Operations at two refineries hit by earthquake

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A small earthquake hit operations at two oil refineries in Martinez, California, reported Reuters with referenece to the companies' statement.

Marathon Petroleum Corp said it was working to return its 161,500-barrel-per-day refinery to normal operations following a quake centered in nearby Pleasant Hill, with a magnitude of 4.5.

The company confirmed an upset, or malfunction, resulting from the quake but said it did not result in any “known spills or releases” or injuries.

"Marathon Petroleum personnel are working to assess the integrity of equipment to ensure a safe restart and return to normal operations," the company said in a statement.

Marathon had earlier reported the shutdown of multiple units because of the earthquake in a filing with the state pollution regulator. "No off-site consequences are anticipated," the filing said.

Energy intelligence service Genscape earlier reported that a 37,000-bpd hydrocracker, 26,000-bpd catalytic reformer, 40,000-bpd hydrotreater, 14,000-bpd alkylation unit and a hydrogen plant were shut at the plant because of the incident.

Nearby, Royal Dutch Shell Plc said some equipment had been temporarily affected at its 156,400-barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery in Martinez, but that operations were now normal.

There were no major damages or injuries due to the quake in the Bay Area, local media reported.

A magnitude 4.5 quake is relatively small for earthquake-prone California, which lies on the San Andreas Fault.

As MRC informed earlier, Royal Dutch Shell Plc has restarted the hydrocracker at its 225,300 barrel-per-day (bpd) Norco, Louisiana, refinery. The 40,000 bpd hydrocracker was shut on Sept. 9 for a planned month-long overhaul. A longer than expected restart of the unit stretched the outage to six weeks. Shell also conducted maintenance works at its cracker in Norco with the capacity of 840,000 tonnes of ethylene per year over the stated period.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,436,390 tonnes in the first eight months of 2019, up by 9% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, the PP consumption in the Russian market was 909,260 tonnes in January-August 2019, up by 10% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.

Royal Dutch Shell plc is incorporated in England and Wales, has its headquarters in The Hague and is listed on the London, Amsterdam, and New York stock exchanges. Shell companies have operations in more than 70 countries and territories with businesses including oil and gas exploration and production; production and marketing of liquefied natural gas and gas to liquids; manufacturing, marketing and shipping of oil products and chemicals and renewable energy projects.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Co. Ltd. is expected to lead the global planned and announced purified terephthalic acid (PTA) capacity additions during the period 2019 to 2023, contributing around 22% of the global growth by 2023, according to GlobalData,

Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Co. Ltd. is expected to add a capacity of 5.00 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) from two planned projects by 2023.

Dayanand Kharade, Oil and Gas Analyst at GlobalData, says: “Hengli Petrochemical Dalian PTA Plant’ and an expansion project ‘Hengli Petrochemical Dalian PTA Plant Expansion’ will account for the company’s entire capacity additions, each with a capacity of 2.50 mtpa. They are expected to start operations by 2023."

As MRC informed earlier, Hengli Petrochemical has taken off-stream its No. 1 purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plant for a turnaround. The company has halted operations at the plant on October 7, 2019. The plant is likely to remain under maintenance for around two weeks. Located in Dalian, China, the No. 1 PTA plant has a production capacity of 2.2 million mt/year.

PTA is used to produce polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which is used in the manufacturing of plastic bottles, films, packaging containers, in the textile and food industries.

According to MRC's DataScope report, Chinese bottle grade PET deliveries to Russia increased 34% in the first eight months of 2019 to 95,600 tonnes. China accounted for 90% of the total imports, compared to 85% a year earlier.
August imports of material from China decreased by 41% to 7,600 tonnes from 12,800 tonnes in July. Jiangsu Sanfangxiang, Yisheng, Wankai and Sinopec were the leading Chinese suppliersof material to the Russian market.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Gazprom Neft and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) have entered into a Framework Agreement on Strategic Cooperation, said the company.

The companies will explore opportunities for implementing joint projects in the upstream and downstream sectors, as well as in information technologies, artificial intelligence, and other areas.

The document was signed by Vladislav Baryshnikov, Deputy CEO, International Business Development and a member of the Management Board, Gazprom Neft, and Abdulmunim Saif Al Kindy, Executive Director, Upstream Directorate, ADNOC.

Under this agreement the partners will study opportunities for collaboration in sour-gas exploration and production, developing enhanced oil and gas recovery strategies, and developing innovative technologies for investigating carbonate reservoirs.

The Agreement creates a platform for potential collaboration in developing production-analytical systems in hydrocarbon exploration, production, logistics, processing and sales. The parties will also assess opportunities for joint projects in geological prospecting and oil- and gas-field development, including at concessions within the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. In addition to this, further areas for potential technological cooperation include developing management systems, information technologies and artificial intelligence (AI).

As MRC reported earlier, in March 2019, Borealis and ADNOC signed Memorandum of Understanding to explore strategic opportunities in the polyolefin industry. Under the terms of the agreement, Borealis and ADNOC will jointly explore potential growth opportunities within the integrated polyolefin industry in key geographical markets.

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.

ADNOC is one of the world’s leading diversified energy and petrochemicals groups, with a daily output of about three million barrels of oil and 10.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas. With 14 specialist subsidiary and joint venture companies, ADNOC is a primary catalyst for the UAE’s growth and diversification.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Abu Dhabi National Oil Company’s (ADNOC) wants to partner Italy’s Eni and Austria’s OMV for expansion of refining capacity to 1.5 million barrels per day, reported Reuters with reference to a company executive's statement.

ADNOC has a total refining capacity of 922,000 barrels per day (bpd) including a 85,000 bpd refinery near the Abu Dhabi city.

The state energy company plans to double its refining capacity and triple petrochemicals output potential by 2025, as it focuses more on downstream expansion to capture new growth markets.

As MRC wrote before, a USD3.1 billion project to introduce crude processing flexibility, at ADNOC owned Ruwais oil refinery, was announced in February 2018. Known as the Crude Flexibility Project (CFP), the announcement was another significant step forward as ADNOC accelerates delivery of its Downstream refining strategy that aims to enhance margins by introducing asset flexibility, backed by strong crude and product marketing initiatives.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,436,390 tonnes in the first eight months of 2019, up by 9% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, the PP consumption in the Russian market was 909,260 tonnes in January-August 2019, up by 10% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Ineos Styrolution's general purpose polystyrene (GPPS) imports into Russia increased in September by 4 times year on year to 1,500 tonnes, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

This figure was 340 tonnes in September 2018.

Ineos Styrolution is the largest GPPS supplier to Russia.

European material accounted for 47% of the total GPPS shipments onver the stated period versus 40% in September 2018.

Styrolution's GPPS shipments to the Russian market more than doubled in the first three quarters of 2019, totalling 9,900 tonnes, compared to 4,200 tonnes a year earlier.
MRC