Repsol selects Honeywell for first biofuels plant to be built in Spain

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Honeywell announced that it has been selected by Repsol to supply an integrated control and safety system (ICSS) for the first advanced biofuels production plant to be built in Spain, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The new facility will employ a variety of distributed control systems, emergency shutdown (ESD), fire and gas (F&G) and human-machine interface (HMI) solutions from Honeywell to achieve efficient, sustainable and low-emission operations.

Last year, Repsol announced its strategy to become a net-zero emissions company by 2050 and recently announced more ambitious targets that will accelerate its transformation.

The company’s biofuels plant located at its Cartagena, Spain refinery will have an annual production capacity of 250,000 tons of hydrobiodiesel, biojet fuel, bionaphtha and biopropane. The plant will also produce advanced biofuels from recycled raw materials to be used in road transportation and aviation. These advanced biofuels will facilitate the reduction of CO2 emissions by 900,000 tpy.

“With this initiative, we at Repsol are decisively promoting a new technological route that will be key in our path towards carbon neutrality. This initiative will be incorporated into projects we‘ve already implemented in energy efficiency, low-emissions electricity generation, green hydrogen, circular economy, synthetic fuels, CCUS and much more,” stated Josu Jon Imaz, Repsol CEO.

As MRC reported earlier, Spanish oil and gas company Repsol said in October, 2021, it will invest EUR2.549 billion (USD2.958 billion) in the entire hydrogen value chain by 2030. Renewable hydrogen is one of Repsol’s strategic pillars to achieve zero emissions by 2050. Thus, the company presented its hydrogen strategy for up to 2030.

We remind that the “Cracker of the Future” consortium has recently announced two new member companies: Repsol and Versalis (Eni) have joined the consortium.

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 2,265,290 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2021, up by 14% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,363,850 tonnes in January-November, 2021, up by 25% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.

Repsol is headquartered in Madrid, Spain. In the 2020 Forbes Global 2000, Repsol was ranked as the 645th-largest public company in the world. It has more than 24,000 employees worldwide. 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.
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1. Crude oil prices up as global supply expected to remain tight

MOSCOW (MRC) - Oil prices rose on Monday with investors betting that global supply will remain tight, although restraint by major producers was partially offset by a rise in Libyan output, reported Reuters. Brent crude settled up 42 cents, or 0.5%, to USD86.48 a barrel. Earlier in the session, the contract touched its highest price since Oct. 3, 2018, at USD86.71. US West Texas Intermediate crude was up 53 cents, or 0.6%, at $84.35 after touching its highest price since Nov. 10 at USD84.78. Trade was subdued due to the US holiday honoring slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Frantic oil buying, driven by supply outages and signs the Omicron coronavirus variant will not be as disruptive to fuel demand as previously feared, has pushed some crude grades to multi-year highs, suggesting the rally in Brent futures could be sustained for a while longer, traders said.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Hyosung Vina Chemicals Co Ltd is in plans to restart its No. 2 polypropylene (PP) line in Southern Vietnam this week, according to CommoPlast with reference to market sources.

This PP line with an annual capacity of 300,000 mtt year was taken offline in mid-December 2021 due to propylene supply disruption.

The No. 2 line shall be able to resume production once the upstream propane dehydrogenation (PDH) unit restarts. The 600,000 tons/year PDH plant remain shut at the time of this report.

The company already operates No. 1 PP plant in Southern Vietnam with the same production capacity, using external sources of propylene. This plant is reportedly operating at normal rates at the moment. It was shut down on 9 July, 2021, due to an unspecified technical issue and came back on line in July, 2021.

As MRC wrote previoulsy, Hyosung Vina Chemicals Co Ltd starte up its new No. 2 PP plant in Southern Vietnam in August 2021. Besides, a new PDH unit was also scheduled for a start-up at the same site that month.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,363,850 tonnes in January-November, 2021, up by 25% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.

Hyosung Corporation is a Korean industrial conglomerate, founded in 1957. It operates in various fields, including the chemical industry, industrial machinery, IT, trade, and construction.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China's refinery output hit a fresh high in 2021, up 4.3% from a year earlier on robust fuel demand especially in the first half of the year, and as refiners ramped up processing to fill a supply gap after a hefty new tax closed loopholes in blending fuel imports, reported Reuters.

Total refinery throughput last year reached 703.55 MM tons, or 14.07 MMbpd, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Monday, roughly 620,000 bpd above the 2020 level.

December output was 58.73 MM tons, or about 13.83 MMbpd, down 2.1% on year, reversing a brief strong rebound in November when daily processing touched 14.51 MMbpd.

As MRC informed earlier, 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, according to a statement of a research institute affiliated with China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) in late December, 2021. In 2020, 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.

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 2,265,290 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2021, up by 14% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,363,850 tonnes in January-November, 2021, up by 25% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- German industrial conglomerate thyssenkrupp AG is rebranding its chlor-alkali electrolysis joint venture with Italy's Industrie De Nora SpA ahead of a potential initial public offering (IPO) that would help finance further growth, said Renewablesnow.

Previously known as thyssenkrupp Uhde Chlorine Engineers, the business is now called thyssenkrupp Nucera. One of its specialities is the alkaline water electrolysis (AWE) technology for green hydrogen production, having more than 10 GW of electrolyser capacity installed to date. The JV generated revenues of EUR 319 million (USD 366m) in 2020/21 and targets a top line of between EUR 600 million and EUR 700 million by 2024/25.

As of December 31, 2021, the business’ order backlog for green hydrogen amounted to EUR 900 million, with two large projects included – a contract for a 2-GW-plus electrolysis plant at NEOM in Saudi Arabia and an order from Royal Dutch Shell tied to the 200-MW Hydrogen Holland I project in the port of Rotterdam.

“We are taking off from a strong position in the chlor-alkali market with best-in-class technology and a yearly gigawatt supply chain. It is our aim to become the number one technology leader for large-scale industrial green hydrogen production in the alkaline water electrolysis market,” said Denis Krude, CEO of Thyssenkrupp Nucera.

As announced previously, Thyssenkrupp plans a stock exchange listing for the particular business. Reuters quoted Volkmar Dinstuhl, CEO of Thyssenkrupp’s segment Multi Tracks, as saying today that an IPO of Thyssenkrupp Nucera could raise between EUR 500 million and EUR 600 million in proceeds.

The news agency also cited CEO Krude as saying that thyssenkrupp Nucera intends to invest EUR 200 million-300 million by 2024/25, including EUR 150 million-200 million in partnerships, production and smaller deals.

As per MRC, thyssenkrupp Uhde Thailand has been awarded a contract by a leading oleo and specialty chemicals producer in Asia for engineering services and proprietary equipment supply for an esterification plant. The plant will employ thyssenkrupp Uhde’s proprietary jet reactor technology and is designed for a batch size of 15 m3. Completion is planned within 2022. The main products are medium chain triglycerides used in the food and personal care industry.

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 2,265,290 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2021, up by 14% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,363,850 tonnes in January-November, 2021, up by 25% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.

thyssenkrupp Uhde Chlorine Engineers offers world-leading technologies for high-efficiency electrolysis plants. The company, a Joint Venture with Industrie De Nora, has extensive in-depth knowledge in the engineering, procurement, and construction of electrochemical plants and a strong track record of more than 600 projects with a total rating of over 10 gigawatts already successfully installed. With its water electrolysis technology to produce green hydrogen, the company offers an innovative solution on an industrial scale for green value chains and an industry fueled by clean energy – a major step towards a climate-neutrality.
MRC