Clariant to modernize its research facility in Toyama, Japan

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Clariant’s catalysts business unit continues to advance its R&D capabilities. The company recently made a significant investment to modernize its research facility in Toyama, Japan, preparing it for faster, more efficient experimentation, according to Hydrocarbonprocessng.

In addition to being Clariant’s global competence center for nickel-based hydrogenation and styrene catalyst development, the Toyama site is also involved in other research fields, including custom catalysts, emission control, and emerging applications of power-to-x technologies.

Two key products developed in Toyama are Clariant’s NiSat powder catalysts for hydrogenation, and StyroMax styrene production catalysts. Capacity for synthesis and evaluation of NiSat catalysts has now more than doubled. This significantly accelerates new catalyst lead generation and scale-up, while application tests ensure products meet customer requirements. For styrene catalysts, a new test unit allows more accurate simulation of industrial reactor conditions in styrene production. This not only enhances Clariant’s capabilities in styrene catalyst development, but also strengthens cooperation with process licensors.

Marvin Estenfelder, Head of Global R&D at Clariant's Business Unit Catalysts, commented, “The Toyama expansion is part of our strategy to steadily sharpen our R&D profile around the world. In 2020, we doubled the capacity of our high-throughput catalyst R&D center in Palo Alto, California. And earlier this year, we inaugurated our state-of-the-art R&D center at the new One Clariant Campus in Shanghai. These developments strengthen our research capacities globally and they allow us to respond faster to regional needs.”

Founded in 1964, Clariant Catalysts Japan conducts R&D and production from its facilities in Toyama, as well as customer relations and technical services from its offices in Tokyo. The Toyama facility is one of Clariant Catalysts’ 10 global R&D centers, and the third largest of its 14 production bases.

As MRC reported earlier, in October 2020, Clariant announced the construction of a new state-of-the-art catalyst production site in China. This project represents a significant investment which further strengthens Clariant’s position in China and enhances its ability to support its customers in the country’s thriving petrochemicals industry.

The new facility will be primarily responsible for producing the Catofin catalyst for propane dehydrogenation, which is used in the production of olefins such as propylene. Thanks to its excellent reliability and productivity, Catofin delivers superior annual production output compared to alternative technologies, resulting in increased overall profitability for propylene producers, says the company. Construction at the Dushan Port Economic Development Zone in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province was scheduled to commence in Q3 2020, and Clariant expects to be at full production capacity by 2022.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,138,510 tonnes in January-September 2021, up by 30% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) decreased significantly.

Clariant AG is a Swiss chemical company and a world leader in the production of specialty chemicals for the textile, printing, mining and metallurgical industries. It is engaged in processing crude oil products in pigments, plastics and paints.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil affiliate Esso Petroleum Company Limited, SGN and Macquarie’s Green Investment Group (GIG) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore the use of hydrogen and carbon capture for a hydrogen hub project in the Southampton industrial cluster, said the company.

Southampton is one of the UK’s largest industrial sectors, and a critical element of the country’s energy supply chains. An initial feasibility study by SGN and GIG estimates that the annual hydrogen demand from the industrial cluster, which is home to ExxonMobil’s Fawley complex could rise to 37 TWh by 2050. This estimate includes heating demand of 800,000 homes across the south of England.

The study also estimates that carbon capture could play a key role to help reduce emissions. Carbon capture facilities placed in the area could capture approximately 2m tonnes/year of carbon dioxide (CO2), including from initial hydrogen production of 4.3 TWh/year of hydrogen. The companies said that if technical and business feasibility is confirmed, they could start hydrogen production as early as 2030, provided they have government support.

SGN, formerly known as Scotland Gas Networks before 2014, manages the pipelines that distribute natural gas and green gas to 5.9m homes and businesses across the region. GIG manages portfolio assets that specialise in green infrastructure investment and project development. It was initially launched by the UK in 2012 as the Green Investment Bank. In 2017 it was bought by Macquarie and combined with the firm’s renewables team, operating under GIG.

As MRC informed previously, ExxonMobil and SABIC have announced that their joint venture, Gulf Coast Growth Ventures located near Corpus Christi, Texas, has reached mechanical completion of a monoethylene glycol (MEG) unit and two polyethylene (PE) units. Project startup is expected to begin ahead of schedule, likely in the fourth quarter of 2021.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,868,160 tonnes in the first nine months of 2021, up by 18% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,138,510 tonnes in January-September 2021, up by 30% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) decreased significantly.

ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world's oil and about 2% of the world's energy.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Oil prices fell on Thursday on fears about the economic outlook in the world’s biggest oil importer following ratings downgrades to two Chinese property developers, and after some governments took measures to fight the Omicron varaint of the coronavirus, reported Reuters.

Brent crude futures fell USD1.01, or 1.3%, to USD74.81 a barrel by 12:05 p.m. EDT (1705 GMT), backing off a session high of USD76.70. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down USD1.00, or 1.4%, at USD71.36 after hitting a peak of USD73.34.

On Thursday, ratings agency Fitch downgraded property developers China Evergrande Group and Kaisa Group to “restricted default” status, saying they had defaulted on offshore bonds, while a source said that Kaisa had started work on restructuring its USD12 billion offshore debt.

“The ... news ... exacerbates the Chinese GDP growth fears and ultimately could impact the oil-buying appetite of the world’s biggest crude customer,” said Rystad Energy analyst Louise Dickson.

On Wednesday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson imposed tougher COVID-19 restrictions in England, saying people should work from home where possible, wear masks in public places and show COVID-19 vaccine passes for entry to certain events and venues.

“Although laboratory tests showed that the Pfizer vaccine has a neutralising effect on Omicron ... new measures are being introduced to try to stop the spread of the virus,” said Tamas Varga of oil brokerage PVM.

Denmark also plans new restrictions, including closure of restaurants, bars and schools, while China has halted group tourist trips from Guangdong. South Korea has registered record infections while cases remain elevated in Singapore and Australia.

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits dropped to the lowest level in more than 52 years last week as labor market conditions continued to tighten amid an acute shortage of workers, according to new data published by the US Labor Department.

“The oil market doesn’t always respond well to good economic news either, because it could prompt the Federal Reserve to tighten monetary policy,” said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital LLC in New York.

The Omicron outbreak sparked a 16% slump in Brent prices from Nov. 25 to Dec. 1. More than half of the drop has been recouped this week, but analysts say a further recovery could be limited until Omicron’s impact is clearer.

US inventory data released on Wednesday also weighed on prices.

Energy Information Administration (EIA) data showed that crude inventories were down by 240,000 barrels last week, much less than analysts in a Reuters poll had expected, with stocks at the Cushing delivery hub in Oklahoma rising by 2.4 million barrels. Fuel stocks also rose by a combined 6.6 million barrels, the data showed.

As MRC informed before, US commercial crude stocks fell 3.48 million barrels to 413.96 million barrels in the week ended Sept. 17, to more than 8% below the five-year average, Energy Information Administration data showed. Stocks were last lower Oct. 5, 2018.

We remind that in late August, 2021, US crude stocks dropped sharply while petroleum products supplied by refiners hit an all-time record despite the rise in coronavirus cases nationwide, the Energy Information Administration said. Crude inventories fell by 7.2 million barrels in the week to Aug. 27 to 425.4 million barrels, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 3.1 million-barrel drop. Product supplied by refineries, a measure of demand, rose to 22.8 million barrels per day in the most recent week. That's a one-week record, and signals strength in consumption for diesel, gasoline and other fuels by consumers and exporters.

We also remind that US crude oil production is expected to fall by 160,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2021 to 11.12 million bpd, EIA said in a monthly report earlier this year, a smaller decline than its previous forecast for a drop of 210,000 bpd.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- W. R. Grace & Co., the leading independent supplier of polyolefin catalyst technology, polypropylene (PP) process technology, and technology services, has licensed its UNIPOL PP process technology to Oriental Energy for its Maoming, China, plant, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

This is Oriental Energy’s fifth PP line, and its fourth using Grace’s UNIPOL PP process technology with a production capacity of 400 KTA. Laura Schwinn, President of Grace’s Specialty Catalysts business said, “We are extremely pleased that Oriental Energy has chosen our UNIPOL PP process technology once again for its newest polypropylene line in Maoming. Our continuous cooperation over the last ten years has created a solid and lasting relationship between our businesses, and we are excited to watch Oriental Energy achieve their goal of becoming one of the top polypropylene producers in the world using our technology."

Mr. Wu, Yinlong, General Manager of Oriental Energy, commented, “We selected Grace’s UNIPOL PP process for our site in Maoming because of our confidence in the technology. We know from experience with our other UNIPOL PP lines that we can produce the advanced polypropylene resins we need for our customers. We also know Grace will be a trusted advisor to provide support and service for the life of our plants."

Oriental Energy currently has the largest UNIPOL PP operating capacity in China, and there are plans to build additional PP lines at their sites in Ningbo and Maoming in the years to come. UNIPOL PP technology provides licensees with a competitive advantage, allowing them to successfully participate in today’s highly competitive global PP market. The UNIPOL PP technology family, with over 100 reactor lines licensed worldwide, manufacture the broadest range of PP homopolymers, random copolymers and impact copolymers in the industry with a choice of close to 300 standard grades.

Earlier it was reported that Oriental Energy-Ningbo, a subsidiary of a major producer of petrochemical products in the country - Oriental Energy, on September 28 unscheduled production at the polypropylene (PP) plant No. 1 in Ningbo (Ningbo, Zhejiang province, China) due to the policy of dual control of energy consumption in the region. The timing of restarting this enterprise with a capacity of 400 thousand tons of PP per year has not been reported.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,868,160 tonnes in the first nine months of 2021, up by 18% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,138,510 tonnes in January-September 2021, up by 30% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) decreased significantly.

Oriental Energy operates two subsidiaries, Oriental Energy-Ningbo and Oriental Energy-Zhangjiagang, each of which, in turn, operates a plant with a capacity of 400 ktpa PP and a propane dehydrogenation unit with a capacity of 600 ktpa. These companies were renamed in April 2017 as follows: Ningbo Fuji Petrochemical was renamed Oriental Energy-Ningbo and Zhangjiagang Yangzijiang Petrochemical was renamed Oriental Energy-Zhangjiagang.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mammoet continues to provide client L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering with heavy lifting services for the construction of its Barmer oil refinery and petrochemical complex in Rajasthan, India, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Mammoet and L&T have a long-term relationship, dating back to 2012, which saw Mammoet lift a 750t chemical reactor with the in-house designed PTC35-DS 1600te ring crane. The most recent project completed was at Paradip refinery earlier this year where Mammoet lifted modules using PT 50 ring crane.

For this latest partnership, Mammoet will be utilizing PTC ring cranes to lift and install a range of modules at HPCL Rajasthan Refinery Ltd. The lifting works are expected to start taking place on site in the middle of 2022.

Specifically, two ring cranes will be employed: the PT50 ring crane will lift and install reactors, regenerators and fractionators, while the PTC35-DS will lift and install a 127m long C3 rectifier (in three parts) and a quench water tower.

The ring cranes will allow L&T to install the reactors and regenerators in just two sections, instead of four sections if a conventional crawler crane is used. The PTC35-DS will prevent unnecessary sectioning and lifting of the equipment into five parts. Therefore, there will be a reduction in total lead time and overall cost savings for the customer.

The Barmer refinery and petrochemical complex is developed for the production of cleaner fuels and is the first of its kind in Rajasthan. Once completed, it will have a total processing capacity of nine MM metric tpy. Expected to be in production by end of 2023, the development is also expected to create approximately 1,500 direct jobs and contribute to Rajasthan’s economic development.

As MRC informed previously, tasked by company Grupa Azoty ((Tarnow, Poland), one of the main players on the European fertilizer and chemical market, Mammoet has recently completed the first scope of work that will lead to the construction of the propane dehydrogenation and polypropylene (PDH/PP) blocks of its client’s chemical facility. The project took place in the town of Police, in the northwest of Poland, and involved the lifting and transport of more than 480 items from a small port to the construction site six kilometers away.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,138,510 tonnes in January-September 2021, up by 30% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) decreased significantly.
MRC