KBR awarded ammonia plant contract for HURL project in India

MOSCOW (MRC) -- KBR, Inc. has announced that it has been awarded an ammonia plant contract by Toyo Engineering Corporation (TOYO) for the Hindustan Urvarak and Rasayan Ltd (HURL) greenfield urea project in Gorakhpur, India, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Under the terms of the contract, KBR will provide licensing and basic engineering design (LBED) services for the project.

HURL is a joint venture of three of the most prestigious Indian public sector companies - Coal India Limited (CIL), NTPC Limited (NTPC) and Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) - in cooperation with Fertilizer Corporation of India Limited (FCIL) and Hindustan Fertilizer Corporation Limited (HFCL) HURL's Gorakhpur plant is an important milestone for the Government of India towards making India self-sufficient in urea production and is the first initiative of its kind by the Indian Government since the last set of plants were built over 10 years ago. The foundation stone of the project was laid by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in July 2016.

"We are pleased that KBR's ammonia technology has been selected for the first greenfield urea plant being set-up by HURL as part of this initiative by the Government of India," said John Derbyshire, President, KBR Technology & Consulting. "This project will be an important milestone for India to meet its urea demand and KBR is honored and proud to be a part of this project."

"HURL project at Gorakhpur shows the commitment and support of Government of India, Niti Aayog, Department of Fertilizer under Indian Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers and promoter companies, towards the Indian Fertilizer sector," said Mr. Arun Kumar Gupta, Managing Director, HURL. "We believe that with best technologies and project management practices, this project will fulfill our vision of growth, efficiency and building national self-sufficiency."

As MRC wrote before, in January 2018, KBR, Inc. announced that it had been awarded a contract from Indorama Eleme Fertilizer & Chemicals Limited (Indorama) and Toyo Engineering Corporation (Toyo) for the Train 2 ammonia plant at Indorama's Port Harcourt site in Nigeria.

KBR is a leader in ammonia technology and has been involved in the licensing, design, engineering, and/or construction of more than 230 grassroots ammonia plants and over 100 revamp ammonia projects globally.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- INEOS Styrolution, the global leader in styrenics, will commission an engineering study to build a world-scale styrene monomer (SM) plant in the US Gulf Coast, as per the company's press release.

The new SM plant will use best-in-class technology and benefit from access to low cost feedstock and energy from shale gas as well as an excellent infrastructure. A specific location is yet to be defined.

Steve Harrington, President Global Styrene Monomer and Asia-Pacific, comments: “The new plant will complement our existing SM production facilities and provide a sustained competitive advantage to enable us to supply the global market."

“This plan supports our ‘Triple Shift’ growth strategy and maintains our leading position as a global styrenics supplier "to our key customers and industries”, adds Kevin McQuade, CEO at INEOS Styrolution.

INEOS Styrolution is the leading, global styrenics supplier with a focus on styrene monomer, polystyrene, ABS Standard and styrenic specialties. With world-class production facilities and more than 85 years of experience, INEOS Styrolution helps its customers succeed by offering the best possible solution, designed to give them a competitive edge in their markets. The company provides styrenic applications for many everyday products across a broad range of industries, including Automotive, Electronics, Household, Construction, Healthcare, Packaging and Toys/ Sports/ Leisure. In 2017, sales were at 5.3 billion euros. INEOS Styrolution employs approximately 3,300 people and operates 16 production sites in nine countries.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Russia's imports of GPPS increased in the first two months of the year, while imports of HIPS, on the contrary, decreased, according MRC DataScope.

February GPPS imports were 1,470 tonnes, compared to 2,120 tonnes a month earlier. GPPS imports rose by two-fold in the first two months of 2018 to 3,590 tonnes from 1,810 tonnes a year earlier.

Shipments of GPPS increased largely due to Styrolution, which increased them by more than 3 times to 1,890 tonnes versus 540 tonnes last year. Styrolution accounted for 55% of the total GPPS imports in January-February 2018. Singapore's Denka Styrol and South Korean LG Chem shipped 510 and 440 tonnes of GPPS, respectively, to the Russian market, whereas these producers' GPPS imports were absent in January-February 2017.
February HIPS imports were 990 tonnes versus 1,900 tonnes a month earlier. HIPS imports fell in the first two months of 2018 by 14% year on year to 2,080 tonnes from 2,420 tonnes in a year earlier.

Styrolution's shipments dropped to 790 tonnes in the first two months of the year from 940 tonnes a year earlier, whereas Polimeri Europa' shipments - from 510 tonnes to 470 tonnes. LG Chem did not import HIPS into the country, whereas Kumho's shipments reached 340 tonnes in January-February.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Imports of polyethylene (PE) into Ukraine increased to 41,200 tonnes in the first two months of 2018, up 4% compared to the same period of 2017. At the same time, a decrease in imports was seen in the segment of high density polyethylene (HDPE) and ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA), according to the DataScope.

Ukraine's PE imports in February were about 20,600 tonnes, almost at the January level. Overall PE imports reached 41,200 tonnes in January-February 2018, compared to 39,700 tonnes a year earlier, HDPE imports decreased because of higher domestic production, demand for EVA also went down.

The supply structure by PE grades looked the following way over the stated period.

Ukraine's HDPE imports slightly increased in February, some local companies seriously increased the supply of polyethylene from Russia before the import ban was introduced (ban on imports from Russia came in the force from from 1 March to 31 December). February HDPE imports into the country were about 8,200 tonnes, compared with 6,200 tonnes in January. Overall HDPE production reached 14,400 tonnes in the first two months of 2018, compared to 15,000 tonnes a year earlier. The most reduction in imports accounted in the film HDPE, resulting from the resumption of local production.

February imports of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) decreased to 6,100 tonnes against 6,900 tonnes a month earlier, some companies reduced purchases of LDPE in Russia. Overall LDPE imports reached 13,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 10% year on year.

February imports of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) into the country were about 6,000 tonnes, which was close to the previous month level. LLDPE imports in the country increased to 11,600 tonnes in January - February of this year, compared with 10,700 tonnes in the same time a year earlier. Local producers of film products accounted for the main increase in imports.

Imports of other grades of polyethylene, including EVA for the period under review reached about 2,200 tonnes against 2,100 tonnes a year earlier.


MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- India's Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) plans to build a USD3 billion petrochemical unit to serve the Mumbai region, a company official said, to profit from the country's expected surge in demand for petrochemicals as its economy expands, as per Rigzone.

BPCL's expansion is part of a national plan to spend USD35 billion on petrochemical production in order to meet the expected increase in consumption of the chemicals for products including plastics, paints and adhesives. India currently only produces about 20 million tonnes a year of petrochemicals, less than the 40 million tonnes of demand expected for the 2017/18 financial year.

Demand is expected to almost double again within a decade, according to a report from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

BPCL earlier this month bought 500 acres (202 hectares) of land from a fertiliser unit of Hindustan Organic Chemicals Ltd , Hindustan Organic said in a notice to the Bombay Stock Exchange on March 17.

The land will allow BPCL to build a petrochemical complex that will use feedstocks from its Mumbai refinery, which processes 240,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude, R. Ramachandran, head of refineries at BPCL told Reuters this week. The site is about 60 km (37 miles) from the refinery.

"This (land deal) is fundamental to enhancing our petrochemical portfolio," said Ramachandran. "Going forward, petchem consumption is likely to be higher than the conventional fuels so it is better if we start thinking in that direction now."

To transport feedstock to the new petrochemical complex, Ramachandran said there was a plan to build a pipeline from the refinery to a nearby port and tankers would then deliver the feedstock to the facility.

Alternatively, he said a direct pipeline between the Mumbai refinery and the petrochemical facility could be built.

He said the facility would focus on producing propylene, but also produce polyethylene at lower quantities.

Ramachandran told Reuters the company had not been able to expand the Mumbai refinery for the petrochemical site because of limited land availability in the city.

The petrochemical complex will be ready by 2023, he said.

BPCL plans to pump feedstocks from the Mumbai refinery by pipeline to a nearby port to load onto tankers that will then carry it to the petrochemical complex, said a source familiar with the matter.

BPCL already produces petrochemicals at its 310,000 bpd Kochi refinery in southern India.

BPCL is also constructing a 52 billion rupees (USD799.26 million) project at Kochi to produce chemicals like acryl, oxo-alcohols, and acrylic acid used in products like paints, adhesives or textiles, which Ramachandran said would be commissioned next year.

BPCL also plans to build a petrochemical plant at its 120,000 bpd Bina refinery in central India.

"We are targeting petrochemical production equivalent to 10 to 15 percent of our crude processing in the long run," he said.

As MRC informed before, in early November 2017, BPCL ramped up the operating rate of its Kochi oil refinery after completing an expansion at the plant in southern India, reported Reuters then with reference to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter. The refinery was running then at about 13 MMtpy, or about 260,000 bpd, up from its original capacity of 9.5 MMtpy, one of the sources said. BPCL planed to gradually ramp up Kochi to its new capacity of 15.5 MMtpy, he added, without giving a timeline.
MRC