Burckhardt Compression selected by Technip Energies as the supplier for hydrocracking complex in Egypt

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Burckhardt Compression has been selected by Technip Energies as the compressor supplier for the Assiut hydrocracking complex in Egypt, said Hydrocarbonprocessong.

The order includes three fully packaged API 618 Process Gas Compressors, which will be used for the facility’s hydrocracking unit. The Assiut hydrocracking complex in Egypt will be one of the country’s major strategic refineries and will help to meet growing local demand for cleaner products, mainly EURO-V diesel.

The EURO-V standard reduces atmospheric pollutants by imposing stricter limits on exhaust emissions. Burckhardt Compression’s three make-up gas compressor units, each with a frame rating of 1’700 kN, will be a vital part of this refining project, the largest in Upper Egypt. Once completed, the new hydrocracking complex will transform lower-value petroleum products into cleaner products and is expected to have an output of about 2.8 million tons per year of EURO-V diesel in addition to other petroleum products.

Hydrocracking is one of the most demanding applications for reciprocating compressors in refineries, compressing hydrogen to 200 bar g. With its comprehensive API 618 Process Gas Compressor portfolio, Burckhardt Compression provides compression solutions for all refinery applications, including hydrocrackers, hydrotreaters and sour gas services. Expanding its presence on the African continent strengthens Burckhardt Compression’s global position in the refinery segment.

The company's leading piston compressor technology offers highest availability and longest mean time between overhauls. In addition, Burckhardt Compression's aftermarket service capabilities are supported by an extensive network of service centers around the world, offering local services.

As MRC reported earlier, in November 2020, TechnipFMC successfully completed the remaining conditions required to enable work to commence on the EPC contract with Assiut National Oil Processing Company (ANOPC) for the construction of a new hydrocracking complex for the Assiut refinery in Egypt.

GC "Titan" and Technip FMC signed a memorandum of understanding regarding the construction of an organic synthesis plant. The agreement was signed during the visit of the representatives of the European company to the Omsk region. The document was signed by General Director of GC Titan Yan Kirsanov and Senior Vice President of Technip France (a subsidiary of Technip FMC) Alain Poincheval.

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) -- 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