New Indian JV of BP and Reliance begins operations

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BP and Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) have announced the start of their new Indian fuels and mobility joint venture, Reliance BP Mobility Limited (RBML), according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Following initial agreements in 2019, BP and RIL teams have worked closely over the past few months in a challenging environment to complete the transaction as planned. BP has paid RIL USD1 billion for a 49% stake in the joint venture, with RIL holding 51%.

Operating under the “Jio-bp” brand, the joint venture aims to become a leading player in India's fuels and mobility markets. It will leverage Reliance’s presence across 21 states and its millions of consumers through the Jio digital platform. BP will bring its extensive global experience in high-quality differentiated fuels, lubricants, retail and advanced low carbon mobility solutions.

BP and RIL expect the venture to grow rapidly to help meet India’s fast-growing demands for energy and mobility. India is expected to be the fastest-growing fuels market in the world over the next 20 years, with the number of passenger cars in the country estimated to grow almost six-fold over the period. RBML aims to expand from its current fuel retailing network of over 1,400 retail sites to up to 5,500 over the next five years. This rapid growth will require a four-fold increase in staff employed in service stations - growing from 20,000 to 80,000 in this period. The joint venture also aims to increase its presence from 30 to 45 airports in the coming years.

Commenting on the partnership Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries Limited said: "Reliance is expanding on its strong and valued partnership with bp, to establish a pan-Indian presence in retail and aviation fuels. RBML will aim to be a leader in mobility and low carbon solutions, bringing cleaner and affordable options for Indian consumers with digital and technology being our key enablers."

Bernard Looney, bp chief executive officer, said: "India has been leading the way with innovations in digital technology, value engineering and new energy solutions. It is a country that will require more energy for its economic growth and, as it prospers, its needs for mobility and convenience will accelerate. bp has a proud history in India spanning over a century. We are honored to be a strategic partner with Reliance - India’s most valuable company - and pleased that our partnership has grown in both substance and spirit over this past decade.

"Reliance’s digital capabilities, technical expertise and reach complement our international fuels and service offers. Today’s announcement is another milestone in our common goal to serve the Indian consumer. This new venture is a unique opportunity to build a leading, fast-growing business that can help meet India’s demands and create exciting new digital and low-carbon options for the future."

Reflecting the companies’ net zero ambitions, the new joint venture aspires to provide Indian consumers with advanced fuels with lower emissions, electric vehicle charging and other low carbon solutions over time. RBML is also committed to the decarbonization of its own operations as well as that of its wider ecosystem.

RBML has received the marketing authorization for transportation fuels, amongst other necessary regulatory and statutory approvals. The joint venture will begin selling fuels and Castrol lubricants with immediate effect from its existing retail outlets, which will be rebranded to “Jio-bp” in due course.

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

We also remind that 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 595,170 tonnes in the first five month of 2020, up by 10% year on year. Deliveries of all ethylene polymers, except for linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), rose partially because of an increase in capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market was 457,930 tonnes in January-May 2020 (calculated by the formula production minus export plus import). Deliveris of exclusively 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

Pertamina to use Honeywell Forge Process Advisor at Cilacap Refinery

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Honeywell announced that Pertamina (Persero) will use Honeywell Forge Process Advisor to maintain high operational reliability of crude oil upgrading processes at its Cilacap refinery in Central Java, Indonesia, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Honeywell Forge Process Advisor is a cloud-based service that continually analyzes plant data to provide operations staff with recommendations that can enhance the reliability of specific industrial processes. It can improve plant efficiency, safety performance and profitability, and help avoid plant failures and unplanned production downtime.

The service continuously feeds plant data through Honeywell UOP process and fault models to provide key performance information and process recommendations, helping plants run more smoothly and detecting operational problems before they can seriously affect production and plant profitability.

“Pertamina chose this technology to ensure high performance of its operations,” said Budi Santoso Syarif, Deputy CEO of Kilang Pertamina International. “This will help our personnel work more efficiently by understanding factors affecting production, and by implementing this advanced technology, we hope it will boost our profitability.”

“Honeywell Forge Process Advisor is unique in the industry because it relies on UOP’s vast library of operational data, proprietary process models and deep troubleshooting experience,” said Sunil Pandita, chief commercial officer of Honeywell Connected Enterprise. “This allows the service to provide near-real time recommendations that can keep plants running as smoothly and profitably as possible.”

Pertamina will use the technology on a resid FCC unit to ensure high performance of its heavy oil upgrading processes. Fluid Catalytic Cracking, or FCC, converts heavier low-value residual oil into more valuable smaller-chain molecules suitable for making clean-burning fuels and petrochemicals. The company also will use Honeywell Forge Asset Performance Manager for continuous monitoring and performance recommendations of key equipment associated with the FCC unit, and Honeywell Forge Corrosion Advisor, which estimates the corrosion rate of refinery equipment.

UOP has worked with Pertamina for nearly 50 years, licensing technologies to the company’s Plaju, Dumai, Cilicap, Balikpapan, Balongan, and Kasim refineries.

Pertamina is a state-owned oil and natural gas corporation based in Jakarta, Indonesia. The company is active in the upstream and downstream sectors of the oil and gas industry, with total refining capacity 1 million barrels per day.

As MRC reported before, Pertamina was in plans to bring on-stream its polypropylene (PP) unit early last week. The company undertook an unplanned shutdown at the unit on June 26, 2020, following an unspecified technical glitch at the upstream RFCC unit that causes a disruption of the propylene feeds. Thus, the unit was to remain shut for around 10-12 days. Located in Plaju, Indonesia, the PP unit has a production capacity of 45,000 mt/year.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, PP shipments to the Russian market was 457,930 tonnes in January-May 2020 (calculated by the formula production minus export plus import). Deliveris of exclusively PP random copolymer increased.

Pertamina is an Indonesian state-owned oil and natural gas corporation based in Jakarta. It was created in August 1968 by the merger of Pertamin (established 1961) and Permina (established 1957). Pertamina is the world's largest producer and exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
MRC

Evonik appoints new head of catalysts

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Evonik Industries says it has appointed Sanjeev Taneja head of its catalysts business on the same date catalysts became part of Evonik's newly created smart materials division, 1 July, according to Chemweek.

He took over from Steffen Hasenzahl, who has been named managing director at Evonik Creavis, the company’s strategic innovation unit, Evonik says.

Taneja was previously president and managing director at Evonik India, Evonik’s chemical business subsidiary in India, the company says.

As MRC informed before, Dow and Evonik have recently entered into an exclusive technology partnership. Together, they plan to bring a unique method for directly synthesizing propylene glycol (PG) from propylene and hydrogen peroxide to market maturity.

We remind that Dow plans to install a new furnace in its steam cracker at Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, Canada, increasing its ethylene capacity, currently 1.42 million metric tons/year (MMt/y), by 130,000 metric tons/year. Dow will split the cost of the project and the incremental volume equally with an unnamed regional customer, according to CEO Jim Fitterling, who announced the news during the company's fourth-quarter earnings call. Start-up is slated for the first half of 2021.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 595,170 tonnes in the first five month of 2020, up by 10% year on year. Deliveries of all ethylene polymers, except for linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), rose partially because of an increase in capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market was 457,930 tonnes in January-May 2020 (calculated by the formula production minus export plus import). Deliveris of exclusively PP random copolymer increased.

Evonik is one of the world leaders in specialty chemicals. The focus on more specialty businesses, customer-oriented innovative prowess and a trustful and performance-oriented corporate culture form the heart of Evonik’s corporate strategy. They are the lever for profitable growth and a sustained increase in the value of the company. Evonik benefits specifically from its customer proximity and leading market positions. Evonik is active in over 100 countries around the world with more than 36,000 employees.
MRC

Severstal increases stake in joint venture with Linde GmbH

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PAO Severstal announces it has closed a deal to increase its shareholding in its joint venture with Germany's Linde GmbH for the production of coil-wound heat exchangers (CWHE) for use in medium-scale and large-scale LNG plants. Following the completion of the transaction, Severstal will have a 50% stake in the joint venture, said the company.

The joint venture was established in June 2017 under a scheme to localise production of CWHE in Russia. In 2019, as previously announced, Severstal signed an agreement to purchase a 26% stake in the joint venture with Linde.

Increasing its stake reflects one of the key priorities of Severstal's updated strategy – guaranteeing superior customer experience by providing high-tech customized solutions to the energy industry.

Alexander Shevelev, CEO of Severstal, commented: "Increasing our share in the joint venture was a logical step towards increasing our presence in the dynamically developing market of LNG production, storage and transportation. Heat exchangers are not assembled on a production line, but are exclusively made to order. The key advantage of this is the ability to develop unique engineering solutions for specific projects. This allows us to consider all the nuances of technological processes at a customer's plant and, as a result, maintain close contact with our partners at each stage of the project implementation. At the moment, the JV’s order capacity is approaching 100%, and there is potential to build additional capacity. In October 2019, the joint venture received its first export order, which is due for delivery in 2020."

As MRC informed earlier, Linde has announced that it has started up a state-of-the-art hydrogen and carbon monoxide facility in Clear Lake, Texas (TX), as well as a new air separation unit in LaPorte, TX. The plants will supply oxygen, nitrogen and carbon monoxide to Celanese, under a previously announced long-term agreement, and hydrogen to other customers via Linde’s US Gulf Coast pipeline system.

Besides, Linde PLC has recieved a contract to provide technology for PJSC Sibur Holding’s cracker at Amur gas chemical complex (GCC). GCC is an integrated 1.5 million tons per year polyethylene and polypropylene production complex to be built near Svobodny in Russia’s far-east Amur region. The contract was awarded to Linde under a consortium with Sibur subsidiary and project contractor NIPIgazpererabotka (Nipigaz).

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.
MRC

Merck opens pharma lab in China

MOSCOW (MRC) -- German pharma and life sciences major Merck KGaA (MRK: DE) today announced the opening its M Lab Collaboration Center in Shanghai, China, the company’s largest of nine centers worldwide, said Chemweek.

Merck Innovation Hub, the first in China, started in late 2019, with the company announcing a 100 million renminbi (USD14 million) seed fund injected into the China Innovation Hub.

“With the booming pharmaceutical industry in Asia and greater emphasis on novel drug therapies, we see an increase in R&D on leading-edge treatments including cell and gene therapies in China,” said Udit Batra, a member of the Merck executive board and chief executive, Life Science. “Our M Lab Collaboration Center offers customizable solutions and services that help bio pharmaceutical and biologics companies improve their processes from drug discovery, development to manufacturing — saving costs and increasing speed to market,” he added.

With a total lab size of approximately 10,000m2, Merck’s newest M Lab Collaboration Center is located in Pudong, at the heart of the biomedical sciences and research community in Shanghai.

It includes pilot scale and process development support labs that offer non-GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) lab space where pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical manufacturers can explore ideas, learn innovative techniques and work side-by-side with the company's scientists and engineers to solve critical process development and production challenges.

As mRC informed earlier, Merck celebrated the opening of its new packaging center at the science and technology company’s headquarters in Darmstadt, Germany. The new 161,458-square-foot facility will be dedicated to the packaging and shipping of Merck’s current portfolio of pharma medicines in more than 90 countries and help meet increasing patient needs for flagship medicines Glucophage®, Concor and Euthyrox in the areas of diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and thyroid disorders respectively. It will also provide capacity for potential future pharma products currently in clinical development such as evobrutinib in the area of neurology-immunology or tepotinib in the area of oncology.

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.
MRC