HollyFrontier to build biodiesel plant

MOSCOW (MRC) -- US refiner HollyFrontier Corp said it would build a biodiesel plant in New Mexico to lower costs related to blending renewable fuels and announced a USD1 billion share buyback program, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Oil companies, including refiners, have to blend increasing amounts of renewable fuels with their petroleum products or purchase credits, known as Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs), to meet US biofuel requirements.

The company’s RIN costs totaled USD184 million in 2018.

HollyFrontier plans to build the plant at its Artesia refinery to process soybean oil and other feedstocks into biodiesel, with production capacity of about 125 million gallons a year.

The plant, along with rail infrastructure and storage tanks, is expected to cost USD350 million and will be funded with cash on hand.

The project, which is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2022, will generate an internal rate of return of between 20% and 30%, the company said.

The buyback replaces all existing share repurchase authorizations, of which there was about USD281 million remaining, the company said.

HollyFrontier had on Friday said it would bring in its former Chief Executive Officer Michael Jennings to replace George Damiris, who will retire at the end of the year.

As MRC informed before, a fire at HollyFrontier Corp’s 39,330 barrel-per-day (bpd) Woods Cross, Utah, refinery was extinguished by noon MST(1900 GMT), on 13 January 2019. HollyFrontier spokesman Craig Biery said then all employees and contractors were accounted for and safe at the refinery 10 miles (16 km) north of Salt Lake City.
MRC

Gazprom Neft developing high-tech bitumen production technologies

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Gazpromneft Bitumen Materials, operator of the Gazprom Neft bitumens business, has signed a Cooperation Agreement with the Transport and Construction Complex Research Institute on developing effective formulations for high-tech bitumen binders, and using these in roadbuilding, under an agreement signed by Dmitry Orlov, General Director, Gazpromneft Bitumen Materials, and Evgeny Simchuk, General Director of the Transport and Construction Complex Research Institute, said the company.

The parties have agreed to develop a roadmap directed at improving efficiency in using bitumen materials in building and operating transport infrastructure facilities. This partnership is expected to involve a series of R&D and pilot operations at the Gazprom Neft Science and Technology Centre in Ryazan, as well as at the Institute’s own research centre. Based on this work, current technical standards and methodologies for testing bitumen materials will be updated, in line with the needs of Russia’s roadbuilding industry.

The agreement also envisages the parties collaborating in developing new innovative formulations for bitumens and asphalt mixes, using cutting-edge technological solutions in line with current regulatory, environmental and safety standards. In order to monitor effectiveness in using bitumen materials a progressive oversight system will be put forward for monitoring the operating conditions and status of highways and motorway test-sections.

As MRC informed earlier, Gazprom Neft and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) have entered into a Framework Agreement on Strategic Cooperation. 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.

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

Gazpromneft Bitumen Materials is a subsidiary of Gazprom Neft, specialising in the production and sale of bitumen products. The company currently holds a leading position on the Russian bitumens market.

The company’s key production facilities are based in the Moscow, Omsk, Yaroslavl, Smolensk, Rostov and Ryazan Oblasts, as well as in Serbia and Kazakhstan. The company produces road, construction and roofing bitumens, as well as polymer-modified bitumens (PMBs) and binders (specifically G-Way Styrelf), and a range of bitumen derivatives (mastic compounds, sealants, bridging tapes and more). The company established a dedicated bitumens Science and Technology Centre in 2016, which has since become the first such organisation among Russia’s vertically integrated oil companies offering technological support to the bitumens business. The company is constantly developing new formulations, and further improving technology in the production of innovative binders.
MRC

Petroperu seeks state funds to complete expansion of Talara refinery

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Peruvian state-owned oil firm Petroperu is seeking as much as USD1.5 billion of government funding to complete expansion of its Talara refinery, the company’s president Carlos Paredes said at a press conference, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Paredes said the funds - USD1 billion rolling over previously issued bonds and $500 million in “fresh” financing - would help the facility start operation in the first quarter of 2021.

As MRC informed earlier, Peru’s state-owned energy company will halt operations at its flagship oil refinery Talara for about a year starting in November. Talara will halt operations to complete a USD5 billion expansion project, the company said. Petroperu said it plans to import fuel in that period to ensure demand is met in the Andean country of about 30 million people. It did not specify what kind of fuel it would import.

Peru is a net oil importer. Petroperu said Peru’s fuel imports will fall significantly once the expansion is complete, which it estimated would happen at the end of 2020.
MRC

ExxonMobil lets contract for UK refinery upgrade

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil Corp. has let a contract to Fluor Corp. for a series of services related to the operator’s previously announced expansion project to increase production of ultralow-sulfur diesel by nearly 45% at affiliate Esso Petroleum Co. Ltd.’s (EPCL) 270,000-b/d Fawley refinery near Southampton, UK, reported Oil&Gas Journal.

Following its completion of front-end engineering design for the expansion - now known as the Fawley Strategy (FAST) project - Fluor will provide engineering, procurement, fabrication, and construction on a reimbursable basis for the project, the service provider said.

Specifically, Fluor’s scope of work on the project includes design and construction of a new diesel hydrotreater and steam methane-reforming hydrogen plant as well as modifications to unidentified existing installations at the Fawley site.

With EPCL now granted planning permission from local regulatory authority the New Forest District Council Engineering, Fluor said it is currently leading engineering and procurement for the FAST project out of its Farnborough office in the UK.

Construction activities on the FAST expansion are scheduled to start by yearend.

Fluor disclosed neither a value nor duration of the contract.

The contract award follows ExxonMobil’s April final investment decision to proceed with the more than USD1-billion expansion project, which intends to help reduce the need to import diesel into the UK by adding a hydrotreating unit to remove sulfur from fuel, supported by a hydrogen plant that, combined, will also help improve the refinery’s overall energy efficiency.

In addition to logistics improvements, the project will increase ultralow-sulfur diesel production at the site by 38,000 b/d.

Pending regulatory approval, the FAST project is targeted for start-up in 2021.

Situated on the western side of Southampton Water, the Fawley refinery - the UK’s largest - features a mile-long marine terminal that annually handles about 2,000 ship movements and 22 million tonnes of crude and other products.

ExxonMobil previously said the Fawley expansion project comes as part of the company’s broader plans to increase earnings potential of its global downstream business by 2025.

As MRC wrote previously, on 24 September 2019, ExxonMobil Corp shut its 369,024 barrel-per-day (bpd) crude oil refinery in Beaumont, Texas, because of flooding from Tropical Storm Imelda. Exxon earlier that day shut the Beaumont chemical plant, which adjoins the refinery. The company operates a cracker with a capacity of 830,000 mt of ethylene and 195,000 mt of proplyelen per year, low density polyethylene (LDPE) plant with a capacity of 236,000 mt per year and linear low density polyethylene plant with a capacity of 727,000 tonnes per year.

We also remind that 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 (UK), which has a capacity of more than 800,000 t/y.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and 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

DSM to launch engineering plastics using 25% bio-based/recycled material

MOSCOW (MRC) -- DSM is pledging to offer a full alternative range of engineering plastics based on bio- and/or recycled materials by 2030, the company said.

The producer will offer a full portfolio of alternatives with at least 25% of the weight of the products made of recycled and/or bio-based material in line with consumer and legislative demands.

Different technologies including fermentation, mechanical recycling and mass balance accounting (which assesses how to allocate sustainable materials) of bio-based and/or chemically recycled feedstock.

Some of the new bio-based products were launched at K Trade Fair this year, which ran in Dusseldorf, Germany on 16-23 October.

DSM Engineering Plastics is launching bio-based grades of its Arnitel® and Stanyl® product portfolio manufactured via a mass-balancing approach of bio-based feedstock. The Stanyl bio-based grades are already available with the globally recognized sustainability certification ISCC Plus. Joost d’Hooghe, Vice President Polyamides at DSM Engineering Plastics said: “Our Arnitel and Stanyl bio-based alternatives will deliver the same functional performance as our conventional portfolio. This will enable our customers to easily shift to a more sustainable solution without having to requalify materials."

As MRC informed earlier, Royal DSM, a global science-based company in Nutrition, Health and Sustainable Living, announced the strengthening of its leadership in high-performance specialty polymers with the operational launch of a new production line for Arnitel in Emmen, the Netherlands.

Royal DSM is a global science-based company active in health, nutrition and materials. DSM delivers innovative solutions that nourish, protect and improve performance in global markets such as food and dietary supplements, personal care, feed, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, automotive, paints, electrical and electronics, life protection, alternative energy and bio-based materials.
MRC