Canadian government moving forward with single-use plastics ban

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Canadian government has released draft regulations to ban six kinds of “harmful” single-use plastic items in Canada: straws and stir sticks, six-pack rings, grocery bags, cutlery, and difficult-to-recycle takeout containers, said Canplastics.

But the draft rules – available at this link – also include an exemption that would allow Canadian manufacturers to continue making these items, so long as they’re intended for export. Environment Minister Stephen Guilbeault and Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos announced the draft regulations in a Dec. 21 joint statement.

According to the statement, the regulations would prevent an estimate of more than 23,000 tonnes of plastic pollution from entering the environment over a ten-year period, which is the equivalent of one million garbage bags of litter.

The statement said the new rules could come into effect sometime at the end of 2022. There may also be a transition period to allow restaurants and other businesses to get used to the new rules, which could push the date back even further. A final decision on when the rules will come into force will be made after the government has considered the comments received during the consultation period, which is open until March 5, 2022. “The Government of Canada will soon publish draft guidance to help businesses adapt to the requirements of the proposed regulations," the statement said.

Another “key element of the plan” will be the establishment of regulated standards to increase the use of recycled content in certain plastic products. “The Government of Canada is committed to ensuring all plastic packaging in Canada contains at least 50 percent recycled content by 2030; achieving an ambitious recycling target of 90 per cent – aligned with Quebec and the European Union – for plastic beverage containers; prohibiting misleading recycling labelling that is not supported by recycling facilities; and working with the provinces and territories to ensure that producers, not taxpayers, are responsible for the cost of managing their plastic waste,” the statement continued.

In order to formulate the regulations brought forth in the new ban, the federal government says it relied on scientific research it compiled under the Science Assessment of Plastic Pollution from autumn of 2020.

The ban is being criticized by many in the plastics sector, including the Ottawa-based Chemistry Industry Association of Canada (CIAC), which represents plastics manufacturers. “We believe bans of some single-use plastic items might make governments and consumers feel good in the short term, but do not solve the overall problem long-term,” CIAC said in a Dec. 22 statement. “We are disappointed that safe inert plastic materials that play such important roles in Canadians’ lives continue to be labelled as toxic substances (under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act) or are being banned when innovative technologies like advanced recycling are available to manage their end of life."

It was earlier said that the Indian government is planning to phase out single-use plastics leading to complete elimination. But concerns revolve around the availability of alternatives and plastic waste management systems. A government committee has identified the single use plastic (SUP) items to be banned based on an index of their utility and environmental impact. In the three-stage ban, the first category of SUP items proposed to be phased out are plastic sticks used in balloons, flags, candy, ice-cream and ear buds, and thermocol that is used in decorations.

European Parliament voted to ban single-use plastics across the board in an attempt to stop the unending stream of plastic pollution making its way into the oceans. Such plastic products include things like straws, plates, cups and cotton buds, and can take several centuries to degrade in the oceans where they are increasingly observed to be consumed by marine life. According to the European Commission, such plastics make up 70 percent of all marine litter.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China's oil consumption is expected to keep growing for a decade on robust chemical demand, reaching a peak of about 780 MMtpy by 2030, reported Reuters with reference to a statement of a research institute affiliated with China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) on Sunday.

Last year, the research group, called the CNPC Economics & Technology Research Institute (ETRI), said that China's oil demand would peak at 730 MMtpy by around 2025.

In its latest report, the ETRI said diesel fuel, gasoline and kerosene consumption are forecast to peak sometime around 2025 at about 390 MMtpy. The strong petrochemical demand will support rising consumption through to 2030.

Overall oil demand will fall after 2030 as transportation consumption declines amid the electrification of vehicles while chemical demand remains stable during the period, the ETRI said.

The ETRI also revised the peak of China's total primary energy consumption to 6.01 Btpy of standard coal by around 2030, from 5.6 Btpy by around 2035 previously.

"Coal consumption in China would enter a plateau at around 3.6-4 B tons in 2021-2030," the ETRI said, adding that the use of the dirty fossil fuel would decrease steadily in 2031-2050 as coal-fired power plants become a back-up energy source.

This follows plans from the government to reduce coal consumption in China, the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, in an "orderly" manner as part of its drive to reach a peak in carbon emissions.

China's top leaders said at an agenda-setting meeting this month that the "gradual withdrawal of traditional energy sources should be based on the establishment of safe and reliable of new energy sources."

As MRC wrote previously, China's crude throughput rose 0.8% to 13.81 million b/d in October from a 17-month low in September.

We remind that the average utilisation rate at China's four state-owned refiners fell to a five-month low of 80.6% in October from 81.5% in September while independent refiners also maintained run rates at low levels due to feedstock shortage. These would likely lead the country's crude throughputs to extend the downward trend in October from the 17-month low of 13.7 million b/d, or 56.07 million mt, in September, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

The four state oil companies - Sinopec, PetroChina, CNOOC and Sinochem - plan to process a total 7.67 million b/d of crudes in October, against their nameplate capacity of 9.52 million b/d, Platts data showed. This compared with a planned throughput of 7.7 million b/d in September. In November, the state-run refiners plan to lift throughput from the low base in October to boost gasoil and gasoline supplies for meeting domestic demand, refining sources said.

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ClearSign Technologies Corporation announced that it has received a purchase order from a Fortune 500 national refiner in connection with the first phase of the project to retrofit two process heaters with eight ClearSign Core burners each to be installed in their Midwest refinery, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The project consists of three phases. The first is the receipt of the purchase order, which includes the fabrication and demonstration of a single burner. The second phase is planned to be an order for the remaining seven burners to complete the first heater. The anticipated third and final stage will be an eight burner order for the second heater.

“We are proud to announce the start of this multi heater project comprised of a total of sixteen ClearSign Core burners,” said Jim Deller, Ph. D, CEO of ClearSign. “While this our largest process burner project to date, and also our first order from this major USA refiner, what is also encouraging is that this customer was driven to our solution to increase the process throughput of these heaters while also being able to benefit from our best in class NOx emissions reduction. We are pleased to see our technology become more recognized and known in the prominent companies of the industry, and continue to look forward to its ongoing adoption, and the benefits we can provide for refining productivity and reduced air borne emissions.”

We remind that, as MRC reported before, in early December 2021, Lummus Technology announced it had been awarded a contract from the Gazprom Neft Moscow refinery for two fired heaters. The heaters will be installed at the refinery in Moscow, and are part of the plant’s modernization to improve operational efficiency and environmental performance.

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil on Monday said its Baytown, Texas, refinery continued to operate at reduced rates following a fire on Dec. 23, and that the unit involved remained shut down, reported Reuters.

The company has not yet determined the cause of the fire, but said it was continuing to empty the unit so it could safely enter the facility and assess what impact it would have on production.

A filing with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said the fire occurred at the facility's hydro desulfurization unit 1.

Exxon's Baytown facility is home to a chemical plant, an olefins plant and the country's fourth-biggest oil refinery, with capacity to process 560,500 bpd of crude.

As MRC wrote previously, ExxonMobil said in late August, 2021, a small debris fire near an out-of-service tank was quickly extinguished at its 369,024 barrel-per-day (bpd) Beaumont, Texas, refinery. There were no injuries.

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.

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) -- Group "KMG International N.V." (which includes Rompetrol Rafinare and Rompetrol Well Services) takes note of the recent publications in the Polish and Romanian media regarding the interest shown by Polski Koncern Naftowy Orlen SA (PKN Orlen) and Chimcomplex (CHOB) in regarding the business of "KMG International", said the company.

From time to time, the KMG International Group conducts discussions with various parties regarding potential deals and / or cooperation regarding various development opportunities, to the extent that such cooperation is capable of bringing additional value or synergy to the activities of KMG International.

At the moment, no deal is in the final stage and there is no certainty that there will be any deal with any potential partner.

As per MRC, PKN Orlen says it has signed a final contract with Hyundai Engineering and Tecnicas Reunidas for the engineering and construction of the main units for PKN Orlen's previously announced Olefins Complex III project at Plock, Poland. The project is due for completion in 2024. Following production launch, scheduled for early 2025, the share of crude oil used to manufacture petrochemical products in Plock will rise from 14% to 19%. This is all the more important given an expected drop in demand for refinery products and an expected increase, by as much as 80%, in demand for high-margin petrochemicals by 2050.

As per MRC, ORLEN Unipetrol (part of PKN Orlen), a large Czech manufacturer of petrochemical products, lifted force majeure circumstances on the supply of products from a polypropylene (PP) plant in Litvinov (Czech Republic) on June 22. Force majeure at this enterprise with a capacity of 345 thousand tons of PP per year was announced on May 28 of this year, and the plant was closed on May 25 due to a serious technical failure in the operation of the reactor and as a safety measure.

Polski Koncern Naftowy Orlen S.A. (PKN Orlen) is the largest Polish oil and gas company and one of the largest oil and gas companies in Europe. In Plock, the nominal capacity of the polypropylene (PP) line is 400 thousand tons per year. PKN Orlen owns a majority stake (63%) of the Czech polyolefin manufacturer Unipetrol. In addition, the largest Czech chemical manufacturer Spolana is also part of the Polish PKN Orlen group. The enterprise produces PVC, caprolactam, sulfuric acid, mineral fertilizers.
MRC