Lonza new CEO takes over

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Lonza says that Pierre-Alain Ruffieux assumed responsibility as the company’s CEO on 2 November, following his appointment in June, according to Chemweek.

Albert Baehny, who has been Lonza’s CEO ad interim since November 2019, will work with Ruffieux to ensure a smooth handover before returning to his role as chairman.

“I have had the opportunity to work with Lonza as a customer many times in my career to date, so I know both the strength and value of its expertise, its technology, and its people,” says Ruffieux.

As MRC informed earlier, Lonza (Basel, Switzerland) says it has developed a new structure for its pharma, biotech, and nutrition (LBPN) segment to increase “divisional end-to-end performance accountability” and to strengthen governance and process excellence from global functions, as the company proceeds with the previously announced divestment of its specialty ingredients (LSI) segment.

We remind that in 2012, Lonza set up a task force to look at new supply routes and vendors to feed its cracker in Visp, Switzerland, following the shutdown of Petroplus’ refinery at Cressier in January, 2012. Lonza’s cracker has an ethylene capacity of 25,000 tonnes/year.

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

According to MRC"s ScanPlast report, Russia"s estimated PE consumption totalled 1,594,510 tonnes in the first nine months of 2020, up by 1% year on year. Only high denstiy polyethylene (HDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 880,130 tonnes in the nine months of 2020 (calculated using the formula: production minus exports plus imports, exluding producers" inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply increased exclusively of PP random copolymer.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Rosneft United Research and Development Centre, the institute of the corporate R&D complex of Rosneft Oil Company, has developed a laboratory unit for synthetic crude oil, said the company.

The unit, which completed a synthetic oil production run, is capable of converting methane to synthetic liquid hydrocarbons. Rosneft said its technology for obtaining synthetic oil from associated petroleum gas has undergone a series of expert reviews, including international ones, and has been assessed as advanced process solution.

In a press statement, Rosneft said: “Synthetic crude oil is more environmentally friendly than natural crude oil, and when blended with natural crude oil it improves its quality. “The Company’s specialists are currently preparing to create a pilot plant at the field to test it under real operating conditions.

“The diesel produced on-site from synthetic crude oil will be much cheaper if such a facility is available at remote fields, where fuel and lubricants have to be delivered to diesel generator and vehicles via winter road or aeroplane.” The latest development is a part of Rosneft’s efforts to increase the efficiency of gas refining while meeting high environmental standards for oil production.

As a result of the exhaustion of traditional reserves, new fields are being developed featuring heavier viscous oil, which is said to be more difficult to transport and refine. However, synthetic crude oil could be added to this type of hydrocarbons to make it closer to that of traditional grades up to Brent, the firm noted.

Separately, the Rosneft United Research and Development Centre has developed a methane aromatisation technology, designed to obtain both hydrogen and aromatics from natural and associated petroleum gas. The technology is designed as an alternative to the existing methods of hydrogen and synthetic hydrocarbons.

Rosneft said in a statement said: “When the new technology is applied, 1 billion cubic metres of natural gas or APG refining results in 1 billion cubic metres of hydrogen and 0.5 million tonnes of aromatic hydrocarbons." In May, Rosneft Oil has commenced production of the environmentally-friendly residual marine low sulphur (RMLS 40) fuel from its Syzran Refinery in Russia.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,594,510 tonnes in the first nine months of 2020, up by 1% year on year. Only high denstiy polyethylene (HDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 880,130 tonnes in the nine months of 2020 (calculated using the formula: production minus exports plus imports, exluding producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply increased exclusively of PP random copolymer.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Exxon Mobil Corp is urging the Australian government to start releasing aid to the country's oil refineries by January after a decision last week by BP plc to shut the nation's biggest refinery, said Reuters.

Exxon owns Australia’s oldest refinery at Altona near Melbourne, which can process 90,000 barrels per day of oil, the smallest of the nation’s four refineries. The site supplies about half of the fuel for the state of Victoria, which has been subject to one of the world’s longest and tightest coronavirus lockdowns.

Exxon said the prolonged lockdown “has placed unprecedented pressure” on Altona, causing the plant to run at a loss. Victoria’s government only last week eased restrictions limiting people to a 5 km (3 mile) zone around their homes and allowed shops and restaurants to reopen for the first time since Aug 2.

The Australian government is in talks with the refining industry on an offer of AD2.3 billion (USD1.6 billion) in incentives over 10 years to keep refineries open to bolster of national fuel security. The country's two other refiners, Viva Energy and Ampol, are considering shutting their refineries.

Exxon said the proposed six-month time frame for talks with the government was “too long given the near term challenges faced by all refineries” and it was working with the refiners’ industry group and the government to get the first part of the fuel security package released by January 2021.

The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) said the government should take over BP’s plant at Kwinana, Western Australia, the only refinery on the west coast, to prevent fuel supply disruptions.

“More than 90 percent of Australia’s liquid fuel already arrives via foreign owned and operated tankers, but that figure will only increase if the Kwinana refinery is allowed to close,” MUA Assistant National Secretary Ian Bray said in a statement.

We remind that ExxonMobil has undertaken a planned shutdown at its cracker in Singapore. The company halted operations at the cracker for maintenance on September 14, 2020. The cracker is expected to remain off-line till end-October, 2020. Located at Jurong Island, Singapore, the cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 1 million mt/year and a propylene production capacity of 450,000 mt/year.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,496,500 tonnes in the first eight months of 2020, up by 5% year on year. Shipments of all ethylene polymers increased, except for linear low desnity polyethylene (LLDPE). At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 767,2900 tonnes in the eight months of 2020 (calculated using the formula - production minus exports plus imports - and not counting producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply increased exclusively of PP random copolymer.

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) -- India’s gasoil consumption in October rose 6.6% from a year earlier, the first such increase since COVID-19 restrictions were imposed in late March, preliminary data showed on Sunday, signaling a pick-up in industrial activity, reported Reuters.

Diesel sales by the country's three state fuel retailers totaled 6.17 million tons in October, according to provisional data compiled by Indian Oil Corp (IOC), the country's biggest refiner and fuel retailer.

Sales of gasoil, which account for about two-fifths of India’s fuel demand, rose 27.5% from September.

Rising diesel sales in the world’s third-biggest oil consumer and importer should help refiners, who had to cut crude-processing runs during the coronavirus crisis.

IOC hopes to operate refineries at full capacity in a couple of months, up from 95% now, as local fuel demand is rising, company chairman S.M. Vaidya said.

Rising gasoline and gasoil demand in India should also aid other markets hit by slow demand recovery.

Local gasoline sales in October rose above pre-pandemic levels for a second month in a row.

Gasoline sales rose 4% from a year earlier to about 2.4 million tons, about 8.6% higher than September, the data showed.

State companies IOC, Hindustan Petroleum Corp and Bharat Petroleum own about 90% of India's retail fuel outlets.

State retailers sold 3.8% more cooking gas in October than a year ago, at about 2.44 million tons, while jet fuel sales halved to 328,000 tons.

As MRC informed previously, Indian Oil Corp. Ltd. (IOC) has recently approved the addition of a petrochemical and lube integration component to its previously announced and long-planned project that will expand crude oil processing capacity of its 13.7 million-tonne/year Koyali refinery at Vadodara in India’s western state of Gujarat. Approved by the company’s board in late September, the revised 178.25-billion rupee expansion and petrochemical-lube integration project will increase crude processing capacity of the refinery by 4.3 million tpy to 18 million tpy as well as result in proposed production of 500,000 tpy of polypropylene and 235,000 tpy of lube oil base stock at the site, IOC said in filings to India’s National Stock Exchange Ltd. and BSE Ltd.

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

According to MRC"s ScanPlast report, Russia"s estimated PE consumption totalled 1,594,510 tonnes in the first nine months of 2020, up by 1% year on year. Only high denstiy polyethylene (HDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 880,130 tonnes in the nine months of 2020 (calculated using the formula: production minus exports plus imports, exluding producers" inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply increased exclusively of PP random copolymer.

Indian Oil Corporation Limited, or IndianOil, is an Indian state-owned oil and gas corporation with its headquarters in New Delhi, India.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Dresser Natural Gas Solutions (Dresser NGS), a leading provider of measurement, instrumentation and piping solutions to the natural gas distribution and transmissions markets, has acquired Flow Safe, a manufacturer of spring-operated and pilot-operated high performance pressure relief devices, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Dresser NGS has acquired the entire Flow Safe business, including 38 employees and two locations: Orchard Park, New York, and Houston. The acquisition will enable Dresser NGS to provide over-pressure protection for its natural gas customers.

The Flow Safe product line, which includes spring-operated and pilot-operated high performance over pressure protection devices, will focus on applications in Natural Gas Distribution, Pipeline, Aerospace, Marine, Industrial Gases and other liquid and gas process applications.

David Evans, president and CEO, Dresser NGS, said, “Dresser is excited about Flow Safe joining the family. We will help Flow Safe reach new customers, and Flow Safe will help us strengthen our working relationships with gas company risk managers, systems engineers, over-pressure protection specialists, measurement managers and technicians, all of whom realize value from Flow Safe’s industry-leading over pressure protection solutions."

Ryan Gannon, president, Flow Safe, said, “Flow Safe is excited to be a part of the Dresser NGS team and looks forward to expanding their reach into many different markets that Dresser NGS currently does not operate, including aerospace, marine, and industrial/specialty gas to name a few, helping to diversify the Dresser NGS portfolio."

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,496,500 tonnes in the first eight months of 2020, up by 5% year on year. Shipments of all ethylene polymers increased, except for linear low desnity polyethylene (LLDPE). At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 767,2900 tonnes in the eight months of 2020 (calculated using the formula - production minus exports plus imports - and not counting producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply increased exclusively of PP random copolymer.
MRC