Hyundai Engineering seals USD273.2 million refinery deal in Thailand

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Hyundai Engineering Co., the construction unit under South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Group, won a 290 billion won (USD273.2 million) refinery project from a major Thai energy company, the latest in a string of deals it has struck in the region, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

On Thursday it signed an engineering, procurement and construction contract with Bangchak Corporation Public Company Ltd. (BCP) to build continuous catalyst regeneration reformers and replace old hydrocracking units at the oil refinery in the Phra Khanong district of Bangkok.

The new facilities would allow the production of premium high-octane petrol while the replaced hydrocracking units would boost the daily capacity of the refinery from 25,000 barrels to 27,500 barrels, according to Hyundai Engineering.

BCP is one of Thailand’s major energy companies, with its Bangchack refinery producing 120,000 barrels of oil per day that are distributed to more than 1,000 service stations across the country.

Hyundai Engineering said "We were able to clinch the deal as we had completed similar projects in Malaysia. We have also built up strong credentials having worked on various EPC projects with big petrochemical names in Thailand, including Siam Cement Group, PTT Group and Thai Oil Public Company".
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) – Yara International ASA and BASF announced the opening of a new world-scale ammonia plant in Freeport, Texas, USA, as per Hydrocaronprocessing.

The USD600-million, state-of-the-art facility uses a cost-efficient and sustainable production process, based on by-product hydrogen instead of natural gas.

Yara International and BASF executives joined with community members and business partners to celebrate the opening of a new world-scale ammonia plant in Freeport, Texas Pictured from left are Magnus Krogh Ankarstrand, Senior Vice President, Business Unit North America, Yara; Svein Tore Holsether, CEO and President, Yara; Martin Brudermuller, Vice Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors and Chief Technology Officer, BASF SE and Wayne T. Smith, Member of the Board of Executive Directors, BASF SE and Chairman and CEO, BASF Corporation.
Yara International and BASF executives joined with community members and business partners to celebrate the opening of a new world-scale ammonia plant in Freeport, Texas Pictured from left are Magnus Krogh Ankarstrand, Senior Vice President, Business Unit North America, Yara; Svein Tore Holsether, CEO and President, Yara; Martin Brudermuller, Vice Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors and Chief Technology Officer, BASF SE and Wayne T. Smith, Member of the Board of Executive Directors, BASF SE and Chairman and CEO, BASF Corporation.

Yara Freeport LLC is owned 68 percent by Yara and 32 percent by BASF. The plant, located at BASF’s site in Freeport, has a capacity of 750,000 metric tons of ammonia per year. Each party will off-take ammonia according to their ownership share.

"Together with our partners at BASF, we built a world-scale ammonia plant that not only raises the bar in terms of safety, efficiency and quality but also applies the principles of industrial symbiosis by using a by-product as feedstock for ammonia production," says Yara President and CEO, Svein Tore Holsether. "Yara Freeport strengthens our leading position in the global ammonia market and expands our production footprint in North America."

“This joint venture with Yara not only strengthens our production Verbund at the Freeport site, it demonstrates BASF’s commitment to investing in North America,” said Wayne T. Smith, member of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE and Chairman and CEO, BASF Corporation. “The new plant allows us to take advantage of world-scale production economics and attractive raw material costs to strengthen the competitiveness of our customer value chain in the region."

Conventional ammonia plants use natural gas to produce the hydrogen needed during ammonia production. Yara Freeport’s hydrogen-based technology allows the plant to forego this initial production step, leading to lower capital expenditure and maintenance costs. By using hydrogen, which originates from the production processes of various petrochemical plants nearby, Yara Freeport safeguards resources and mitigates environmental impact.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) – Merichem Company, a technology company that licenses processes to remove sulfur from liquid and vapor streams, has won an order to supply a LO-CAT Sulfur recovery unit to Eni’s Gela Refinery in Sicily, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Basic engineering is already complete, and equipment is on order. Completion of the installation is anticipated in the summer of 2018.

Eni’s Green Refinery Project at the Gela Refinery is part of Eni’s commitment to the European Union’s Renewable Energy Directive which set challenging targets for reduced emissions by the end of 2020. The Gela Refinery will utilize Ecofining technology developed by Eni to produce green diesel.

The Ecofining unit is part of the conversion of the idle plant to a biorefinery that will produce green refinery products from renewable sources such as palm oil and used vegetable oils. As a byproduct, the conversion process produces small amounts of hydrogen sulfide that must be removed to meet strict environmental standards.

The LO-CAT process is a patented, wet scrubbing, liquid redox system that uses a chelated iron solution to convert hydrogen sulfide to innocuous, elemental sulfur. It does not use any toxic chemicals and does not produce any hazardous waste byproducts. The catalyst is continuously regenerated in the process, so less catalyst is consumed, and more money is saved. The produced solid sulfur “cake” may be used as a fertilizer and soil conditioner.

The LO-CAT process is applicable to all types of gas streams, including air, natural gas, CO2, amine acid gas, biogas, landfill gas, refinery fuel gas, etc. The liquid catalyst adapts easily to variations in flow and concentration. Flexible operation allows 100% turndown in gas flow and H2S concentrations. Units require minimal operator attention.

More than 200 installations around the world depend on the LO-CAT® process to remove hydrogen sulfide from gas streams. The process is reliable, efficient, and economical, and is licensed with guarantees of H2S removal efficiency and sulfur removal capacity.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Celanese Corporation, a global technology and specialty materials company, has announced that its board of directors has approved a 17 percent increase in the company's quarterly common stock cash dividend, as per the company's press release.

The dividend increased from USD0.46 to USD0.54 per share of common stock on a quarterly basis and from USD1.84 to USD2.16 per share of common stock on an annual basis. The new dividend rate will be effective immediately.

"Increasing our dividend consistently is a key element of our strategy to maximize long-term value for our shareholders. Today's announcement marks the ninth consecutive year of dividend increases, and is both a reflection of our strong cash generation and confidence in the growth prospects for our business. During that period, the cash we have returned to shareholders through dividends has grown substantially to USD241 million in 2017, versus USD23 million in 2009," said Mark Rohr, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

Rohr continued, "Last year, we committed to increasing our dividend by at least 50% over the three-year period through 2019 with a targeted payout of USD300 million or more in 2019. This increase is the second of three annual steps to meet that goal."

The company also declared a quarterly cash dividend of USD0.54 per share on its Series A common stock, payable on May 10, 2018 to stockholders of record as of April 30, 2018.

We remind that, as MRC wrote before, Celanese will increase list and off-list selling prices for Ateva EVA polymers sold in the Americas. The price rise below will be effective 1 May, 2018, or as contracts otherwise allow. Thus, the company's EVA prices will go up by USD0.05/lb for the said regions.

Celanese Corporation is a global technology leader in the production of differentiated chemistry solutions and specialty materials used in most major industries and consumer applications. Based in Dallas, Celanese employs approximately 7,600 employees worldwide and had 2017 net sales of USD6.1 billion.
MRC

Last month's SPVC imports to the Ukrainian market fell to 6,800 tonnes from 8,000 tonnes in February. Local producers of profile-moulded products decreased their purchasing. Overall SPVC imports totalled 20,500 tonnes in January-March 2018, compared to 20,900 tonnes a year earlier, shipments of resin from the USA increased significantly.

The structure of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) imports into Ukraine by countries looked the following way over the stated period.

Last month's imports of US SPVC shrank to 5,500 tonnes from 6,000 tonnes in February. Export prices reached their top in the USA in January-February, and Ukrainian companies reduced their purchasing of North American resin. Imports of North American resin totalled 14,200 tonnes in the first three months of 2018 versus 3,500 tonnes a year earlier.

March imports of European PVC into the Ukrainian market were 1,300 tonnes, compared to 1,200 tonnes a month earlier. Such a low level of imports was caused by high export prices in Europe. Overall imports of European PVC to Ukraine totalled 5,100 tonnes over the stated period, compared to 12,300 tonnes a year earlier.

Since 1 March , the Cabinet of Ministers has introduced a temporary ban on purchasing of resin in Russia, the ban is valid until 31 December 2018. Imports of Russian resin were 1,200 tonnes in the first quarter of 2018 versus 5,000 tonnes a year earlier.

MRC