ClearSign receives engineering order from ExxonMobil

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ClearSign Combustion Corporation, an emerging leader in industrial combustion technologies that improve energy and operational efficiency while dramatically reducing emissions, has announced that the company has received a Purchase Order from ExxonMobil to perform early engineering and installation planning regarding a trial installation of the company’s ClearSign Core process burners at one of their Gulf Coast refineries, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

This order is the next step in the process for the Company to showcase ClearSign Core technology’s best-in-classNOx emissions and for ExxonMobil to assess applicability across its process heater fleet. The engineering follows the previously announced qualification program that the Company performed at their State-of-the-Art Seattle R&D facility. That testing was an evaluation over a broad range of typical conditions, including variations in fuel heating values, turndown, and excess air.

"We are delighted and encouraged by this highly significant order, and the ongoing engagement and interest from ExxonMobil," said Jim Deller, Ph.D, CEO of ClearSign. "This engineering order is one of the final steps prior to qualifying our ClearSign Core process burner technology for use in an ExxonMobil refinery, and is a significant milestone for our company in the process of demonstrating our technology with a supermajor at their facility. This is a culmination of months of thorough evaluation and coordination between our team and the Research and Engineering team at ExxonMobil. The specific site and location has been selected and we look forward to continuing to support ExxonMobil’s evaluation of our ClearSign Core technology."

As MRC informed before, in September 2019, ExxonMobil announced plans to spend GBP140 million over the next two years in an additional investment program at its Fife ethylene plant, which has a capacity of more than 800,000 t/y.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,589,580 tonnes in the first nine months of 2019, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 976,790 tonnes in January-September 2019, up by 4% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.

ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world's oil and about 2% of the world's energy.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine supported on 12 November banning the sale of plastic bags up to 50 microns thick and oxo-biodegradable plastic bags in Ukraine from 1 January, 2022 iin its first reading the bill No. 2051-1 of nine deputies of the “Servant of the People” coalition faction, according to Interfax-Ukraine.

For the adoption of such a decision, 365 deputies voted on Tuesday with the required minimum of 226 votes. "Biodegradable bags are the main alternative to plastic bags in the world. However, insufficient legislative regulation in Ukraine has led to a conflict when consumers are misled, believing that the bag they buy does not harm the environment," the explanatory note to the document said.

According to the document, the ban does not apply to ultralight bags (up to 15 microns thick) up to 225 mm wide (without side folds), up to 345 mm deep (with side folds) and up to 450 (with handles) long, used as primary packaging for fresh fish, meat and products from them, bulk products and ice. It also will not touch on biodegradable packages, however, the bill provides for their mandatory labeling in accordance with the National Standard DSTU EN 14995: 2018, DSTU EN 13432: 2015.

The bill provides for the introduction of fines for the sale of plastic bags or oxo-degradable bags under the guise of bio-packages, as well as for inclineation to purchase them in the amount of 100 to 200 tax-free minimum incomes of citizens (nmdg, now 17 UAH - IF), with repeated violation - from 200 up to 500 nmdg.

The authors in the explanatory noted that Ukraine has the necessary capacities for the production of bio-packages, but there is no demand for them yet.

As MRC reported, a group of 60 deputies of the Verkhovna Rada of the last convocation in January this year already registered a similar bill (No. 9057), which implied a gradual refusal to sell plastic bags from 1 January, 2021, but this document was not even included on the agenda.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A hydrotreater and reformer were operating normally on Monday after being restarted late last week at Motiva Enterprises’ 607,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas, refinery, reported Reuters with reference to sources familiar with plant operations.

Motiva declined to comment.

The 49,000-bpd Catalytic Reforming Unit 4 (CRU 4) was restarted on Friday and the 32,000-bpd Hydrotreating Unit 3 (HTU 3) was restarted on Saturday following unplanned shutdowns last Thursday, the sources said.

As MRC informed before, in September 2019, Motiva Enterprises signed an agreement to buy the Flint Hills Resources' cracker and chemical plant adjacent to its Port Arthur, Texas, oil refinery, kicking off a push into petrochemicals.

Besides, Motiva Enterprises LLC is evaluating opportunities to build a new polyethylene (PE) line within its proposed steam cracker and aromatics project in Jefferson County, Texas. The new PE capacity will be located at the company’s Port Arthur Refinery Complex in Jefferson County, Texas. The planned capacity of the unit was not specified, while the value of the project is reportedly estimated at around USD3.1 billion. The construction is expected to commence by the four quarter of 2020, with completion is estimated in the last quarter of 2024.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,589,580 tonnes in the first nine months of 2019, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 976,790 tonnes in January-September 2019, up by 4% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.

Motiva Enterprises, LLC, is a fully owned affiliate of Saudi Refining Inc. and headquartered in Houston, Texas, United States with revenue of USD24 billion. Previously, it was a 50–50 joint venture between Shell Oil Company (the wholly owned American subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell) and Saudi Refining Inc. (controlled by Saudi Aramco).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Royal Dutch Shell Plc is finishing a planned multi-unit overhaul as it begins restarting the large crude distillation unit (CDU) at its 340,000 barrel-per-day joint-venture Deer Park, Texas, refinery, said sources familiar with plant operations, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The 270,000 bpd DU-2 CDU was shut on Sept. 23 at the start of the multi-unit overhaul planned to last for about two months, the sources said.

Shell spokesman Ray Fisher said planned work was still underway at the Deer Park refinery, which is a joint-venture between Shell and Mexico’s national oil company Petroleos Mexicanos.

In addition to DU-2, Shell shut the 92,000 bpd coker, the 67,000 bpd hydrocracker and 40,900 bpd gas oil hydrotreater along with several other units.

The gas oil hydrotreater restarted on Tuesday. The hydrocracker is preparing to restart along with DU-2. The coker will restart along with the CDU or shortly after it, the sources said.

DU-2 is the larger of two CDUs doing the primary breakdown of crude oil into hydrocarbon feedstocks for all other production units at the refinery.

The coker converts residual crude oil from distillation units into feedstocks for motor fuels or petroleum coke, a coal substitute. Hydrocrackers use hydrogen under high pressure and high heat with a catalyst to convert gas oil into motor fuels, primarily hydrogen. Hydrotreaters remove sulfur from motor fuels in compliance with U.S. environmental rules.

As MRC wrote before, in mid-October 2019, Royal Dutch Shell Plc 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, the sources said.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,589,580 tonnes in the first nine months of 2019, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 976,790 tonnes in January-September 2019, up by 4% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.

Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Polief is not expected to resume terephthalic acid (PTA) production by the end of November, as per ICIS-MRC Price Report.

Because of this Russian producers do not want to cut spot prices, and even slightly increased them. However, there were no signals of a possible shortage of Russian-made PET. Contract buyers continued to receive Russian material on average at Rb75,000-78,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT.

Spot prices from Russian producers were in the range of Rb82,000-88,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT.

Earlier it was reported about an accident at Polief, which happened on 9 October. Due to the collapse of the concrete tank, about 8 tonnes of untreated sewage spilled onto the territory of the plant and adjacent. A criminal case has been instituted on this fact regarding a violation of the rules for the treatment of environmentally hazardous substances and wastes. Investigation preliminary estimates environmental damage at 44 million roubles.

As MRC previously reported Polief plant suspended sales in the spot market after force majeure and focused on fulfilling of contractual obligations.

Polief launched the production of terephthalic acid (PTA) in Blagoveshchensk in September. The modernisation of the production of terephthalic acid (PTA) at Polyef was completed in mid-August. The volume of consumption of PTA in the Russian market is about 500,000 tonnes per year. Thus, the reconstruction of the existing production at Polief with an increase in the production capacity of the product from 272,000 tonnes to 350,000 tonnes per year will significantly replace imports. SIBUR began the reconstruction of the production of PTA in Blagoveshchensk in December 2017.

Polief JSC (Blagoveshchensk, Republic of Bashkortostan) is the only producer of terephthalic acid and the largest supplier of polyethylene terephthalate in Russia. The capacity for the production of PTA after modernisation is 350,000 tonnes per year, PET - 219,000 tonnes per year.
MRC