New LPG dual fuel very large gas carrier ordered for Borealis by IINO

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Borealis AG (Borealis) and IINO Kaiun Kaisha, Ltd.(IINO) are delighted to announce the order for a 91,000 CBM Very Large Gas Carrier (VLGC) at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., Ltd. (DSME) in South Korea, as per Borealis press release.

The liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) dual fuel VLGC, set for delivery in the first quarter of 2023, is committed on time charter to Borealis.

This ship is IINO’s second VLGC with a LPG dual fuel engine. LPG as a fuel reduces emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), particulate matter (PM), sulphur oxide (SOx) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) compared to conventional heavy fuel oil. In addition, DSME’s unique Shaft Generator Motor (SGM) system is to be fitted on the ship. The SGM enables the generation of electric-power from the LPG dual fuel engine during navigation and contributes to lower fuel/lubricant oil consumption and lower emissions.

This innovative shipping solution will support Borealis future sourcing of feedstock for their , currently under construction. Borealis looks forward to the partnership with IINO to develop and operate a safe, environmentally friendly and reliable, VLGC shipping solution, based on the latest technology.

IINO has been engaged in LPG Shipping with local and overseas LPG Charterers, End-users and Traders for many years based on medium to long term contracts. This year, IINO has set the target of reducing 40% Green House Gas emissions per transport unit in its operating ships by 2030 compared to 2008. The additional eco-friendly VLGC would be an important step to achieve a sustainable society.

Borealis is one of the world’s leading providers of advanced and circular polyolefin solutions and a European market leader in base chemicals, fertilizers and the mechanical recycling of plastics. With head offices in Vienna, Austria, Borealis employs 6,900 employees and operates in over 120 countries.

As MRC reported earlier, Borealis has fully resumed production at its steam cracker in Stenungsund, Sweden. Thus, the cracker with the capacity of 625,000 mtyear of ethylene was restarted on 15-17 January, 2021. Meanwhile, the status of the force majeure on the products from this cracker remains unclear at the moment. Force majeure at Stenungsund was declared after a fire started at the cracker on 10 May last year. A restart of the cracker was initially planned for the fourth quarter of 2020, a Borealis spokesperson told OPIS in September.

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.

Borealis is a leading provider of innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilizers. With headquarters in Vienna, Austria, Borealis currently employs around 6,500 and operates in over 120 countries.
MRC

OMV to expand steam cracker, petchems units in Burghausen, Germany

MOSCOW (MRC) -- OMV (Vienna, Austria) says it is investing EUR40 million (USD48 million) to expand and modernize a steam cracker and associated units at its refining and petrochemicals complex at Burghausen, Germany, said Chemweek.

The upgrade will increase the site’s ethylene and propylene production capacity by 50,000 metric tons/year. Following a planned turnaround of the refinery, the revamped cracker and petchem units are expected to start operations in the third quarter of 2022. Initial groundwork is already underway ahead of the upgrade, it says.

“By expanding the cracker, OMV is consistently delivering on its petrochemical strategy for a future-proof refinery,” says OMV’s Thomas Gangl, chief downstream operations officer. “This goes hand in hand with the growth in the chemical industry and serves as a response to increasing customer demand,” he says.

The increased production of ethylene and propylene will help to meet growing demand for the products in the neighboring Bavarian chemical triangle and in international markets, OMV says.

The 3.8-million metric tons/year crude refinery in Burghausen is part of OMV’s wider network, operating alongside two other refining and petchem sites in Schwechat, Austria, and Petrobrazi, Romania. Burghausen’s refinery produces petchems including ethylene, propylene, and butadiene, as well as middle distillates such as kerosene, diesel, and heating oil.

As per MRC, OMV is considering increasing its investment in the processing industry in Abu Dhabi by expanding its existing joint venture with Borouge.

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

COVID-19 - News digest as of 20.01.2021

1. Petrobras has not signed Brazil antitrust body deferral for refinery sales

MOSCOW (MRC) - Brazilian oil producer Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) has not signed an agreement with antitrust regulator Cade on additional commitments regarding refinery divestments, reported Reuters with reference to a securities filing, issued on Monday. Petrobras has been trying to sell refineries in one of the world's largest fuel markets for almost a decade and it relauched its plan under Chief Executive Officer Roberto Castello Branco, who took office in January 2019. The latest amendment, which it has not signed, would give the company more time to sign deals after the COVID-19 pandemic reduced demand for fuel and affected the valuation of the plants.



MRC

Johnson Matthey builds up catalyst-coated membranes capacity at UK site

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Johnson Matthey (JM), a global leader in sustainable technologies, has taken the next major step in its plans to commercialise technologies to enable production of zero carbon ‘green’ hydrogen, announcing new manufacturing capacity for the production of catalyst coated membranes, said Chemweek.

This capacity is co-located with JM’s cutting edge plant in Swindon, UK, where high performance fuel cell components including membrane electrode assemblies, catalyst coated membranes, and fuel processor catalysts are produced at scale.

Hydrogen has the potential to significantly contribute to the fight to tackle the climate crisis by decarbonising industries that are difficult to electrify, such as heavy industry, heavy mobility, aviation and shipping. This is a critical step in helping societies meet their ambitious net zero targets.

JM specialises in catalyst coated membranes which sit at the heart of electrolyser units and enable the green hydrogen production process, creating hydrogen through the electrolysis of water with no harmful emissions.

The new capacity enables JM to produce components now, initially for tens of megawatts of hydrogen production – enough to power several thousand homes. The largest electrolyser units in operation in the world today range from 10 to 20 MW. As such, the new capacity puts JM in a position to work with world scale projects, with a roadmap to scale to multi-gigawatt manufacturing capacity in line with customer demand as the market continues its anticipated growth.

As MRC informed earlier, Johnson Matthey (JM; London, U.K.) has secured a multiple licence win for China’s Ningxia Baofeng Energy Group’s latest project to develop five of the largest single-train methanol plants in the world. Located at Baofeng’s Ordos City complex in Inner Mongolia, PRC, the plants have a planned capacity of 5 x 7,200 metric tons (m.t.) per day, and mark the fourth project on which Baofeng has selected Johnson Matthey as its collaboration partner for methanol technology.

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

Ineos donates USD136 million to Oxford University for antimicrobial research

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Ineos, one of the world’s largest manufacturing companies, and the University of Oxford are launching a new world-leading institute to combat the growing global issue of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which currently causes an estimated 1.5 million excess deaths each year- and could cause over 10m deaths per year by 2050, said Chemweek.

Predicted to also create a global economic toll of USD100 trillion by mid-century, it is arguably the greatest economic and healthcare challenge facing the world post-Covid.It is bacterial resistance, caused by overuse and misuse of antibiotics, which arguably poses the broadest threat to global populations. The world is fast running out of effective antibiotics as bacteria evolve to develop resistance to our taken-for-granted treatments. Without urgent collaborative action to prevent common microbes becoming multi-drug resistant (commonly known as ‘superbugs’), we could return to a world where taken-for-granted treatments such as chemotherapy and hip replacements could become too risky, childbirth becomes extremely dangerous, and even a basic scratch could kill.

The rapid progression of antibacterial resistance is a natural process, exacerbated by significant overuse and misuse of antibiotics not only in human populations but especially in agriculture. Meanwhile, the field of new drug discovery has attracted insufficient scientific interest and funding in recent decades meaning no new antibiotics have been successfully developed since the 1980s.

The new Ineos Oxford Institute will benefit from the internationally outstanding facilities and expertise of Oxford University, which played the key role in the origin of antibiotics following Fleming and Oxford’s discovery and development of penicillin in the last century. The IOI will create collaborative and cross-disciplinary links across the sciences, and will be based between two sites in Oxford, linking the University’s Department of Chemistry with the new Life & Mind Building, which is currently under construction.

Prolonging the benefits of antibiotics the world has known since the 1940s requires both urgent new drug development, and better management of the existing drugs we have. It is natural that the microbes causing illness and infection gradually evolve to evade our treatments, but misuse of antibiotics - for instance overusing them and not finishing a full prescribed course - drastically accelerates this process.

The majority of global antibiotic consumption by volume is used for agriculture, and drug use in animals is contributing significantly to their lessening effectiveness in humans. The INEOS Oxford Institute for AMR Research (IOI) will therefore focus on designing novel antimicrobials just for animals, as well as exploring new human drugs.

As MRC informed earlier, Ineos agreed on a long-term power purchase agreement for renewable offshore wind power in Belgium with RWE (Essen, Germany). Under the terms of the 10-year deal, which begins in 2021, Ineos will purchase 56 megawatts (198 gigawatt hours/year) of offshore wind power from RWE Supply &Trading, an RWE subsidiary, produced at the Northwester2 wind park in the North Sea off Belgium.

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.

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