Irkutsk Polymer Plant installed the last unit of large-sized heavy equipment

Irkutsk Polymer Plant installed the last unit of large-sized heavy equipment

MOSCOW (MRC) - The Irkutsk Polymer Plant (IZP, Irkutsk Oil Company project, INK) has installed the last unit of large-sized heavy equipment (KTO) at the polyethylene production site, the company said.

The specialists raised and installed a 500-ton blowing hopper at a height of 60 m, in a special metal frame for collecting blowing products. In total, 44 units were installed at the construction site, which were delivered to Ust-Kut in the fall of 2020 from the port of South Korea.

Work on preparation for the installation of the bunker lasted more than two months at the IZP. In total, specialists assembled 500 tons of metal structures. The base of the frame is fixed on a reinforced concrete foundation 17 m high. Two cranes with a lifting capacity of 1600 and 750 tonnes were used to install the bunker.

"The main technically difficult part of the work has been completed. Currently, large-tonnage crane equipment is being dismantled in order to open further work fronts. The work done is one of the key ones this year," said Alexander Dyadkin, deputy director of IZP.

In August, the heaviest piece of equipment was installed at the construction site - a polymerization reactor, the weight of which is about 530 tonnes, and the height is over 40 m. The reactor was also installed vertically on the foundation using two cranes. The editing took eight hours. One of the largest units was also installed - a deethanizer, more than 80 m long and weighing more than 350 tonnes. Work on the installation of large-sized heavy-weight equipment at the Irkutsk Polymer Plant began in June 2021 and proceeded in accordance with the established schedule.

Irkutsk Oil Company is implementing the construction of a polymer plant in Ust-Kut as part of the creation of a gas chemical cluster, including facilities for the production, treatment, transportation and processing of gas. The production capacity will be 650 thousand tonnes of polyolefins per year.

The Japanese engineering company Toyo Engineering was involved in the construction of the plant, which is responsible for the design, supply of equipment and materials. The general contractor for the construction of polyethylene and ethylene plants is Gemont.

The construction site employs engineers and workers from all over Russia, as well as from Japan, Turkey, France, Holland, and the United States. The launch of the facility in the Ust-Kutsk region will create 1,600 new jobs.

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 1,396,960 tonnes in January-July 2021, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 841,990 tonnes in the first seven months of 2021, up by 29% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymers (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.

Irkutsk Oil Company LLC unites companies engaged in geological exploration, exploration and production of hydrocarbons at 41 license areas in Eastern Siberia. INK's main production asset is the Yaraktinskoye field in the Irkutsk region. Nikolay Buinov is the main owner of INK through JSC INK-Capital (INKK). The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development owns 4.4% in the capital of INKK, Goldman Sachs - 3.75%.
MRC

Repsol produces renewable hydrogen from biomethane in Spain

Repsol produces renewable hydrogen from biomethane in Spain

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Repsol has produced its first renewable hydrogen derived from biomethane at its Cartagena, Spain, refinery complex, said the company.

In a major milestone for the clean fuel economy, Repsol has produced renewable hydrogen using biomethane as a raw material in Cartagena, Spain – and the company says it is a world first.

Announcing its achievement today (Oct 4), Repsol said the produced ten tonnes of hydrogen, made from 500MWh of biomethane, has been used to manufacturer low-carbon fuels.

Part of Repsol’s effort to utilise state-of-the-art technologies to transform waste into products with high value, the effort is believed to have prevented approximately 90 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere.

Aside from the above project, Repsol is already deploying a multitude of projects throughout the renewable hydrogen value chain, such as the developments of a 2.5MW and a 10MW electrolyser in Petronor.

Repsol has committed to installing renewable hydrogen production with a capacity of 552 megawatt equivalent by 2025 and 1.9 gigawatt equivalent by 2030 on the Iberian peninsula.

As per MRC, Maire Tecnimont S.p.A. announces that its subsidiary Tecnimont S.p.A. has been awarded a contract by Repsol for the realization of a polypropylene (PP) Unit and a linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) unit on an EPC (Engineering Procurement and Construction) Lump Sum Turn-Key basis, as part of Repsol’s expansion of Sines Industrial Complex in Portugal.

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.

Repsol is a global multi-energy company established in Spain and listed on the Spanish Stock Exchange for 25 years. Its products are distributed in nearly 100 countries to around 24 million customers. Repsol Industrial Complex in Sines is the largest chemical site in Portugal.
MRC

Greenpeace blocks Shell refinery in Rotterdam port

Greenpeace blocks Shell refinery in Rotterdam port

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Dozens of Greenpeace activists in Rotterdam port used a ship, buoys and a small flotilla of kayaks to block traffic around Shell's Pernis refinery, Europe's largest, as part of a campaign seeking a ban on fossil fuel advertising, said Reuters.

Police ended the blockade after several hours and the port's authority said economic disruption to the wider harbour was minimal. The action comes as Greenpeace and more than 20 other environmental groups began seeking a million signatures for a European Union-wide ban on adverts and sponsorships by oil and gas companies, comparing them to harmful tobacco promotions.

"The EU has already introduced a directive banning cross-border tobacco advertising and sponsorships," Greenpeace said in a statement issued in the run-up to the COP26 U.N. climate conference in Glasgow. "Now it’s time for a similar law against fossil fuel industries for the health of the planet and our future."

In Rotterdam, the 33 metre-long vessel The Beluga anchored at the entrance of the "Tweede Petroleumhaven," Shell’s section of the port, to block traffic, while activists scaled an oil tank. Shell spokesman Marc Potma said in reaction that the company opposes Greenpeace's view but supports the group's right to protest - however, not in this case, as it posed safety risks.

As part of the campaign, Greenpeace published a study of advertisements on social media by Shell, Total, Preem, Eni, Repsol and Fortum over an 18-month period that found in 63% of the ads the companies sought to highlight their environmentalist credentials.

Greenpeace dismissed such ads as "greenwashing", given that the companies remain among the largest emitters of greenhouse gases. In responses, Shell, TotalEnergies, and Eni rejected the "greenwashing" label or said they felt justified in profiling their green credentials, given their plans to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. Repsol and Fortum did not immediately respond.

"It's nice that Shell has a couple of green projects. However, it's 2021 and ... they are still investing five times more in oil and gas," said Greenpeace spokesperson Faiza Oulahsen. "These companies should not be on our televisions or streets, they belong in court." In May a Dutch court ordered Shell to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by 2030, a decision the company is appealing.

As MRC informed earlier, Shell and BASF are collaborating to accelerate the transition to a world of net-zero emissions. To this end, both companies worked together to evaluate, de-risk, and deploy BASF’s Sorbead Adsorption Technology for pre- and post-combustion Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) applications. The Sorbead Adsorption Technology is used to dehydrate CO2 gas after it has been captured by Shell’s carbon capture technologies such as ADIP Ultra or CANSOLV.

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 1,396,960 tonnes in January-July 2021, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 841,990 tonnes in the first seven months of 2021, up by 29% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymers (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.
MRC

Siemens and Technip to make JV to decarbonize olefin production processes

Siemens and Technip to make JV to decarbonize olefin production processes

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Technip Energies and Siemens Energy announced an exclusive agreement to jointly develop, commercialize, and license the ROC technology to decarbonize olefin production processes, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The ROC technology employs a dynamic reactor system that replaces conventional furnaces used for pyrolysis when manufacturing light olefins – the building blocks for chemical products used in everyday materials, from packaging to polymers.

The ROC technology offers driver flexibility, and when driven by electric-powered motors or hydrogen-fired gas turbines, the technology leads the path to decarbonize the process used to produce light olefins. The decarbonization impact is even more significant when the electric power or hydrogen fuel is derived from renewable sources. The ROC process, once fully commercialized, is also expected to have better first pass olefins yields with similar operating costs compared to the currently commercially available technologies.

The companies have already validated the fundamentals of the reactor technology in laboratory testing and intend for the first turbomachinery prototype to enter shop testing in the first half of 2022. Both companies bring specialized experience to commercializing this technology: Siemens Energy contributes its expertise in turbomachinery, while Technip Energies has extensive knowledge in pyrolysis cracking to produce light olefins and process integration.

As a significant milestone in the commercialization of this groundbreaking technology, today Technip Energies and Siemens Energy entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the COF. The MOU expresses the intent of the parties to negotiate a contract to install a hydrocarbon demonstration unit utilizing the ROC technology in a plant operated by one of the COF members.

The COF comprises major industry players Borealis (member of the OMV Group), BP, Repsol, TotalEnergies SE, Versalis (Eni), and coordinator Brightlands Chemelot Campus. The COF selected the ROC technology after assessing many electricity-based heating technologies for olefin crackers. “The ROC technology is a step-change in cracking technology that leads to a significant reduction in greenhouse gases when combined with clean energy sources,” said Stan Knez, Chief Technology Officer at Technip Energies. ”This collaboration with Siemens Energy highlights our commitment to decarbonization, and we are delighted to have the ROC technology selected for the COF demonstration unit."

“It is our ultimate goal to turn ideas into reality as we support our customers in transitioning to a more sustainable world,” said Thorbjorn Fors, Executive Vice President, Industrial Applications at Siemens Energy. “Engaging directly with major operators in the Cracker of the Future Consortium is a great opportunity to materialize this objective. Furthermore, by working together with our partner Technip Energies, we are taking an important step towards driving decarbonization forward."

“The ROC technology is a new paradigm in chemical process technology, as heating hydrocarbon molecules by converting the molecular kinetic energy into heat so that that thermal cracking can occur, has never been done before,” said Walter Vermeiren, Chair of the Cracker of the Future Consortium. “The Cracker of the Future Consortium is delighted to cooperate with Siemens Energy and Technip Energies on this unique opportunity."

As per MRC, Technip Energies (Paris, France) announced that its work on the Azerikimya modernization project in Azerbaijan has been completed on time. The overhaul of the Socar petrochemical complex near the nation’s capital, Baku, is now complete and the plant has been handed over and is fully in operation. It has been producing ethylene and propylene on demand since October 2020.

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 1,396,960 tonnes in January-July 2021, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 841,990 tonnes in the first seven months of 2021, up by 29% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymers (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.
MRC

Neste to sell its base oils business to Chevron

Neste to sell its base oils business to Chevron

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Neste Corporation has signed an agreement to sell its existing base oils business to Chevron Corporation, one of the world's leading integrated energy companies, said the company.

The agreement covers a combination of share and asset deals forming Neste's entire global base oils business. As part of the divestment, the parties have also agreed on a long-term offtake for Neste’s base oils supply from Porvoo, Finland. With the same date, Neste has signed an agreement to exit its base oils joint venture with Bahrain Petroleum Company and Nogaholding.

"I want to thank our people in the base oils business who have been known for their pioneering spirit throughout the years. They have built the foundation for Neste to become one of the world’s leading producers of Group III base oils, and we can be extremely proud of that. Chevron being a leading manufacturer of base oil products is therefore an excellent company to nurture and develop the NEXBASE base oils business further,” says Neste’s President and CEO Peter Vanacker.

Neste’s base oils have been produced in Porvoo, Finland and by a base oils joint venture with Bapco and Nogaholding in Bahrain. The agreement with Chevron will cover Neste’s Porvoo base oils production volumes, its premium brand NEXBASE™, all formulation coverage associated with the brand, as well as a global marketing and distribution platform. In connection with the divestment, Neste is exiting the joint venture with Bapco and Nogaholding, and will no longer have presence in Bahrain.

The parties are committed to ensuring a seamless transition to NEXBASE customers and all other stakeholders including employees. The parties have agreed that the transaction price shall remain confidential. The transaction will not have a material effect on Neste’s financial position. The completion of the divestment is subject to the approval of the competition authorities and customary closing conditions, with estimated completion date by the end of Q1/2022.

As MRC reported earlier, in August 2021, Chevron and other partners said they are investing in a startup to build modular waste-to-green hydrogen and renewable synthetic fuel facilities in northern California with tentative plans to eventually grow worldwide. The USD20 million investment in Wyoming-based Raven SR is focused on technology to develop combustion-free, green hydrogen for transportation that is cleaner than so-called blue hydrogen derived from natural gas.

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.

Headquartered in San Ramon, California, Chevron Corporation is the the second-largest integrated energy company in the United States and among the largest corporations in the world. Chevron is involved in upstream activities including exploration and production, downstream activities including refining, marketing and transportation, and advanced energy technology. Chevron is also invested in power generation and gasification processes.
MRC