Nigeria's new Dangote refinery to export fuel oil, naphtha cargoes

Nigeria's Dangote oil refinery has issued tenders to sell two fuel cargoes for export, the first from the newly commissioned refinery, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The refinery, Africa's largest with a nameplate capacity of 650,000 barrels per day, was built on a peninsula on the outskirts of the commercial capital Lagos by the continent's richest man Aliko Dangote.

Nigeria has for years relied on expensive imports for nearly all the fuel it consumes but the $20 billion refinery is set to turn it into a net exporter of fuel to other West African countries, in a huge potential shift of power and profit dynamics in the industry. Dangote declined a Reuters request for comment.

The first cargo is 65,000 metric tons of low-sulfur straight run fuel oil, which Dangote has awarded to Trafigura and is due to load at the end of February, three of the sources said. Trafigura declined to comment. At least one refiner said they had been offered the cargo by Trafigura without elaborating further.

The second tender is for about 60,000 tons of naphtha, three other sources said. Two of them added that the tender closes on Feb. 15. Loading details were not immediately available. Sources told Reuters last week that the refinery was preparing to deliver its first fuel cargoes to the domestic market within weeks.

The two fuels on offer are typical products of running light sweet crude through a crude distillation unit (CDU) in a refinery without further upgrading capacity. It is expected to take months for upgrading units to be brought online, experts have said.

The refiner began buying crude in December last year and Nigeria's state-owned oil firm NNPC Ltd has been the main supplier. Dangote has also purchased some U.S. oil and is expected to receive 2 million barrels of U.S. WTI Midland in early March, according to LSEG and Kpler ship tracking.

We remind, Russia's January seaborne oil product exports fell 8.6% from a year earlier and 2% from the previous month to 10.792 MMt owing to lower processing and unplanned refinery repair work, data from industry sources and Reuters calculations showed. Several large Russian refineries have been hit by drone attacks and outages over the past two months. As a result, oil processing in January dropped 4% from a year earlier and 1.4% from the previous month, Kommersant newspaper reported.

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Borealis, Switzerland’s largest producer of renewable energy and Axpo, an international leader in the trading and marketing of solar and wind power, have again joined forces and signed their fourth and fifth power purchase agreements (PPA), said the company.

In January 2024, Axpo began the supply of 125 GWh of renewable energy a year to Borealis facilities in Stenungsund, Sweden. Under a ten-year agreement, green electricity will be provided by the onshore wind farm Lake Wind AB, in Habo, Sweden, owned by an infrastructure fund managed by Vauban Infrastructure Partners.

Furthermore, Borealis is making significant strides towards its objective of sourcing 100% of electricity for its Polyolefins and Base Chemicals business units from renewable sources by 2030. The recently established PPAs with Axpo are expected to lead to a substantial reduction of approximately 14,955 metric tons of annual Scope 2 emissions (indirect greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the purchase or acquisition of electricity, steam, heat, and cooling).1 Over the ten-year PPA period at Borealis' operations in Sweden and Belgium, this equates to a noteworthy decrease of 149,550 metric tons in Scope 2 emissions, showcasing the company's commitment to environmental sustainability.

"We are thrilled to announce these additional two major Power Purchase Agreements with Axpo, reinforcing our commitment to driving the energy transition despite market challenges. Our long-term partnership signifies our dedication to re-inventing essentials for sustainable living, accelerating our journey towards ensuring all electricity for our operations comes from renewable sources by the end of this decade," states Wolfram Krenn, Borealis Executive Vice President Base Chemicals & Operations.

Axpo Head of Trading and Sales, Domenico De Luca, says: “We’re delighted to continue to partner with Borealis. Thanks to Axpo’s decade-long experience managing a sizable renewable energy portfolio, we can offer tailored energy solutions for large pan-EU organizations across multiple countries in what has become a new trend across energy markets. Power Purchase Agreements are proving key to advancing the energy transition and we’re pleased to work with companies like Borealis who are committed to securing a sustainable future.”

We remind, Borealis announces that it has signed an agreement for the acquisition of Integra Plastics AD, a Bulgarian advanced mechanical recycling player. Closing of this transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals.

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PTG Energy continues to make investment in the waste-to-energy business via the Baht 103 M takeover of additional shares in Thai Paiboon, a Thailand-based manufacturer and distributor of refuse-derived fuel (RDF), said the company.

The PTG board determined to authorize the acquisition of a minimum of 10% of overall issued shares, with the goal of holding 33.3% of total issued shares. The business of Thai Paiboon also includes waste management, system design as well as the production and installation of machinery utilized in the waste management process.

The investment is aligned with the strategic expansion of PTG into other businesses to improve value and support the firm's overall growth. Moreover, the investment will back the waste management and RDF business of Thai Paiboon as it is dealing with a waste management project for a local-administrative body of tambon Ban Phru in Songkhla as well as a 4.5-megawatt waste-to-energy facility for the state power distribution arm (Provincial Electricity Authority).

The partnership with PTG would drive the expansion of the firm's waste management business, with waste processing capacity set to expand from the current 2000 tonnes/d to 3000 tonnes/d within the succeeding two years. Under the growth plan, the firm also intends to raise the number of waste separation plants to 30 factories nationwide. In late Jan 2024, PTG Green Energy, a PTG offshoot, also acquired additional shares in Palangngan Pattana 5 for Baht 54.6 M, leading to its shareholding growing to 86% from 51%. The businesses of Palangngan Pattana 5 consist of an electricity transmission system, solar power, solid waste-fired electricity generation, hydropower, wind power and biomass.

We remind, TotalEnergies ENEOS and PTT Global Chemical (GC) celebrated the official launching of a total capacity of 6.7 megawatt-peak (MWp) solar photovoltaic (PV) system for GC's 5 production facilities in Thailand, said the company. GC is Thailand's largest integrated petrochemical and refining business and a leading corporation in the Asia-Pacific region, with a target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for 20 percent by 2030 on its journey towards achieving Net Zero emissions by 2050.

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Systems LLC (formerly Siemens LLC, the Russian entity of Siemens AG) plans to initiate voluntary liquidation in February 2024 due to its inability to continue its normal activities related to the import of goods into Russia, according to the company's reporting for 2023, said Interfax.

In 2023, Systems LLC revenue amounted to 278.8 million rubles compared with 6.32 billion rubles a year earlier. Net loss amounted to 279.6 million rubles. There are almost no assets left on the company's balance sheet except for accounts receivable and cash on accounts (totaling 843.6 million rubles).

The company recalled that due to the EU sanctions against Russia, Siemens AG suspended new orders and deliveries to the country in March 2022.

Siemens AG includes, among others, operations in the field of automation and digitalization for industry, intelligent infrastructure, transportation, and distributed energy systems. In 2020, the company's energy division was split off into the separate company Siemens Energy (as of the end of November 2023, Siemens owned 17%).

Siemens began operating in Russia back in the mid-19th century, and continued operations through the Soviet period.

According to the reporting by Systems LLC, as of the end of 2023, 18 entities affiliated with Siemens AG were registered in Russia. At present, some of them have been liquidated or are in the process of liquidation, and some of them have changed ownership.

For example, in October 2022, PJSC Inter RAO announced the purchase of Siemens Energy's 65% stake in the joint venture with Power Machines - STGT LLC. Furthermore, RAO Intertech B.V. (a Dutch entity of Inter RAO) became the owner of Siemens Energy's Voronezh Transformer LLC plant (formerly Siemens Energy Transformers LLC).

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Eastman announced a long-term agreement with Nord Pal Plast SA part of Dentis Group, a leading Italian multinational company specializing in the recovery and mechanical recycling of PET packaging waste, said the company.

Through their mechanical recycling sites in France (Nord Pal Plast SA), Spain (PET COMPANIA PARA SU RECICLADO) and Italy (Dentis Recycling Italy Srl), Dentis will provide 30,000 metric tonnes per year of rejected PET post-consumer waste to Eastman. These materials, which currently lack a circular solution, will be recycled at Eastman's molecular recycling facility in Port-Jerome-sur-Seine, Normandy (France).

This partnership underscores the importance and complementary nature of both mechanical and molecular recycling processes in creating a more sustainable future. By combining their expertise and resources, both companies aim to achieve true circularity in the recycling process, maximizing the value of waste materials and reducing environmental impact.

“We are very pleased to enter into this agreement with Eastman since our group is strongly committed to promoting a continuous transition from a linear to a circular economy in the packaging market,” said Corrado Dentis, Dentis/Nord Pal Plast’s chief executive officer. “This partnership contributes to create a standing valuable platform towards PET waste reduction making mechanical and chemical recycling effectively complementary towards the achievements in European Plastic recycling rates.”

“We are very happy to enter into this agreement with Dentis/Nord Pal Plast, which exemplifies Eastman's commitment to collaboration and our dedication to working alongside mechanical recyclers to tackle the plastic waste crisis,” said Brad Lich, Eastman’s executive vice president and chief commercial officer. “This partnership is a testament to our shared goal of reducing plastic waste and advancing the circular economy. With over 70% of the feedstock secured for our upcoming recycling plant in Normandy, including materials typically rejected by mechanical recyclers, this agreement represents a significant element of our feedstock availability and reinforces our commitment to sustainable solutions."

Eastman's announced molecular recycling facility in Normandy is set to become the world's largest material-to-material molecular recycling plant. At full capacity, after phase 1 and phase 2, the facility will have the capacity to recycle more than 200,000 tonnes of hard-to-recycle polyester waste annually. This significant investment in France marks a milestone in Eastman's commitment to sustainable solutions and supports the company's efforts to establish a more circular economy.

Eastman's molecular recycling technologies allow for the breakdown of hard-to-recycle waste into its molecular building blocks. These building blocks are then reassembled to create first-quality materials without compromising performance. Eastman's process enables the potentially infinite value of materials, keeping them in production cycle after cycle.

We remind, Rumpke Waste & Recycling (Rumpke) and molecular recycling pioneer Eastman, today announced a groundbreaking partnership to help address the global plastic waste crisis. Later this year, Rumpke will begin collecting and sorting hard-to-recycle and colored PET packaging waste, materials that are largely unaddressed in today’s recycling ecosystem and will provide 100 percent of this waste stream as feedstock to Eastman’s molecular recycling process.

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