Versalis and Bridgestone to collaborate on elastomers

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The chemical company Versalis, part of the Italian oil and gas holding Eni and specializing in the production of elastomers, has signed a cooperation agreement with the European division of Bridgestone, under which partners will work to improve the performance of synthetic rubbers for the tire industry, said the company.

“The new agreement will combine the technological competencies of our companies and accelerate the development of new materials and their introduction into production to improve tire performance,” said Adriano Alfano, CEO of Versalis.

It is noted that the research departments of the two companies will collaborate in accordance with the model of open innovation and create new elastomers, including styrene-butadiene rubbers, for the production of high-performance tires. The project will involve the Versalis Science Centers in Ravenna and Ferrara (Italy), which will collaborate with specialists from the Bridgestone Technical Center located near Rome. The companies have previously signed an agreement to work together to produce natural rubber from guayula.

"At Bridgestone, we are well aware that disruptive innovation and sustainable mobility are not possible without such joint projects,” said Emilio Tiberio, Bridgestone's Chief Technology Officer for EMIA (Europe, Middle East, India and Africa). “We are delighted to be expanding our partnership with Versalis, and we are confident that the technologies created together will create new competitive advantages for us."

Versdalis' elastomers are used in premium tires to help improve dry and wet traction and tire durability, which reduces the consumption of natural resources in the long term.

As MRC informed earlier, Versalis, the petrochemical division of Italy's Eni SpA, plans to close its cracking unit at Porto Marghera (Porto Marghera, Italy) in March 2022. In the spring of 2018, Versalis announced that maintenance was due in 2022 and that the future of the cracker would be determined. The cracking unit was first shut down in 2014 and has been shut down for almost a year.

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).

Versalis is a petrochemical company, a 100% subsidiary of the Italian oil and gas company Eni SpA. The company manufactures a wide range of petrochemical products and is also one of the world's leading elastomer companies.

Eni S.p.A. (Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi) is an Italian oil and gas company headquartered in Rome. Eni operates in 70 countries around the world.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Huizhou Petrochemical, part of China's China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), will resume operations at the Phase 2 refinery with the capacity of 10 million mt/year on April 22, 2021, afer maintenance, reported S&P Global.

This refinery was shut for repairs on March 4, 2021.

As MRC informed earlier, CNOOC Huizhou Refining & Petrochemical also plans to resume production at its aromatic plant in Guangdong province, China, on April 22 after the turnaround, which began on 2 March, 2021.

This plant can produce 100,000 mt/year of benzene, 380,000 mt/year of mixed xylenes and 350,000 mt/year of toluene.

Benzene is a feedstock for the production of styrene monomer (SM), which, in its turn, is used for the production of polystyrene (PS).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall estimated consumption of PS and styrene plastics in Russia rose in January 2021 by 12% year on year, totalling 45,640 tonnes.

CNOOC is China's third largest national oil company after CNPC and Sinopec. The company was founded in 1982. The headquarters is located in Beijing. The company is engaged in the production, processing and marketing of oil and natural gas offshore China. The Chinese government owns 70% of the company's shares.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Soraz refinery, a joint venture between the government and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), shuts down, reported Reuters with reference to Soraz refinery operator's letter.

According to the letter, the Soraz facility with a production capacity of 20,000 barrels per day waited for a replacement for a broken part that has halted production.

In view of that Niger has suspended oil exports to help fulfil domestic demand.

As MRC informed before, in December 2019, Petrobras and China’s CNPC ended talks on the possibility of building a refinery at Comperj in Itaborai (RJ) after concluding that the project would not be economically viable.

And in August 2018, China’s state energy group CNPC completed an upgrade at Kazakhstan’s Shymkent refinery, in which it has a stake, allowing the plant to produce higher quality fuels.

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.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF, the largest world's petrochemical company, has increased April prices for all thermoplastic
polyurethane (TPU) products in North America, as per the company's press release.

Thus, the price rise was USD0.22/lb for orders shipping on or after April 1, 2021, or as contracts allow.

As MRC reported earlier, in pursue of more ambitious goals on its journey to climate neutrality and net zero emissions by 2050, BASF, the world's petrochemical major, is also significantly raising its medium-term 2030 target for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions: the company now wants to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions worldwide by 25% compared with 2018 - and to achieve this despite targeted growth and the construction of a large Verbund site in South China.

We remind that in mid-February, BASF said it was restarting one of its steam crackers at its Ludwigshafen complex in Germany after operations were halted last Wednesday due to a technical issue. The naphtha cracker produces ethylene and propylene, and is one of two crackers on the site. One has a production capacity of 420,000 metric tons/year, with the other's capacity at 240,000 metric tons/year, according to IHS Markit data.

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.

BASF Corporation, headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, is the North American affiliate of BASF SE, Ludwigshafen, Germany. BASF has approximately 17,000 employees in North America and had sales of USD18.7 billion in 2020.

BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil and Porsche are testing advanced biofuels and renewable, lower-carbon eFuels, as part of a new agreement to find pathways toward potential future consumer adoption, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The first iteration of Esso Renewable Racing Fuel is a blend of primarily advanced biofuels and is specially formulated by ExxonMobil’s in-house team of scientists and engineers. Analysis indicates the potential to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions with a liquid fuel. The fuel will be tested in race conditions with Porsche’s high-performance motorsports engines during the 2021 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup race series.

Porsche and ExxonMobil’s collaboration will also focus on eFuels, which are synthetic fuels made from hydrogen and captured carbon dioxide. As early as 2022, the companies plan to test the second iteration of Esso Renewable Racing Fuel, which will contain eFuel components. The eFuel is anticipated to achieve a greenhouse gas emissions reduction of up to 85 percent, when blended to current market fuel standards for today’s passenger vehicles.

The eFuel will be sourced from the Haru Oni pilot plant based in Chile that generates hydrogen, which is then combined with captured carbon dioxide drawn from the atmosphere to produce methanol. ExxonMobil is providing a license and support for the proprietary technology to convert the methanol to gasoline, which will result in a lower-carbon fuel.

In the pilot phase, around 35,000 gallons of eFuels will be produced in 2022. As the fuel’s primary user, Porsche will use the eFuels from Chile among others in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup starting in the season of 2022. The first on-track testing of Esso Renewable Racing Fuel is scheduled for March 30, 2021 in Zandvoort, Netherlands, and will continue throughout the 2021 and 2022 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup race series.

The collaboration with Porsche builds on ExxonMobil’s continuing efforts to develop and deploy lower-emission energy solutions, including high-efficiency fuels and lubricants, advanced plastics and other products that can enable cars and trucks to use less fuel. For example, the two companies have collaborated on a line of specially formulated lubricants for the electric vehicles market, Mobil EVTM range.

In January, ExxonMobil announced the creation of a new business, ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions, to commercialize its extensive low-carbon technology portfolio and plans to invest USD3 billion on lower emission energy solutions through 2025. Last year, ExxonMobil announced plans to distribute renewable diesel within California and potentially other domestic and international markets as soon as 2022.

Over the past two decades, ExxonMobil has invested more than USD10 billion to research, develop and deploy lower-emission energy solutions, resulting in highly efficient operations that have eliminated or avoided approximately 480 million tonnes of CO2 emissions - the equivalent of taking more than 100 million passenger vehicles off the road for a year.

Porsche is committed to invest USD17.9 billion in electromobility and digitalization by 2025. In 2030 the sports car manufacturer will offer more than 80 percent of its vehicles with electric engines. The company seeks carbon neutrality in its products and operations by 2030, investing around USD1.2 billion in sustainable mobility.

As per MRC, Plastic Energy (London, UK) is collaborating with ExxonMobil on a new recycling plant in France, which is anticipate to start up in 2023. The new facility will convert post-consumer plastic waste into raw materials for the manufacture of virgin-quality polymers. Plastic Energy and ExxonMobil have been developing plans since 2018. A final investment decision on this project is expected in mid-2021 with startup anticipated in 2023.

According to MRC"s ScanPlast report, January 2021 estimated consumption of PS and styrene plastics in Russia rose by 12% year on year, totalling 45,640 tonnes. The estimated consumption increased year on year for all PS grades.

ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world"s oil and about 2% of the world"s energy.
MRC