Saudi Aramco downstream business consumes 43.5% of total crude in three quarters of 2021

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Aramco's downstream business consumed 43.5% of the company's crude in the first nine months of 2021, while its bottom line for the third quarter to September was in the black amid an improvement in market conditions, reported S&P Global.

During January-September 2020, Aramco's downstream oil consumption stood at 39.5%, the company said in an earnings report released Nov. 1.

Aramco's downstream business swung to a profit in the third quarter compared to a year earlier as the world's biggest oil company benefited from better refining and petrochemical margins.

Aramco's earnings before interest, income taxes and zakat reached Riyal 14.8 billion (USD3.957 billion), compared with a Riyal 2.98 billion loss a year ago.

"These strong earnings reflect continued strength in refining and chemicals margins and the resulting inventory movement gains due to improving market conditions," Aramco said.

Aramco pumped on average 9.5 million b/d in Q3 and its profit more than doubled to USD30.4 billion on higher crude prices and production.

Total hydrocarbon production in Q3 was 12.9 million boe/d, Aramco said in its earnings report. It did not provide the corresponding year-ago data, but total hydrocarbon production had increased from the first nine months of 2020, when it stood at 12.4 million boe/d, of which 9.2 million b/d was crude oil.

As MRC informed before, in June 2020, Aramco finalized its USD69 billion acquisition of a 70% stake in Saudi Basic Industries Corp., the Middle East's biggest petrochemical maker. SABIC reported more than a fivefold year-on-year increase in its Q3 net profit to USD1.49 billion thanks to higher average sales prices.

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 1,638,370 tonnes in the first eight months of 2021, up by 10% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 989,570 tonnes in the first eight months of 2021, up by 30% year on year. Deliveries of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas shipments of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.

Saudi Aramco, officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, is a Saudi Arabian national oil and natural gas company based in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Aramco's value has been estimated at up to USD10 trillion in the Financial Times, making it the world"s most valuable company. Saudi Aramco has both the largest proven crude oil reserves, at more than 260 billion barrels, and largest daily oil production.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Venezuela's oil exports last month surpassed 700,000 barrels per day (bpd) as supplies of imported diluents boosted production and shipments, reported Reuters with reference to documents from state-run firm PDVSA and Refinitiv Eikon tracking data.

The OPEC-member country's largest oil producing region has regained its output and blending capacity in recent weeks after Iran, one of the nation's most important allies, began regularly supplying condensate for diluting the Orinoco Belt's extra heavy oil. Iranian supplies are lessening the impact of US sanctions on the nation's output.

In October, PDVSA and its joint ventures shipped 30 cargos of crude and refined products, mostly to Asia, including a 2-MM-bbl cargo of Merey heavy crude to pay back Iran for the condensate received.

The second cargo of Iranian condensate from the swap agreement is expected to finish discharging from the tanker Dorena at PDVSA's Jose port this month, according to the documents.

Venezuela's exports averaged 711,193 bpd in October, the third highest average so far this yr and a 76% increase from September, when an acute lack of diluents forced PDVSA to cut back output and blending. Larger shipments of residual fuel oil, methanol and petroleum coke also contributed to the exports increase last month, according to the documents and data.

Venezuela's oil exports, which along with Iran's are under US sanctions designed to limit sales, have stabilized this year at around 633,000 bpd, a slight increase from the 626,000 bpd of 2020 but still a large decline from previous years when PDVSA had not been blacklisted by the US Treasury Department. Venezuela also shipped 66,000 bpd of crude and refined products to Cuba, the data showed.

As MRC informed before, in June 2021, Venezuela's political opposition has replaced members of the boards overseeing Citgo Petroleum Corp as factions in the movement led by Juan Guaido try to gain greater influence over Houston-based oil refiner. Citgo split from Venezuelan state-run oil company PDVSA in 2019 after the US imposed sanctions intended to oust Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro. Then congress chief Juan Guaido appointed new boards and won US court recognition of their authority over the refining subsidiary.

We remind that in September 2020, Citgo Petroleum Corp said it did not plan to idle its 418,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Lake Charles, Louisiana, refinery damaged by Hurricane Laura. Rumors have circulated since Laura’s passage over the Lake Charles area on Aug. 27 that Citgo was considering shutting the refinery for an indefinite period because of the extent of the damage and continuing low demand for motor fuels in the COVID-19 pandemic.

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 1,638,370 tonnes in the first eight months of 2021, up by 10% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 989,570 tonnes in the first eight months of 2021, up by 30% year on year. Deliveries of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas shipments of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Kazakhstan’s state-owned KazMunayGas (KMG) group and industrial gases and engineering company Linde have signed a memorandum of understanding on developing clean energy projects that may include production of green and blue hydrogen and ammonia, said Gasworld.

Having inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) today (1st Nov) to explore both green and blue hydrogen and ammonia production, the duo hopes to accelerate clean energy projects in the region.

To do this, a feasibility study will be carried out to evaluate both using natural gas as a feedstock, to create blue hydrogen and blue ammonia, and water electrolysis technologies to create green hydrogen and green ammonia.

Upon completion of the feasibility study, the partnership will then work to develop a green hydrogen and green ammonia production plant in Kazakhstan.

On the effort, Alik Aidarbayev, Chairman of KMG’s Management Board, said, KazMunayGas has a consistent and balanced approach to the decarbonisation projects as part of its adopted Low-Carbon Development Programme. Cooperation with the world’s leading companies is a priority in studying promising projects in this area."

Thomas Hilker, Linde Gas Rus Vice-President for Investment in Russia and CIS, added, “I am glad our company is able to contribute to the process of decarbonisation in Kazakhstan.

“In particular, jointly with our partner, KazMunayGas, which has taken the lead among other companies in implementing greenhouse gas reduction activities. I am looking forward to being able to bring our large experience in this area to real projects."

As per MRC, the National Oil and Gas Company of Kazakhstan KazMunayGas (KMG) and the country's largest oil producer, Tengizchevroil LLP, have agreed to supply propane to the polypropylene plant in Karabatan.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,638,370 tonnes in the first eight months of 2021, up by 10% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 989,570 tonnes in the first eight months of 2021, up by 30% year on year. Deliveries of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas shipments of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Honeywell has announced the commercialization of a revolutionary process that expands the types of plastics that can be recycled and can produce feedstock used to make recycled plastics with a lower carbon footprint, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The new technology can reduce the need for fossil fuels in the creation of virgin plastics while enabling hundreds of cycles of recycling, with the goal of enabling a circular economy for plastics.

Honeywell's UpCycle Process Technology utilizes industry-leading molecular conversion, pyrolysis, and contaminants management technology to convert waste plastic back to Honeywell Recycled Polymer Feedstock, which is then used to create new plastics.

The UpCycle Process technology expands the types of plastics that can be recycled to include waste plastic that would otherwise go unrecycled, including colored, flexible, multilayered packaging and polystyrene (PS). When used in conjunction with other chemical and mechanical recycling processes - along with improvements to collection and sorting Honeywell's UpCycle Process Technology has the potential to increase the amount of global plastic waste that can be recycled to 90%.

Recycled plastics produced via UpCycle Process Technology can result in a 57% reduction of CO2-equivalent (CO2e) emissions compared with the production of the same amount of virgin plastic from fossil feeds.2 The process also reduces CO2e emissions by 77% compared with conventional modes of handling waste plastic, such as incineration and landfilling2.

"Plastics play an important role in our society, including expanding the shelf life of food and making vehicles lighter, which reduces their emissions. Unfortunately, only a fraction of plastics today can be successfully recycled," said Vimal Kapur, president and chief executive officer of Honeywell Performance Materials and Technologies. "Honeywell's UpCycle process helps fix this problem. By broadening the types of plastic that can be recycled, UpCycle will revolutionize the plastics economy and play a critical role in improving the sustainability of many of the products we use on a daily basis."

Sacyr, a Spain-based global engineering and services company with operations in more than 20 countries worldwide, will be the first to deploy Honeywell's proprietary UpCycle Process Technology. Honeywell and Sacyr will form a joint venture where the two companies will co-own and operate a facility in Andalucia, in Southern Spain, with a capacity to transform 30,000 metric t per yr of mixed waste plastics into Honeywell Recycled Polymer Feedstock. Production is expected to begin in 2023.

Honeywell's UpCycle Process Technology was created within Honeywell's Sustainable Technology Solutions (STS) group, which is part of Honeywell UOP. This latest technology builds upon Honeywell's focus to deliver high impact, environmentally sustainable solutions for customers and society.

Honeywell recently committed to achieve carbon neutrality in its operations and facilities by 2035.

As MRC reported earlier, in March 2021, Honeywell announced that Hengli Petrochemical Co. Ltd. successfully used Callidus burner technology from Honeywell UOP to minimize nitrogen oxide (NOx) and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions in China, and reduce the impact of these emissions while ensuring safe and stable operations.

Besides, in November, 2020, Honeywell announced Zhenhua Petrochemical Co. Ltd will use Honeywell UOP’s C3 Oleflex technology for propane dehydrogenation to process 1 million metric tons per year of polymer-grade propylene for a proposed plant in Dongying City, Shandong Province, China.

Propylene is the main feedstock for production of polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, PP shipments to the Russian market were 989,570 tonnes in the first eight months of 2021, up by 30% year on year. Deliveries of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas shipments of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BP anticipates higher fourth-quarter production from both its upstream business and LNG-focused "gas & low carbon" unit as it recovers from Hurricane Ida and eyes growth in US shale, reported S&P Global with reference to the company's statement Nov. 2.

The UK major reported a 6% year on year decline in its upstream output for the third quarter to 1.3 million b/d of oil equivalent, reflecting hurricane impacts, maintenance, US shale divestments and price impacts on volumes it is entitled to in some countries. Hurricane Ida and its aftermath dented output by 60,000 b/d in Q3.

However, BP's upstream output was up 5% from second-quarter levels as an industry-wide maintenance uptick eased. Also, production in the gas & low carbon unit was up 6% on the year at 889,000 boe/d, and BP's portion of output from its Rosneft stake was up 4% on the year at 1.1 million boe/d.

BP highlighted the startup in September of the oil-focused Thunder Horse South Expansion Phase 2 project in the Gulf of Mexico and the gas-focused Matapal project offshore Trinidad, although it reiterated upstream production for the year is likely to be lower than last year, reflecting shale divestments. CEO Bernard Looney noted expectations for a further boost in the Gulf of Mexico next year with the startup of Mad Dog Phase 2.

Chief Financial Officer Murray Auchincloss forecast a recovery in oil demand to pre-pandemic levels sometime in 2022, saying demand of 100 million b/d had already been reached, and describing the price outlook as "constructive."

Defending BP's long-term pivot to low-carbon energy, he said the plan was for a "focusing" of the hydrocarbons business, rather than to get out of oil. "We should not use emissions reduction as a proxy for no new investments into hydrocarbon projects, so you will continue to see this company invest in hydrocarbon projects, and sanction new ones including LNG projects, as we high-grade the portfolio," Looney said. "We will deliver on our targets of reducing production, but that doesn't mean that there won't be new investment, including in LNG."

Looney added that work was progressing on forming a joint venture in Angola with Italy's Eni, intended to bring about efficiency improvements, and said the deal should be completed early in 2022, with the authorities showing "strong support."

On the company's BPX shale unit in the US, production - which is weighted toward gas - was down 12% on the year at 322,000 boe/d, reflecting efforts to slim the business purchased from miner BHP in 2018, as well as spending cuts in 2020. The company reduced the average number of rigs it operates across its Haynesville, Eagle Ford and Permian acreage from eight in the second quarter to six in the third quarter.

However, chief financial office Murray Auchincloss noted shale production was up from second-quarter levels in the third quarter and said BPX was likely to increase capital investment next year to around USD1.5 billion, from USD1 billion this year, with spending to be focused on eliminating Permian emissions.

BP also gained a boost in the downstream, although limited by higher maintenance and energy costs. Throughput at refineries BP operates was up 2% at 1.6 million b/d, led by Europe.

Overall, the company reported a USD2.9 billion loss for the quarter, but an underlying profit of USD3.3 billion, noting a further reduction in net debt. "Our businesses are generating strong underlying earnings and cash flow while maintaining their focus on safe and reliable operations," Looney said.

As MRC wrote previously, in October, 2021, BP announced plans for a USD269 million investment in three projects at its Cherry Point Refinery in Washington state, aimed at improving the refinery’s efficiency, reducing its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and increasing its renewable diesel production capability. The investment is aligned with bp’s aims to be net zero across its operations by 2050 or sooner and to reduce the carbon intensity of the products it sells by 50% by 2050 or sooner.

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 1,638,370 tonnes in the first eight months of 2021, up by 10% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 989,570 tonnes in the first eight months of 2021, up by 30% year on year. Deliveries of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas shipments of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.

BP is one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, serving millions of customers every day in around 80 countries, and employing around 85,000 people. BP’s business segments are Upstream (oil and gas exploration & production), and Downstream (refining & marketing). Through these activities, BP provides fuel for transportation; energy for heat and light; services for motorists; and petrochemicals products for plastics, textiles and food packaging. It has strong positions in many of the world's hydrocarbon basins and strong market positions in key economies.
MRC