Limetree Bay refinery decommissioning will take months

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The process of decommissioning the shuttered Limetree Bay refinery in the US Virgin Islands will take several months, the company's owner told a Texas bankruptcy court, reported Reuters.

Limetree Bay, which filed last month for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, has engaged investment bank Jefferies Financial Group Inc to run the sale of the plant, likely in its entirety.

Owners of the facility in St. Croix burned through USD4.1 billion to resurrect what was once the largest refinery in the Western Hemisphere, hoping to take advantage of rising global demand. Instead, the refinery only operated for three months before US environmental regulators shut it in May due to foul odors and noxious releases that harmed nearby communities.

"We probably will completely shut the plant down," Elizabeth Green, lead bankruptcy attorney for Limetree, said in a hearing on Monday. "But I'm not 100% sure that decision has been made."

Limetree would have needed at least USD1 billion to finish a massive overhaul to continue as a viable operation, according to bankers, lawyers and restructuring specialists involved in the case who spoke to Reuters in July.

The plant must now release gases and hydrocarbons from its system. Over the weekend, Limetree successfully re-tested a flare that was damaged during a May incident with EPA inspectors present, according to Green. The US Environmental Protection Agency must approve the removal of hydrocarbons from the plant.

As MRC wrote before, in July, 2021, a US bankruptcy judge raised concerns that Limetree Bay refinery on the Virgin Islands may not have enough money to get through the early days of its Chapter 11 restructuring.

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

MOSCOW (MRC) - Sinopec Qilu Petrochemical, a subsidiary of one of the world's largest energy and chemical companies - Sinopec, intends to shut down its low density polyethylene (LDPE) plant in Tianjin, in northeast China for a scheduled maintenance on 10 August, 2021, according to CommoPlast.

It is expected that the turnaround at this plant, which can produce 175,000 mt/year of LDPE, will last for about 50 days. Thus, this facility may resume operations on 28 September, 2021.

As MRC reported earlier, the company took off-stream its LDPE plant for unscheduled repairs from 6 March to 24 April, 2017.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, May estimated LDPE consumption in Russia grew to 47,730 tonnes from 37,630 tonnes a month earlier. Russian producers increased their LDPE shipments to the domestic market by reducing exports. Russia's estimated LDPE consumption totalled about 235,610 tonnes in the first five months of 2021, up by only 1% year on year.

Sinopec corp. is one of the world's largest integrated energy and chemical companies. Business Sinopec Corp. includes oil and gas exploration, production and transportation of oil and gas, oil refining, petrochemical production, production of mineral fertilizers and other chemical products. In terms of refining capacity, Sinopec Corp. ranks second in the world, in terms of ethylene capacity - fourth.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China's Shandong province stepped up efforts to curb fuel production by ordering independent refineries to promise not to trade crude oil quotas, according to three industry sources and a document reviewed by Reuters.

The move follows a crackdown by Beijing in April which found several independent refiners had traded quotas, including selling quotas to plants not registered to process imported crude, defying efforts to ease a fuel surplus that has hurt state-owned refiners' profits.

That led the government to reduce a second batch of quotas issued in June and cut imports by the world's largest oil importer.

The independent refiners, known as teapots, handle roughly one fifth of China's crude imports.

The provincial government of Shandong province, China's independent oil refining hub, asked 30 refiners to each sign a letter of guarantee by the end of Wednesday pledging that they will neither resell their crude import quotas nor try to purchase such allocations.

The refiners were also asked to promise not to resell or relocate older processing units they earlier pledged to demolish in order to be qualified to process imported crude oil, according to the document and two of the sources.

"The government has stepped up checks on teapots in recent months, inspecting whether they have shut old units as promised, whether they are operating at the capacity previously agreed with the government," said an official with one Shandong-based refiner.

China, the world's top crude oil buyer, manages its crude oil imports via a quota system, issuing permits several times in a year.

As MRC informed previously, China Petrochemical Corp, or Sinopec, said in early July it started building a carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) project in east China, the largest of its kind in the country, as part of the refiner's goal to be carbon-neutral by 2050.

We remind that Sinopec Engineering (Group) and ExxonMobil (Huizhou) Chemical (EMHCC) have recently entered into a BEPC (basic design, engineering, procurement and construction) contract for the proposed Huizhou Chemical Complex Project (Phase I). The main units of the project include a 1.6 million tonnes/year ethylene flexible feed steam cracker, downstream polymer and derivative units and utilities. The main product units include two performance polyethylene (PE) lines and two differentiated performance polypropylene (PP) lines.

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Austria-based OMV reported utilization of 83% at its European refineries in H1, 2021, down by 3% on the year yet "relatively resilient in light of the COVID-19 impact," reported S&P Global.

It expects the utilization rates at its European refineries to remain at the 2020 level this year. Last year its refineries reported 86% utilization. The company's refineries in Europe ran at 85% utilization in Q2, up from 81% in the year-ago quarter.

OMV Petrom said its Petrobrazi refinery operated at 93% utilization in H1 2021, compared with 92% in the year-ago period and "significantly above the European average". Its Q2 utilization was 91%, compared with 89% in Q2 20. The 2021 utilization rate is expected above 95% compared with 92% in 2020.

As MRC wrote before, OMV is investing EUR40 million (USD48 million) to expand and modernize a steam cracker and associated units at its refining and petrochemicals complex at Burghausen, Germany. The upgrade will increase the site’s ethylene and propylene production capacity by 50,000 metric tons/year. Following a planned turnaround of the refinery, the revamped cracker and petchem units are expected to start operations in the third quarter of 2022. Initial groundwork is already underway ahead of the upgrade.

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.

OMV produces and markets oil and gas, innovative energy and high-end petrochemical solutions – in a responsible way. With Group sales of EUR 23 bn and a workforce of around 20,000 employees in 2019, OMV Aktiengesellschaft is one of Austria’s largest listed industrial companies.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shintech, a subsidiary of Shin-Etsu Chemical Co. and the largest US polyvinyl chloride (PVC) producer, has replaced a damaged transformer at its Plaquemine, Louisiana, complex and the units were running at normal rates on July 26, reported S&P Global with reference to sources familiar with company operations.

One of two transformers at the complex was hit by lightning and caught fire July 2, prompting the company to shut multiple units. Thus, one unit with the capacity of 445,000 mt/year of PVC was shut on 2 July, 2021.

Shintech slowly restarted shut plants days later, but ran them at reduced rates while working to replace the damaged transformer, the sources said.

At present, all the works are completed, and all the units "now back in full running," one of the sources said.

Shintech did not respond to a request for comment.

The company's overall production capacity for PVC at its Plaquemine site is 1.606 mln mt/year.

Market sources said earlier that the interruption has reduced Shintech's August export volume availability.

As MRC informed earlier, in late Marchl, 2020, Shintech shut its PVC facility in Freeport, Texas for a turnaround. The complany ended maintenance works at its 1.4 million mt/year PVC complex in Freeport in early May, 2020.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall production of unmixed PVC totalled 515,900 tonnes in the first half of 2021, up by 1% year on year. At the same time, two producers reduced their output.

Shintech Inc. is the world's largest producer of polyvinyl chloride (PVC). PVC is a general-use resin that is finding wide application in goods used in daily life and a significant number of industrial materials. Shintech is committed to operating safe and environmentally responsible facilities
MRC