PTTCG America expects pandemic to delay final go-ahead for Ohio project

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PTTGC America expects fallout from the coronavirus pandemic to further delay its final investment decision to launch major construction on a petrochemical complex in southeast Ohio, reported S&P Global with reference to the company's statement in an email Wednesday.

"We do believe FID will be impacted by the health crisis, but at this point it is difficult to predict how," the company said on Wednesday. "The companies are doing all they can to reach FID as quickly as possible, but as you know, there are things out of their control."

PTTGC America and its partner, Daelim Chemical USA, "would begin construction pretty much immediately after FID," the company said.

PTTGC, the US arm of Thailand's PTT Global Chemical, has repeatedly delayed FID for the project, with the latest timeline targeting the first half of 2020. The companies received a necessary permit in December 2018 from Ohio's Environmental Protection Agency, and the FID delays allowed more time to evaluate engineering designs, and site preparation work began in mid-2019.

The companies said in February that preparation work was completed, and activity would be "significantly reduced" for the next two to three months as financing and supply agreements were finalized.

The project includes a 1.5 million mt/year ethane cracker and four derivative polyethylene plants with a combined capacity of 1.6 million mt/year in Shadyside, Ohio.

The new complex would be part of a second wave of new petrochemical projects fueled by cheap feedstocks and the second in the US Northeast, home to the Marcellus and Utica natural gas shale plays. The first wave involved eight crackers and 13 PE plants, most of which have come online.

However, the pandemic has prompted some projects, including Shell's USD6 billion complex in southwest Pennsylvania, to suspend construction work. Such projects bring hundreds of contractors to sites, and social distancing measures deemed necessary to combat the spread of the pandemic would be difficult to maintain during such work.

Shell in March said the company temporarily suspended work at the complex, and would consider a phased construction ramp-up after imposing additional mitigation measures aligned with US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.

Other projects that have stopped or slowed work include FG LA's "Sunshine Project" involving two new 1.2 million mt/year crackers and four new PE plants with a combined 1.6 million mt/year capacity; LyondellBasell's new USD2.4 billion propylene oxide/tertiary butyl alcohol plant east of Houston; and NOVA Chemicals' new 454,000 mt/year PE facility and cracker expansion in Ontario.

As MRC informed earlier, PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC) fully restarted its No. 2 cracker in Map Ta Phut in early March,2020, after a planned turnaround. The company started resuming operations at the cracker by end-February, 2020. The cracker was shut for maintenance on January 20, 2020. Located at Map Ta Phut, Thailand, the No. 2 cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 400,000 mt/year. The company also operates No. 1 cracker at the same site with a capacity of 515,000 tonnes of ethylene and 310,000 tonnes of propylene per year, which was also shut on 23 January, 2020, for a 40-day turnaround.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, estimated PE consumption totalled 383,760 tonnes in the first two month of 2020, up by 14% year on year. High density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments increased due to the increased capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 192,760 tonnes in January-February 2020, down by 6% year on year. Homopolymer PP accounted for the main decrease in imports.

PTT Global Chemical is a leading player in the petrochemical industry and owns several petrochemical facilities with a combined capacity of 8.45 million tonnes a year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Well Resources Inc., a Canadian company that focuses on green and clean technology development and process licensing in the petroleum sector, announced the commissioning of a 300,000 metric tons per year (7,500 bbl/d) Ionikylation unit at Sinopec’s Wuhan refinery, which is the world’s first commercial scale revamp from a hydrogen fluoride (HF) based alkylation process, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

According to refinery personnel, the unit was commissioned on January 21, 2020 and has been operating at reduced capacity due to decreased fuel demand as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Traditional acid-based alkylation processes use either HF or sulfuric acid (H2SO4) to catalyze the reaction of C4 molecules into high octane C8 molecules, or alkylate, for gasoline blending. HF can form a toxic ground-hugging vapor cloud if accidentally released into the atmosphere, and both HF and H2SO4 are corrosive and dangerous when handled in large quantities. Acid-based alkylation technologies require exotic metallurgies for process equipment and also need costly safety systems to protect refinery personnel and the public.

Ionikylation, a composite ionic liquid catalyzed alkylation process, is an inherently safe process that uses a proprietary non-aqueous liquid salt to facilitate the alkylation reaction. The Ionikylation catalyst is non-hazardous and non-corrosive, allowing all process equipment to be manufactured using low cost carbon steel. The Ionikylation catalyst is regenerated within the process under moderate operating conditions, which provides added benefits of emissions reductions compared to alternative technologies. Ionikylation outperforms traditional acid-based alkylation technologies on both cost and product quality measures.

“We are delighted that Ionikylation was the technology of choice when Sinopec Wuhan decided to revamp their existing HF alkylation unit, which was one of the last two operating HF alkylation units in China,” said Warren Chung, President of Well Resources Inc. “The switch to the new technology was a no-brainer, especially considering the mounting safety and regulatory costs and underlying risks associated with the aging HF unit.”

Since 2015, a series of high-profile refinery explosions in California, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania have raised the alarm over using HF in refinery operations near densely populated urban centres. North American regulators and local groups have called on refiners to examine their options for mitigating the risks of aging HF alkylation units. Refiners in Asia-Pacific have already embraced Ionikylation as the safe and sustainable alkylation technology of the future.

Ionikylation was first demonstrated in 2005 when PetroChina retrofitted an existing 65,000 tpy H2SO4 alkylation unit at its Lanzhou refinery. In 2013, Chinese independent refiner Deyang Chemical Co. Ltd. constructed the first greenfield 100,000 tpy Ionikylation unit. Recently, PetroChina commissioned a 150,000 tpy Ionikylation unit at its Harbin refinery and a 50,000 tpy Ionikylation unit at its Golmud Refinery. Prior to commissioning the 300,000 tpy Ionikylation unit at the Wuhan refinery, Sinopec commissioned a similar capacity unit at its Jiujiang refinery.

Well Resources Inc. is the global licensor of Ionikylation, and is proud to offer this technology to refiners that share its commitment to safety and environmental protection.

As MRC informed earlier, Sinopec Maoming Petrochemical Corporation, part of Sinopec Corporation, has decided to bring forward the maintenance shutdown at its petrochemical complex in Guangdong by one month. The company reschedules the overhaul of the entire complex to the second half of April 2020. Thus, the following plants are going to be shut: high denisty polyethylene (HDPE) plant with a capacity of 350,000 mt/year (for 60 days), low density polyethylene (LDPE) plant with a capacity of 250,000 mt/year (for 60 days) and polypropylene (PP) plants with a combined capacity of 900,000 mt/year (for 40 days). Maoming Petrochemical is one of the major LDPE suppliers in the local Chinese market.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, estimated PE consumption totalled 383,760 tonnes in the first two month of 2020, up by 14% year on year. High density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments increased due to the increased capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 192,760 tonnes in January-February 2020, down by 6% year on year. Homopolymer PP accounted for the main decrease in imports.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Aramco said on Wednesday it has not made any offers of extended payment terms to crude oil sales to refiners, contrary to an earlier report by Reuters.

"Contrary to a recent media report, Aramco has not made any offers of extended payment terms to crude oil sales," Saudi Arabia’s national oil company said in a statement.

Reuters reported earlier that Aramco has offered oil refineries in Asia and Europe the option to defer payments for crude cargo deliveries by up to 90 days as plants struggle with shrinking demand, according to refining industry sources.

As MRC informed before, Saudi Aramco will continue reducing operations at its local refineries in April and May to boost the state energy company’s potential to export crude oil, a company official said in March.

We also remind that in October 2019, McDermott International announced that it had been awarded a contract by Saudi Aramco and Total Raffinage Chimie (Total) for their joint venture (JV) Amiral steam cracker project at Jubail, Saudi Arabia. Amiral is a JV in which Aramco holds 62.5% and Total the rest. The plant, designed to produce 1.5 million metric tons/year (MMt/y) of ethylene, will be one of the world's largest mixed-feed crackers.

Aramco and Total launched their USD5-billion Amiral JV project in October 2018. The steam cracker will be fed with a mixture of 50% ethane and refinery off-gases. It will supply ethylene to a downstream 1 MMt/y polyethylene manufacturing complex and other petrochemical products. The project aims to fully exploit operational synergies with the adjacent refinery, owned by Satorp, another JV between Aramco and Total. Third-party investors, including Daelim and Ineos, will locate plants at the value park adjacent to Amiral with a combined investment of USD4 billion. A final investment decision is expected in 2021.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, estimated PE consumption totalled 383,760 tonnes in the first two month of 2020, up by 14% year on year. High density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments increased due to the increased capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 192,760 tonnes in January-February 2020, down by 6% year on year. Homopolymer PP accounted for the main decrease in imports.

Saudi Aramco is an integrated oil and chemicals company, a global leader in hydrocarbon production, refining processes and distribution, as well as one of the largest global oil exporters. It manages proven reserves of crude oil and condensate estimated at 261.1bn barrels, and produces 9.54 million bbl daily. Headquartered in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, the company employs over 61,000 staff in 77 countries.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- US crude oil stockpiles rose by 19 million barrels last week, the biggest one-week increase in history, the US Energy Information Administration said, as refiners throttled back activity due to slumping demand as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, reported Reuters.

The build in the week to April 10 was much larger than the Reuters poll calling for a 11.7 million-barrel rise and offsets some of the optimism that had bloomed as a result of a worldwide pact between oil producers to cut output sharply. Crude futures slumped on the news.

"Even though we knew it was going to be bad, it’s worse than people thought," said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago. "You look at gasoline demand and it’s pathetic. If you were going to write a nightmare report about petroleum, this is it."

Worldwide fuel demand has dropped by roughly 30% as businesses have shuttered, and residents avoid public gatherings and travel due to the pandemic, which has killed more than 130,000 people and infected 2 million. Most US states have issued orders asking people to stay at home; gasoline demand over the last four weeks has dropped by 32% from the year-ago period, EIA said.

Refiners have responded by cutting crude purchases and processing; they were operating at 69% of capacity nationwide, their lowest since September 2008, and their actions to counter weak demand is rippling through pipeline companies and oil producers. The latter are being forced to cut production, as some pipeline companies have said they cannot ship oil unless it has a proven destination.

Storage, meanwhile, continues to fill. Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub for U.S. crude futures rose by 5.7 million barrels last week, the EIA said, and now total 55 million barrels. The hub has about 76 million barrels of capacity, and could be full by mid-May, pipeline companies have said.

Crude prices dropped on the news, with US crude down 2.3% to USD19.69 a barrel as of 10:48 a.m. ET (1448 GMT) and Brent down 6.8% to USD27.60 a barrel.

Refinery crude runs fell by 969,000 barrels per day (bpd) in the last week, EIA said. Refinery utilization rates fell by 6.5 percentage points on the week.

US gasoline stocks rose by 4.9 million barrels in the week to record high at 262.2 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with expectations for a 6.4 million-barrel rise.

Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 6.3 million barrels in the week to 129 million barrels, versus expectations for a 1.4 million-barrel rise, the EIA data showed.

Net US crude imports fell last week by 797,000 bpd last week, EIA said.

As MRC informed preivously, Exxon Mobil Corp operates it 502,500 barrel-per-day Baton Rouge, Louisiana, refinery at low capacity utilisation as poor demand has pushed up inventories and filled storage tanks. The number of contract workers at the Baton Rouge refinery was cut by 1,800 people as Exxon begun informing service companies of planned spending cuts. The refinery’s production was cut to about 440,000 bpd, the sources said.

We 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, which has a capacity of more than 800,000 t/y.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 383,760 tonnes in the first two month of 2020, up by 14% year on year. High density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments increased due to the increased capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 192,760 tonnes in January-February 2020, down by 6% year on year. Homopolymer PP accounted for the main decrease in imports.

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) -- SIBUR, Russia’s largest integrated petrochemicals company, and Netkanika, a major manufacturer of high-quality nonwoven materials, agreed to expand cooperation to provide the healthcare industry with high quality single-use personal protective equipment, said the company.

SIBUR undertakes to deliver the polypropylene grade for medicinal and hygienic use in the quantities required to fully utilise Netkanika’s capacities. This grade is perfectly suited for the production of nonwoven fabric, which is light-weight and low density (g/cm2), and at the same time durable, soft and air permeable. End products made of polypropylene-based multilayer nonwowen fabrics are characterised by a high bacterial filtration rate, air permeability and fluid resistance. Polypropylene for medicinal and hygienic use is produced at several SIBUR’s sites, including ZapSibNeftekhim.

Netkanika has quickly adjusted its production lines and production plan to maximise the output of materials used for disposable personal protective equipment such as medical masks and overalls for hospital workers.

The companies are also considering the ways to expand Netkanika’s production capacities to meet current and future demand in the healthcare industry. As part of this initiative, the partners are negotiating a long-term cooperation programme providing for SIBUR's supply of feedstock to Netkanika on favourable terms in order to speed up the potential return on investment.

Sergey Komyshan, member of the Management Board and Executive Director at SIBUR, said: "In response to the shortage of single use personal protective equipment in the market amid the pandemic we are prepared to diversify our product range to the maximum extent possible, increase the output of polypropylene grades for medical products, and boost supplies to manufacturers serving the healthcare industry. It is important to note that, apart from serving as components of protective medical devices, SIBUR’s polymers and organic synthesis products (such as polypropylene, polyethylene, PET, PVC and ethylene oxide) are widely used for the production of test tubes, drips, blister packs, disinfectants, and medical equipment. Therefore, supplying the healthcare sector is our priority.”

Rifkat Galimzyanov, General Manager of Netkanika, said: "Today, we are entirely focused on providing a steady supply of nonwoven materials to our clients that manufacture disposable personal protective equipment, including medical masks and wear, baby and adult hygiene products. Due to a demand spike there is a shortage of such materials in the market, which we are prepared to mitigate by engaging additional production capacities."

As MRC informed earlier, in connection with the coronavirus pandemic, ZapSibNeftekhim (part of SIBUR Holding) has increased the production of polypropylene grades that are used in the manufacture of non-woven medical masks, blisters for medicines, medical equipment, supplies, and packaging.

According to MRC's DataScope, ZapSibNeftekhim produced about 38,000 tonnes of polypropylene in February versus 40,900 tonnes in January. In the first two months of this year, the total output amounted to 78,900 tonnes.

MRC