Reliance postpones startup of Jamnagar MEG plant

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has delayed the start-up of its new monoethylene glycol (MEG) plant until Q2 2017, reported Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in India informed that the company has schedule to commence operations at the plant in Q2 2017. As per the earlier plans, the plant was to be started in December 2016.

Located at Jamnagar, Gujarat in India, the plant has a production capacity of 750,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote before, in late 2012, Reliance Industries awarded Jacobs Engineering Group with an engineering and procurement assistance services contract for the construction of a MEG plant at the Jamnagar refining and petrochemical complex in Gujarat.

Reliance Industries Limited is the largest petrochemical company in India. The company is engaged in a wide range of activities, ranging from oil and gas production to production of polyester and polymer goods, including the production of polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and textiles.
MRC

Lotte Chemical confirms plans to increase Yeosu ethylene capacity

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Lotte Chemical confirmed that it will expand its ethylene plant at Yeosu, South Korea, to increase ethylene capacity by 200,000 t/y to 1.2-million t/y, as per Apic-online.

Through the project, expected to cost about 300-billion won, propylene production will also increase to 620,000 t/y from 520,000 t/y currently. Construction is scheduled to begin in the first half of 2017, with commercial production planned at the end of 2018.

Propane gas will be used in the expanded plant, rather than naphtha. The company plans to diversify raw materials and stay cost competitive by using ethane from Uzbekistan natural gas and shale gas from the U.S.

After the expansion, Lotte will have a total worldwide ethylene production capacity of 4.5-million t/y.

As MRC informed before, in 2015, Lotte Chemical Corp announced that the petrochemical firm would expand its naphtha cracking centre in Malaysia at a cost of 300 billion Korean won (USD257 million). With the mechanical completion of the expansion scheduled in the second-half of 2017, Lotte Chemical Titan (M) Sdn. Bhd. will have ethylene production capacity of 812,000 tonnes per year (tpy), up 92,000 tpy from the current size, the company said in a quarterly earnings statement.

South Korean Lotte Chemical is a global petrochemical company, established in 1976. It produces low density polyethylene (LDPE), high density polyethylene (HDPE), linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), polypropylene (PP), functional resins, styrene monomer (SM), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), etc.
MRC

Saudi Arabia crude exports fall, refined products rose

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Arabia's crude oil exports fell in October by 176,000 bpd from the month before, despite high production, but its refined products shipments rose as the kingdom expands its refining power, said Reuters.

The world's top exporter shipped 7.636 MMbpd in October, down from 7.812 MMbpd in September, according to data from the Joint Organizations Data Initiative (JODI).

The kingdom pumped 10.625 MMbpd in October, down from 10.650 MMbpd in September, the data showed. Saudi Arabia has maintained high output levels since mid-2014 aiming to defend market share against rival producers.

But in a U-turn on policy, Riyadh led OPEC and other rival producers to reach their first deal since 2001 to curtail oil output and ease a global glut. The deal, secured this month, came after more than two years of low prices that overstretched many budgets and spurred unrest in some countries.

Saudi Arabia's domestic crude inventories fell to 276.586 million barrels in October, from 278.688 million in September, the JODI data showed. Saudi Arabia's oil inventories peaked in October 2015 at a record high 329.430 million barrels and have declined since as the country has drawn down its oil stockpile to meet domestic demand without impacting its exports.

Domestic refineries processed 2.564 MMbpd of crude in October, up from 2.426 million in September. Exports of refined oil products in October rose to 1.443 MMbpd compared with 1.349 million in September.

The kingdom has been feeding more crude to domestic refineries as it expands oil product exports. State oil firm Saudi Aramco has stakes in more than 5 MMbpd of refining capacity at home and abroad, placing it among the global leaders in making oil products.

In October, crude oil used to generate power was almost steady at 492,000 bpd, from 490,000 bpd in September, the JODI data showed, as cooling temperatures reduced demand for air conditioning.

JODI compiles data supplied from oil-producing members of global organizations including the International Energy Agency and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
MRC

Gazprom Neft opened Russian first catalyst test center at its refinery in Omsk

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Gazprom Neft has opened an engineering centre for the testing of secondary-refining catalysts in Omsk. Russia’s first ever pilot facility for catalytic cracking has begun work within the centre, allowing catalysts to be tested on various types of feedstock, as well as identifying the conditions and regimes most appropriate for catalytic cracking facilities throughout Russia’s refineries, said the producer on its site.

The pilot facility is a smaller replication of a catalytic cracking complex (one of the key processes in secondary refining) with production capacity of 2.5 kilogrammes per hour. Testing of new Gazprom Neft catalyst brands, including analysis of usage conditions and comparable properties, will take place under conditions as close as possible to commercial production, with the process flow at the pilot facility fully modelled on the cracking process and with various types of feedstock and catalysts involved in testing.

The vast majority of oil refineries in Russia are currently bound to obtain catalysts for secondary refining abroad. This unique pilot facility will allow refineries to test Gazprom Neft catalysts on their own raw materials, with the unique characteristics of specific facilities taken into account. Russian oil refineries will now have the opportunity of using Gazprom Neft catalysts in line with post-testing recommendations, significantly improving refining efficiency.

As early as this year Gazprom Neft specialists will begin initial testing of the performance characteristics of promising catalyst brands produced in Omsk, including, specifically, testing of a new "Vanguard" catalyst brand, under usage conditions matching those of catalytic cracking facilities at various refineries. Research undertaken by the company has shown the application of the Vanguard catalysts at the Omsk Refinery cat-cracking facilities is, already, more effective than those of competitive products.

Several additional pilot facilities, intended for both the testing of cat-cracking and hydro-treatment catalysts, as well as the production of pilot batches of catalysts, will be put in place at the engineering centre by 2020. On which basis, specialists in catalyst production will have the opportunity of producing new types of catalysts, as well as testing these on a single platform.

Anatoly Cherner, Deputy CEO, Gazprom Neft, commented: "The opening of the engineering centre is the next step in implementing Gazprom Neft’s national project for developing catalyst production in Omsk. We are, today, establishing the first fully-comprehensive world-class testing centre in Russia. The development of new technologies, which Gazprom Neft is working on in conjunction with various scientific institutions, means we will, in a few years, significantly reduce the Russian refining industry’s dependence on imported catalysts."

As MRC informed previously, in 2014, Shell and Gazprom Neft kicked off pilot shale oil exploration under their joint venture partnership in Siberia. The pair’s Russia-based joint venture Salym Petroleum Development said it had started drilling the first of five pilot horizontal wells.

And earlier, in 2013, the St. Petersburg-headquartered Russian oil and gas company Gazprom Neft signed an agreement with France-based Total to form a joint venture to produce and sell modified bitumen and bitumen emulsions on the Russian market. The facility, which is now operational, has a capacity of 60,000 tonnes of polymer modified bitumens and 7,000 tonnes of bitumen emulsions per year.

Gazprom Neft, is the fourth largest oil producer in Russia and ranked third according to refining throughput. It is a subsidiary of Gazprom, which owns about 96% of its shares. The company is registered and headquartered in St. Petersburg after central offices were relocated from Moscow in 2011.
MRC

Shell agrees sale of Australia aviation business to Viva Energy

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shell has signed an agreement with Viva Energy Australia Pty Ltd for the sale of Shell Aviation Australia Pty Ltd for a total transaction value of approximately USD250 million, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

It follows the sale of Shell’s other downstream activities in the country to Viva Energy in 2014.

The Shell brand will remain visible across the aviation refueling network in the country through a trademark licensing agreement as part of the sale. Viva Energy will continue to supply aviation customers with Shell branded fuel under existing contracts. The transaction is expected to complete by mid-2017, subject to regulatory approval. Employees of Shell Aviation Australia will remain employed by the company as it transfers to new ownership.

Viva Energy already sells Shell branded Fuels and Lubricants under license in Australia and will continue to do so, including for aviation, after the sale completes.

Shell’s upstream operations in Australia, which include exploration, production and gas commercialization, are not impacted by this announcement. Shell remains one of Australia’s largest private sector investors.

As MRC informed before, in March 2016, Royal Dutch Shell Plc lined up assets for a USD30 billion divestment program that may extend from the U.S. and Trinidad to India following its record takeover of BG Group Plc.

Thus, now Royal Dutch Shell is evaluating whether to sell part of its assets in Argentina. According to Executive President Ben van Beurden, refineries, transporting and distribution assets in the country could be put up for sale as part of a massive global disvestment programme worth an estimate USD30 billion. The move amounts to a massive revision of the firm’s "downstream” services, van Beurden said during a conference in New York in September, 2016.

Royal Dutch Shell, commonly known as Shell, is an Anglo–Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in the Netherlands and incorporated in the United Kingdom.Created by the merger of Royal Dutch Petroleum and UK-based Shell Transport & Trading, it is the fourth largest company in the world as of 2014, in terms of revenue, and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors".
MRC