MOSCOW (MRC) -- Eni has sold the license and basic engineering project to the Chinese company Sinopec, for the construction of a refining plant based on the Eni Slurry Technology (EST), as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.
The plant will be built at the Sinopec refinery in Maoming, in Guandong province.
Sinopec, the world’s largest operator in the refining sector, will consequently be the first international company to make full use of the EST, which Eni developed through its research and industrial developments. EST is able to convert refining residues entirely into high-quality light products, eliminating both liquid and solid refining residues with significant environmental benefits.
Sinopec will build an EST plant with the design capacity of 46,000 barrels per day of heavy refining residue (310 tonnes per hour). The plant will replace the existing pet-coke production line, with significant environmental benefits in compliance with the new IMO (International Maritime Organization) regulations concerning sulfur contained in bunker fuel. The elimination of pet-coke production is part of global efforts to contain CO2 emissions. As part of the licensing agreement, Eni will provide Sinopec with the basic engineering project (Process Design Package) and other services, such as operational and technical training, as well as assistance during the development phase and the implementation of detailed engineering, and during the pre-commissioning and start up phases. Sinopec will be responsible for detailed engineering and construction operations.
The plant is due to be completed by 2020.
For Eni, technological research and development is of strategic importance in all its business areas, and this result is highly significant for a number of reasons, primarily that the world’s leading refiner has chosen EST above all other available technologies. Moreover, this agreement sees the refining sector benefiting from an Italian technological innovation for the first time.
As MRC wrote before, in June 2016, Eni, Italy’s major energy group, announced that it could not reach an agreement with the US private equity firm SK Capital to sell a majority stake in Eni’s chemicals subsidiary Versalis (Milan) and has terminated the discussions.
China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec Group) is a super-large petroleum and petrochemical enterprise group established in July 1998 on the basis of the former China Petrochemical Corporation. Sinopec Group's key business activities include the exploration and production of oil and natural gas, petrochemicals and other chemical products, oil refining.
Eni is an Italian multinational oil and gas company headquartered in Rome. It has operations in in 79 countries, and is currently Italy's largest industrial company with a market capitalization of EUR68 billion (USD 90 billion), as of August 14, 2013. The Italian government owns a 30.3% golden share in the company, 3.93% held through the state Treasury and 26.37% held through the Cassa depositi e prestiti. Another 39.40% of the shares are held by BNP Paribas.
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