Lotte Chemical to Invest USD3.8 bln in hydrogen business by 2030

Lotte Chemical to Invest USD3.8 bln in hydrogen business by 2030

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Lotte Chemical Co., a South Korean petrochemical major, said it will invest 4.4 trillion won (USD3.8 billion) in the hydrogen business by 2030 to cut its carbon emissions and foster the new growth driver, according to Kemicalinfo.

Under its hydrogen growth roadmap, Green Promise 2030, Lotte Chemical said through the investment it aims to generate annual sales of 3 trillion won (USD2.6 billion) with an operating profit margin of over 10% in its hydrogen-related business alone by the 2030 pledge date.

Lotte Chemical is the latest company to pinpoint hydrogen as a future growth engine. In terms of hydrogen production, companies in these fields have an advantage because hydrogen is a natural byproduct in their factories.

The company said it will establish blue hydrogen facilities with an annual production capacity of 160,000 tons by 2025. It also plans to generate green hydrogen at overseas facilities and bring it to Korea for industrial use, with a target of 440,000 tons a year of green hydrogen by 2030.

Overall, Lotte aims to launch facilities with an annual hydrogen production capacity of 600,000 tons by 2030.

As MRC informed before, Lotte Chemical shut its naphtha-fed steam cracker in Daesan for an annual maintenance on 15 May, 2021. This cracker with the capacity of 1.1 million mt/year of ethylene and 550,000 mt/year of propylene resumed production on 23 June, 2021.

Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 953,400 tonnes in the first five months of 2021, which virtually corresponded to the same figure a year earlier. High denisty polyethylene (HDPE) shipments decreased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 607,8900 tonnes in January-May 2021, up by 33% year on year. Shipments of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whereas deliveries of PP random copolymers decreased.

Lotte Chemical runs two naphtha crackers in South Korea. One cracker is located in Daesan county in Seosan which can produce 1.1 million tonnes per year of ethylene with the other 1.2 million tonnes per year cracker in the southwestern city of Yeosu.
MRC

Russia to capture deal with Japanese firm in a move to make Sakhalin carbon neutral by 2025

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Russian Pacific island of Sakhalin is close to a cooperation agreement with a Japanese company on carbon capture and storage technology as it moves to carbon neutrality by 2025, the regional governor told Reuters.

Russia aims to make Sakhalin carbon neutral by 2025, the first region to do so in the country, and as the island needs to move quickly in adding renewable resources amid depleting fossil fuels.

"The regional government is preparing to sign a cooperation agreement with a well-known Japanese company," Valery Limarenko said in emailed comments. He did not provide other details.

Sakhalin is home to Russia's first plant to produce LNG, operated by Sakhalin Energy. The company has worked out an "ecological LNG" strategy, Limarenko said, to cut its carbon footprint and supply carbon-neutral fuel.

The region would introduce quotas for greenhouse gas emissions from two dozen companies operating on the island, in two steps: businesses with annual emissions of over 50,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent would be targeted from 2023 and those emitting over 20,000 tonnes to follow from 2025.

The region aims to generate 28% of energy from renewable sources by 2025 thanks to the construction of wind, solar, geothermal and small-sized hydro-electric power stations, mainly on the Kuril Islands. The region will introduce 10,000 electric-powered vehicles and 1,000 charging stations by 2025 and plans to switch domestic heating boilers to using natural gas and LNG, including on the Kuril islands.

Sakhalin's oil output, led by ExxonMobil and Rosneft , is set to fall to 15.2 million tonnes this year (300,000 barrels of oil per day) from 18.4 million tonnes in 2020, declining further to 14 million tonnes as its reserves dwindle, the governor said.

Gas production, a feedstock for the Sakhalin-2 LNG plant, is seen stable at over 30 billion cubic metres per year.

As MRC informed earlier, PKN Orlen (Plock, Poland), the country’s largest petrochemicals producer, will receive 3.6 million tons of crude oil per year from Russia’s Rosneft under a new two-year supply contract signed in March 2021. Rosneft suspended oil deliveries to Poland in February after failing to agree on new contract terms with PKN Orlen when the previous agreement expired on January 31. The previous deal had envisaged deliveries of 5.4 million to 6.6 million tons a year.

Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 953,400 tonnes in the first five months of 2021, which virtually corresponded to the same figure a year earlier. High denisty polyethylene (HDPE) shipments decreased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 607,8900 tonnes in January-May 2021, up by 33% year on year. Shipments of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whereas deliveries of PP random copolymers decreased.
MRC

US crude stockpiles up for first time since May on higher imports

US crude stockpiles up for first time since May on higher imports

MOSCOW (MRC) -- US crude oil stockpiles rose last week, breaking a streak of eight weeks of declines, as imports surged to their highest in a year, reported Reuters with reference to the Energy Information Administration's statement.

Crude inventories rose by 2.1 million barrels in week to July 16 to 439.7 million barrels, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 4.5 million-barrel drop.

US crude imports last week rose to 7.1 million barrels per day (bpd), their highest since July 2020, boosting net crude imports to their loftiest since December at 4.6 million bpd. Exports also dropped 1.6 million bpd as the price differential between US crude futures and Brent crude has narrowed, making exports less attractive to foreign buyers.

Crude stocks have steadily declined throughout the year as overall demand rose and due to relatively tight supply worldwide with major oil producers constraining demand. This week, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies including Russia agreed to boost output.

Refinery operations were largely steady with crude runs down 86,000 bpd and utilization rates edged 0.4 percentage point lower to 91.4% in the week.

As MRC informed earlier, Saudi Arabia, the world's top crude oil exporter, will supply full contractual volumes of August-loading crude to at least five Asian customers. However, Saudi Aramco has turned down two of the buyers' requests for extra barrels.

We remind that Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), said in June he expects the company's deal with Saudi Aramco to materialise this year. Meanwhile, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, chairman of Saudi Aramco and the Governor of the Public Investment Fund, joined the board of Reliance as an independent director.

Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 953,400 tonnes in the first five months of 2021, which virtually corresponded to the same figure a year earlier. High denisty polyethylene (HDPE) shipments decreased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 607,8900 tonnes in January-May 2021, up by 33% year on year. Shipments of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whereas deliveries of PP random copolymers decreased.
MRC

Lukoil begins construction of a polypropylene plant in the Nizhny Novgorod region

MOSCOW (MRC) - Lukoil, the second largest oil company in Russia, has begun construction of a polypropylene (PP) production complex at the Nizhny Novgorod refinery in the city of Kstovo, the company said.

It is noted that the complex will become the largest polypropylene production facility in Russia integrated into an oil refinery. The raw material for polypropylene production at Lukoil's Nizhny Novgorod site will be propylene from two modernized catalytic cracking units with a capacity of 4 million tons per year. After putting the complex into operation, the enterprise will be able to produce about 500 thousand tons of polypropylene grades.

In May, it was reported that Lukoil is still studying the prospects for the construction of a polypropylene production complex at the Nizhny Novgorod refinery and may make a final decision in 2022.

Earlier it was reported that Lukoil selected Lummus Technology's Novolen polypropylene (PP) technology for its previously announced new petrochemical plant in Kstovo, Russia. Lummus received a contract from a Russian oil company for the supply of a technological license for a polypropylene plant with a capacity of 500 thousand tons per year, as well as for basic engineering, training, services and the supply of catalysts.

According to MRC's ScanPlast, PP supplies to the Russian market in January - May this year reached to 607,890 tonnes, which is 33% more than the same indicator a year earlier. The supply of propylene homopolymer and propylene block copolymers also increased. The supply of stat-copolymer propylene (PP-random) has declined.

Lukoil is one of the leading vertically integrated oil companies in Russia. The main activities of the company include operations for the exploration and production of oil and gas, production and sale of petroleum products. Lukoil is the second largest privately-owned oil company in the world in terms of proven hydrocarbon reserves. The structure of Lukoil includes one of the largest petrochemical enterprises in Russia - Stavrolen.
MRC

Lukoil launches bitumen production at the Nizhny Novgorod refinery

Lukoil launches bitumen production at the Nizhny Novgorod refinery

MOSCOW (MRC) - Lukoil, the second largest oil company in the Russian Federation, has begun construction of a polymer-bitumen binders production facility at the Nizhny Novgorod refinery on the territory of the Nizhny Novgorod refinery in the city of Kstovo, the company said.

The plant's capacity exceeds 150 thousand tons during the production season. "The launch of the block will be another contribution of Lukoil to improving the quality of roads in Russia and the implementation of federal targeted programs for the development of the road construction industry," the press service of the company said.

Lukoil notes that the launch of a bitumen production unit at the Nizhny Novgorod refinery will expand the company's range of bitumen materials through modified products and produce innovative polymer-bitumen binders. The use of these products contributes to the durability of the road surface.

The launch of production makes the enterprise the largest bitumen producer in the company structure. The project will help meet the needs of the central region of Russia during the peak seasons of road construction.

Earlier it was reported that Lukoil began construction of a complex for the production of polypropylene (PP) on the territory of the Nizhny Novgorod refinery in the city of Kstovo. The raw material for polypropylene production at Lukoil's Nizhny Novgorod site will be propylene from two modernized catalytic cracking units with a capacity of 4 million tons per year. After putting the complex into operation, the enterprise will be able to produce about 500 thousand tons of polypropylene grades.

According to MRC's ScanPlast, PP supplies to the Russian market in January - May this year amounted to 607.89 thousand tons, which is 33% more than the same indicator a year earlier. The supply of propylene homopolymer (PP-homo) and propylene block copolymer (PP-block) also increased. The supply of stat-copolymer propylene (PP-random) has declined.

Lukoil is one of the leading vertically integrated oil companies in Russia. The main activities of the company include operations for the exploration and production of oil and gas, production and sale of petroleum products. Lukoil is the second largest privately-owned oil company in the world in terms of proven hydrocarbon reserves. The structure of Lukoil includes one of the largest petrochemical enterprises in Russia - Stavrolen.
MRC