Argentina flood caused fire at YPF La Plata refinery

MOSCOW (MRC) -- State-run YPF, Argentina's largest oil and gas company, said Wednesday that it had contained a major fire at the country's largest oil refinery, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.

YPF said it suspended operations at its La Plata refinery after a fire broke out Tuesday night in a coking oven.

"Within the coming hours, YPF will put in place a special operating plan to restart operations at its industrial complex," YPF said in a statement. It wasn't immediately clear if the fire has been completely extinguished.

According to YPF, the fire started after flooding caused by a major rain storm cut electricity to the entire refinery. The same storm caused power outages, flooding and, according to the latest information (Reuters), the number of victims grew to 46 people from the previously informed by the local authorities 31 deaths in the capital, Buenos Aires, and nearby cities.

YPF said its personnel and firefighters from two nearby cities managed to bring the blaze under control at about 3 a.m. EDT. The company said there were no casualties.

Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales (YPF) is an Argentinean integrated oil and gas company. The company is the largest in its sector in Argentina. Its business is structured in six activities: exploration and production; refining and logistics; marketing, offering a range of automotive, aeronautics, naval, farming and industrial fuels; chemicals, manufacturing a variety of industrial products, including a diverse group of raw materials for chemical, industrial and agricultural activities; lubricants and YPF Gas, comprising the retail distribution of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). The Company’s majority shareholder is Repsol YPF SA.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Valero spokesman Bill Day said the company expects to spend USD300 million to USD400 million building new equipment to remove sulfur from gasoline and to expand existing facilities. He said the company expects to incur additional operating costs each year, and those have yet to be determined, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Valero Energy said the cost of complying with new pollution standards for gasoline will cost hundreds of millions of dollars in equipment construction and upgrades alone.

Valero spokesman Bill Day said Tuesday that the company expects to spend USD300 million to USD400 million building new equipment to remove sulfur from gasoline and to expand existing facilities. He said the company expects to incur additional operating costs each year, and those costs have yet to be determined.

The Environmental Protection Agency said most refineries will be able to comply with its plan to reduce the amount of sulfur in gasoline with little to no effort. The agency is proposing to cut the sulfur content to an average of 10 parts per million, down from the current standard of 30 parts per million.

Valero is the largest US independent refiner. The American Petroleum Institute has estimated that the new standards would cost refiners USD10 billion in up-front capital expenditures, and an additional USD2.4 billion in annual compliance costs.

"The EPA hasn't shown anything that suggests is going to have the benefits that would be worth the costs," Mr. Day said.

He said Valero isn't involved in discussions with the EPA on the proposal, though he said the industry has had some input at times.

As MRC wrote earlier, Foster Wheeler has signed an evergreen agreement with Valero Energy for the provision of home office engineering and project support services to Valero’s Pembroke refinery and other facilities in the UK.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- PTT, Thailand's largest petrochemical producer by revenue, will propose to the Energy Ministry and the Cabinet that promotion of the bioplastics industry be made a national agenda item to stimulate domestic demand for the products, according to GV.

Nuttachat Charuchinda, chief operations officer for PTT's downstream petroleum business group, said on 26 March 2013 that bioplastic production required high investment and entailed a higher production cost than conventional plastic. It is therefore important that consumption of bioplastic products be strongly promoted.

PTT is developing the Asia Industrial Estate in Rayong, which will become its base for bioplastic production, as well as that of its partners. The conglomerate is preparing the area and constructing the utilities, buildings, joint labs and water-treatment system, all for the planned investment of PTTMCC Biochem at the location. The estate is expected to be up and running in the middle of next year.

PTTMCC is a 50:50 joint venture between PTT and Japan's Mitsubishi Chemical for the production of bio-succinic acid and polybutylene-succinate plastic pellets from sugar.

Nuttachat said foreign companies had expressed interest in partnering PTT in the bioplastics arena, and they planned to establish plants in the Asia Industrial Estate. The zone occupies 1,500 rai (240 hectares) and the cost of constructing the buildings and utilities is Bt1.3 billion. The estate is aimed mainly at serving the PTT group, including the possible production of polylactic acid (PLA) by NatureWorks, in which PTT owns a 50 % stake.

We remind that, as MRC wrote previously, PTT Global Chemical is looking into building a new plant in China to take advantage of strong demand there. Besides, the company will invest in Indonesia and Vietnam, as both countries have growth potential and purchasing power in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). In addition to the investments, the company desires to increase investment in Indochina, particularly in Myanmar.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chevron Corp., an American multinational energy corporation, has completed repairing and rebuilding equipment in its Richmond refinery (California) that was damaged in a fire last year, reported The Wall Street Journal.

Besides, the company is working toward restarting the crude processing unit, a company spokesman said Tuesday.

A fire on 6 August forced Chevron to reduce gasoline production at the 245,000 barrel a day refinery, the largest in northern California and the third largest in the state.

Spokesman Sean Comey said Tuesday that the company is "working to complete the final regulatory steps required to restart the crude oil processing unit," with normal operations expected in the second quarter.

"We have also begun to implement certain measures to strengthen process safety, mechanical integrity, and management oversight, both at our Richmond refinery and across our manufacturing network as appropriate," Mr. Comey said.

We remind that, as MRC informed previously, in February, 2013, Apache completed its previously-announced transaction with Chevron to build and operate the Kitimat LNG project and develop world-class natural gas resources at the Liard and Horn River basins in British Columbia, Canada. At present Chevron is in talks with potential buyers for Canada's first exports of liquefied natural gas, paving the way for a USD15 billion project that would open up a new route for North American gas to Asia. Chevron aims to sign contracts to sell about 60-70% of the gas ahead of the project, the report says.

Chevron Corporation is an American multinational energy corporation headquartered in San Ramon, California, United States, and active in more than 180 countries. It is engaged in every aspect of the oil, gas, and geothermal energy industries, including exploration and production; refining, marketing and transport; chemicals manufacturing and sales; and power generation. Chevron is one of the world's six "supermajor" oil companies.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Aromatics products derived at the facility will help meet growing demand for plastics and synthetic fibers in the region, according to the company. The project, to be located in Pulau Muara Besar, Brunei Darussalam, is expected to be one of the largest aromatics complexes in the world, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Technology from Honeywell's UOP has been selected to produce key petrochemicals in a new complex in Brunei.

Brunei Hengyi Industries, a subsidiary of China's Zhejiang Hengyi Group, will use several UOP technologies to produce aromatics, which are key materials used in the production of polymers, plastics, resins and synthetic fibers such as polyester and nylon.

"As the demand for aromatics grows in the region, producers are looking for ways to maximize product yields, while reducing production costs and minimizing investment costs," said Pete Piotrowski, senior vice president and general manager of UOP's process technology and equipment business.

"UOP's integrated aromatics technology will provide the lowest energy consumption, cost of production and overall investment cost," he added.

Aromatics products derived at the facility will help meet growing demand for plastics and synthetic fibers in the region, according to the company.

The project, to be located in Pulau Muara Besar, Brunei Darussalam, is expected to be one of the largest aromatics complexes in the world.

The project will combine a 2.2 million tpy hydrocracking unit, utilizing the UOP Unicracking process and catalysts; a 3.3 million tpy UOP CCR Platforming unit; and a 1.5 million tpy UOP Parex unit.

Additionally, the fully-integrated complex will license UOP's Isomar process, its Tatoray process and the ED Sulfolane process.

In addition to technology licensing, UOP says it will provide engineering, training and technical services, catalysts, adsorbents, and specialty equipment for the project. Aromatics production is expected to start up in 2015.

Further details on the aforementioned UOP processes can be found in the news release at the company's website.

As MRC wrote earlier, UOP LLC, a Honeywell company, announced the launch of a new membrane element that more efficiently removes contaminants from natural gas and reduces the amount of valuable methane and natural gas liquids (NGLs) lost during the contaminant removal process.

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