Eni investigating explosion at Sannazzaro de Burgondi refinery

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Eni SPA is investigating an explosion that occurred early on Sept. 17 at its 200,000-b/d Sannazzaro de’ Burgondi refinery near Pavia, in Po Valley, Italy, reported Oil&Gas Journal.

The explosion, which occurred at 6:30 a.m. local time in one part of a gasification line, did not cause any injuries to personnel but did generate a certain amount of smoke, Eni said.

The incident did not result in a fire, and further assessments are now currently under way to quantify damages.

The refinery continues to operate normally, Eni said.

As MRC informed earlier, Italy’s Versalis (part of Eni) took its cracker in Dunkirk, France offline in early September, 2019, due to a fire which broke out at the company’s petrochemical plant. It is not yet known how long the unit will remain shut. Local media sources also reported that the fire was brought under control with no reported injuries and the company is currently assessing the required repairs. The cracker has a production capacity of 380,000 tons/year of ethylene and 95,000 tons/year of propylene.

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.

Eni is an Italian multinational oil and gas company headquartered in Rome. It has operations in in 79 countries, and is currently Italy's largest industrial company with a market capitalization of 68 billion euros (USD 90 billion), as of August 14, 2013. The Italian government owns a 30.3% golden share in the company, 3.93% held through the state Treasury and 26.37% held through the Cassa depositi e prestiti. Another 39.40% of the shares are held by BNP Paribas.
MRC

MOSOCW (MRC) -- Essar Oil UK aims to lift processing of US oil at its 200,000 barrels per day Stanlow refinery by March to 40% from 35% currently, reported Reuters with reference to its Chief Executive Officer S. Thangapandian said.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Petroleum Conference (APPEC), Thangapandian also told Reuters his company is in talks with some parties to sell a majority stake in its Stanlow Oil Terminal Ltd infrastructure business as it seeks to leverage its portfolio of assets.

He didn’t identify potential buyers, but said the company was looking for "a strategic partner" for the majority stake in the infrastructure business, which carries a value of around USD1 billion.

"Currently US crude is making sense to us," Thangapandian said.

"As long as US oil is Brent-minus it is in the game," he said, referring to US crude costing less than the international benchmark. Thangapandian said his company procures most of the US oil from spot markets.

As MRC informed previously, India’s Essar Oil in 2011 acquired Stanlow refinery from Shell.

Since then it had carried out modifications including shutting some units in an effort to make the refinery profitable. Thangapandian said Stanlow’s current gross refining Margins is USD9.5-10/bbl.

Essar Oil UK plans to increase its retail fuel station network to 500 in 5 years from the current 72. The refiner also imports fuels and says it has a 16% share of the market.

As MRC repoted before, in late August 2018, s fire which broke out at a Shell-owned chemical plant on the same site as Essar Oil UK’s Stanlow refinery in northwestern England was extinguished. Essar said that operations at its refinery were unaffected by the fire. The Shell Higher Olefins Plant (SHOP) is separated from the refinery by a road and rail tracks. Essar operates the chemical plant as well as the refinery. At Stanlow, Shell uses ethylene to manufacture polymer, lubricant and detergent intermediates, plasticisers and detergent alcohols.

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.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Poland's pipeline operator, PERN, said on Monday it restored flows via Druzhba pipeline, which pumps oil from Russia to eastern and western Europe, after an oil leak near Warsaw caused by an illegal attempt to access the pipe, reported Reuters.

A PERN spokeswoman said that flows were restored at night, while the leak took place on Sunday afternoon. The operator said that during the incident it continued oil supplies to its clients - two refineries in Poland and two in Germany.

The Russian oil pipeline monopoly, Transneft, said it had resumed oil supplies via the Druzhba pipeline following "an incident" at PERN on Sunday, TASS news agency reported.

Transneft also said that supplies were suspended on Sunday at 18.50 local time (1650 GMT) and resumed on Monday at 04.05 Warsaw time, according to TASS. PERN declined to provide the exact time of the suspension.

PERN said its technicians and firemen were working on the site to guarantee its safety.

"The leak was removed and the case is being investigated," PERN said in a statement.

As MRC wrote previously, in early November 2015, Poland’s top refiner PKN Orlen took delivery of its first crude from Saudi Arabia, a shipment that marked the start of new trade relationship undermining the traditional dominance of Russian supplies.

Besides, in H1 September 2019, Honeywell announced that PKN ORLEN had licensed the UOP MaxEne process, which can increase production of ethylene and aromatics and improve the flexibility of gasoline production. The project, for the PKN ORLEN facility in Plock, Poland, currently is in the basic engineering stage. Honeywell UOP, a leading provider of technologies for the oil and gas industry, first commercialized the UOP MaxEne process in 2013. The process enables refiners and petrochemical producers to direct molecules within the naphtha feed to the processes that deliver the greatest value and improve yields of fuels and petrochemicals.

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.

PKN ORLEN would be the first refining and petrochemicals company in Europe to use the Honeywell UOP MaxEne technology for molecule management of a naphtha stream to produce high-quality products including olefins, aromatics and gasoline.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Ufaorgsintez (UOS, Bashneft’s petrochemical asset) has resumed operation of part of its low density polyethylene (LDPE) production facilities after stopping for scheduled maintenance works, according to ICIS-MRC Price Report.

According to the enterprise’s customers, on Wednesday, 25 September, Ufaorgsintez fully resumed production of second line LDPE. The shutdown was short and lasted for about one week. The LDPE production's annual capacity is 90,000 tonnes.

It is also worth noting that at the same time with the shutdown of LDPE line, the capacities for the production of polypropylene (PP) were stopped too. But the shutdown of PP capacities will be a little longer and last 12 days.

PJSC Ufaorgsintez produces phenol, acetone, synthetic ethylene-propylene rubber, high and low pressure polyethylene, polypropylene, more than 30 types of petrochemical products and over 25 consumer products.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shenhua Baotou is likely to take off-stream its coal-to-olefin plant in Inner Mongolia, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China, informed that, the company has commenced a turnaround at the plant on September 16, 2019. The plant is likely to remain shut, till end-October, 2019.

Located at Baotou City, China, the plant has a ethylene and propylene production capacity of 300,000 mt/year each.

As MRC reported before, Shenhua Baotou shut its polypropylene (PP) plant for a planned maintenance on September 18, 2019. The plant is expected to remain under maintenance for about six weeks. Located at Baotou City, China, the PP plant has a production capacity of 300,000 mt/year.

Shenhua Baotou also runs linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) plant at the same site. The company conducted maintenance at its LLDPE plant from 12 September to late September, 2017. Located at Baotou City, China, the plant has a production capacity of 300,000 mt/year.

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.
MRC