Drone attack cuts Saudi oil production in half

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi group said it attacked two plants at the heart of Saudi Arabia's oil industry on Saturday, knocking out more than half the Kingdom's output, in a move expected to send oil prices soaring and increase tensions in the Middle East, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The attacks will cut the kingdom's output by 5.7 million barrels per day (bpd), according to a statement from state-run oil company Saudi Aramco, or more than 5% of global oil supply.

The pre-dawn strikes follow earlier cross-border attacks on Saudi oil installations and on oil tankers in Gulf waters, but these were the most brazen yet, temporarily crippling much of the nation's production capacity. Saudi Arabia is the world's biggest exporter, shipping more than 7 million barrels of oil to global destinations every day, and for years has served as the supplier of last resort to markets.

While the Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo put the blame squarely on Iran, writing on Twitter that there was "no evidence the attacks came from Yemen."

"Amid all the calls for de-escalation, Iran has now launched an unprecedented attack on the world's energy supply," Pompeo said.

Saudi de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told US President Donald Trump by telephone that Riyadh had the will and capability "to confront and deal with this terrorist aggression," according to Saudi state news agency SPA.

The United States condemned the attacks and Trump told the crown prince that Washington was ready to work with the kingdom to guarantee its security, according to the White House. The U.S. Department of Energy also said it was ready to release oil from its strategic petroleum reserve if necessary. Energy Secretary Rick Perry also said his department would work with the International Energy Agency, which coordinates energy policies of industrialized nations, if global action is needed.

Saudi Arabia, leading a Sunni Muslim coalition that intervened in Yemen in 2015 against the Houthis, has blamed regional rival Shi'ite Iran for previous attacks, which Tehran denies. Riyadh accuses Iran of arming the Houthis, a charge denied by the group and Tehran.

Coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Malki said an investigation had been launched into who planned and executed the strikes. He said the Western-backed alliance would counter threats to global energy security and economic stability.

Aramco Chief Executive Amin Nasser said there were no casualties from the attacks.

Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said Aramco would have more information within 48 hours, and it will draw down oil in storage to compensate for the loss. Aramco is in the process of planning what is expected to be the world's largest initial public offering.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- In a Sept. 12 statement, Maag said it is bundling the activities of the companies it has acquired in recent years into what it calls “four centres of excellence”: pump and filtration systems, pelletizing systems, pulverizing systems, and recycling systems, said the Canplastics.

All of the companies will be managed as product brands – Automatik, Ettlinger, Gala, Maag, Reduction, and Scheer – that will be under the Maag Group umbrella brand.

The company says that the Maag Group is the visually identifiable umbrella brand; with the product brands each distinctively echoing it.

“The focused market orientation, with our products and services spread across four centers of excellence, will play a major role in the Maag Group’s further international growth in the coming years,” Group president Ueli Thuerig said in the statement. "Our aim with the new umbrella brand strategy is to strengthen our identity on the market. The established product brands enjoy great trust and confidence among their customers, and will remain specialists in their respective market segments, yet work close together when integrated systems solutions are required."

The Maag Group supplies customizable, integrated process technology systems for the polymer, chemical, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, and food industries.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Kuwait National Petroleum Company spokesman, Abdullah Al-Ajmi, said the steam production system reopened in Kuwait’s Mina Abdulla refinery, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing with reference to a statement issued by KNPC.

The spokesman added that restoring full production is under the works.

The steam production system was shut down temporarily on Thursday after it stopped working and it was replaced by the hot circulation system.

As MRC informed earlier, in November 2018, Kuwait Petroleum Co prepared a study to transform its al-Zour refinery into a commercial one to increase its profitability.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Valero Energy, together with Darling Ingredients, has initiated an engineering and development cost review for a new renewable diesel plant in Port Arthur, Texas in the US, said Biofuels-news.

In response to the increased demand for renewable diesel in low-carbon markets, the facility under review would be designed to produce 400 million gallons of clean fuel per year, as well as 40 million gallons of renewable naphtha.

The plant will be owned and operated by Diamond Green Diesel, which is the 50/50 joint venture between Valero and Darling.

The proposed facility in Port Arthur would be the first renewable diesel plant in the state of Texas; its location will leverage Valero’s existing refinery and optimise logistics management.

Production from the new plant would increase Diamond Green Diesel’s annual renewable diesel production capacity to around 1.1 billion gallons, with almost 100 million gallons of renewable naphtha.

According to Valero, final investment decision on the project is expected in 2021, subject to further engineering, obtaining necessary permits, and approval by both company boards. If plans go ahead, plant construction could begin in 2021, with operations slated to start in 2024.

“We expect low-carbon fuel mandates across the globe to continue to drive demand growth for renewable fuels,” said Joe Gorder, Valero chairman, president and CEO. “This project would meaningfully expand our renewable diesel segment, which continues to generate strong results, and demonstrates our commitment to environmentally responsible operations."

The joint venture’s future total production capacity includes volumes from Diamond Green Diesel’s plant in Louisiana, which is currently being expanded to produce 675 million gallons of renewable diesel and 60 million gallons of naphtha. The expansion should be complete by the end of 2021.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL), has restarted its polypropylene (PP) plant following an unplanned outage, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source informed that, the company has resumed operations at the plant, on September 10, 2019. The plant was shut on August 9, 2019, owing to a landslide near the pipeline area, thus damaging the pipeline. Earlier, the plant was supposed to resume operations by end-August, 2019.

Located at Mangalore, Karnataka, the plant has a PP production capacity of 440,000 mt/year.

We also remind that the company shut this plant for maintenance from mid-April to early July, 2019.

As MRC wrote before, in June 2015, MRPL successfully commenced commercial production of PP from its polypropylene plant as part of its phase-III refinery expansion and upgradation project in Mangaluru. The plant has a capacity to produce 440,000 tonnes of PP per annum. Feedstock for the PP plant - polymer grade propylene - is being produced from upstream petrochemical fluidised catalytic cracking unit of the refinery. Technology provider for the PP plant is Novolen of Germany. The plant has been engineered and constructed by Engineers India Ltd.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, the estimated consumption of PP in the Russian market totalled 694,210 tonnes in January-June 2019, up by 14% year on year. The supply of propylene block copolymers (PP-block) and propylene homopolymers (PP-homo) increased.

Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL), is an oil refinery at Mangalore and is a subsidiary of ONGC, set up in 1993. The refinery is located at Katipalla, north from centre of Mangalore city. The refinery was established after displacing five villages of Bala, Kalavar, Kuthetoor, Katipalla, and Adyapadi.
MRC