Total and Linde have agreed 15-year extension to gas supply contract

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Linde Gases Division in Germany and Total Raffinerie Mitteldeutschland based in Leuna are extending their existing partnership by a further 15 years, according to Linde's press release.

Signed in Leuna in June 2017, the contract is worth approximately EUR 1 billion and is due to take effect on 1 January 2018. This new deal propels the two-decade partnership between both companies towards a long-term future.

Since the Total refinery in Leuna commenced operations in 1997, Linde has been supplying it with hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen from its local facilities. With an annual consumption volume of over 560 million standard cubic metres of oxygen, over 180 million standard cubic metres of hydrogen and 120 million standard cubic metres of nitrogen Total’s central Germany location ranks as Linde’s largest single customer in Germany. The agreement also covers the operation of a gas separation plant at the refinery site, which recovers carbon dioxide (CO2) from the refinery’s flue gases for resale to Linde customers.

Dr Willi Frantz, Managing Director, TOTAL Raffinerie Mitteldeutschland GmbH, said: "With the newly agreed provisions we will continue our long-term collaboration over the course of two decades. We are pleased to continue our partner-like relationship and constructive cooperation."

"We are delighted to be further investing in our long-standing and successful collaboration with Total in Leuna. While our Remote Operation Center at this site is of international significance to us, local long-term contracts remain the bedrock of our business there," commented Olaf Reckenhofer, Head of Region Central Europe at Linde’s Gases Division.

The Leuna Chemical Complex is Linde’s largest gases production hub in Europe. The location covers the full spectrum of products, ranging from air gases, carbon dioxide, hydrogen and rare gases to acetylene and specialty gas mixtures. At the Remote Operation Center (ROC) in Leuna, 116 plants across Europe are remotely monitored and operated. Linde has invested more than EUR 500 million in the location since 1990.

As MRC informed previously, in June 2017, technology company The Linde Group was awarded a major contract by PJSC Nizhnekamskneftekhim (NKNK) to supply an olefin plant in the city of Nizhnekamsk, located in the Republic of Tatarstan in the Russian Federation.

The Total Raffinerie Mitteldeutschland is located in the Leuna Chemical Complex. It is regarded as one of Europe’s most high-tech refineries and produces around three million tonnes of petroleum per year. The refinery is also Germany’s largest producer of methanol, which is an important feedstock for the chemicals industry. Diesel, heating oil, LPG, naphtha, aviation fuel and bitumen are also part of the production mix. Every day, the refinery’s distillation plant processes an average of 30,000 tonnes of crude oil, which is mainly piped in to storage tanks from Russia. The finished products are supplied to the world market via road, rail and pipeline.

The Linde Group is a world-leading gases and engineering company. In the 2016 financial year, The Linde Group generated revenue of EUR 16.948 bn, making it one of the leading gases and engineering companies in the world, with approximately 60,000 employees working in more than 100 countries worldwide.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) — Lotos, Poland’s second biggest oil refiner, said on Monday that it had received its first crude oil cargo from Canada, said Reuters.

The cargo of 100,000 t, equivalent to almost 700,000 bbl of Canadian Hibernia oil, arrived in Poland on Saturday aboard the Minerva Lisa tanker, Lotos said.

"This is the first delivery from Canada in Lotos refinery’s 40-yr history. The group is in talks with American partners to obtain a mixture of oil types that would best suit the needs of Lotos refinery in Gdansk," Lotos said in a statement.

State-run Lotos, like bigger rival PKN Orlen, refines mostly Russian oil but is aiming to diversify its supplies. Currently around 25% of the oil it refines comes from sources other than Russia, the company said.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) — China will relocate all chemical plants out of urban areas by 2020, the country’s cabinet said in statement on its website, following a blast from a major refinery in Dalian, said Reuters.

Small and medium scale chemical plants will be relocated by 2020, while large plants will be relocated by 2025, the state planner said.

A fire at PetroChina’s Dalian refinery, one of its largest, has raised worries about safety and pollution from the refining sector.

Chemical companies that are not able to relocate will be shut, the cabinet said.

In addition, the cabinet will give a tax rebate and subsidy to companies that need to be moved.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sinopec Maoming Petrochemical has restarted its low density polyethylene (LDPE) unit following a brief maintenance, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the company has resumed operations at the unit on September 2, 2017. The unit was shut for a maintenance on September 1, 2017.

Located at Guangdong in China, the unit has a production capacity of 120,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed before, in the second half of March 2017, Sinopec Maoming Petrochemical took off-stream its linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) plant in Guangdong, China, for a maintenance turnaround. Located at Guangdong in China, the plant has a production capacity of 220,000 mt/year.

Sinopec Maoming Petrochemical Company (Maoming Company) - a subsidiary of Sinopec- is located in Maoming, Guangdong and was founded in May 1955. The company now has a crude oil processing capacity of 13.5 million t/a and an ethylene production capacity of 1 million t/a. Maoming Company has turned out to be a large-scale integrated refining and chemical enterprise with refining as the leading business and petrochemical sector as the mainstay.

China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation, or Sinopec Limited is a Chinese oil and gas company based in Beijing, China. It is listed in Hong Kong and also trades in Shanghai and New York . Sinopec is the worlds fifth biggest company by revenue.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- South Korea’s Korea Petroleum Industries Co (KPIC) on Tuesday shut down its naphtha cracker due to an unplanned flaring incident, reported Reuters with reference to an industry source with direct knowledge of the matter.

The flaring occurred around midday due to a technical glitch. The cause remains under investigation, the source said, adding that KPIC plans to resume operations as soon as possible.

KPIC runs an 800,000 tpy naphtha cracker in Onsan, southeast of Seoul.

As MRC informed before, in the end of H1 2017, KPIC expanded its ethylene production capacity. KPIC’s ethylene capacity expansion for its Ulsan-based Naphtha Cracking Center (NCC) started commercial operation from Jun 23, 2017. Earlier, KPIC produced about 470,000 mt/year of ethylene from its Ulsan-based NCC. With the launch of the expanded capacities, the company added 330,000 mt/year of ethylene, and its combined ethylene capacity reached 800,000 mt/year.

KPIC is one of the key producers of ethylene in South Korea. Before the expansion, the company’s ethylene capacity accounted for about 6% of total ethylene production in South Korea. Now, the company’s market share will be increased to nearly 10%.
MRC