Repsol joins hydrogen consortium, plans 100-MW electrolyzer plant

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Repsol says it has joined a consortium aiming to develop Europe’s first 100-megawatt (MW) alkaline electrolyzer plant for the production of low-carbon hydrogen, said Chemweek.

The consortium’s H24All project has applied for EU Green Deal funding for further research and development work on the plant, which would be connected to one of Repsol’s industrial sites, it says. The proposed site location was not given. The consortium is aiming to develop, build, operate, and demonstrate the sustainability of the 100-MW high-pressure electrolyzer to meet market requirements for competitive low-carbon hydrogen production, it says.

The project’s objective is to reduce the cost of producing renewable hydrogen to around EUR3/kilogram (USD3.6). “The economic and business-modelling case will provide quantitative evidence that will reduce the risk for other hydrogen infrastructure deployment across Europe,” Repsol says. The project is expected to involve three years of R&D and construction, with two further years for a demonstration and validation phase.

The consortium features partner companies from across the hydrogen value chain in Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Norway, Spain, and Turkey, including research centers, material suppliers, engineering firms, electro-intensive industries, energy and automotive companies, universities, and industry associations.

Repsol has previously stated its aim of achieving 400 MW of renewable hydrogen production by 2025 and being net-zero in terms of carbon emissions by 2050. The company’s refining business is currently the largest consumer and producer of hydrogen in Spain, it says.

As MRC reported earlier, Repsol shut down its cracker in Tarragona (Spain) for maintenance in the fourth quarter of 2019. The turnaround at this steam cracker, which produces 702,000 mt/year of ethylene and 372,000 mt/year of propylene, was pushed back from Q3 2019. The exact dates of maintenance works were not disclosed.

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

Repsol S.A is an integrated Spanish oil and gas company with operations in 28 countries. The bulk of its assets are located in Spain.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Phillips 66 reported a wider-than-expected loss on Friday, as rising oil prices and lower fuel demand hit the US refiner's marketing and specialties business, reported Reuters.

While crude prices rallied more than 20% in the last quarter, driven by optimism over the development of COVID-19 vaccines, refiners struggled with uneven demand for fuel and related products as fresh lockdowns due to a resurgence in COVID-19 infections threatened that recovery.

Consumption of liquid fuels globally is estimated to have fallen by 9 million barrels per day in 2020, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration. Data also shows that travel on U.S. roads also fell 11% in November from the year-ago period, after a 9% drop in October.

Like rival Valero, Phillips 66 also expects COVID-19 vaccination efforts to boost economic recovery.

Phillips 66 said realized marketing fuel margins declined 38.6% in the fourth quarter to USD1.37 per barrel in the United States, and were down 19.3% at USD5.07 per barrel internationally, on a sequential basis.

The Marketing and Specialties segment sells gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel through various outlets.

Refined product exports in the reported quarter also fell to 103,000 barrels per day (bpd) from prior quarter's 139,000 bpd.

The company reported adjusted net loss of USD507 million, or USD1.16 per share, up from USD1 million, or 1 cent per share, in the third quarter.

Analysts were expecting a loss of USD1.06 per share, according to Refinitiv IBES.

As MRC wrote before, in October 2020, US refiner Phillips 66 said it plans to reconfigure its refinery in Rodeo, California to produce renewable fuels from used cooking oil, fats, greases and soybean oils.

We remind that US-based Phillips 66 remains open to developing another ethane cracker for its Chevron Phillips Chemical (CP Chem) joint venture, the refiner's CEO said in March 2018.

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ECB Group Paraguay and Shell Trading (US) Company (“Shell”) have signed a multi-year contract that will provide more than 500 million liters of renewable diesel and renewable jet fuel per year to Shell, one of the world's largest energy companies. The contract is expected to run from 2024, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The renewable diesel HVO (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil) and renewable jet fuel (Synthetic Paraffinic Kerosene/SPK), also known as Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), will be produced at ECB’s to-be-built Omega Green biorefinery in Paraguay, with a total production capacity of 20,000 barrels per day of HVO, SPK/SAF and green naphtha.

"We are delighted to have Shell as our single largest offtaker,” said founder and CEO of the ECB Group, Erasmo Carlos Battistella. “With Shell’s well-known focus on decarbonization initiatives, it makes perfect sense for us to work together to provide renewable fuels solutions, especially in the road transportation and aviation sectors. This agreement also positions the Omega Green state-of-the-art biorefinery as a major producer to supply a growing demand for low carbon fuels."

The ECB Group, led by Battistella, is Brazil's leading producer of biodiesel with an annual capacity of 828 million liters. With the contract signed today, the group establishes itself as the leading future producer of HVO and SAF in the southern hemisphere, providing fuels that help drive decarbonization of key transport sectors such as aviation and road transport.

“Biofuels must play a key role in achieving a net-zero emissions energy system, but collaboration is critical if the world’s supply and use of these low-carbon fuels is to become more widespread,” said Odeh Khoury, Shell Vice President for Products Trading and Supply, Americas.

“We are pleased to work with ECB Group to supply low carbon biofuels to meet the demand for cleaner energy from our customers around the globe. By combining ECB’s production capabilities and regional presence with Shell’s global biofuels trading expertise we are able to bring a significant volume of renewable fuels into the global market."

The ECB Group venture to build and operate the Omega Green biorefinery includes contractor Honeywell UOP, owner of the renewable fuel refining technology for UOP Process reactors ™, Crown Iron Works, a U.S. company that provides processing systems and technologies, including feedstock pretreatment technology, and Acciona, one of the world's largest engineering and construction companies.

As MRC wrote before, Royal Dutch Shell has reported an outage at its olefins plant in Deer Park, Texas, on 5 January, 2021. The plant flared for 16 hours last Tuesday following unspecified process upset. Maximum steam cracker operating rate in Texas falls to 89%.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing 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.

Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.
MRC

1. Valero posts smaller-than-expected loss, pins recovery hopes on vaccine rollout

MOSCOW (MRC) -- US refiner Valero Energy Corp posted a much smaller quarterly loss than Wall Street expected and pinned hopes on widespread COVID-19 vaccinations to ease travel restrictions and improve demand for fuel, accoring to Hydrocarbonprocessing. Crude prices have continued to climb after rallying more than 20% in the last quarter, driven by optimism over the development of coronavirus vaccines, even as refiners struggled with uneven demand due to renewed lockdown measures.



MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sumitomo Chemical reports a 19% fall year on year (YOY) in net income to Yen 54.13 billion (USD523.0 million) for the fiscal first nine months ended 31 December 2020, on sales that declined Yen 8.1 billion to Yen 1.64 trillion, according to Chemweek.

The company does not disclose separate financial figures for the third quarter.

Net income attributable to owners of the parent company declined 41% YOY to Yen 21.94 billion, while operating profit fell 9% to Yen 116.64 billion, it says. Substantial sales declines in Sumitomo’s petrochemicals/plastics and energy/functional materials businesses in the first nine months were partially offset by increases in revenue for its pharmaceuticals, health and crop sciences, and electronic chemicals segments.

In its petchems and plastics business, Sumitomo says shipments of synthetic resins mainly for automotive use declined YOY, while a drop in market prices for raw materials saw petchem product prices hover at a lower level, due primarily to the economic downturn related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Sales plunged Yen 109.9 billion compared to the prior-year period to Yen 408.4 billion, with core operating income swinging to a loss of Yen 27.9 billion, down Yen 55.2 billion YOY. The operating loss was due mainly to lower shipment volumes, deteriorated petchem margins, and periodic shutdown maintenance at its Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Co. (Rabigh, Saudi Arabia) joint venture with Aramco, it says.

In its energy and functional materials business, declining shipments of materials for automotive use, including separators for lithium-ion secondary batteries and synthetic rubber, resulted in a Yen 15.3 billion fall YOY in sales to Yen 175.4 billion. Core operating income fell by Yen 2.1 billion compared to the equivalent period last year to Yen 15.6 billion.

Sales rose Yen 35.3 billion YOY to Yen 417.5 billion in Sumitomo’s pharmaceuticals business, driven mainly by increased sales in Japan and North America, with core operating income increasing YOY by Yen 7.2 billion to Yen 74.7 billion.

Electronic chemicals shipments of processing materials for semiconductors, including high-purity chemicals and photoresists, increased due to growing demand, while shipment of materials for display applications also rose as a result of rising stay-at-home and tele-work demand, it says. Sales increased by ?19.3 billion compared to the prior-year period to Yen 324.3 billion, with core operating income rising by Yen 13.2 billion YOY to Yen 31.8 billion.

In the health and crop sciences business, crop protection product sales rose YOY following the acquisition in April 2020 of four Nufarm subsidiaries in South America, while shipments to India also performed well, it says. Revenue grew Yen 63.9 billion YOY to Yen 282.4 billion, with core operating income swinging to a core operating profit of Yen 12.2 billion, up Yen 25.8 billion YOY.

As MRC reported earlier, in December 2020, 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.

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