China private refiner Hongrun to expand mega crude oil tank farm

MOSCOW (MRC) -- East China-based private refiner Shandong Hongrun Group plans to further expand its mega crude oil tank farm by another 20% next year to meet growing demand from external parties, according to a company official, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Commercial stockpiling played a pivotal role in China’s bumper crude oil purchases this year as refineries and traders took advantage of decades-low oil prices to build stocks and as the Chinese economy emerged faster than expected from the coronavirus pandemic. Based in Weifang in the northeastern part of Shandong province, China’s oil hub for independent refineries, Hongrun, which started investing in crude oil storage a decade ago, plans to build 2.8 million cubic meters of crude oil tankage space next year.

That would bring Hongrun’s total crude storage capacity to 15.8 million cubic meters, or nearly 100 million barrels, which is equivalent to nine days of China’s total crude oil imports, said the Shandong-based official, adding that this is possibly the largest such facility owned by a private Chinese refiner. "Most of our storage targets third-party commercial use, as our site is kind of a transfer center for more than 70 refineries in Shandong,” said the official, who declined to be named as he is not authorized to speak to media.

Hongrun operates a 140,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Shandong. Of the existing 13 million cubic meters of space, three-quarters are bonded tanks. Provincial authorities must approve such facilities that allow for the storage of oil that has not gone through customs clearance, letting refiners and traders store oil without government import quotas.

The 13 million cubic meter storage includes 12.2 million cubic meters in Weifang and 800,000 cubic meters in nearby Qingzhou city, the official said. Hongrun counts global traders Mercuria, Vitol and BP among its regular clients under long-term agreements, the official added.

China’s Shanghai International Energy Exchange is another large client which is using 20 million barrels of Hongrun’s tanks as delivery tanks for the Shanghai crude oil futures contract.

As mRC informed earlier, in October 2019, Sinochem Hongrun's new 800,000 mt/year PX plant in the Weifang Binhai economic development zone in Shandong province was shut down for turnaround.

As per MRC' ScanPlast, calculated consumption of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) reached 52,71o tonnes in September 2020, down 27% compared to the same time a year before. Total consumption of PET in Russia in the nine months of 2020 reached 530,750 tonnes, down 22% than the same indicator last year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- INEOS has launched a new business to develop and build Clean Hydrogen capacity across Europe, in support of the drive towards a zero-carbon future, as per the company's press release.

INEOS currently produces 300,000 tonnes of hydrogen a year mainly as a co-product from its chemical manufacturing operations.

Through its subsidiary INOVYN, INEOS is Europe’s largest existing operator of electrolysis, the critical technology which uses renewable energy to produce hydrogen for power generation, transportation and industrial use. Its experience in storage and handling of hydrogen combined with its established know-how in electrolysis technology, puts INEOS in a unique position to drive progress towards a carbon-free future based on hydrogen.

The business will have its headquarters in the UK and aims to build capacity to produce hydrogen across the INEOS network of sites in Europe, in addition to partner sites where hydrogen can accelerate decarbonisation of energy.

INEOS is already involved in several projects to develop demand for hydrogen, replacing existing carbon-based sources of energy, feedstocks and fuel. It expects to develop further partnerships with leading organisations involved in the development of new applications. INEOS will also work closely with European Governments to ensure the necessary infrastructure is put in place to facilitate hydrogen’s major role in the new Green Economy.

Wouter Bleukx, Business Unit Manager Hydrogen said “Hydrogen is an important part of a climate neutral economy that has been discussed for decades. Finally, a hydrogen-fuelled economy is within reach as transportation in the UK, Germany, France and other countries begins to run on this carbon free technology. With extensive experience in electrolysis, INEOS is uniquely placed to support these new opportunities, driven by emerging demand for affordable zero-carbon energy sources.”

As MRC reported earlier, a 660,000-metric tons/year phenol-acetone plant operated by INEOS in Gladbeck, Germany, was shut for maintenance from 27 October until 6 December.

Phenol is the main feedstock component for the production of bisphenol A (BPA), which, in its turn, is used to produce polycarbonate (PC).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated consumption of PC granules (excluding imports and exports to/from Belarus) rose in the first three quarters of 2020 by 32% year on year to 75,600 tonnes (57,200 tonnes a year earlier).

INEOS Group Limited is a privately owned multinational chemicals company consisting of 15 standalone business units, headquartered in Rolle, Switzerland and with its registered office in Lyndhurst, United Kingdom. It is the fourth largest chemicals company in the world measured by revenues (after BASF, Dow Chemical and LyondellBasell) and the largest privately owned company in the United Kingdom.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sasol is continuing in the final stages for the startup of its new 420,000 mt/year low-density polyethylene (LDPE) plant after previously announcing a startup for October, the company's spokesperson, Kim Cusimano, said in an email to S&P Global Nov. 3.

The company resumed operations for all its Lake Charles, Louisiana, chemical complex units that were operating before Hurricane Laura, Cusimano said.

Sasol is among the Lake Charles chemical producers that shut operations ahead of Hurricane Laura's Aug. 27 landfall, and again before Hurricane Delta came ashore Oct. 9, which was the same path as Laura.

The LDPE plant was delayed to a startup in November due to Hurricane Delta interrupting its planned October startup date.

The company's LDPE plant is the last of the new units to come online at its USD12.9 billion Lake Charles expansion and is "progressing through the final stages of startup," Cusimano said.

The company said it "will release a formal disclosure to the market when the (LDPE) unit reaches beneficial operation."

Beneficial operation is defined as 72 hours of continuous on-spec production.

Sources have said they are not confident that the startup will occur anytime before December.

As MRC reported earlier, Sasol said Sept. 21 the new LDPE plant, which had been slated to start up in early 2020 before it was damaged by fire during commissioning in January, did not sustain any significant storm impacts. And the company resumed commissioning the plant then.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, September estimated LDPE consumption in Russia fell to 23,930 tonnes from 47,610 tonnes a month earlier. Russian producers reduced their domestic LDPE shipments due to shutdowns for maintenance at production capacities in Ufa, Tomsk and Kazan. Russia's estimated LDPE consumption totalled about 406,500 tonnes in January-September 2020, which virtually corresponded to the last year's figure.

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) -- SABIC, a global leader in the chemical industry today announced that Orkla, a diversified Nordic brand owner in business-to-consumer (B2C) commerce with foods, snacks, food care for sport and food ingredients, has launched its first chips packaging using certified renewable polypropylene (PP) polymer from SABIC’s TRUCIRCLE portfolio, as per the company's press release.

The sustainable material is derived from tall oil, a residual product from the Nordic forestry industry, and is converted into a Biaxially Oriented Polypropylene (BOPP) by IRPLAST, a major Italian vertically integrated manufacturer of specialty S-BOPP films and converter of printed shrinkable BOPP roll-fed labels and PSA tapes. In Orkla’s chips bags, the material solution helps lower the carbon footprint of the three partners’ value chain in half compared to the use of traditional non-renewable plastics.

“We want to make it easier for consumers to make environmentally conscious choices,” says Sara Malmstrom, Sustainability Manager at Orkla Confectionery & Snacks. “Packaging is an important part of all our products, and plastic packaging in particular can have a considerable impact on both the environment and climate. We are proud to be first in the Swedish market to put chips in bags made with plastics based on bio-renewable feedstock on the snack shelf,” she adds.

Orkla had been looking for an innovative and agile converter capable of meeting its sustainability targets and supplying a renewable film that would help them enhance the sustainability profile of their packaging. They identified IRPLAST, with whom SABIC had already been successfully collaborating in various projects for the development of film products in compliance with EU Packaging and Waste Packaging Directives. Next to Natural Oriented PolyPropylene (NOPP) films from certified renewable PP polymer, IRPLAST also offers an S-BOPP (Simultaneously oriented BOPP) film range branded as LOOPP that uses certified circular SABIC PP material with feedstock from chemically recycled post-consumer plastics to deliver virgin-quality resins. IRPLAST’s NOPP and LOOPP products both have received independent third party International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC PLUS).

Naomi Lunadei, Sustainability Manager at IRPLAST, explains: “We firmly believe that sustainable growth must become a priority for businesses producing and converting plastic packaging materials. As a packaging producer, we are well aware of our responsibilities in making the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals a reality, and we are very committed to the challenge. Our two new BOPP lines demonstrate the determined route we have embarked on with SABIC. While our NOPP products help reduce the carbon footprint of flexible packaging, the innovative LOOPP range opens a door for customers to enter the circular plastics economy which is being progressively mandated by legislators worldwide.”

In contrast to comparable BOPP film from traditional fossil fuel, every kilogram of renewable NOPP packaging takes more than 2 kg of CO2 emissions out of the environment. The first set of new Orkla packages in NOPP flexible film includes 275-gram bags of Grill, Sour Cream & Onion, Dill & Chive and Salted Chips, and prominently displays the 50 percent CO2 reduction to consumers. Orkla Confectionery & Snacks Sweden has an ambition to gradually introduce similar bags for all their snacks packages.

“We are proud of successfully implementing our certified renewable PP polymer in IRPLAST’s flexible packaging for Orkla,” states Mark Vester, Circular Economy Leader at SABIC. “The ISCC PLUS accredited materials from our TRUCIRCLE portfolio offer drop-in solutions for replacing fossil-based plastics in the packaging industry with no compromise on food safety. With our certified circular and renewable polymers, we are aiming to create a sustainable value chain where we collaborate with downstream customers like IRPLAST and Orkla in the use of animal-free bio-based feedstock or in the reuse of post-consumer recycle, thereby seeking to capture the greatest value from sources that have traditionally been ignored or discarded.”

SABIC’s TRUCIRCLE offering spans from design for recyclability services and mechanically recycled materials to certified circular products from chemical recycling of used plastics and certified renewable polymers from bio-based feedstock. SABIC's certified polymers are based on a mass balance approach. This widely recognized international sustainability certification scheme verifies that the mass balance accounting follows predefined and transparent rules. In addition, it provides traceability along the supply chain, from the feedstock to the final product.

As MRC reported previously, in early November, 2020, SABIC announced that BOPP film based on the company’s certified circular PP from feedstock recycling of used plastics will be introduced in primary pet food brand packaging by Mars.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, 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.

Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) ranks among the world's top petrochemical companies. The company is among the world's market leaders in the production of polyethylene, polypropylene and other advanced thermoplastics, glycols, methanol and fertilizers.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China Petrochemical Corporation, which is known as Sinopec, Asia's biggest refiner, saw its revenue and net profit significantly improve during the third quarter, with net income reaching 46.39 billion yuan (USD6.92 billion) during the July-September period, reported Chinadaily with reference to Sinopec's statement in a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

It attributed the profit upsurge to a robust refining business and domestic demand recovery.

The company's refinery crude throughput reached 63.5 million tons during the third quarter, up 2% year-on-year. Refined oil production reached 38 million tons, up 11.2% compared with the previous quarter, it said.

Domestic fuel sales were 45.44 million tons over the period, up 0.4% compared with the previous quarter.

Sinopec had churned out a total of 210.65 million barrels of crude oil as of the end of September, down 1% year-on-year, and 772.14 billion cubic feet of natural gas, 0.2% lower from a year earlier.

As MRC informed before, in H1 October, 2020, China's Sinopec started operation of a 800,000 tons-per-year ethylene facility at its Zhanjiang refinery. The refinery, located in the southern Chinese coastal city of Zhanjiang, commenced operation of its 200,000 barrel per day crude oil refining units in June.

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

ccording 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.

China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec Group) is a super-large petroleum and petrochemical enterprise group established in July 1998 on the basis of the former China Petrochemical Corporation. Sinopec Group"s key business activities include the exploration and production of oil and natural gas, petrochemicals and other chemical products, oil refining.
MRC