Shell Catalysts & Technologies helps to build and erect new crude distiller column

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Raizen Argentina’s refinery in Buenos Aires, working with Shell Catalysts & Technologies (SC&T) and more than 25 Argentine companies, has built and erected a new crude distiller column in November 2021, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

It is part of a project that strategically positions the refinery for the future in relation to the processing of unconventional crude, such as that from the Vaca Muerta basin. It also improves the flexibility of the refinery and allows it to adapt more easily to current market conditions.

The new crude distiller column measures almost 50 meters high and six meters in diameter, weighing more than 245 tons. It took seven days to transfer the column from the fabrication site to the refinery, travelling more than 60 kilometers in a special, 77 meters long truck.

The new crude distiller column and the revamped side stripper and drier columns should allow uninterrupted operation throughout its target cycle length. SC&T developed the new crude distiller column design specifications and performed adequacy checks for the side stripper and drier columns. SC&T also provided the internals design consisting of Shell Calming Section Trays, Structured packing and Conventional Downcomer trays.

At project completion, the new crude distiller column will be integrated with other existing equipment in the Crude Distiller 5 unit. Although this is unconventional, the team was able to overcome some design challenges and use a significant portion of the existing assets. This enables Raizen Argentina to maintain their operational efficiency and productivity along with a wider operating range.

This project enables the refinery’s Crude Distiller 5 unit to process shale oil from the Vaca Muerta basin. This allows Raizen Argentina to optimize its crude diet from a strategy and economic standpoint. The unit aims to process maximum throughput of light API shale oil while maintaining the capability of processing also mid API range crude oil.

As MRC informed previously, Royal Dutch Shell plc. said in November that its petrochemical complex of several billion dollars in Western Pennsylvania was about 70% complete and in the process to enter service in the early 2020s. The plant's costs are estimated to be USD6-USD10 billion, where ethane will be transformed into plastic feedstock. The facility is equipped to produce 1.5 million metric tons per year (mmty) of ethylene and 1.6 mmty of polyethylene (PE), two important constituents of plastics.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing PE and polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,047,100 tonnes in the first ten months of 2021, up by 17% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,226,530 tonnes in January-October 2021, up by 26% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymers (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding stat-copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) decreased significantly.

Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - After more than a year of constant growth in prices, low density polyethylene (LDPE) prices began to go down in Russia. Weak demand and oversupply led to a significant decrease in spot prices in the first half of December, according to the ICIS-MRC Price Report.

At the beginning of the year, the growth in prices for polyethylene in the Russian market was due to a similar situation in the foreign markets. The increase in polyethylene prices was a result of the scheduled shutdowns of several domestic producers In the summer and autumn months.

The production turnarounds finished in mid-October, and already from mid-November, the market began to be oversupplied. Spot LDPE prices began to decrease in December, and this week the dynamics of price decline intensified.

Supply of PE increased noticeably in the market in November. The scheduled shutdowns of Russian manufacturers have ended, and imports from neighboring countries have also increased.

Whereas the demand in the spot market decreased due to the record high level of prices. The situation did not change in December. Many large and medium-sized converters have covered their needs for LDPE within the annual contracts, and do not actually make purchases in the spot market.

Smaller converters had problems with working capital. Demand for finished products also has weakened. Demand for polyethylene was also affected by the factor of the end of the quarter.

As a result, a significant increase in the supply of LDPE in the spot market and low demand led to a drop in prices.
Prices of 108 grade PE had dropped to Rb154,000-156,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, by mid-December.
The prices of 158 LDPE from some suppliers approached the same level.

MRC

1. Crude oil prices down on surging cases of Omicron and fears that restrictions may affect fuel demand

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Oil prices fell on Friday and were also down on the week as surging cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant raised fears that new restrictions may hit fuel demand, reported Reuters. "There are concerns about COVID that won't go away, and the perception that could weigh on demand is putting pressure on the market," said Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho in New York. Brent crude futures settled down USD1.50, or 2%, at USD73.52 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude dropped USD1.52, or 2.1%, tosettle at USD70.86 a barrel. Brent was down 2.6% on the week and WTI fell 1.3%.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil’s Canadian Imperial Oil affiliate aims to make a final investment decision (FID) next year on a planned renewable diesel project in Canada’s Alberta province, said the company.

The plant at Imperial’s Strathcona refinery would produce about 20,000 bbl/day of renewable diesel after starting up in 2024. It would source blue hydrogen – that is, hydrogen produced from natural gas with carbon capture and storage - to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

ExxonMobil said it plans to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions from operated assets in the U.S. Permian Basin by 2030, accelerating and expanding its emission-reduction plans for unconventional operations in New Mexico and Texas. The plans are part of the corporate-wide effort to reduce Upstream greenhouse gas emissions intensity by 40-50% by 2030, compared to 2016 levels.

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) -- Svante and Kiewit Energy Group Inc. have entered into an MOU to pursue industrial carbon capture projects under development by industrial carbon emitter clients in the US and Canada including cement, SMR hydrogen, refineries, chemicals, steel, ammonia and pulp & paper facilities, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The KSI Alliance will work as a highly collaborative, integrated team to offer clients a “one-stop-shop” common business development and construction approach from pre-construction services phase to engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) project delivery.

The carbon capture projects will employ Svante’s solid sorbent technology to capture CO2 directly from industrial post-combustion diluted flue gases as a non-intrusive “end-of-the-pipe’’ solution to produce pipeline-grade pure CO2 for safe storage.

Through this collaboration, both companies intend to address the critical need of lowering the capital cost of the capture of the carbon dioxide emitted from industrial facilities in order to achieve the world’s net-zero carbon goals required to stabilize the climate.

As MRC wrote before, in September 2021, Mitsubishi Corp and Shell Canada Products, by its managing partner, Shell Canada Limited (Shell Canada) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) relating to the production of low-carbon hydrogen through the use of carbon capture and storage (CCS) near Edmonton, Canada.

Mitsubishi Corp said it aims to build and start-up the low-carbon hydrogen facility near the Shell Energy and Chemicals Park Scotford towards the latter half of this decade, and Shell would provide CO2 storage via the proposed Polaris CCS project. The low-carbon hydrogen, commonly called blue hydrogen, would be produced via a natural gas feedstock and exported mainly to the Japanese market to produce clean energy.

We remind that Royal Dutch Shell plans to reduce its refining and chemicals portfolio by more than half, it said in July 2020 without giving a precise timeframe. The move is part of the Anglo-Dutch company's plan to shrink its oil and gas business and expand its renewables and power division to reduce greenhouse gas emissions sharply by 2050.

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 2,047,100 tonnes in the first ten months of 2021, up by 17% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,226,530 tonnes in January-October 2021, up by 26% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymers (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding stat-copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) decreased significantly.
MRC