Axens expands US catalyst manufacturing plant

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Axens completed the expansion of its Calvert City, Kentucky manufacturing plant to produce its Impulse hydroprocessing catalysts Series in North America, as per Apic-online.

Impulse is a complete range of high performance Hydrotreating catalysts offering higher flexibility and maximum throughput allowing to process even more difficult feedstock with higher end boiling point and longer cycles.

The Calvert City site will produce the full range of Impulse catalysts covering all domains from naphtha to VGO Hydrotreating and hydrocracker pretreatment. This is one of several sites with the capability to meet the global demand for Impulse catalysts.

As MRC wrote before, in 2016, Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Co. Ltd. (HPDC) let a contract to Axens SA, Rueil-Malmaison, France, to provide a suite of processing units and technologies for a grassroots crude-to-paraxylene complex under construction at its integrated refining and petrochemical project in Hengli Petrochemical Industrial Park (HPIP) on Changxing Island in Dalian, Liaoning Province, China, said Ogj.Alongside a final-conversion refinery designed to process 400,000 b/sd of crude oil into mostly naphtha, the refining complex also will include an aromatics plant that will maximize output of high-purity paraxylene to serve as feedstock for HPDC’s existing purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plants at HPIP.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) — Iraq's Oil Ministry has added a new processing unit to the Kirkuk oil refinery, increasing the plant’s capacity to 56,000 bpd, said Reuters citing the ministry.

The new production unit can process 13,000 bpd of crude, the statement said, citing Oil Minister Jabar al-Luaibi.

The new upgraded production capacity will meet most of the domestic need of the northern oil city of Kirkuk and nearby provinces and "save hard currency as a result of cutting fuel imports," it said.

Iraq is working to divert most future output from Kirkuk oilfield to local refineries due to an ongoing conflict with Kurdish regional authorities over the use of an export pipeline to Turkey.

Production from Kirkuk stopped in mid-October after Iraqi forces dislodged Kurdish fighters and took over the northern region’s oilfields.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PT Lotte Titan Nusantara Indonesiam, part of Lotte Group, is likely to take its Linear Low Density Polyethylene (LLDPE) unit off-stream at Cilegon, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Indonesia informed that the company has planned to halt operations at its unit on mid-December, 2017 for maintenance. The unit is expected to remain off-line for around 15 days.

Located in Cilegon, Indonesia, the plant has a production capacity of 200,000 mt/year.

As MRC reporeted earlier, Lotte Chemical Titan, a local petrochemical unit of South Korean conglomerate Lotte Group, plans to start construction of a USD4 bln naphtha cracker plant in Indonesia next year. The project, which has been delayed for three years due to land acquisition problems, will help Indonesia reduce expensive chemical imports. The plant will have a capacity to produce 1 million tons of ethylene and 600,000 tons of propylene annually.

The Lotte Group currently has a presence in Indonesia via its subsidiary, Honam Petrochemicals, which acquired Malaysia’s polyolefin major Titan Chemicals in July 2010. Included in the acquisition was Titan’s Indonesian subsidiary - PT Titan Petrokimia Nusantara (TPN), which has a polyethylene (PE) production capacity of 450,000 tonnes/year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) — Energy firm Eni aims to express an interest in bidding for an Italian bioplastics business in a move that underlines a longer-term desire to hedge its exposure to oil and gas, financial sources said, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Eni wants to revive its chemicals, retail and refining businesses to offset volatility in oil prices and regain favour with investors after its shares underperformed those of industry rivals in the past three years, the sources said. The state-controlled major is looking at the Italian assets of bioplastics multinational Mossi Ghisolfi, which has been put under creditor protection, two banking sources said.

"Non-binding bids are due in the next few days and Eni is there," one of the sources said, adding that the deal was worth "hundreds of millions of euros". There has been media speculation about Eni being interested in Mossi Ghisolfi, but this is the first time it has emerged the group would submit bid interest in the assets. Eni did not comment.

The potential acquisition, although small for Eni, flags an ongoing strategy shift for CEO Claudio Descalzi, who has spent four years creating a lean exploration business, racking up big discoveries in places like Mozambique and Egypt.

While keeping a firm focus on exploration, the 62-yr-old reservoir engineer now wants to rejig the business model to bolster and create greener midstream and downstream businesses like marketing and refining as a hedge against oil price swings.

An acquisition of Mossi Ghisolfi's Italian unit, which uses agricultural waste to make plastics, would fit such a profile. The move comes at a time when the boom in renewable energy and the prospect of a world powered by electric vehicles is creating a challenge for the oil industry.

Eni has been sounding out investors on why its shares have underperformed and feedback suggested more downstream protection is needed, said two fund managers contacted by the group. Its heavy presence in high-risk areas such as Libya and Nigeria was another reason for concern, they said.

"It makes sense to build a more balanced portfolio less exposed to oil price swings ... It will help boost multiples and support the stock," said Mediobanca oil analyst Alessandro Pozzi.

Since oil prices plunged from above $100 a barrel in 2014 to below $30 in 2016, Eni shares have fallen more than 20% while France’s Total has risen 7% and Royal Dutch Shell 9%. Total and Shell have fared better because they have greater exposure to downstream businesses such as refining and petrochemicals, where demand is lifted by economic growth fueled by lower crude prices.

ExxonMobil Corp said last week it was revamping its refining and chemical operations to boost profits. Eni, whose exploration and production (E&P) arm generated more than 80% of operating income over 2015 and 2016, has been the industry's best discoverer in recent years. But its downstream business has struggled.

A year or so ago, it toyed with the idea of selling its chemicals and retail operations but pulled both deals, opting instead to streamline operations and make them more profitable. That strategy has led it to consider acquisitions, sources said. CEO Descalzi has said the group could float its retail arm with an initial public offering (IPO) within 2 yr to 3 yr. A banker familiar with the matter said Eni wanted to strengthen its retail business, adding this could involve acquisitions.

Eni is seeking to reduce its carbon emissions, making new investments in solar plants and converting refineries to biofuels. Last month, it signed a deal with carmaker Fiat Chrysler to work on new carbon-low fuels for cars. It also plans to expand its LNG business. "It used to be all about E&P. Now at its roadshows Eni dedicates almost half the time to downstream," the banker said.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - December contract price of propylene in Europe was agreed up by EUR32/tonne from the level in November. However, most European polyethylene (PE) producers did not increase their December export PE prices to the CIS countries, as per ICIS-MRC's Price report.

Negotiations over December prices of European PE to be shipped to the CIS markets began in the beginning of last week. Many negotiators said most European producers had not increase their export PE prices, despite the rise of monomer prices. The only exception was linear polyethylene, which nevertheless increased by EUR30/tonne in comparison with the level in November.

The difficult situation was with high density polyethylene (HDPE) prices in November. At the beginning of the month, producers from Europe decreased prices, and then in the second half of November there was also another price cut.
As a result, by the end of the month, HDPE prices fell to EUR920-1,000/tonne, FCA.

European producers announced December HDPE shipments in the range of EUR990-1,070/tonne, FCA, but in the process of negotiations they had to drop prices to the level of EUR980-1,050/tonne, FCA.

Deals for black PE100 were discussed in the range of EUR1,270-1,290/tonne FCA, up EUR20/tonne from November.
Deals for November shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) were negotiated in the range of EUR1,070-1,180/tonne FCA, whereas last month's deals were done in the range of EUR1,085-1,180 /tonne FCA.

European producers increased the price only for hexene and octene linear polyethylene (LDL C6 and C8). Deals for linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) were agreed in the range of EUR1,310 - 1,420/tonne FCA, up on average by EUR30/tonne from November.
MRC