Encina, Flint Hills consider renewable aromatics facility in Corpus Christi

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Encina Development Group (Encina; The Woodlands, Texas) and Flint Hills Resources say they are exploring a collaboration to produce renewable chemicals and fuels from plastic waste, reported Chemweek.

The two have signed a non-binding term sheet that proposes construction of a facility in Corpus Christi, Texas. Flint Hills would market the aromatic products produced at the Encina Corpus Christi facility and work with its affiliates to market renewable aromatic products from other Encina plants in the US.

“Our work with Encina is an exciting addition to our growing portfolio of renewable product and technology investments,” says Francis Murphy, senior vice president/chemicals at Flint Hills. “Renewable aromatics and bioplastics are playing an increasingly import role in the product value chain and reducing environmental impacts while still delivering on all the various products that make modern life possible.”

“Flint Hills Resources is an excellent partner for Encina,” says David Schwedel, executive director at Encina. “They have deep domain industry expertise and an aligned focus on delivering highly-valued and sustainable products to the marketplace.”

In December 2020, Encina and Braskem announced a collaboration for the production of circular propylene from plastic waste.

As MRC informed previously, in November 2019, Motiva Enterprises, the US refining arm of Saudi Aramco, acquired 100% of Flint Hills Resources chemical plant, adjacent to its Port Arthur, Texas, oil refinery. The Flint Hills plant operates a 1.57 billion-pound-per-year ethylene cracker, a unit producing nylon component cyclohexane, and a network of pipelines and storage caverns.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,220,640 tonnes in 2020, up by 2% year on year. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market reached 1 240,000 tonnes in 2020 (calculated using the formula: production, minus exports, plus imports, excluding producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively PP random copolymer increased.
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COVID-19 - News digest as of 18.02.2021

1. Wood Mackenzie: Energy transition to drive refinery and petrochemicals integration

MOSCOW (MRC) -- 2020 was a difficult year for the world’s refineries as the coronavirus pandemic reduced refinery utilization and OPEC+ supply restraint narrowed crude price differentials, said Hydrocarbonprocessing. Despite this, integrated refinery and petrochemical sites significantly outperformed their fuels-only peers, according to Wood Mackenzie. One of the most highly integrated sites in China, Hengli, generated a net income of more than USD1.4 B during 1Q to 3Q 2020, at a time when most of the refining industry was incurring significant losses. Alan Gelder, Wood Mackenzie VP Refining, Chemicals & Oil Markets, said: “Over the coming years, the energy transition and the associated electrification of the passenger car fleet will slow the pace of global gasoline demand growth and drive it into decline after 2030.

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Crude oil futures dip on stronger dollar, technical correction

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Crude oil futures inched lower during mid-morning trade in Asia Feb. 17, coming under pressure from a stronger US dollar and a technical correction in the overbought oil markets, as well as rising expectations of easing supply curbs from OPEC+ at its March 3 meeting, reported S&P Global.

At 10:37 am Singapore time (0237 GMT), the ICE Brent April contract was down 21 cents/b (0.33%) from the Feb. 16 settle at USD63.14/b, while the March NYMEX light sweet crude contract was 20 cents/b (0.33%) lower at USD59.85b.

The US dollar strengthened on the back of higher US 10-year Treasury bond yields, which jumped amid inflationary expectations as the global economy continues its path of recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, causing weakness in oil markets.

"Oil is trading lower via a stronger US dollar, which is gaining a head of steam with US yields ripping higher, and both are stepping up to challenge the bullish reflation momentum," said Stephen Innes, chief global strategist at Axi, in Feb. 17 note.

Technical correction in the oil markets, where speculative trading had caused an extended long position and left the market overdue for a consolidation, also contributed to the decline, according to analysts.

"Given the scale of the rally in oil, the current fall in prices does not reflect the rally losing its steam, but merely a technical correction in an extremely overbought market. Oil can only fall so far, even if the drop in prices is sharp; I expect it to be short-lived," Jeffery Halley, senior market analyst at OANDA, told S&P Global Platts Feb. 17.

Meanwhile, severe cold weather in parts of the US, including Texas, continues to disrupt shale oil production and refining activities. However, given the temporary nature of the weather disruption and the offsetting effect of the reduced supply from oil producers and demand from oil refiners in the region, the supply disruptions are no longer providing additional support to oil prices.

Even without the boost from supply disruptions in North America, oil markets are by-and-large well supported, with a strong demand recovery outlook amid the receding pandemic and expectations of additional fiscal relief from the US, along with supply curtailments from OPEC+ and Saudi Arabia's additional 1 million b/d production curbs.

However, analysts cautioned that strong oil prices are heightening the risk of OPEC+ unwinding production cuts at a faster pace, which may reduce the supply tightness that is contributing to the supported market.

"There are suggestions that the group could ease output cuts slightly," ING Economics analysts said in a Feb. 17 note, adding that much also depends on how quickly Saudi Arabia rolls back its voluntary production cuts.

"Strong oil prices increase the possibility of US shale producers ramping up activities, which they can do fairly quickly, taking away some of the market share from OPEC+ producers. As such, the odds of OPEC+ making adjustments production cuts are rising quickly," Halley said.

Market participants will look to the weekly inventory reports by the American Petroleum Institute and the US Energy Information Administration, due later Feb. 17 and Feb. 18 respectively, for fresh pricing cues.

As MRC informed previously, oil producers face an unprecedented challenge to balance supply and demand as factors including the pace and response to COVID-19 vaccines cloud the outlook, according to an official with International Energy Agency's (IEA) statement.

We remind that the COVID-19 outbreak has led to an unprecedented decline in demand affecting all sections of the Russian economy, which has impacted the demand for petrochemicals in the short-term. However, the pandemic triggered an increase in the demand for polymers in food packaging, and cleaning and hygiene products, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company. With Russian petrochemical companies having the advantage of access to low-cost feedstock, and proximity to demand-rich Asian (primarily China) and European markets for the supply of petrochemical products, these companies appear to be well-positioned to derive full benefits from an improving market environment and global economy post-COVID-19, says GlobalData.

We also remind that in December 2020, Sibur, Gazprom Neft, and Uzbekneftegaz 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. 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”.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,220,640 tonnes in 2020, up by 2% year on year. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market reached 1 240,000 tonnes in 2020 (calculated using the formula: production, minus exports, plus imports, excluding producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively PP random copolymer increased.
MRC

Repsol chemical business earnings rise on higher utilization, margins, sales

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Repsol has reported a EUR102-million (USD123 million) rise year on year (YOY) in fourth-quarter operating income in its chemicals business, due mainly to higher utilization rates, petrochemical margins, and sales, combined with reduced costs, reported Chemweek.

Specific figures for operating income and chemical sales for the quarter and comparative prior-year period were not provided.

The chemicals business sits within Repsol’s industrial segment, for which adjusted net income in the fourth quarter was EUR68 million, down 72% YOY from EUR242 million, but swinging sequentially from a loss of EUR67 million in the third quarter. The earnings decline was due to primarily to negative market conditions related to COVID-19 in the company’s refining activities, operations in Peru, and to a lesser extent in its trading, and wholesale and gas-trading businesses. “This was partially offset by the strong performance of chemicals and lower taxes due to a lower operating income,” it says. Sales totaled EUR6.69 billion for the quarter, down from EUR9.40 billion a year earlier, but improving from EUR5.89 billion in the third quarter.

Petchem product sales in the fourth quarter rose 11.5% YOY to 727,000 metric tons and were also up sequentially from 704,000 metric tons in the previous quarter.

Repsol reported a group net loss of EUR711 million for the fourth quarter, narrowing from a loss of EUR5.28 billion a year earlier, but widening sequentially from a loss of EUR94 million in the third quarter. The net loss was due mainly to provisions in its upstream business, it says. Adjusted net income was EUR404 million, flat YOY and up from EUR7 million in the third quarter. Fourth-quarter group sales declined to EUR8.97 billion, down 30% from EUR12.91 billion in the prior-year period, but up sequentially from EUR8.48 billion in the third quarter.

Looking forward, Repsol says it is “committed to efficiency in the industrial processes of its chemicals business, oriented towards a circular economy, with the goal of recycling the equivalent of 20% of its polyolefin production by 2030.”

As MRC wrote previously, in January 2020, Berry Global Group, Evansville, Indiana, announced that Madrid-based Repsol, its longtime supplier, will supply it with circular resins. The Spanish multienergy global company will supply Berry with International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) Plus-certified circular polyolefins from its Repsol Reciclex range. According to a news release from Berry Global, these polyolefins are obtained by advanced recycling, enabled by the adoption of new chemical recycling technologies, of postconsumer plastic scrap not suitable for traditional recycling.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,220,640 tonnes in 2020, up by 2% year on year. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market reached 1 240,000 tonnes in 2020 (calculated using the formula: production, minus exports, plus imports, excluding producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively PP random copolymer increased.
MRC

Hengyi picks Univation Unipol process for new PE plant at Brunei Complex

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Hengyi Industries has selected Univation's Unipol polyethylene (PE) process for a new world-scale PE plant that will be built at Hengyi's site in Palau Maura Besar, Brunei, according to Apic-online.

The 600,000-t/y PE unit will be integrated into a larger refinery and petrochemicals project, which includes a 280,000-b/d refinery and downstream production of ethylene, benzene, paraxylene, ethylene glycol, purified terephthalic acid, polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

The Unipol technology will allow Hengyi to produce a broad range of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) products. A schedule for the project was not given.

Hengyi also selected Univation's advanced software platforms for both process control capability and virtual process training for the PE facility.

This Hengyi Industry project represents Brunei's first-ever world-class oil refinery and petrochemical complex and also marks and important milestone as the company's second significant capital investment for the Palau Muara Besar site, said Chen Lian Cai, chief executive of Hengyi.

As MRC informed before, in September 2020, China’s Hengyi Petrochemical Co Ltd announced plans to spend USD13.65 billion to build the second phase of a refinery and petrochemical complex in Brunei. Hengyi, one of the few private Chinese firms operating a refinery outside China, plans to add a 14 million tonne per year (280,000 barrel per day) crude oil refinery and a two million tpy paraxylene unit at its complex in Palau Muara Besar, the company said. It will also build a 1.65 million tpy ethylene plant and 2.5 million tpy purified terephthalic acid (PTA) facility. Paraxylene and PTA are key materials for making polyester fibre used in textiles and packaging.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,220,640 tonnes in 2020, up by 2% year on year. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased.
MRC