Wartsila, Grieg receive funding for green ammonia-powered tanker project

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Wartsila (Helsinki, Finland) and shipping group Grieg Star (Bergen, Norway) have received cash support of 46.3 million Norwegian krone (USD5.3 million) from a Norwegian government-backed innovation fund for a project aimed at building a tanker powered by green ammonia, according to Chemweek.

The two companies are jointly managing the project to launch an ammonia-fueled tanker producing no greenhouse gas emissions by 2024. The tanker is planned to ship green ammonia from a proposed factory in Berlevag, Norway, to various locations and end-users along the coast in Norway. The eventual design, size, and volume of the vessel will be dependent on the market and end-user interest, they say.

“We see a strong interest from owners of ferries, offshore supply ships, fishing vessels, and from energy-producing companies. In total, they require an amount of energy surpassing what we can achieve in this project. The market is there without a doubt,” says Vidar Lundberg, chief business development officer at Grieg Star. Norway is “probably the perfect arena for the world’s first market for green ammonia,” he says.

Ammonia is promising as a carbon-free fuel for marine applications, in view of the maritime industry’s need to fulfill the International Maritime Organization’s vision of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from shipping by at least 50% by 2050, according to Wartsila.

As MRC reported earlier, Borealis announced force majeure on its feedstocks and cracker supplies from its Porvoo, Finland cracker on 11 November, 2020. The company's 400,000 mt/year of ethylene and 223,000 mt/year of propylene cracker was shut because of technical issue. The failure was outside of Borealis' scope of responsibility. The cracker resumed production in early December, the force majeure was lifted after the restart.

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

According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia decreased in January-November 2020 by 17% year on year and reached 569,900 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the greatest reduction in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia increased by 21% year on year to about 202,000 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2020. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.
MRC

Asia distillates-jet fuel cash discounts narrow, refining margins gain

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Asia's cash differentials for jet fuel inched higher, while refining margins for the aviation fuel climbed for a second consecutive session, buoyed by a steady increase in the number of scheduled flights in the region, said Reuters.

Cash discounts for jet fuel narrowed by 2 cents to 11 cents per barrel to Singapore quotes, the smallest discounts since Dec. 8. Refining margins, or cracks, for jet fuel rose 17 cents to $4.71 per barrel over Dubai crude during Asian trading hours on Thursday.

The cracks have gained 48% in the last month. The jet fuel market has been gradually improving in recent weeks after the COVID-19 pandemic brought air travel to a virtual halt this year, and market watchers believe passenger traffic would be steadily on the rise as vaccine roll-outs spur more international flights in 2021.

The Jan/Feb time spread for the aviation fuel in Singapore slimmed its contango structure by 2 cents on Thursday to trade at a discount of 22 cents per barrel, Refinitiv Eikon data showed.

As MRC informed earlier, Asia's refining margins for jet fuel dipped on Tuesday but remained within close sight of multi-month highs touched last week, supported by seasonal heating demand for kerosene and a slow but gradual recovery in regional aviation demand.

We remind that PetroChina has nearly doubled the amount of Russian crude being processed at its refinery in Dalian, the company's biggest, since January 2018, as a new supply agreement had come into effect. The Dalian Petrochemical Corp, located in the northeast port city of Dalian, was expected to process 13 million tonnes, or 260,000 bpd of Russian pipeline crude in 2018, up by about 85 to 90 percent from the previous year's level. Dalian has the capacity to process about 410,000 bpd of crude. The increase follows an agreement worked out between the Russian and Chinese governments under which Russia's top oil producer Rosneft was to supply 30 million tonnes of ESPO Blend crude to PetroChina in 2018, or about 600,000 bpd. That would have represented an increase of 50 percent over 2017 volumes.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing 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

Sumitomo eyes combined PDH/synthetic methanol solution for Singapore petchems complex

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sumitomo Chemical is planning to study combining propane dehydrogenation (PDH) technology with another technology that efficiently synthesises methanol using hydrogen and carbon dioxide (CO2), said Chemweek.

Sumitomo Chemical has begun exploring a possible combination of a propane dehydrogenation (PDH) technology that converts propane gas into propylene, with another technology that efficiently synthesizes methanol, using hydrogen and carbon dioxide (CO2), by-products from PDH. This initiative is under consideration in Sumitomo Chemical’s petrochemical complex in Singapore, and supported by the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) as it can increase economic activity and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Petrochemical products including ethylene and propylene are used as raw materials for synthetic resins, such as polyethylene and polypropylene, and are mainly manufactured through naphtha cracking. Recently, the number of ethane cracking facilities that use shale gas-derived ethane as their raw material has been on the rise. Since ethane cracking produces less co-products besides ethylene, compared to naphtha cracking, the increase in ethane cracking is fuelling concerns over a relative shortage of propylene. Therefore, Sumitomo Chemical believes that PDH technology may provide a possible solution to the shortage of propylene. Meanwhile, effective use of CO2 is vital to control total emissions from industrial activities so that global warming can be addressed. Sumitomo Chemical is undertaking a joint research project with Shimane University concerning a technology to synthesize methanol from CO2 in a highly efficient manner. Since this synthesizing process requires hydrogen (a by-product of PDH technology), the company is considering a possible application of these two technologies so that both hydrogen and CO2 can be effectively used.

Because PDH technology is already well established, Sumitomo Chemical believes that a technology to efficiently synthesize methanol using CO2 and hydrogen will be a new breakthrough that can meet product demand and improve the economics of the petrochemical complex, while also reducing CO2 emissions and mitigating their impact on the environment.

Mr. Damian Chan, Executive Vice President of the EDB, said “The EDB is supportive of Sumitomo Chemical’s plans to integrate the two technologies and implement them in Singapore. It is aligned, not only with EDB’s interests in increasing propylene supply to grow high value petrochemicals manufacturing on Jurong Island, but also in enabling a low carbon energy industry and chemicals industry in Singapore. We are heartened that an industry leader such as Sumitomo Chemical has chosen Singapore as the location to commercialise these innovative technologies.”

Sumitomo Chemical is committed to achieving early implementation of this new combination of technologies with the help of the Singapore government, and will continue to contribute to a sustainable society through its businesses by creating both economic and social value.

As MRC informed earlier, Sumitomo Chemical and Axens signed a license agreement of ethanol-to-ethylene technology Atol for Sumitomo Chemical’s waste-to-polyolefins project in Japan. In the project, to promote circular economy, Axens’ Atol technology will transform ethanol produced from waste into polymer-grade ethylene that will be polymerized in Sumitomo Chemical’s assets into polyolefin, a key product in the petrochemical industry. At full roll-out, the project will enable the production of waste-based polyolefin at industrial scale, which will represent a leapfrog towards a sustainable economy based on renewable carbon.

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.

Sumitomo Chemical is a Japanese based manufacturer of a diverse range of products, including basic chemicals, petrochemicals and plastics, fine chemicals, agricultural chemicals, IT-related chemicals and pharmaceuticals.

MRC

South Korea’s YNCC to complete expansion at No. 2 naphtha cracker

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Yeochun Naphtha Cracking Centre (YNCC) might be able to restart the No. 2 naphtha cracker in Yeochun, Yeosu, South Korea by the end of December 2020 after completing the expansion work, reported CommoPlast.

The company took the cracker off-stream around the third week of October 2020 for two months of maintenance and expanding the capacity to 915,000 tons/year from the existing 580,000 tons/year.

YNCC is a joint venture between South Korean firms Hanwha and Daelim. The new ethylene capacity would be supplied to Daelim’s new mPE plant at the adjacent location.

YNCC owns two other naphtha crackers in Yeosu with a combined capacity of 1.325 million tons/year.

As MRC informed before, YNCC plans to start up its new butadiene plant in Yeosu around the end of this year. The new plant's capacity will be 130,000 mt/year of butadiene.

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

According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia decreased in January-November 2020 by 17% year on year and reached 569,900 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the greatest reduction in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia increased by 21% year on year to about 202,000 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2020. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.

South Korea’s Yeochun NCC (YNCC) pyrolyzes naphtha to produce basic feedstock materials for the petrochemical industry. YNCC, a joint venture between South Korean firms Hanwha and Daelim, is a key exporter of ethylene and propylene in the country.
MRC

Sibur, Gazprom Neft study construction, expansion of gas chemical complexes in Uzbekistan

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sibur, Gazprom Neft, and Uzbekneftegaz have agreed to cooperate on potential investments in Uzbekistan including a major expansion of Uzbekneftegaz’s existing Shurtan Gas Chemical Complex (SGCC) and the proposed construction of a new gas chemicals facility, said Chemweek.

"Sibur and Gazprom Neft will explore the possibilities of participating in the implementation of the project to expand the production capacity of the Shurtan Gas Chemical Complex,” says Sibur, Russia’s largest petrochemicals producer. The companies will also “consider the possibility of joint implementation of an investment project for the construction of a gas chemical complex based on natural gas resources produced in Uzbekistan with a capacity of up to 3 billion cubic meters," it says. The location for the new complex and potential investment amounts were not given.

The signed cooperation agreement for the projects includes “the creation of a gas chemical complex using methanol-to-olefins [MTO] technology, and the expansion of the production capacity of the Shurtan Gas Chemical Complex,” says Uzbekistan’s energy ministry in an official statement. The cooperation agreements were signed by the two Russian companies and Uzbekneftegaz last week during an official visit to Moscow by a delegation from Uzbekistan’s energy ministry, the ministry says.

The Shurtan complex, operated by state-owned Uzbekneftegaz, currently processes ethylene and more than 134,000 metric tons/year of polyethylene (PE), 116,000 metric tons/year of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), 103,000 metric tons/year of gas condensate, and 4.1 billion cu meters/year of raw gas, according to latest information on the SGCC website.

In October Lummus Technology was awarded a contract by Enter Engineering (Tashkent, Uzbekistan) to design and supply four cracker furnaces to more than double ethylene production at the facility in the Kashkadarya region of southwestern Uzbekistan. Expansion plans for the SGCC have been in process for several years, following a $1.3-billion engineering, procurement, and construction contract undertaken by Uzbekneftegaz with Enter Engineering, which has progressed the expansion to the detailed design phase.

Local press reports in Uzbekistan have previously outlined proposed plans by Uzbekneftegaz to build a new gas chemicals cluster at a provisional cost of $4.25 billion using MTO technology, with up to 10 downstream polymer derivatives plants producing up to 250,000 metric tons/year of polypropylene (PP), 100,000 metric tons/year of synthetic rubber, 100,000 metric tons/year of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and ethylene–vinyl acetate (EVA), and up to 150,000 metric tons/year of ethylene glycol (EG) and PE.

As per MRC, LyondellBasell, the world’s leading licensor of polyolefin technologies, announced that the Amur Gas Chemical Complex project, being implemented by SIBUR Holding PJSC, the largest integrated petrochemicals company in Russia, has selected LyondellBasell’s Spheripol technology for a new facility.

According to MRC's DataScope report, Russian companies increased external purchases of polypropylene in November, imports reached 20,400 tonnes against 17,900 tonnes a month earlier. Thus, overall PP imports into Russia reached 202,000 tonnes in January-November 2020, compared to 167,400 tonnes a year earlier. Purchasing of all grades of propylene polymers in foreign markets increased, with homopolymer PP imports accounting for the most noticeable rise.
MRC