Sasol alcohol unit at Lake Charles achieves beneficial operations

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sasol has announced that the Guerbet alcohol unit at the USD12.8-billion Lake Charles Chemicals Project (LCCP) in Louisiana achieved beneficial operations on 19 June 2020, as per the company's press release.

The 30,000-metric tons/year unit, the world’s largest such facility, is Sasol’s second Guerbet alcohol production unit, adding to its Brunsbuettel, Germany, plant.

This follows three days after achieving beneficial operations on the Ziegler alcohol unit, bringing the online capacity of LCCP’s specialty chemicals units to 100% and LCCP’s total online nameplate capacity to 86%. Sasol says the Ziegler and Guerbet alcohols expand its position of having the broadest integrated alcohols and surfactants portfolio in the world.

The LCCP Ziegler unit is an extension of the existing Ziegler plant at Lake Charles and is the largest of its kind in the world, adding nameplate capacity of 173,000 metric tons/year of alcohol and 32,000 metric tons/year of alumina. This addition strengthens Sasol’s significant economies of scale, the company says.

The only unit yet to be brought online at the Lake Charles complex, based on a 1.54-million metric tons/year ethane cracker, is a 420,000-metric tons/year low-density polyethylene plant, which was in the final stages of commissioning when it exploded on 13 January. It is expected to be back online by the end of September.

“The beneficial operations of the LCCP facilities progresses Sasol’s seven-unit US Gulf Coast mega project to the cusp of completion,” says Sasol president and CEO Fleetwood Grobler. “The additional capacity strengthens Sasol’s leadership position in the specialty alcohol and alumina markets, which is core to the company’s chemicals growth strategy.”

Brad Griffith, Sasol executive vice president/chemicals, says, “Our investment in Lake Charles - including the additional ethoxylation capacity that began operation in January 2020 - combined with the start-up of our new ethoxylation unit in Nanjing, China, in 2019, strengthens our existing asset base. With this expansive global footprint, we continue aligning our business with powerful global megatrends…These megatrends underpin our strategy of providing solutions to a growing and urbanizing middle class focused on health, hygiene, and sustainability.”

The Ziegler unit supplements Sasol's global production of alcohols and aluminas, adding to existing Ziegler capacity at both Lake Charles and Brunsbuettel. The additional alumina capacity from the Ziegler unit will enable Sasol to supply the increasing market demand for tailor-made, high-purity alumina products used in market applications such as catalysts, films, ceramics, and abrasives. The expansion will support growth of customers requiring Sasol’s alkoxide-based alumina products.

Sasol previously said that it plans to attract joint venture partners to the Lake Charles operations and has received offers from leading producers. Reports say the offers came from Ineos, CP Chem, and LyondellBasell.

As MRC reported earlier, Sasol's world-scale US ethane cracker with the capacity of 1.5 mln tonnes per year reached beneficial operation on 27 August 2019. Sasol’s new cracker, the heart of LCCP, is the third and most significant of the seven LCCP facilities to come online and will provide feedstock to our six new derivative units at the company's Lake Charles multi-asset site.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 721,290 tonnes in the first four month of 2020, up by 4% year on year. Low density polyethylene (LDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments grew partially because of the increased capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 347,440 tonnes in January-April 2020 (calculated by the formula production minus export plus import). Supply exclusively of PP random copolymer increased.

Sasol is an international integrated chemicals and energy company that leverages technologies and the expertise of our 31 270 people working in 32 countries. The company develops and commercialises technologies, and builds and operates world-scale facilities to produce a range of high-value product stream, including liquid fuels, petrochemicals and low-carbon electricity.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Plans to build a new gas-to-liquids (GTL) project in Oman between the government and Shell have been thrown into doubt by the global economic downturn, the sultanate's oil minister Mohammed AL-Rumhy has told S&P Global.

"We've decided to revisit the GTL with our partners Shell," said Rumhy in a June 11 interview. "We will see what is best for the project, and this work could take up to three months. So, by the third or fourth quarter we will make a final investment decision of some kind on the project. We'll see how it goes."

Shell didn't respond to request for comment. The oil major has been looking at building a GTL plant in Oman that would have a capacity of 40,000 b/d to ­45,000 b/d, and take its feedstock from the Mabrouk North East field that was discovered in March 2018. The field is thought to hold recoverable reserves of more than 4 TcF (112 Bcm) and 112 million barrels of condensate, according to semi-state owned Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), which discovered the field in its giant Block 6 concession.

Under a memorandum of understanding signed early 2019, Shell and Total committed to developing the upstream block, taking working interests of 75% and 25%, respectively. The objective was to achieve an initial gas production of around 500 million cubic feet per day (MMcfd) and a potential to reach 1 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d) at a later stage. As part of the agreement Shell was to build the GTL plant and Total a liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkering service for vessels calling at Sohar port.

"We are looking at upstream and downstream as a package and see how best to move forward," said Rumhy. "People will look into the FEED [front-end engineering and design] and cost element of it."

Developing GTL projects can prove challenging. For instance, Shell has previously built the 260,000 b/d Pearl GTL project in Qatar. Initially the project was estimated to cost USD5 billion, however this figure ballooned by the time it was completed in 2012, according to Shell.

Oman and Shell are not considering bringing on another partner for develop the GTL project, Rumhy said.

"Either the project is good, in terms of rate of return for the investors, and we go ahead, or not," said Rumhy. "It's not a question of raising capital, where bringing in a partner would solve that difficulty. It's very simple: is this a viable project or not under the new conditions? The pandemic has brought up new questions in everything we do."

As MRC wrote before, in May 2020, CNOOC Oil & Petrochemicals Co. Ltd (CNOOC), Shell Nanhai B.V (Shell) and the Huizhou Government have announced a strategic cooperation agreement to further expand the CNOOC and Shell Petrochemical Company (CSPC) 50:50 joint venture in Huizhou, Guangdong Province, China.

The expansion is planned to serve the growing number of intermediate and performance chemicals customers in the key market of China, supplying products including SMPO, polyols, ethylene glycol, polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP). These chemicals are used in a wide range of end products, in healthcare, construction, fabrics, packaging, transport and electronics. For the first time in Asia, Shell would apply its advanced technology for linear alpha olefins. The project is intended to include construction of a new 1.5 million-tonnes-per-year ethylene cracker, with the mega-site bringing economies of scale and enhanced competitiveness.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 721,290 tonnes in the first four month of 2020, up by 4% year on year. Low density polyethylene (LDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments grew partially because of the increased capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 347,440 tonnes in January-April 2020 (calculated by the formula production minus export plus import). Supply exclusively of PP random copolymer 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) -- Reliance Industries is continuing talks with Saudi Aramco to form an oil-to-chemicals (O2C) partnership, despite apparent lack of progress as Aramco concentrated on completing a deal to acquire majority stake in Sabic, said Chemweek.

In April, analysts said that the collapse in the price of crude oil has raised the risk that the USD15-billion deal for Aramco to acquire a 20% stake in Reliance Industries’ O2C division may not go through.

However, Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, in a letter to shareholders published on Tuesday said discussions with Aramco are on. “In the energy business, Reliance is working to complete the contours of a strategic partnership with Saudi Aramco. The partnership gives our refineries access to a wide portfolio of value-accretive crude grades and enhanced feedstock security for a higher oil-to-chemicals conversion." Ambani did not give a timeline for the potential deal.

He said that the O2C business in the year ended 31 March 2020 “delivered sustained earnings due to its integrated portfolio, cost competitiveness, feedstock flexibility, and product placement capability." However, the industry witnessed a volatile energy price environment, which reflected on feedstock and product prices. "Fiscal year 2019–20 revenue from the petrochemicals segment decreased by 15.6% to 1.453 trillion Indian rupees USD19.2 billion due to lower price realizations with weaker demand in well-supplied markets. Petrochemicals segment’s EBITDA was at Rs.309.3 billion, down due to lower margins in key products—para-xylene, monoethylene glycol, polyethylene terephthalate, polypropylene, and polyethylene," he said.

Aramco last August agreed to a nonbinding initial deal to buy the 20% stake. The O2C business includes Reliance’s huge refining and petrochemical complex at Jamnagar, Gujarat, India, and the company’s other petrochemical assets and fuels marketing businesses. However, the value of the refining and chemical segment has significantly declined since the deal was first structured and the valuation may change. A report by HSBC Securities in May said the O2C business’s enterprise value was USD65 billion, down from the original value of USD75 billion, which would indicate that Reliance would receive USD13 billion from Aramco.

As MRC wrote before, RIL has been running its two refineries almost uninterrupted at its integrated Jamnagar petrochemical complex despite the lockdown.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 721,290 tonnes in the first four month of 2020, up by 4% year on year. Low density polyethylene (LDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments grew partially because of the increased capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 347,440 tonnes in January-April 2020 (calculated by the formula production minus export plus import). Supply exclusively of PP random copolymer increased.

Reliance Industries is one of the world's largest producers of polymers. Thus, the company produces among others polypropylene, polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chengzhi Yongqing Energy Technology Co. has shut its No. 1 methanol-to-olefins (MTO) plant in Nanjing, China, for a scheduled turnaround, reported S&P Global.

This plant with the capacity of 135,000 ethylene mt/yr and 160,000 propylene mt/yr is expected to resume operations in late June.

As MRC informed before, in mid-May, 2019, Wison Engineering has completed construction on Nanjing Chengzhi Yongqing Energy Technology Co.'s new MTO plant and butene-to-butadiene unit in Nanjing, China. The 600,000-t/y MTO facility utilizes Honeywell UOP's advanced reaction technology and Wison's proprietary olefin separation technology. The 100,000-t/y butadiene plant is based on Wison's proprietary Oxidative Dehydrogenation of Butene to Butadiene (ODH) technology. Cost of the project was not available.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 721,290 tonnes in the first four month of 2020, up by 4% year on year. Low density polyethylene (LDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments grew partially because of the increased capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 347,440 tonnes in January-April 2020 (calculated by the formula production minus export plus import). Supply exclusively of PP random copolymer increased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A worker at Mexico’s largest refinery died after a fall during a powerful earthquake on Tuesday, the country’s civil protection agency said, with the tremors also causing a fire that led to the brief shuttering of the installation, reported Reuters.

The fire, which ignited where power generators and a boiler are located, was quickly extinguished, a company spokesperson said. The facility on the coast of the southern state of Oaxaca near the epicenter of the earthquake reopened after a short period of time, the civil protection agency said.

"A small fire broke out and was immediately controlled," the Pemex spokesperson told Reuters.

The worker died in hospital after he fell from one of the plant’s structures during the quake, the protection agency said.

As MRC wrote before, Pemex is advancing a refinery rehabilitation program that will enable it to process 1.2 million b/d of crude oil by the end of 2020 and evaluating a reconfiguration of its petrochemical facility at Cangrejera, Mexico, into what would be its eighth refinery.

We also remind that in 2016, Pemex shut its steam cracker at its Cangrejera complex for maintenance on February 15. The cracker was idle for about 14 days. The conducted repairs at the cracker were a part of planned maintenance.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 721,290 tonnes in the first four month of 2020, up by 4% year on year. Low density polyethylene (LDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments grew partially because of the increased capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 347,440 tonnes in January-April 2020 (calculated by the formula production minus export plus import). Supply exclusively of PP random copolymer increased.

Pemex, Mexican Petroleum, is a Mexican state-owned petroleum company. Pemex has a total asset worth of USD415.75 billion, and is the world's second largest non-publicly listed company by total market value, and Latin America's second largest enterprise by annual revenue as of 2009. Company produces such polymers, as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS).
MRC