HMEL gets green nod for petrochemical complex in Panjab

MOSCOW (MRC) -- India’s HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd (HMEL) has recently received clearance from India’s ministry of environments for the polymer addition project at its Guru Gobind Singh refinery and Petrochemical complex, a government source said, as per JayJayPoly.

The proposed units at the petrochemical complex include a 1.2m tonnes/year naphtha cracker, two linear low density polyethylene/high density polyethylene (LLDPE/HDPE) swing plants of 400,000 tonnes/year capacity each. The complex, in Bhatinda region of Punjab province, will also house a 450,000 tonnes/year HDPE unit, a 500,000 tonnes/year polypropylene (PP) plant and a 55,000 tonnes/year butane-1 line.

The project will cost Indian rupees (Rs) 196.4 bn (USD3bn) and is expected to be completed by April 2021, the source added. The HMEL petrochemical complex currently operates a 500,000 tonne/year polypropylene (PP) line. The company, which is currently increasing its refining capacity from 9m tonnes/year to 11.5m tonnes/year, plans to eventually expand it to 18m tonnes/year, the source added.

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) is an Indian state-owned oil and natural gas company with its headquarters at Mumbai, Maharashtra and with Navratna status. HPCL has about 25% marketing share in India among PSUs and a strong marketing infrastructure. The Government of India owns 51.11% shares in HPCL and others are distributed amongst financial institutes, public and other investors.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Petkim, part of SOCAR, is in plans to restart its naphtha cracker following an unplanned shutdown, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Turkey informed that the cracker is likely to resume production by this weekend. The cracker was shut owing to a technical glitch on March 9, 2018.

Located at Aliaga in Turkey, the cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 585,000 mt/year and propylene production capacity of 240,000 mt/year.

As MRC reported previously, in May 2016, Azerbaijan’s state-owned energy company SOCAR sold 2.75 percent of its stake in Turkey's petrochemical giant Petkim to a foreign investment fund. Turkey’s Public Disclosure Platform (KAP) reports that this stake was sold for 147 million liras (USD51 million).
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Royal Dutch Shell Plc is selling its upstream assets in New Zealand to Austria’s OMV AG (OMVV.VI) for USD578 million, as per Reuters.

“Today’s announcement is another step towards reshaping and simplifying our company,” Shell’s Integrated Gas & New Energies Director Maarten Wetselaar said.

Thursday’s agreement includes the sale of Maui, Pohokura and Tank Farms. After deal closure, Shell Taranaki and Shell New Zealand employees will become a part of OMV New Zealand, Shell said.

“This acquisition is an important step to develop Australasia into a core region in line with our new strategy,” OMV CEO Rainer Seele said.

Shell has sold or agreed to sell over USD25 billion of assets as part of a three-year program to dispose of USD30 billion by the end of 2018, following the acquisition of BG Group in 2016.

Shell sold its stake in Kapuni gas field, New Zealand’s second-largest, for an undisclosed price in 2017.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Seven firms have submitted bids to buy a majority stake in Zambia's sole 24,000 barrel per day Indeni Petroleum Refinery, an executive at the agency handling the bidding said, as per Reuters.

Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) procurement specialist Mwila Kapita said Glencore Energy UK Ltd, Vitol SA, China Petroleum Technology and Development Corporation and Philia Trading were among the firms that had submitted bids.

The others are Joint Stock Company Global Security of Russia, Sahara Energy Resources Limited and a consortium of Beijing Huiersanji Green Chem Company Limited and AVIC International Holding.

Zambia is looking for a strategic partner to work with Indeni Petroleum Refinery, built in 1973. The oil company is currently 100 percent owned by the state-controlled Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) Limited.
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MOSCOW (MRC) - Traders are storing gasoline on tankers off Europe's coast as they struggle to contain a steady rise in supplies since the start of the year that has weighed on prices, as per Reuters.

The unusual move reflects a recent weakening in the margin refiners make from converting crude oil into the road fuel as stocks in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp refining and storage hub in recent weeks reached their highest level since July 2016, according to data from PJK International.

At least three 90,000 tonne tankers have been booked in recent weeks to store gasoline for up to 60 days off the Dutch coasts - Maersk Producer, Phoenix Dream and Maersk Promise, according to traders and shipping data.

Gunvor had booked the three cargoes, the sources said. Traders said the drop in current gasoline prices had tipped the northwest European market into a contango that made it worthwhile to put cargoes of summer-grade gasoline into storage.

Medium-range tanker freight rates have also fallen, making it cheaper to book these ships, ship brokers said. The stored fuel is believed to be summer-grade gasoline which will be kept until demand revives in the United States, which switches from winter-grade on May 1, traders said.
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