Maire Tecnimont to build AA, butyl-A units for Indian Oil

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Maire Tecnimont is to build new acrylic acid (AA) and butyl acrylate (butyl-A) units for Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) as part of a USD255m contract, the Italian chemical engineering firm said, said the company.

The AA and butyl-A units will have respective capacities of 90,000 and 150,000 tonnes/year. Both will be located at Dumad, near Vadodara, in India’s Gujarat state. Tecnimont Private Limited, the Indian entity of Tecnimont SpA, will carry out execution of the contract as a single point of responsibility, the company said in a statement on Monday, allowing 26 months for mechanical completion.

The overall value of the contract is about USD 255 million. The project scope entails Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Commissioning activities up to the Performance Guarantees Test Run. Once completed, the new Acrylic Acid Unit will have a capacity of 90,000 tons per year, while the new Butyl Acrylate Unit will have a capacity of 150,000 tons per year. The time schedule is 26 months for Mechanical Completion.

Pierroberto Folgiero, Maire Tecnimont Group Chief Executive Officer, commented: “After the recent announcement of the MoU with IOCL to support the industrialization of green chemistry and circular economy in India, we consolidate a strategic relationship with such a prominent client also in the petrochemical business. Our technology-driven strategy enabled us once again to seize opportunities in a market with a very promising downstream investment cycle, thanks to the growing demand for petrochemical products. Finally, in sync with the strategic vision of the Government of India aimed at maximizing the “In Country Value”, our Indian entity will execute the job as a single point of responsibility, confirming its strong capabilities in managing big complex projects".

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,760,950 tonnes in the first ten months of 2020, up by 3% year on year. Only high density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 978,870 tonnes in January-October 2020 (calculated using the formula: production minus exports plus imports minus producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively of PP random copolymer increased.

Maire Tecnimont S.p.A., listed on the Milan Stock Exchange, heads an industrial group which leads the global natural resource processing industry (downstream oil & gas plant engineering, with technological and executive expertise). Its subsidiary NextChem operates in the field of green chemicals and technologies in support of the energy transition. The Maire Tecnimont Group operates in 45 countries, through 50 companies and about 9,100 people.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - China will need refining capacity controls and bans on plastics to reach peak crude oil consumption of 720 million tonnes by 2025 if it is to cap its total carbon emissions before 2030, said Reuters.

The country needs to maintain crude oil refining capacity below 930 million tonnes by 2025, phase out outdated refineries with annual capacity of less than 5 million tonnes and optimize the structure of refined oil products, the 2020 China Oil Cap report said.

The report, commissioned by the U.S.-based Natural Resources Defence Council and Development Research Centre (DRC) of China's State Council, forecast China will add 140 million tonnes of refining capacity in the next five years from mega-sized integrated refining complex and shut down at least 70 million tonnes from small refineries in the smog-prone north and east.

"Coal consumption in China reached a peak in 2013 and has plateaued since then. However, the efforts of carbon reduction from coal are offset by the increase from oil and gas sectors," Yang Fuqiang, a contributor to the report, said.

As MRC informed previously, global oil demand may have already peaked, according to BP's latest long-term energy outlook, as the COVID-19 pandemic kicks the world economy onto a weaker growth trajectory and accelerates the shift to cleaner fuels.

Earlier this year, BP said the deadly coronavirus outbreak could cut global oil demand growth by 40% in 2020, putting pressure on Opec producers and Russia to curb supplies to keep prices in check.

And in September 2019, six world's major petrochemical companies in Flanders, Belgium, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and the Netherlands (Trilateral Region) announced the creation of a consortium to jointly investigate how naphtha or gas steam crackers could be operated using renewable electricity instead of fossil fuels. The Cracker of the Future consortium, which includes BASF, Borealis, BP, LyondellBasell, SABIC and Total, aims to produce base chemicals while also significantly reducing carbon emissions. The companies agreed to invest in R&D and knowledge sharing as they assess the possibility of transitioning their base chemical production to renewable electricity.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,760,950 tonnes in the first ten months of 2020, up by 3% year on year. Only high density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 978,870 tonnes in January-October 2020 (calculated using the formula: production minus exports plus imports minus producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively of PP random copolymer increased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil is planning to shut its aromatics unit in Rotterdam-Botlek, Netherlands, for six weeks of maintenance between March and April next year, according to Chemweek with reference to market sources.

This work is part of a larger turnaround program at ExxonMobil's interconnected 191,000-b/d Botlek refinery and Rotterdam aromatics plant beginning in the first quarter, OPIS reported in October.

"We don't know the exact dates yet, but they will close between March and April for six weeks," one source told OPIS Thursday.

"We will communicate to communities when appropriate," an ExxonMobil spokesperson said Friday. It is not company policy to comment on future turnarounds or maintenance, the spokesperson said.

The Rotterdam aromatics plant is one of the largest aromatics production facilities globally and produces pure aromatics such as benzene, ortho-xylene, paraxylene, and cyclohexane, according to IHS Markit data.

There are three benzene production units at the Botlek site. One has a capacity of 365,000 metric ton/year using reformate as feedstock. Another has a 300,000-metric tons/year capacity and uses pyrolysis gasoline as feedstock. The third is a 120,000-metric tons/year selective toluene disproportionation unit that produces benzene and paraxylene via the use of toluene as a feedstock.

"From a benzene-supply perspective, we believe the impact of the turnaround over the period of the outage will be the loss of more than 30,000 metric tons from the units," said Simon Cleghorn, director consultant/aromatics, EMEA at IHS Markit. "However, some of the benzene feedstocks usually processed at Botlek will find their way to other benzene extractors who will process the feedstock and return benzene to the market."

"We believe the tight supply situation seen towards the end of this year should ease by March next year, so we do not expect a big impact on the benzene market," the source added.

"The current situation for sure isn't sustainable," said a trader.

OPIS is an IHS Markit company.

As MRC reported earlier, in August 2017, ExxonMobil Chemical Company announced that its Singapore affiliate had completed its acquisition of one of the world’s largest aromatics facilities on Jurong Island in Singapore. The acquisition was first announced in May 2017. The facility, previously owned by Jurong Aromatics Corporation, is located near ExxonMobil’s largest integrated refining and petrochemical complex, which has an ethylene production capacity of 1.9 million tonnes per year and a crude oil processing capacity of 592,000 barrels per day. The acquisition strengthene both sites with operational and logistical synergies, as well as increase ExxonMobil’s Singapore aromatics production to over 3.5 million tonnes per year, including 1.8 million tonnes of paraxylene, and add about 65,000 barrels per day of transportation fuels capacity.

Benzene is the main feedstock for the production of styrene monomer (SM), which, in its turn, is used for manufacturing polystyrene (PS).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated consumption of PS and styrene plastics totalled 410,780 tonnes in the first ten months of 2020, which corresponded to the same figure a year earlier. High impact polystyrene (HIPS) and general purpose polystyrene (GPPS) shipments increased, whereas demand for other PS grades subsided.

ExxonMobil Chemical Company is one of the largest petrochemical companies worldwide. The company holds leadership positions in some of the largest-volume and highest-growth commodity petrochemical products in the world. ExxonMobil Chemical Company has manufacturing capacity in every major region of the world, serving large and growing markets. More than 90 percent of the Company’s chemical capacity is integrated with large refineries or natural gas processing plants.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Honeywell has announced a partnership with Princeps for petroleum refining supply chain solutions. Honeywell’s expertise in oil and gas planning will add Princeps’ petroleum solutions platform to its offerings to provide customers with industry-leading insights in determining the most profitable ways to operate their plants, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Honeywell will replace its refining planning software - Refining and Petrochemical Modeling System (RPMS) - by migrating existing customers to Princeps’ leading refining supply chain software covering planning and scheduling, blend and crude optimization in a unique platform. Princeps’ solutions help customers determine their optimal feed and product mix and facilitate scheduling plant-wide operations to optimize their plant profitability.

“Our oil and gas customers in the energy sector face a number of industry challenges, particularly in planning, crude purchasing and investment strategies,” said Stuart Morstead, vice president and general manager, Honeywell Connected Industrial. “Princeps’ innovative software is a pioneer in the industry and will offer better decision support to help our customers adjust their operations to operate more efficiently.”

As RPMS is replaced, Honeywell will provide existing RPMS customers with a seamless migration path to the Princeps’ software solution along with additional future RPMS enhancement and upgrade opportunities. Customers will be able to evaluate multiple production scenarios, dynamically respond to a volatile market and improve their ability to ensure business continuity. Customers benefit operationally from enterprise-level production planning and scheduling that includes eliminating product downgrades, reducing unplanned blends, lowering demurrage and improving quality.

“We are excited about this partnership with Honeywell to bring our software insights to supply, demand, pricing, product specifications, production, and supply asset capabilities,” said Hamid Chehade, CEO of Princeps. “Together we will bring better insights to downstream customers, such as oil refiners and petrochemicals, to run their operations more efficiently and maximize their margins.”

As MRC reported earlier, in May, 2020, Honeywell announced that Enterprise Products Partners L.P. will use Honeywell UOP’s C3 Oleflex technology in its second propane dehydrogenation plant, called "PDH 2". Located near Mont Belvieu, Texas, PDH 2 will produce 750,000 metric tons per year of polymer-grade propylene as part of Enterprise’s expansion of propylene manufacturing capacity.

Propylene is the main feedstock for the production of polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 978,870 tonnes in January-October 2020 (calculated using the formula: production minus exports plus imports minus producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively of PP random copolymer increased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Crude oil prices plummeted during the mid-morning trade in Asia Dec. 21, as concerns over a new highly infectious strain of the coronavirus raised fears of tightening lockdown and travel restrictions, reported S&P Global.

At 11:35 am Singapore time (0335 GMT), the ICE Brent February contract fell USD1.70/b (3.25%) from the Dec. 18 settle to USD50.26/b, while the February NYMEX light sweet crude contract was down USD1.54/b (3.13%) at $47.70/b. The fall in these markers has reversed an upward trend that saw both contracts rise by 4.58% and 5.33% on Dec. 18 to settle at USD52.26/b and USD49.25/b, respectively.

Market analysts attributed the steep fall in oil prices in the morning to the emergence of a highly infectious variant of coronavirus called B.1.1.7. The strain emerged in the UK, with the country enacting tougher restrictions to cope with the new strain.

"The new strain of the COVID-19 virus is worrying for the market, as it is believed to be more infectious, and could lead to a host of new travel restrictions, sapping oil demand," Pan Jingyi, market analyst at IG told S&P Global Platts on Dec. 21.

Several European countries, including France, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Italy and Belgium have announced travel restrictions pertaining to the UK in order to curb the spread of the virus, according to media reports.

Warren Patterson, head of commodities strategy at ING, told Platts on Dec. 21: "Over the past few weeks we have seen quite a bit of speculative money moving into the market, and the fear of more lockdowns and travel restrictions that this new virus strain has raised is causing some of that speculative money to close their positions."

Meanwhile, amid the coronavirus gloom, reports that a deal over a US stimulus bill worth nearly USD900 billion has been reached among US lawmakers failed to reassure the market, even though such stimulus has long been considered essential to US economic recovery and oil demand.

"Congress needs to do much more, especially with the UK lockdown headlines playing a major factor worrying investors which country is next to get hit with the mutant strain," said Stephen Innes, chief global market strategist at Axi in a Dec. 21 note.

As MRC informed previously, global oil demand may have already peaked, according to BP's latest long-term energy outlook, as the COVID-19 pandemic kicks the world economy onto a weaker growth trajectory and accelerates the shift to cleaner fuels.

Earlier this year, BP said the deadly coronavirus outbreak could cut global oil demand growth by 40% in 2020, putting pressure on Opec producers and Russia to curb supplies to keep prices in check.

And in September 2019, six world's major petrochemical companies in Flanders, Belgium, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and the Netherlands (Trilateral Region) announced the creation of a consortium to jointly investigate how naphtha or gas steam crackers could be operated using renewable electricity instead of fossil fuels. The Cracker of the Future consortium, which includes BASF, Borealis, BP, LyondellBasell, SABIC and Total, aims to produce base chemicals while also significantly reducing carbon emissions. The companies agreed to invest in R&D and knowledge sharing as they assess the possibility of transitioning their base chemical production to renewable electricity.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,760,950 tonnes in the first ten months of 2020, up by 3% year on year. Only high density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 978,870 tonnes in January-October 2020 (calculated using the formula: production minus exports plus imports minus producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively of PP random copolymer increased.
MRC