Egypt seeks to import crude directly from Iraq

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Egypt's Petroleum Minister Tarek El Molla said his country was seeking to reach an agreement with Iraq over importing crude oil directly and that he hoped to finalize the deal by the first quarter of 2017, reported Reuters.

El Molla told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) that Egypt aims to import between 1 million and 2 million barrels per month from Iraq.

The move follows Saudi Arabia informing Egypt in last month that shipments of oil products expected under a USD23 billion aid deal had been halted indefinitely.

"We are seeking to directly import crude oil from Iraq. We already use Iraqi oil but we get it from international markets but we hope to have a direct government to government agreement," El Molla said.

Egypt has gone from exporting energy to being a net energy importer as domestic output has failed to keep pace with rising demand. The government is seeking alternative solutions to help the country cope.

Gulf Arab countries, led by Saudi Arabia, have pumped billions of dollars into Egypt's flagging economy since general-turned-president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi took over after a year of divisive rule by the Muslim Brotherhood.

But Riyadh has become frustrated with his lack of economic reforms and reluctance to be drawn into the conflict in Yemen, leaving Egypt to search for alternative sources of energy.

As informed before, in 2015, CB&I was awarded a contract by Carbon Holdings for the license and engineering design of a polypropylene unit to be built in Ain Sokhna, Egypt. The unit will be aligned to the Tahrir petrochemical complex and use CB&I's Novolen technology to produce 350,000 tpy of polypropylene.

Besides, as MRC reported earlier, in May 2016, Lukoil announced that its might spend about USD1.3 billion on the West Qurna 2 field, down from about USD3 billion the year earlier. Lukoil is pumping about 400,000 barrels a day at West Qurna 2 and plans to raise capacity to 1.2 million barrels daily in the next decade.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Qatargas announced the commercial start-up of Laffan Refinery 2, marking an expansion of refining capacity in the State of Qatar, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The project will refine 146,000 bpd of condensate from the North Field, the largest non-associated natural gas reserve in the world.

Laffan Refinery 2 produces low Sulfur Euro-V specifications products such as Naphtha, Jet-A1, Ultra low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD), Propane and Butane for local and international markets. Alongside Laffan Refinery 1, this new facility will double the existing production capacity.

Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, Qatar Petroleum President and CEO, and Chairman of Qatargas Board of Directors, described the commercial start-up of Laffan Refinery 2 as "an important and strategic milestone for the unparalleled Qatargas facilities, which underscores its ability to safely execute and operate world-class facilities in support of the economic and social development of the State of Qatar."

As it was written earlier, Qatar will merge state-owned liquefied natural gas producers Qatargas and RasGas Co Ltd.

Qatargas operates the refinery on behalf of the shareholders: Qatar Petroleum (84%), Total (10%), Cosmo (2%), Idemitsu (2%), Mitsui (1%) and Marubeni (1%).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Engineers India (EIL) will reportedly set up a 1 mln tpa petrochemical complex near the Kakinada port in Andhra Pradesh, said Thehindubusinessline.

The project investment would be around Rs 30,000 crore and EIL is seeking a long-term contract for feedstock supply to be in place before the project actually takes off. While land is yet to be acquired for the petrochemical complex, the project has been in the offing for long.

Currently the petrochemical plant is a 50:50 joint venture project between HPCL and GAIL. They may induct another strategic partner, HPCL Chairman, M K Surana had told reporters in August.

Engineers India is a total solutions consultancy company and EPC contractor in petroleum refining, petrochemicals, pipelines, oil and gas terminals and storages, fertilizers, mining & metallurgy and infrastructure projects. The company is also diversifying into water and waste management and has made inroads into nuclear, solar and thermal power sectors.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Lotte Chemical Titan, part of Lotte Chemical, is likely to brought on-stream its high density polyethylene (HDPE) plant following a maintenance turnaround, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Malaysia informed that the company has planned to resume operations at the plant in early-January 2017. The plant was shut in mid-December 2016 for a maintenance turnaround.

Located at Pasir Gudang, Malaysia, the plant has a production capacity of 120,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote previously, in April 2016, Lotte Chemical Corp. finalized the takeover of Samsung Group’s chemical units.The company said that it paid for money to acquire Samsung SDI Chemical on Apr. 29 and completed the acquisition of Samsung Group’s chemical businesses in about six months after the announcement of "Big Deal" in October 2015. Samsung Fine Chemicals, which was completely taken over by Lotte in Feb., changed its name to Lotte Fine Chemical, while SDI Chemical, which completed the acquisition process on the 29th, changed its name to Lotte Advanced Materials through the general meeting of stockholders.

Established in 1976, Lotte Chemical has been solidifyng its position by localizing cutting-edge petrochemical technologies. Among the high-quality products produced by Lotte Chemical through its efficient processes are ethylene, HDPE, LDPE, LLDPE, PP, functional resin, EG, SM, PIA, PET, etc. Lotte Chemical’s products are being distributed to 152 countries around the world. With the acquisition of Pakistan’s PTA in 2009, Artenius in the UK in 2010 and Titan Chemical Corp., Lotte Chemical is now able to efficiently supply excellent products to an increasing number of countries. The company is further accelerating its efforts to strengthen its global competitiveness by establishing overseas branches in Hong Kong, Russia, and USA, along with the sales corporation in China for active sales activities both in domestic and abroad.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia's output of oil products is expected to fall by about 2.5% in 2017 due to further work on a massive refinery modernization program aimed at boosting fuel quality, a deputy energy minister said, reported Reuters.

In 2011, the government and oil producers agreed on the USD50 billion initiative to update Russia's refineries, most of which were built in the 1940s and 1970s.

Russia's gasoline supplies almost ran dry in 2011 due to a lack of modern refining capacity, angering many voters in the run-up to Vladimir Putin's election to a third presidential term.

Deputy Energy Minister Kirill Molodtsov told a briefing in comments cleared for publication on Monday that the country would produce 277 MMt of oil products in 2016, falling to an estimated 270 MMt of higher quality fuels in 2017.

"This is mainly related to the rise in refinery yield," he said, adding that he did not expect fuel shortages next year despite extensive plans for refinery maintenance.

He said gasoline production was estimated at 39.8 MMt in 2017, with diesel output seen at more than 70 MMt.

Production of fuel oil could decline by more than 2 MMt due to an increase in export duty from Jan. 1 2017.

We remind that, as MRC informed before, in June 2016, Rosneft and China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec Group) signed a Framework Agreement on joint pre-feasibility study of the project related to the construction and operation of a gas processing and petrochemical complex in East Siberia.

The Agreement signed in furtherance of the Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in petrochemical projects, provides to select a technology for natural gas processing from its components to polymers. In the event of successful outcomes as stipulated by the Framework Agreement, it is supposed to create a joint venture between Rosneft and Sinopec in 2017.

The project will meet the growing demand for polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) in Russia and in China. It is assumed that the annual capacity of the new complex near the administrative center of Boguchany District will be 5 BCM of gas yielding up to 3 mln tons of polymers and petrochemical products primarily for sale on the Russian and Chinese markets. The resource base of the project comprises Rosneft oil and gas fields of Yurubcheno-Takhomsky cluster in East Siberia.
MRC