Asias oil refiners rush to deal with U.S.-China trade war, looming Iran sanctions

MOSCOW (MRC) - Asian oil refiners are racing to secure crude supplies in anticipation of an escalating trade war between the United States and China, and as Washington plans tough sanctions against Iran aimed at shutting the country out of oil markets, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

As part of a wave of retaliation for Friday's U.S. tariffs, China has threatened a 25 percent duty on imports of U.S. crude. Meanwhile, Washington's new sanctions against Tehran are due to kick in from November.

That double whammy is prompting Asian refiners to move swiftly, with South Korea leading the way. Under pressure from Washington, Seoul has halted all orders of Iranian oil, according to sources, even as it braces from spillover effects from the U.S.-China tit-for-tat on trade.

"As South Korea's economy heavily relies on trade, it won't be good for South Korea if the global economic slowdown happens because of a trade dispute between U.S and China," said Lee Dal-seok, senior researcher at the Korea Energy Economic Institute (KEEI).

In China, state media slammed U.S. President Donald Trump's government as a "gang of hoodlums", with officials vowing retaliation. Standing in the line of fire are U.S. crude supplies to China, which have surged from virtually zero before 2017 to 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) in July.

Although just 5 percent of China's overall crude imports, these supplies are worth USD1 billion a month at current prices - a figure that seems certain to fall should a duty be implemented.

U.S. crude oil is not on the list of 545 products the Chinese government has said it would immediately retaliate with in response to American duties.

However, crude oil is listed as a U.S. product that will receive an import tariff at an unspecified later date.

While no date has been set, industry participants expect the tariff to be levied. "The Chinese have to do the tit-for-tat, they have to retaliate," said John Driscoll, director of consultancy JTD Energy, adding that cutting U.S. crude imports was a means "of retaliating (against) the U.S. in a very substantial way".
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- The research group headed by Prof. Weimin Yang from Sinopec Shanghai Research Institute of Petrochemical Technology (Sinopec SRIPT) has successfully synthesized a novel structured zeolite SCM-14 (SINOPEC Composite Material 14), as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Its framework type code SOR has been approved by the Structure Commission of International Zeolite Association (IZA-SC) on May 15th, 2018.

As an important class of functional material, zeolite is widely used in chemical processes like ion exchange, adsorption/separation, and catalysis. The innovation and industrialization of novel zeolites have led to the leaping development of many chemical technologies.

Currently, Yang’s group has developed a series of SCM-n (n=1~21) zeolites named after SINOPEC based on more than 2000 experiments carried out in the last 5 years. SCM-14, one of the SCM-n zeolite, is a new and thermally stable zeolite possessing a unique 3D framework structure of 12-, 8- and 8-ring channel system. Its structure was determined by a combination of electron diffraction and powder X-ray diffraction through close cooperation between Yang’s group and Dr. Junliang Sun, a research fellow from Stockholm University/Peking University. The zeolite SCM-14 shows application potentials in catalysis and adsorption.

The group from SRIPT is now carrying out an in-depth study on the adsorption and catalysis properties of SCM-14, hoping to accelerate the pace of industrialization of SCM-14 in a bid to innovate a new petrochemical technology in the coming future.
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MOSCOW (MRC) --Infosys, a global leader in consulting, technology and next-generation services unveiled a new partnership with Siemens PLM Software to develop applications and services for MindSphere, the open cloud-based IoT operating system from Siemens, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

MindSphere connects real things (e.g. industrial machinery and equipment) to the digital world and provides powerful industry applications and digital services to help drive business success.

This partnership between Infosys and Siemens will enable customers to improve competitiveness by leveraging the power of data generated by their devices. Data analytics will enhance efficiencies through capabilities like predictive maintenance and end-to-end factory visibility. Customers will also benefit by monetizing new data-driven services. The initial focus will be on customers in the manufacturing, energy, utilities, healthcare, pharmaceutical, transportation and logistics industries.

Infosys will offer end-to-end implementation services for Mindsphere, as well as post-implementation support. The company will leverage its repository of Industry 4.0 accelerators (e.g. maturity assessment framework) as well as platform tools (e.g. edge connectivity, AR/VR tools) and ready-made apps (e.g. factory visibility) to quickly onboard customers onto the platform, thereby accelerating the value that customers reap from their assets.

"Our new partnership with Siemens for MindSphere perfectly fits into our vision of seeing the physical and digital worlds converge. There is an increasing need for enterprises to accelerate their digital journeys and to deliver new and innovative services. This partnership will help us bring exciting solutions to our customers that combine strategic insights and execution excellence," Ravi Kumar S, President and Deputy Chief Operating Officer, Infosys, said.

"Infosys, with its strengths in industrial engineering, depth of experience in industrial analytics and emerging areas like augmented reality and virtual reality, together with Siemens' expertise in manufacturing industrial assets, will bring wide and differentiated value-added digital services to customers from different branches, especially engineering and asset-intensive customers," Paul Kaeley, Senior Vice President, Global Partner Ecosystem, Siemens PLM Software, said.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Qadir Petrochemical Company in the southern Khuzestan Province plans to raise its output of polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, to as much as 160,000 tons per year from the current 120,000 tons until March 2020, the company’s managing director said, as per Financialtribune.

"The company produced 34,500 tons of PVC in the first quarter of the current fiscal year [started March 21], showing a rise of about 27,000 tons produced in last year’s corresponding period," Amin Bayanak was also quoted as saying by NIPNA on Monday.

According to Bayanak, QPC’s annual PVC production in the last two years stood at 120,400 tons and 120,600 tons, respectively.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Brazil’s state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA and China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) took another step in negotiations that could give the Chinese their first refining capacity in the Americas, reported Reuters.

The companies announced in a Brazilian security filing that they had signed a letter of intent advancing talks for a partnership to finish the Comperj refinery near Rio de Janeiro and a “participation” of CNPC in the offshore Marlim oil field.

The joint announcement confirms an April report by Reuters that said the companies were working out a deal involving a CNPC investment at Comperj in exchange for a stake in the offshore Campos Basin and rights to use the refinery.

The talks highlight rising Chinese interest in the Brazilian energy sector, which has attracted billions of dollars from oil majors over the past year for rights to new exploration blocks as the government lowers barriers to foreigners.

The companies did not offer further details and said the implementation of the partnership will depend on the success of final negotiations.

"This strategic partnership will strengthen ties between the companies and will contribute to deepen the global strategic partnership between Brazil and China," the filing said.

In November, Pedro Parente, then chief executive of the Brazilian oil firm known as Petrobras, touted a 196 meter oil column discovered in the Marlim field, which he described as the best in the Campos basin.

Petrobras and CNPC have already partnered in the giant Libra oil field off the Brazilian coast since 2013.

Last year, they also partnered to win exploration rights for the Peroba field, another promising deposit in the area known as the pre-salt, where billions of barrels of oil are trapped under a thick layer of salt beneath the ocean floor.

Petrobras has already invested some USD13 billion in the Comperj complex, which needs about USD3 billion in additional investment to reach an initial capacity of 165,000 barrels per day, people familiar with the matter told Reuters in April.

As MRC wrote before, in October 2017, Petrobras’s minority stakes in Braskem and Deten Quimica was excluded from Petrobras’s divestment program, according to a government decree published in Brazil’s Official Gazette. The decree prevents Petrobras from immediately selling its minority stake in Braskem, which had been announced this year. A new decree will be required to release the stock sale. Petrobras’s board earlier approved a strategic plan for 2017-21 that included the divestment of all petrochemical interests.

Braskem S.A. produces petrochemicals and generates electricity. The Company produces ethylene, propylene, benzene, toluene, xylenes, butadiene, butene, isoprene, dicyclopentediene, MTBE, caprolactam, ammonium sulfate, cyclohexene, polyethylene theraphtalat, polyethylene, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
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