INEOS acquires majority share in two gas exploration licences in North Sea

MOSCOW (MRC) -- INEOS UK SNS Limited has agreed to take a majority share in two exploration licenses in the Northern Gas Fields West of Shetland which contains the Lyon prospect, from Siccar Point Energy E&P Limited, said the company on its website.

The deal complements the significant INEOS portfolio of producing assets and discoveries West of Shetland, recently acquired from DONG E&P. Completion of the transaction remains subject to customary regulatory consents.

A significant opportunity now exists for INEOS to unlock gas from the most northerly licenced area of the UKCS, 150 km north of the Shetland Islands.

In particular Lyon, a material prospect that is thought to contain of 1-3 trillion cubic feet recoverable gas. If successful it could be large enough to form a new gas-hub development similar to the Laggan-Tormore fields, which have been developed with sub-sea infrastructure and pipelines to the Shetland Gas Plant. Existing gas discoveries in the Lyon area such as Tobermory, Bunnehaven and Cragganmore would all be suitable tie-back candidates into a Lyon gas hub.

Geir Tuft INEOS Oil & Gas CEO said "INEOS intends to become a significant player in this area. This deal confirms our aim to take a leading role to develop the Northern Gas Fields using the significant infrastructure investments already made West of Shetland."

"With the purchase of the DONG E&P business earlier in the year, INEOS took over a significant portfolio of producing assets and discoveries West of Shetland. It is clear that the Northern Gas Area holds further opportunities that could help unlock the development of those discoveries. The deal with Siccar compliments our assets."

Siccar Point Energy’s CEO Jonathan Roger commented "As licence operator we are excited to be moving forward in conjunction with INEOS to drill the Lyon prospect. This represents an opportunity to unlock the material gas potential of the most northerly licenced area of the UKCS. We look forward to working with INEOS in this new exploration partnership and to operating our first exploration well."
MRC

TransCanada starts excavation work after South Dakota pipeline leak

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Canada Corp has started initial excavation work at the site of an oil spill on its Keystone pipeline in South Dakota but has not yet pinpointed where the leak came from, a state official said on Monday, reported Reuters.

The 590,000-bpd Keystone pipeline, which links Alberta’s oil sands to US refineries, was shut down on Thursday after a 5,000 bbl spill.

Calgary-based TransCanada is working through the clean-up process, said Brian Walsh, environmental scientist manager for the South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

"They are digging some smaller excavations to get a sense of where the oil is and have started recovering oil from this area," Walsh said.

TransCanada spokesman Terry Cunha said it had around 150 people on site working around the clock and the cause of the leak was under investigation.

The company has not yet set an expected restart date for Keystone, which is one of Canada’s main crude export pipelines.

Canadian heavy crude grades remained under pressure on concerns about crude getting bottlenecked in Alberta. Western Canada Select heavy blend crude for December delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, settled at USD16.25/bbl below benchmark US crude, according to Shorcan Energy brokers.

We remind that, as MRC wrote previously, in May 2017, Pembina Pipeline Corporation announced that it, along with Petrochemical Industries Company K.S.C. of Kuwait, had reached key milestones for the previously announced proposed integrated propylene and polypropylene (PP) production facility in Sturgeon County, Alberta. Pembina and PIC had executed 50/50 JV agreements that includes binding commercial terms in support of the Project and have formed a new entity, Canada Kuwait Petrochemical Corporation. Additionally, Pembina was pleased to announce that CKPC woul proceed with activities for front end engineering design for the Project.
MRC

IndianOil & IDCO sign MoU to partner in setting up plastics park at Paradip

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Indian Oil Corp. (IndianOil) and Industrial Development Corp. of Odisha (IDCO) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate in setting up a plastics park at Paradip in India, according to Apic-online.

The MoU was signed at a "first-of-its-kind" Petrochemical Investors Conclave in India on 16 Nov. 2017, which was inaugurated by Dharmendra Pradhan, India's Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. Details on the proposed project were not available.

"India's petrochemicals sector is going through a golden period, with growth rates of 14% to 15% per annum," noted Pradhan. "Odisha, with ready availability of raw material from Indian Oil Corpora-tion's Paradip refinery and other units, skilled, low-cost manpower, port infrastructure and rail connectivity and a large regional market, must fully utilize the opportunity to create investment opportunities in the downstream plastics park and textiles park in the state," he said.

IndianOil is building a 700,000-t/y polypropylene plant at Paradip, which is scheduled to be commissioned in 2018 and will feed downstream polymer/plastics ancillary units.

As MRC reported earlier, Indian Oil Corporation's Rs 34,555-crore 15 million tonnes per annum Paradip Refinery was commissioned in phases from March 2015 onwards. Indian Oil Corporation was conducting feasibility studies to set up a petrochemical complex at Paradip in Odisha for Rs 20,000 crore. The petrochemical complex will be built in the vicinity of the company’s to-be-commissioned 15-mln tpa greenfield refinery at Paradip. The petrochemical complex will be in addition to the already announced Rs 3,150-crore polypropylene project at the same location, the foundation stone for which was laid by MOS for petroleum and natural gas.

Indian Oil Corporation Limited, or IndianOil, is an Indian state-owned oil and gas corporation with its headquarters in New Delhi, India.
MRC

Reactor arrives at LyondellBasell first commercial hyperzone polyethylene plant

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The multi-zone reactor is key for the production of the company’s new proprietary Hyperzone PE technology, a polyolefin process which enables manufacturing of a broad spectrum of high density polyethylene (HDPE) products in one single plant whereas previous technologies require multiple plants, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The reactor, about five-stories-tall, was shipped from South Korea and travelled about 11,000 mi before arriving to the company’s La Porte Complex dock in October. LyondellBasell is a global leader in the development and licensing of polyolefin processes.

The company plans to make the Hyperzone process technology available for licensing in the future. The technology, which will produce resins that provide light-weighting capabilities for customers, took years to advance to commercialization and was a product of LyondellBasell’s global research and development teams in Ferrara, Italy; Frankfurt, Germany; Cincinnati, Ohio; and Houston, Texas.

The Hyperzone plant will produce 1.1 B pounds-per-year of high density polyethylene. Hyperzone PE will create up to 1,000 jobs at the peak of construction and 75 permanent positions. As modeled by Impact Data Source, the approximately $700 MM project is expected to generate more than USD67 MM in tax benefits for the state, county, school district, community college and other local taxing districts over a 10-yr period following construction.

In addition to the Hyperzone PE plant, the company’s US Gulf Coast investments include recently completed work on ethylene expansion projects at its La Porte, Channelview and Corpus Christi sites in Texas. Additionally, LyondellBasell will build the world’s largest propylene oxide (PO) and tertiary butyl alcohol (TBA) plant. The PO/TBA project is estimated to cost approximately USD2.4 B, representing the single-largest capital investment in the company’s history. At the peak of construction, the project is expected to create up to 2,500 jobs and approximately 160 permanent positions when operational. Once in operation, the plant will produce an anticipated 470,000 mt of PO and 1 MMmt of TBA annually.
MRC

Enis Italian refineries at risk of shutdown after tax evasion probe

MOSCOW (MRC) — Italy’s Eni said on Wednesday its refineries in Italy were at risk of shutdown after Italian tax police seized assets as part of a probe into alleged tax evasion, as per Reuters.

The state-controlled oil major said in a statement a judge had ordered the seizure of devices used to measure oil products at its refineries and storage facilities across the country.

Eni denied any wrongdoing. "Considering the consequences that might derive... from a total stop of the refining and fuel supply activities, Eni will request the possibility to continue using the measurement devices," it said.

In a separate statement the tax police said the devices in question had been manipulated in such a way that Eni marketed more refining products than were actually recorded, in a scheme involving tax evasion of about USD12 MM.

It said a total of 18 people were being probed on suspicion of violating tax laws. With five wholly owned refineries, Eni is Italy’s biggest refiner. It also has a series of depots across the country to transport and store oil products onshore.
MRC