MOSCOW (MRC) -- The gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracker (FCC) is expected to remain shut until the end of September at TotalEnergies SE’s 225,500-barrel-per-day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas, refinery, reported Reuters with reference to sources familiar with plant operations.
Most units at the refinery remain shut following an unplanned plantwide outage on Thursday, one day before the large crude distillation unit (CDU) and coker were scheduled to shut for a planned overhaul, the sources said. The overhaul began over the weekend.
The only unit operating on Monday was a 35,000-bpd reformer, which converts refining byproducts into octane-boosting components added to unfinished gasoline.
Total did not reply to a request for comment on Monday.
Thursday's plantwide outage began with the shutdown of the 76,000-bpd FCC due to a worsening leak on a boiler. The FCC's shutdown cut off steam supply to the refinery, forcing the shutdown of the 60,000-bpd coker along with the 40,000-bpd ACU-2 crude distillation unit (CDU) and 51,000-bpd vacuum distillation unit 1 (VDU-1).
A leak then set off a small fire that was quickly extinguished on the 150,000-bpd ACU-1 CDU. So it and the 60,000-bpd VDU-2 were shut.
ACU-1, VDU-2 and the coker were scheduled to shut down on Friday for the overhaul planned to last about two months. The extensive overhaul is done every five years.
The FCC was previously shut for five days beginning Aug. 19 for repairs following a small fire.
As MRC informed previously, in June 2021, TotalEnergies and Novatek have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to jointly work on sustainable reductions of the CO emission resulting from the production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) including with the use of renewable power, to develop large-scale carbon capture and storage solutions (CCS) and to explore new opportunities for developing decarbonized hydrogen and ammonia.
We remind that in November 2019, Total disclosed that it is evaluating construction of a new gas cracker at its Deasan, South Korea, joint venture (JV) with Hanwha Chemical.
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 1,176,860 tonnes in the first half of 2021, up by 5% year on year. Shipments of exclusively low density polyethylene (LDPE) decreased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 727,160 tonnes in the first six months of 2021, up by 31% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased. Supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.
TotalEnergies is a broad energy company that produces and markets energies on a global scale: oil and biofuels, natural gas and green gases, renewables, and electricity. The company rebranded itself from Total to TotalEnergies during Q2 2021. The French firm has announced allocating part of surplus revenues to share buybacks. Its 105,000 employees are committed to energy that is ever more affordable, clean, reliable and accessible to as many people as possible. Active in more than 130 countries, TotalEnergies puts sustainable development in all its dimensions at the heart of its projects and operations to contribute to the well-being of people.
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