Neste to start using wind power at its production sites in Finland

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Neste is committed to lowering its carbon footprint in production ahead of the EU’s climate and energy targets. One concrete example of Neste’s climate work is its new long-term agreement on wind power with a leading clean-energy company Fortum, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

“We are in the business of reducing emissions and accelerating circularity in society. As part of our strategy, we have set two ambitious climate targets. In addition to offering renewable and circular solutions to our customers, we are also committed to reducing the carbon footprint of our own production. Investments in renewable energy are one part of this. We have been collaborating with Fortum for years and this first wind power agreement will only deepen our partnership,” says Neste’s President and CEO Peter Vanacker.

Neste is to purchase approximately 70% of production at the Kalax wind farm, currently under construction in Narpes, Ostrobothnia, with a 12 year contract. The total capacity of the agreement is more than 60 MW, and the energy produced will correspond to around 20% of the electricity consumption at the Neste Porvoo and Naantali sites. The wind power deliveries are expected to begin in early 2021.

Wind power does not generate emissions to air, land or water. The shift to wind power will reduce the indirect carbon dioxide emissions of electricity purchases at Neste’s production sites annually by approximately 40 kilotons.

As MRC informed earlier, Neste Oyj and Borealis Polymers Oy, in co-operation with the energy companies Fortum Power and Heat Oy, Helen Oy, Vantaan Energia Oy and Porvoon Energia Oy - Borga Energi Ab, will conduct a preliminary study on recovering and utilizing excess heat generated at the Neste and Borealis industrial manufacturing facilities in Kilpilahti.

As MRC wrote before, in March 2018, Borealis and United Chemical Company LLP (UCC) signed a Joint Development Agreement (JDA) for the development of a world-scale polyethylene project, integrated with an ethane cracker, in the Republic of Kazakhstan.

In October 2019, Borealis AG lifted a force majeure declared early last month at its production site in Kallo, the company has confirmed to PNE. On 2 Sep, the company declared force majeure on refinery grade propylene and propane from its production site in Kallo, Belgium, as a consequence of “unforeseen technical issues."

Borealis produces polypropylene at the Burghausen site.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, 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.

Neste (NESTE, Nasdaq Helsinki) creates sustainable solutions for transport, business, and consumer needs. The company's wide range of renewable products enable our customers to reduce climate emissions. The company is the world's largest producer of renewable diesel refined from waste and residues, introducing renewable solutions also to the aviation and plastics industries. It is also a technologically advanced refiner of high-quality oil products.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Motiva Enterprises LLC, a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of the Saudi Aramco, completed the restart of the large crude distillation unit (CDU) and Naphtha Processing Complex (NPC) at its 607,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas refinery, reported Reuters with reference to sources familiar with plant operations.

The 325,000 bpd VPS-5 CDU and the NPC were shut on Sept. 4 as part of a multi-unit overhaul at the refinery, the sources said. VPS-5 and the 85,000 Catalytic Reforming Unit-5 (CRU-5) in the NPC were the last units to restart from the overhaul.

As MRC informed before, Motiva Enterprises 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.

Besides, Motiva Enterprises has recently 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.

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.

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) -- ExRobotics B.V., a Netherlands-based developer of robotics technology for hazardous environments, and Yokogawa Electric Corporation, a global provider of industrial automation, control, and measurement technology, announce the signing of a licensing agreement that will enable Yokogawa to sell and deploy ExRobotics’ inspection robot hardware and software platforms worldwide, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

ExRobotics was established in 2017 to commercialize robotics technology for use in the potentially explosive atmospheres found at oil and gas production and processing facilities, which are often in remote locations with harsh environments. Even on normally unmanned facilities, a human presence is generally still needed for regular inspection work, so deploying robots can have a significant positive impact on worker safety by minimizing worker field trips, which in turn reduces operating costs.

Equipment operating in these hazardous environments must have IECEx1 Zone 1 certification, and the ExRobotics ExR-1 was the first commercially available robot of its kind to meet the stringent requirements. It can be equipped with a range of sensors and cameras, has 4G LTE wireless network capabilities, and can be monitored and operated from a laptop, tablet, or smartphone by an operator located in a safe control room anywhere in the world. The robot is certified at a module level, which allows for customized configurations. It also has optional modules for gas detection and autonomous navigation.

Under the agreement, Yokogawa will leverage its customer base and global sales and service network to introduce the ExR-1 and future ExRobotics products to offshore and onshore oil and gas production facilities where inspections by humans should be minimized, as well as large refineries and chemical plants.

Ian Peerless, operations director at ExRobotics, commented that, “Together with Yokogawa we are able to speed up the implementation of this new technology and create a safer working environment for operators whilst improving our customers’ financial performance."

Hiroshi Tanoguchi, head of the Lifecycle Service Business Division at Yokogawa, added, “We see huge demand from customers for service solutions that can address the safety, environmental, and economic issues they are facing in the field. The technology approach of ExRobotics, a co-member of the SPRINT Robotics Collaborative*2, meshes perfectly with Yokogawa’s vision for a robotics services platform. We look forward to building on this initial agreement to explore opportunities for collaboration on advanced solutions in the future."

As MRC informed earlier, Yokogawa Electric Corporation announced that it has been selected by ExxonMobil to be the Open Process Automation (OPA) system integrator responsible for establishing the company’s OPA Test Bed.

As MRC reported before, in October 2017, ExxonMobil Chemical Company commenced production on the first of two new 650,000 tons-per-year high-performance polyethylene (PE) lines at its plastics plant in Mont Belvieu, Texas. The full project, part of the company’s multi-billion dollar expansion project in the Baytown area and ExxonMobil’s broader Growing the Gulf expansion initiative, will increase the plant’s polyethylene capacity by approximately 1.3 million tons per year.

MRC reported, that ExxonMobil Corp (XOM.N) began shutting its 369,024 barrel-per-day (bpd) crude oil refinery in Beaumont, Texas, on Thursday morning because of flooding from Tropical Storm Imeld.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption was 1,081,100 tonnes in the first half of 2019, up by 8% year on year. Deliveries of all PE grades increased. Meanwhile, 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.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A fire in a canal carrying waste from Iran’s Abadan oil refinery was brought under control, reported Reuters with reference to state media.

"The refinery’s fire department contained the fire and prevented it from spreading to other units," state broadcaster IRIB said on its website.

As MRC informed before, Iran was racing to step up exports of petrochemicals and tap new markets to compensate for sliding oil sales, Iranian and international industry sources said in June 2019, but now risks losing that crucial revenue as Washington tightens the screw on sanctions.

According to MRC's DataScope report, overall imports of general purpose polystyrene (GPPS) and high impact polystyrene (HIPS) from Iran to Russia rose in the first nine months of 2019 by 98% year on year to 5,500 tonnes.
GPPS and HIPS imports from Iran totalled 2,800 tonnes in January-September 2018.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF is to have six board members, effective 1 January, instead of seven as part of its cost-cutting programme, said the company.

Hong Kong-based Sanjeev Gandhi, responsible for Asia-Pacific and for the Petrochemicals and Intermediates divisions, is to leave the board on 31 December. Gandhi will leave the company “at his own request”, according to BASF.

“In addition as part of the ongoing reorganisation, the cross-functional service units Global Engineering Services, Global Digital Services and Global Business Services will provide end-to-end services worldwide,” it said.

The German major said in June it was due to cut 6,000 jobs worldwide as part of its cost-cutting programme. That represents nearly 5% of its 122,000 employees, of which nearly 56,000 are based in Germany.

The company did not clarify, however, the jurisdictions in which it was aiming to reduce its workforce.

As of 1 January, BASF’s board will be formed by: - Martin Brudermuller, CEO and chief technology officer (CTO).
- Hans-Ulrich Engel, CFO.
- Saori Dubourg, in charge of Agricultural Solutions; Care Chemicals; Nutrition & Health; Construction Chemicals (soon to be divested); Bioscience Research; Region Europe. In a company with an unequal gender balance (see bottom graph), Dubourg will be the only woman sitting on the board.
- Michael Heinz, Industrial Relations Director, in charge of Global Engineering Services; Corporate Environmental Protection, Health & Safety; European Site & Verbund Management; Region South America.
- Markus Kamieth, based in Asia and in charge of Catalysts; Coatings; Dispersions & Pigments; Performance Chemicals; Advanced Materials & Systems Research; BASF New Business; Greater China; South & East Asia, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Australia/New Zealand.
- Wayne T Smith, based in North America and in charge of Monomers; Performance Materials; Petrochemicals; Intermediates; Market & Business Development, Site & Verbund Management North America; Country Platforms North America; Process Research & Chemical Engineering.

As MRC informed earlier, BASF would expand the capacity of ethylene oxide and ethylene oxide derivatives at its Verbund site in Antwerp, Belgium. The total investment adds about 400 000 tpy to BASF’s production capacity for the corresponding products with an expected investment amount exceeding EUR500 million.

Ethylene is a feedstock for producing polyethylene (PE).

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.

BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries.
MRC