Praxair to supply hydrogen at Repsol Peru refinery

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Praxair has signed a long-term contract to provide hydrogen to Repsol, one of the world’s largest producers of petrochemicals, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The new steam methane reformer (SMR) will be constructed at Repsol’s La Pampilla Refinery, in the Callao district, near Lima, and is expected to start up in 2016.

"We are honored to have been selected to build this hydrogen plant in Peru," said Domingos Bulus, president of Praxair South America. "We look forward to demonstrating our strong capabilities in hydrogen production and to building a long-term commercial relationship with Repsol."

The 12 million standard cubic feet/day SMR will use natural gas or naphtha as feedstock for the production of hydrogen.

The La Pampilla refinery produces gasoline, liquefied petroleum gas, jet fuel, kerosene, diesel and asphalts, among other products, to serve the local market. The Repsol refinery will also produce low-sulfur diesel fuel that will comply with the strictest environmental standards and be used to serve customers in the local market.

"Through Praxair’s state-of-the-art plants, products and applications technologies, we are supporting our customers in their efforts to address the global trend of adopting more sustainable technologies," said Bulus.

As MRC wrote before, Repsol declared a force majeure (FM) on ethylene supplies from a cracker in Spain in early November. The impact of the FM on the spot market as well as the restart date for the plant could not be ascertained. Located in Tarragona, Spain, the cracker has a production capacity of 702,000 mt/year.

Repsol S.A is an integrated Spanish oil and gas company with operations in 28 countries. The bulk of its assets are located in Spain.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- AkzoNobel and partners has announced that they would explore use of waste as chemicals feedstock, according to AkzoNobel's press release.

AkzoNobel is part of a major Dutch partnership working with Canada’s Enerkem to explore the use of waste streams as a feedstock for chemical production and the development of waste-to-chemicals facilities.

The collaboration features a number of industry and semi-governmental partners looking to benefit from Enerkem's proprietary technology that converts waste into synthesis gas – a common starting material for products such as methanol and ammonia.

"Given the growing concerns over raw material and energy scarcity - the need to innovate and develop less traditional solutions is becoming ever more important," said Werner Fuhrmann, AkzoNobel's Executive Committee member responsible for Specialty Chemicals.

"To accelerate these innovations we are entering into strategic partnerships, all focused on replacing non-renewable raw materials, which could have major environmental benefits."

Aimed at closing the loop by converting waste back into useful products, the initial partners are AkzoNobel, Enerkem, the investment and development agency for the Northern Netherlands (NOM), Groningen Seaports, Rotterdam Partners and InnovationQuarter. The partners plan to test various local waste streams, including residual municipal and agricultural waste.

Vincent Chornet, President and CEO of Enerkem, added: "We are pleased to be working with AkzoNobel and partners to further demonstrate Enerkem’s ability to recycle the carbon contained in non-recyclable waste into renewable chemicals. These chemical building blocks hold countless potential applications, and with our combined efforts to develop waste-to-chemicals facilities in Europe, the shift towards a circular economy now appears to be truly within reach."

Waste remains a problem in many regions and is generally regarded as being under-utilized for the production of chemicals. The goal is to create a group of partners that all make a unique contribution - waste management companies to provide the waste feedstock and processing capacity, financial parties to arrange funding, end-use chemical companies to handle production and customer sales, and government to facilitate regional investment. Other interested parties are also welcome to join the collaboration.

Within the next two to three years, the partners are aiming to have a plant in Delfzijl or Rotterdam (or both) become the first in Europe to utilize the new technology.

As MRC wrote previously, in October 2014, AkzoNobel started operations at its state-of-the-art vehicle refinishes plant in Changzhou, China - the company's 30th manufacturing facility in the country. The new factory adds around 25 million liters of capacity for Sikkens, Lesonal and Prime vehicle refinishes products and strengthens AkzoNobel’s position as one of the leading players in China's vehicle refinishes and commercial vehicle OEM markets, building on its acquisition of Changzhou Prime Automotive Ltd. in 2010.

Akzo Nobel N.V., trading as AkzoNobel, is a Dutch multinational, active in the fields of decorative paints, performance coatings and specialty chemicals. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the company has activities in more than 80 countries, and employs approximately 55,000 people. AkzoNobel currently employs more than 8,000 people in China. Revenues totaled EUR1.6 billion in 2013, with the majority being generated from local demand.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Hungarian oil group MOL Plc reported a net profit for the third quarter, helped by strong results in its downstream business, growth in its upstream production and a weak forint that offset fall in crude prices, said Reuters.

MOL operates refineries in Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia. It also has exploration and production assets in the North Sea and countries including Pakistan, Iraq, and Russia.

Net profit was 28.5 billion forints (USD115.1 million) in the third quarter compared with a loss of 30 billion forints in the same period of 2013 and a net profit of 24 billion forints in the second quarter. The company's so called clean EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) rose 18% to 163.9 billion forints, versus the 145.9 billion forint estimate of eight analysts polled by business website Portfolio.hu.

MOL said it also managed to reverse the declining trend in production, which was partly due to an increase in crude output in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

MOL's daily production rose to 94,900 barrels from 92,400 in the second quarter, but was still below the 101,300 barrels recorded in the third quarter of 2013.

Upstream EBITDA rose to 66.2 billion forints from 60.6 billion in the second quarter but was 20% lower year on year.

Its downstream business reported a 67% annual rise in EBITDA to 80.8 billion forints in the third quarter, which MOL said was due to a rise in gasoline and fuel crack spreads and its efficiency improvement programme in the past years which started to yield results.

As MRC wrote before, JSR Corp. and MOL have received European Commission approval to form Vierium Investment, a new joint venture company to produce 60,000 t/y of solution polymerized styrene butadiene rubber (S-SBR) in Tiszaujvaros, Hungary. The venture, owned 51% by JSR and 49% by MOL, will utilize MOL's existing plant infrastructures and JSR's S-SBR production technologies. Commercial operations are scheduled for 2017 and a capacity expansion is under study and will be implemented based on demand.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mogilevkhimvolokno, the only Belarusian polyethylene terephthalate (PET) producer, has reduced its prices of PET chips for November shipments, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

The company made concessions to buyers, lowering prices for the domestic market and export shipments in November, on the back of the general downward price trend in foreign markets and weak seasonal demand. Prices for exports to Ukraine dropped to EUR73/tonne from October, said a trader. Local converters have announced price reductions for the domestic market.

Open Joint Stock Company "Mogilevkhimvolokno" is the only Belarusian major producer of dimethyl terephthalate, PET polyester chips, food grade PET, polyester fibers and yarns and the main feedstock supplier for consumer industry of Belarus. The state's share in the plant is 90,53%.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- U.S. blow molding demand for polypropylene and high density polyethylene should grow this year over the 2013 levels, Joel Morales, said Plasticsnews, citing polyolefins director at IHS Chemical at the SPE Blow Molding Conference.

Morales said PP will grow 9.9% in 2014 for blow molding. HDPE will increase 3.2%.

IHS thinks PET for blow molding will remain flat. Morales said blow molded bottles are a small part of the overall PET demand. Polyester fiber for clothing is the biggest market. "China’s really driving this thing," he said.

Morales said the North American polyethylene market is "snug," and is awaiting announced new capacity in the coming years, as petrochemical companies take advantage of low-priced ethane feedstocks from lower priced natural gas unlocked by hydraulic fracturing.

"It’s been a tough year for blow molding PE resin availability," he said. "The market is tight."

IHS is based in Houston.

As MRC wrote before, Europe remains among the globe’s highest-cost production regions for chemicals. But the verge of losing its competitiveness, a robust supply of US ethane imports present an opportunity for some Western European producers, with a potential to radically transform region’s feedstock landscape. European producers are urged to innovate, further consolidate and rationalize to stay afloat, according to the report.

MRC