IRPC Europe attendees will get a rare glimpse inside Enis EST facility

MOSCOW (MRC) -- IRPC Europe attendees will get a rare glimpse inside Eni’s EST facility, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The Sannazzaro Refinery was built in 1963 with an initial raw processing capacity of 5 MMtpy. Over the years, the refinery has been enhanced with technological improvements that have increased the processing capacity to 11 MMtpy. The facility now boasts a level of complexity and conversion capacity that is among the highest in Europe.

Technology and efficiency, together with an ideal logistical position and flexibility towards market and environmental requirements, make the 260-hectare Sannazzaro Refinery a keystoneof the Refining & Marketing division of Eni.

The market for petroleum products for energy use is increasingly constituted by fuels of high quality and low environmental impact. Heavy fuels that have a greater environmental impact are gradually being replacedby other sources of energy. The increase in the refinery’s conversion capacity responds to these dual market and environmental requirements: transforming heavier oil products, such as fuel oil, into more valuable products, such as petrol and diesel. The Sannazzaro Refinery has become what is called a "white refinery," i.e., a refinery with a minimum production of heavy products.

The 2006 commissioning of the gasification plant—which uses heavy residues to produce sulfur-free and non-polluting synthesis gas to feed the Eni Power power plant—and the 2008 startup of the deasphalting plant, have already allowed the refinery to reduce the percentage of heavy fuels to below 10%.

The startup of the EST (Eni Slurry Technology) unit, the first industrial unit of Eni's proprietary technology, now allows a further reduction of heavy fuels of up to 4%. The visit of the IRPC delegates includes an initial welcome and presentations by refinery officials, an overview of the EST, and a brief safety briefing. IRPC delegates will then enter the refinery for a tour of the main conversion plants, the entrance into the control room of EST and a more specific tour of the Eni Slurry Technology plant. A buffet lunch hosted by Eni will conclude the half day.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Assam-based Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) has made an entry into the North American market, dispatching a consignment of 80 metric tonnes (MT) of wax to the United States, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The company added that early this month a consignment of 64 MT of wax was exported to Portugal, the second European country after Poland where NRL Wax has been exported. This was followed by the export of 86 MT of wax to Ecuador.

"Ecuador is the seventh South American (Latin American) country where NRL wax has been exported, after Mexico, Nicaragua, Brazil, Guatemala, Chile and Argentina. With the three exports in the month of February 2018, a total quantity of 7,780 MT has been exported by NRL to 25 countries worldwide," the company said.

The company also reported that more exports to existing and new countries are lined up in the coming months in line with its strategy to make NRL Wax a brand to be reckoned with globally.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had dedicated NRL’s wax plant to the nation on February 5, 2016. The 50,000 Metric Tonnes (MT) wax plant, commissioned in March 2015 at a cost of Rs. 676 crore, is the country’s largest wax producing unit with indigenous technology developed by the Indian Institute of Petroleum-Dehradun, Engineers India Ltd and NRL.
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MOSCOW (MRC) --US-based Phillips 66 remains open to developing another ethane cracker for its Chevron Phillips Chemical (CP Chem) joint venture, the refiner's CEO said, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

"We remain constructive on the second cracker at CP Chem," said Greg Garland, CEO. He made his comments during an investor presentation held by Credit Suisse. "We're doing initial work around that today," he said. The company will unlikely make a final investment decision (FID) until 2019, he said. "That probably means heavy lifting becomes 2020, 2021 for us in terms of the capital."

Global demand could support more petrochemical production, Garland said. Demand is growing faster than GDP, and billions of people are joining the middle class in India and China. This growing middle class will adopt buying habits that will result in more plastic consumption. At the same time, the US should have enough natural gas liquids (NGLs) to feed new crackers, he said.

Crude production in the US continues to increase. Oil wells also produce associated gas, which is rich in NGLs. Midstream companies are aggressively building the infrastructure to process this associated gas and ship it via pipeline to petrochemical plants on the Gulf Coast.

Other companies are also considering new plants in what is shaping out to be another wave of new projects in the US. Meanwhile, Chevron Phillips Chemical is in the midst of commissioning a 1.5m tonne/year ethane cracker at Cedar Bayou, Texas, Garland said.

It should start receiving feedstock for the front end of the cracker this quarter, he said. By the second quarter, it should be fully operational. Chevron Phillips Chemical did not have any comments immediately available on Friday. The other joint venture partner in Chevron Phillips Chemical is the energy producer Chevron.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- A framework agreement between ABB and one of China’s leading coal producers, the Yitai Group, will bring deeper cooperation in applying digital technologies, solutions, services and expertise to improve performance across Yitai’s plants, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Additionally, the two companies have agreed to form a consortium to explore, develop and exploit opportunities presented by intelligent, digitally-empowered plants, more generally, within the coal chemical industry at home and abroad.

"Yitai Group is committed to making the modern coal chemical industry bigger, stronger and better by utilizing advanced science and technology. At the same time, we also face the challenge to improve economic return and fierce market competition," says Mrs. Zhang DaiHua, Project Manager of Yitai’s intelligent coal chemical plant and Deputy General Manager of Yitai’s Coal Chemical Management Department. "Yitai looks forward to using ABB's digital solutions and services to achieve the intelligent control and management optimization of our plants, thereby reducing production costs, ensuring safety and improving productivity and information. We’d like to truly accomplish the integration of informatization and industrialization as well as intelligent upgrading."

The arrangement gives the Yitai Group access to the ABB Ability TM technology platform: an integrated industrial Internet offering and cloud infrastructure based on ABB's leading expertise across a wide range of technologies and industries. It enables businesses to harness the power of industrial data to enhance decision-making.

ABB’s digital and traditional technologies in the electrical, control, instrumentation and telecommunications (ECIT) areas will be used to upgrade Yitai’s brownfield sites and optimize greenfield opportunities. Yitai will also benefit from ABB’s collaborative operations approach which connects people in production facilities with those at headquarters and ABB’s centers of expertise. This real-time information sharing ensures data insights drive optimum decision-making. Such integrated digitalization improves coordination by breaking down functional silos. Opening data flow between various plant systems, departments and experts provides greater visibility that helps improve asset availability, operational efficiency and profitability.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Polyolefins Borouge (part of Borealis) has undertaken a planned shutdown at its No.2 cracker in Ruwais, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source based in the Middle East informed that the company has recently commenced turnaround at the cracker. The cracker is likely to remain under maintenance for around 5 weeks.

Located at Ruwais, Abu Dhabi in UAE, the No.2 cracker has a production capacity of 1.5 mmt/year.

As MRC wrote before, in March 2017, Austrian chemical company Borealis was carrying out feasibility studies for a polypropylene (PP) unit and a mixed-feed steam cracker at Borouge, the petrochemicals complex it owns jointly with Abu Dhabi's state-owned Adnoc in Ruwais, UAE. The study for the new PP unit- known as PP5, wass in its latter stages, with a final investment decision expected later las year. The new plant would have a production capacity of around 600,000 tpa. Abu Dhabi refiner Takreer is building a new 500,000 tpa propane dehydrogenation (PDH) unit at Ruwais that is planned to start up in the third quarter of this year. This will create a significant excess of propylene in the complex that would easily support a new PP plant.

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.
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