerate the deployment of innovative high added value services in the field of refining, biofuels and petrochemicals. We are providing operators with one of the links in the digital transformation of their processes, a 'must have' for maintaining their competitiveness over the next decades," Alain Lunati, CEO of SP3H, said.
MRC

MOOSCOW (MRC) -- Mexican national oil company Pemex will offer a new set of oilfield service contracts to interested firms, the finance minister said, as it embarks on the challenge of ramping up production by 17% to meet 2020 budget targets, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Pemex will open bidding between the end of this year and early next year for 15 so-called integrated exploration and extraction contracts (CSIEE), the same model of service contracts the firm is using to develop another 20 priority projects mostly clustered in the southern Gulf of Mexico.

Finance Minister Arturo Herrera touted the contracts as public-private partnerships in an interview with broadcaster Televisa. But the contracts, which do not offer equity stakes in Pemex projects or a share of production or profits, were greeted with skepticism from industry experts.

"This looks to me like a step backwards,” said Pablo Medina, a Mexico City-based oil analyst with Welligence. He noted that the contracts pay a fixed fee per barrel produced under a base scenario that can rise if more oil is produced. “The competition for capital in Latin America is intense and many countries are offering more attractive terms than before,” he said.

Mexico’s previous government lured a wide range of international oil majors by offering dozens of contracts sharing both risks and rewards, something the service contracts do not do.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s 2020 budget blueprint, unveiled on Sunday, forecasts Mexican production, almost all from Pemex, of 1.95 million barrels per day of oil, up 17% from current levels. That target follows 14 straight years of slumping output thanks to a mixture of ageing fields and a lack of investment.

The government says it has already stemmed the decline and is now confident production will quickly rebound thanks to a strategy of investing in easier-to-reach shallow water and onshore fields rather than the longer-term deepwater projects.

"What makes us feel optimistic regarding production?” Herrera asked. “Pemex’s change in strategy wherein it is investing more in shallow waters and on land where it is easier to extract,” he said, referring to tax breaks and a federal government cash injection outlined in the budget.

The budget calls for a $26.8 billion Pemex budget overall, up about 9% compared with this year. Herrera stressed an additional USD4.4 billion in support for the firm, including tax breaks and a capital injection of USD2.35 billion.

However, credit rating agency Moody’s analyst Ariane Ortiz-Bollin said in a statement earlier this week that the budget proposal underestimates the amount of funding that Pemex may require going forward. The nine-month-old Lopez Obrador administration has canceled auctions to pick joint ventures partners for Pemex that would give private companies a greater stake in projects, as well as separate oil auctions that allowed oil majors to operate exploration and production projects on their own.

Both were seen as a way to help reverse the slide in Pemex’s production by attracting significant outside investment from private partners.

A business plan published by Pemex earlier this year says the service contracts could extend up to 20 years, paying a fee set in U.S. dollars that can vary based on the complexity of the project and based on production achieved. In all cases, Pemex would not cede control of the operatorship of the projects.

The world’s most indebted oil company, Pemex is at risk of a second downgrade of its bonds to so-called junk status after Fitch did so in June, which would trigger forced selling of bonds worth billions of dollars. Herrera said the government will “defend the credit rating” of Pemex, assuring the firm has money to invest and managing its debt profile so it is “more adequate."

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia's production of high density polyethylene (HDPE) totalled about 648,900 tonnes in the first eight months of 2019, down by 0.6% year on year. Two producers out of four reduced their output, according to MRC's ScanPlast report.

August HDPE production in Russia grew to 84,300 tonnes, whereas this figure was 78,300 tonnes a month earlier. The increase in production volumes was a result of the completion of scheduled maintenance works at Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat facilities. Thus, overall HDPE output reached 648,900 tonnes in January-August 2019, compared to 652,500 tonnes a year earlier. Kazanogrsintez and Stavrolen could not compensate for the lack of output at Nizhnekamskneftekhim and the reduction in production at Gazprom neftekhim Salavat.

The structure of polyethylene (PE) production by plants looked the following way over the stated period.


Russia's August HDPE production at Kazanorgsintez increased to 50,800 tonnes from 49,600 tonnes a month earlier. The Kazan plant's overall HDPE output reached 369,200 tonnes in January-August 2019, up by 3.3% year on year.

Stavrolen produced about 28,200 tonnes last month versus 28,400 tonnes in July. The plant's overall output reached 210,800 tonnes over the stated period, up by 7% year on year. Stavrolen on 6 September shut down its HDPE production for maintenance, which will last until 15 October.


Gazprom neftekhim Salavat resumed the production of HDPE in August after the planned turnaround with a delay ; for an incomplete month of production last month, the output of polyethylene amounted to about 5,400 tonnes. The Bashkir plant's overall HDPE output reached 66,900 tonnes in the first eight months of 2019, up by 16% year on year. We remind that the Salavat producer did not take off-stream its production capacities for maintenance last year.

Nizhnekamskneftekhim produced exclusively LLDPE over the stated period.


MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp Ltd plans to buy out the rest of ONGC Petro additions Ltd (OPaL), majority-owned by ONGC, and launch a public offering if it fails to find a strategic partner for it, as per Plastemart.

ONGC has long tried to bring in a strategic partner in the petrochemical project but failed to strike a deal so far.

ONGC’s stake in the project could rise to 70% if it converts INR 26 billion of share warrants into equity and to about 93% if it also converted INR 77.78 billion of debentures into shareholdings, Kumar said. ONGC owns 49.36% of the project and gas utility Gail (India) Ltd owns another 49.21%. The remaining stake is held by Gujarat State Petroleum Corp Ltd, a state government-owned gas company.

"We are looking at various options. Our first preference is to convert OPaL into a subsidiary by converting share warrants and debenture into equity if we don’t get a strategic partner," Subhash Kumar, ONGC’s director of finance told Reuters. "Another option is to merge OPaL with ONGC.” ONGC will decide by the end of its fiscal year on whether to make OPaL a subsidiary, he said. "After making it a subsidiary, it will take another two years to list the company," Kumar said.

OPaL operates a 1.1m tonne/year ethylene cracker, two 360,000 tonne/year linear low density PE (LLDPE)/high density PE (HDPE) swing units, a 340,000 tonne/year HDPE plant and a 340,000 tonne/year polypropylene line at Dahej, in India’s western state of Gujarat.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,255,800 tonnes in the first seven months of 2019, up by 9% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, the estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 796,120 tonnes in January-July 2019, up by 11% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.

OPaL is a joint venture between Gujarat State Petroleum Corp (GSPC), Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) and ONGC.
MRC