ADNOC and Borealis to extend and expand joint petchem activities in Ruwais

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and Borealis have signed a framework agreement, under which the companies will advance two key projects that will expand both ADNOC and Borealis downstream petrochemicals business and support the delivery of ADNOC’s integrated smart growth and partnership strategy, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The agreement was signed by H.E. Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of State and Group CEO of ADNOC and Mark Garrett, Borealis Chief Executive.

Earlier this month, ADNOC announced the expansion of its strategic partnership model to span the Group’s entire value chain as well as the more active management of its portfolio of assets. This new initiative builds on ADNOC’s flexible operating model and its 2030 growth strategy. It will enable ADNOC to unlock and maximize significant value from across the Group, drive business and revenue growth, optimize performance, improve technology transfer, and secure greater access for its products in key growth markets.

Under the agreement, ADNOC and Borealis will move to the pre-FEED (front end engineering and design) stage for the construction of the Borouge 4 complex, which encompasses a world-scale, mixed feedstock cracker, using existing feedstock available in Abu Dhabi and downstream derivatives units for both polyolefin and non-polyolefin products. The proposed Borouge 4 complex is slated to come on stream around 2023 and will be integrated with ADNOC’s Takreer refinery.

Simultaneously, the companies have agreed to commence engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) tendering for an additional polypropylene plant (PP5) based on Borealis’ proprietary Borstar technology. The plant, to be integrated with the existing Borouge 3 complex, will add value to the surplus propylene available from Takreer’s new Propane DeHydrogenation (PDH) unit, producing around 0.5 million tonnes per annum of polypropylene.

The Borouge JV was established in 1998 and production has progressively ramped up with the consecutive completions of the Borouge 1, 2 and 3 complexes. Today’s production capacity is 4.5 MMtpy following the successful start-up of Borouge 3 in 2016.

The framework agreement also identifies that ADNOC and Borealis will review the extension of their successful Borouge joint venture beyond its first 30-year lifetime.

Building new capacity in the UAE ensures the long-term security of supply and further enables Borouge to expand its product portfolio and deliver leading edge products. With the proven track record of operational reliability of Borouge, the new assets will support Borouge customers’ growth ambitions in the automotive and energy markets as well as in pipe, agricultural film and the rigid and flexible packaging sectors.

As part of its 2030 strategy, ADNOC aims to expand petrochemical production from the current 4.5 million tonnes per year to 11.4 million tonnes per year by 2025.

As MRC informed before, ADNOC is targeting rapid growth in demand for its polymer products from China’s automotive industry and the country’s investment in gas and electricity infrastructure. ADNOC is focused on market expansion in China and Asia, where demand for petrochemicals and plastics, including light-weight automotive components, essential utility piping and cable insulation, is forecast to double by 2040.

Borealis is a leading provider of innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilizers. With headquarters in Vienna, Austria, Borealis currently employs around 6,500 and operates in over 120 countries.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America, Inc. (MHIA), a fully owned subsidiary of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI), has completed the construction of a large-scale two-train polyethylene plant in the U.S., as per the company's press release.

The construction order was placed in 2014 by ExxonMobil Chemical Company, an affiliate of Exxon Mobil Corporation specializing in petrochemical products.

The plant will be able to produce 1.3 million tons of polyethylene per year and is situated near an existing plant operated by ExxonMobil in Mont Belvieu, Texas. It is equipped to perform reaction processing, final finishing, packaging, and shipment.

Commenting on the completion of the new plant's construction, Yoichiro Ban, Senior Vice President of MHI, noted, "We are delighted that the plant has been completed smoothly, on schedule and with an excellent safety record. The construction process of the new plant is testament to the high level of project management provided by MHI Group."

MHI Group is also constructing a large-scale polyethylene plant at ExxonMobil's petrochemical complex in Beaumont, Texas, representing the third polyethylene plant project conducted by MHI Group for ExxonMobil. The first polyethylene plant was installed at ExxonMobil's Singapore complex in 2011.

The U.S. is currently experiencing a buoyant market for chemical plants, driven by expanding production of shale gas. In April 2016, MHIA relocated its headquarters from New York to Houston, where many chemical plant-related customers are concentrated. In January 2017, MHIA also established a new Oil & Gas Division to oversee business development in this field. Through these activities, MHI will continue to strengthen its relationship with its customers as it moves steadily forward in developing the North American market for chemical plants.

As MRC informed earlier, in November 2016, Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. announced it received a contract from ExxonMobil Chemical Company to provide engineering, design and construction management services as part of a new 650 kTa polyethylene facility to be located at ExxonMobil’s Beaumont polyethylene plant.

ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world's oil and about 2% of the world's energy.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Vina SCG Chemicals Co., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Siam Cement Group (SCG), has approval to proceed with its planned investment in Long Son Petrochemicals Co. (LSP) in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province, near Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, as per Apic-online.

The project, estimated to cost about USD5.4-billion, will include a 1-million-t/y ethylene cracker with flexible gas and naphtha feed, which will have the capacity to pro-duce up to 1.6-million t/y of olefins, depending on the feedstock mix.

Also included in the project, is the downstream production of about 2.7-million t/y of high-density polyethylene, linear low-density polyethylene and polypropylene. Construction is expected to take four and a half years and commercial operations are an-ticipated by the first half of 2022.

SCG said LSP would issue a Letter of Award to key contractors on 14 July 2017, with the final contract sign-ing planned this year. No announcement was made as of PCN's press deadline.

SCG holds a 71% indirect interest in LSP (53% through Vina SCG and 18% via Thai Plastic and Chemicals). PetroVietnam holds the remaining 29% stake.

As MRC informed before, in September 2016, Russia's Rosneft signed a contract to supply 96 MMt of crude oil to PV Oil, an affiliate of state oil and gas PetroVietnam, starting 2017.

SCG Chemicals is a subsidiary of SCG and is one of SCG’s 3 core businesses consisting of Chemicals, Paper and Cement-Building Materials. SCG embarked upon the chemicals business in 1989. At present, SCG Chemicals manufactures and supplies a full range of petrochemical products ranging from upstream petrochemicals such as Olefins, intermediate petrochemicals such as Styrene Monomer, PTA, and MMA, to downstream petrochemicals such as Polyethylene, Polypropylene, Polyvinyl Chloride, and Polystyrene resins. SCG Chemicals is now one of the largest integrated petrochemical companies in Thailand and a key industry leader in the Asia-Pacific region.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Haldia Petrochemicals Limited (HPL) is seeking additional land from the West Bengal government for setting up an upstream refinery plant in order to reduce the imports of primary feedstock naphtha, as per Plastemart.

"We want to set up an upstream refinery plant here and we are getting ready for that. We seek more land for the project," the company's Executive Vice President and head of the plant Ashok Kumar Ghosh said. HPL used to procure about 20% of its naphtha requirement from the refinery here. "The refinery (at Haldia) can supply up to 20% of our requirement even if it (refinery) runs in full capacity. We are importing the rest of our naphtha requirement from Gulf countries. This is a huge penalty for our plant," he said.

As MRC informed earlier, in the first week of May 2017, HPL brought on-stream its HDPE/LLDPE swing plant at the petrochemical complex located in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal. The plant was restarted following an unplanned outage. The company had encountered technical glitch at the LLDPE line of the swing plant and was shut in end-February 2017.

Located at Haldia in the eastern Indian state of west Bengal, the complex can produce 700,000 mt/year of ethylene and 350,000 mt/year of propylene and provides feedstock to a 330,000 mt/year high density PE plant, a 370,000 mt/year HDPE/linear low PE swing plant and a 350,000 mt/year polypropylene unit.

Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd is a modern naphtha based petrochemical complex at Haldia, West Bengal, India. Haldia has played the role of a catalyst in emergence of more than 500 downstream processing industries in West Bengal with a capacity to process more than 3,50,000 TPA of polymers, among which are polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has received environment clearance for expansion and debottlenecking of its Dahej petrochemical facility in Gujarat at a cost of Rs 13,250 crore, reported Plastemart.

The petrochem major plans to expand its Dahej facility in view of erratic supply of feed stock, change in the government’s policy to prioritise domestic supply over industrial sector, adequate supply of Shale gas ethane from the US, besides meeting demand-supply gap of petrochemicals in India.

“Based on the recommendations of the Expert Appraisal Committee (Industry), the Environment Ministry has given the environmental clearance for RIL’s expansion project yesterday,” a senior government official said. The green nod to the proposed project, which will be carried out within the existing plant area of 700 hectare, is subject to some conditions, the official said. The fuel used for the proposed project would largely be ethane, lean gas and off gas.

The power required for the project will be met from the existing captive power plant. As per the proposal, RIL Dahej facility presently utilises a mixture of ethane and propane to produce downstream products and by-products. Dahej facility proposes to modify its feedstock ratio of ethane and propane in the gas cracker plant owing to the availability of shale gas ethane imported from the US. This change in feedstock mixture will result in higher production of ethylene.

The RIL’s proposal also include setting up of new plants including Chlorinated Poly Vinyl Chloride (CPVC), Vinyl Chloride Monomer (VCM), Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC) and a dedicated Ethane storage tank.

As MRC wrote before, according to industry sources, RIL will start up its new monoethylene glycol (MEG) plant at Jamnagar by the month end. The production capacity of the new MEG plant is 750,000 mt/annum. The new plant is in addition to the existing 750,000 mt/annum MEG output capacity that RIL has from multiple lines.

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