MOSCOW (MRC) -- Aruba's state-owned refining company Refineria di Aruba (RdA) plans to sign a deal with Houston-based Eagle LNG Partners to build an LNG import terminal on the site of its idled refinery as soon as next month, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.
The terminal would allow Eagle to supply the Dutch Caribbean island's power company with natural gas, replacing high-sulfur fuel oil as the country's main fuel for generation, Reynold Arends said in a recent interview at RdA's headquarters in the town of San Nicolas at Aruba's southeastern tip.
Aruba has been seeking new partners for the 235,000 barrel-per-day refinery, which has been largely idled since 2012. Last year, U.S. refiner Citgo Petroleum Corp PDVSAC.UL - a unit of Venezuelan state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela PDVSA.UL - handed control of the site back to the government after abandoning an ambitious USD1.1 billion refurbishment plan.
RdA is also in talks with a consortium led by San Jose-based Quanten Llc over a USD3.5 billion plan to restart the refinery itself. Quanten's chief executive, Jeff Meyers, said in a recent interview alongside Arends the group would be ready to begin demolition in August and make the refinery fully operational within three years.
Quanten specializes in electrical services for large projects. Meyers said the consortium also includes KBR Inc KBR.N, energy services provider McDermott International Ltd MCDIF.PK and technology company Cisco Systems Inc CSCO.O. Those three companies did not respond to requests for comment. Gas imported by Eagle could also power the refinery, Arends said, and Eagle is considering using Aruba as a hub to export LNG elsewhere in the Caribbean region.
Eagle spokeswoman Linda Berndt said the company "continues to work with RdA and appreciates their support toward ultimate completion of the project."
As per MRC, U.S. refiner Citgo reached an agreement with Aruba to transfer control of the San Nicolas refinery to the island’s government, Citgo said, after the two parties last year suspended a contract to overhaul the facility. Citgo, a unit of Venezuelan state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela PDVSA.UL, has been under the control of the South American country’s opposition for more than a year after Washington slapped sanctions on PDVSA in a bid to oust socialist President Nicolas Maduro.
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.
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