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