MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mammoet’s team completed several lifts using the PTC 200-DS in Potter Township, Pennsylvania last year. Originally there were ten scheduled lifts to be executed at a radius of 146m (480ft), with the heaviest two pieces weighing in at over 663.4t (1.4m lbs.) each, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.
In order to maximize construction efficiency and because of its reach and centralized location, Mammoet’s PTC was proposed as an option to complete other lifts on site as necessary. Ultimately, a further 137 lifts, not previously included in the PTC’s scope, were executed within the crane’s 205m (673ft) working radius.
By combining lifting capacity - up to 4,535t (5,000 US) tons - with its long reach and flexible configuration, Mammoet’s PTC provided an ideal solution on site. Because the counterweight is positioned on the ring, cranes such as the PTC don’t need any additional space to slew, allowing an efficient use of available space while still providing an extended lifting range.
Additionally, Mammoet’s crew set six steel pre-assemblies over existing purge bins inside the plant. These maneuvers needed to be made approximately 91m (300ft) above ground level, with use of tag lines. By setting this steel in pre-assembled sections, the amount of work performed at elevation was greatly reduced.
A hydraulic swivel was used to help steady the load because using tag lines alone would have been infeasible for controlling the orientation of each piece. With the assistance of the remote-controlled hydraulic swivel, the pre-assemblies were able to be precisely positioned. This was a necessity due to a clearance of less than 5cm (2in) at times between the pre-assemblies and the purge bins. The facility is the first major U.S. project of its kind to be built outside of the Gulf Coast region in 20 years. Once operational, the complex will include four processing units, including an ethane cracker and three polyethylene units and is expected to employ up to 600 workers. In early 2019, Mammoet’s MSG80 successfully lifted a 1,814t (2,000 US ton) quench tower into position, which was the tallest and heaviest lift scheduled at this location.
As MRC informed earlier, Mammoet has safely completed a critical lift at Shell’s Pennsylvania Chemicals Project in Potter Township, utilizing its MSG80 to hoist a 2,000 ton quench tower into position. The facility is the first major US project of its kind to be built outside of the Gulf Coast region in 20 years. Once operational, the facility will boast an ethane cracker and three polyethylene units, and is expected to employ up to 600 employees. As part of its heavy lift scope, Mammoet recently lifted the tallest and heaviest piece, a quench tower, into place using its specialized MSG80 crane.
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