MOSCOW (MRC) -- Japan’s largest refiner Eneos Corporation (formerly known as JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) to investigate potential opportunities for establishing a blue hydrogen and blue ammonia supply chains, according to F+L Daily.
Japan imports more than a third of its crude oil from Saudi Arabia and the MoU is based on Aramco’s potential as a stable, long-term supplier of blue hydrogen and blue ammonia. Upon completion of the feasibility studies, Eneos will review the possibility of establishing hydrogen networks, which includes importing the product to Japan and supplying it to power stations and other industries from refineries.
Thus, Eneos and Aramco intend to engage in collaborative feasibility studies to evaluate the production of blue hydrogen and blue ammonia in Saudi Arabia from hydrocarbons, such as natural gas (NG) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as well as the capture of associated carbon dioxide emissions.
Additionally, Eneos and Aramco intend to assess various hydrogen chemical carriers for the purpose of transporting hydrogen from Saudi Arabia to Japan and other markets.
Carriers are a unique way to deliver hydrogen by hydriding a chemical compound at the site of production and then dehydriding it either at the point of delivery or once it is onboard the fuel cell vehicle. This method of hydrogen delivery is still in the early stages of research and development, and as of yet it has not been shown to be energy or cost efficient, according to the US Department of Energy. Using such novel carriers would constitute a significant departure from the way transportation fuels are delivered today.
As MRC reported earlier, ENEOS has announced plans to restart its 145,000 b/d Sendai refinery in northeast Japan in the first half of April, 2021. This refinery has been taken off-stream since the strong earthquake offshore Fukushima late Feb. 13.
We remind that ENEOS Corporation restarted its naphtha cracker in Kawasaki on 1 February 2021. The company shut this cracker with an annual capacity of 515,000 tons/year of ethylene, 300,000 tons/year of propylene, and 105,000 tons/year of butadiene on 4 December, 2020, for repairment after a technical issue reported at the butadiene separation unit and initially planned to resume operations on 28 December, 2020.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 241,030 tonnes in January 2021 versus 217,890 tonnes a year earlier. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 141,870 tonnes in January 2021 versus 123,520 tonnes a year earlier. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.
Japan's largest refiner JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy was renamed ENEOS Corporation on 25 June, 2020, as part of a wider re-organization of the parent company JXTG Holdings. The move, which also involved renaming the parent company to ENEOS Holdings upon approval at its annual shareholders meeting in June 2020, comes as it strives to be a more comprehensive energy and materials company under its 2040 vision announced in May, 2019. JXTG Holdings was formed as a result of a merger between JX Holdings and TonenGeneral in April 2017. This followed the establishment of JX Holdings as a result of the merger between Nippon Oil and Nippon Mining Holdings in April 2010.
Saudi Aramco, officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, is a Saudi Arabian national oil and natural gas company based in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Aramco's value has been estimated at up to USD10 trillion in the Financial Times, making it the world"s most valuable company. Saudi Aramco has both the largest proven crude oil reserves, at more than 260 billion barrels, and largest daily oil production.
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