ADNOC wants to rival oil majors as it expands in refining, gas

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) will remain wholly owned by the Abu Dhabi government and has no plan to go public, but the firm aspires to compete with Big Oil by expanding in refining and gas, ADNOC’s CEO told Reuters.

ADNOC, which announced two gas deals with France’s Total and Italy’s Eni this week, will strike more agreements in that sector and seek investment opportunities abroad in liquefied natural gas (LNG), Sultan al-Jaber said.

"ADNOC will continue to be wholly owned by one and only one shareholder, and that is the Abu Dhabi government," al-Jaber said.

But the company will continue to "unlock the potential" of its other subsidiaries and assets as it works to gain access to new markets abroad and expand its share in oil and gas, he said.

"There will be more initiative (gas) plans," al-Jaber said in an interview in Abu Dhabi. "We are not going to expand beyond our borders in upstream. We don’t need to. We have access to vast, vast oil and gas reserves," he said.

"Our expansion is going to be in downstream, whether refining or petrochemicals," he added.On Sunday, ADNOC said it had signed an agreement with Total granting the French company a 40 percent stake in the Ruwais Diyab unconventional gas concession.

ADNOC aims to reach 1 billion cubic feet per day of unconventional gas production before 2030.

"This is untapped. No one is doing this at this scale in this region," he said of the tight-gas project with Total.

On Tuesday ADNOC signed a deal with Eni, awarding the Italian company a 25 percent stake in an offshore ultra-sour gas project.

A day earlier the Abu Dhabi producer also signed a framework agreement with national energy company Saudi Aramco to explore investment opportunities in natural gas and LNG.

As MRC wrote previously, a USD3.1 billion project to introduce crude processing flexibility, at the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) owned Ruwais oil refinery, was announced in February, 2018. Known as the Crude Flexibility Project (CFP), the announcement was another significant step forward as ADNOC accelerates delivery of its Downstream refining strategy that aims to enhance margins by introducing asset flexibility, backed by strong crude and product marketing initiatives.
MRC

Air Liquide Engineering & Construction selected as a technology provider for Pertamina refinery in Indonesia

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Air Liquide Engineering & Construction has been selected as a technology licensor by Pertamina, the state-owned National Oil & Gas Company of Indonesia, engaged in the oil, gas and renewable energy sectors, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Air Liquide Engineering & Construction will provide a license and basic engineering for a hydrogen production unit, Steam Methane Reformer (SMR), with a production capacity of 120,000 Nm3/h to be installed on Pertamina’s refinery site in Balikpapan, Borneo Island, Indonesia.

This contract is part of a Refinery Development Master Plan (RDMP) undertaken by Pertamina. The RDMP will increase the Balikpapan refinery’s crude processing capacity as well as enable the production of cleaner fuels conforming to Euro 5 standard.

Air Liquide Engineering & Construction's full portfolio of hydrogen technologies and excellence in process experience combined with decades of operational experience ensures the competitiveness, reliability and long-term sustainability of the solutions for customers.

"We appreciate the confidence Pertamina has placed in Air Liquide Engineering & Construction. This new contract further enhances our position as the leading technology provider for large-scale hydrogen solutions in the refinery sector," Domenico D’Elia, Senior Vice President, Sales & Technology, Air Liquide Engineering & Construction said.

As MRC informed before, in 2016, PT Pertamina and Russia’s Rosneft OAO signed a cooperation agreement that includes a plan to build a new oil refinery in the Southeast Asian nation.

Pertamina is an Indonesian state-owned oil and natural gas corporation based in Jakarta. It was created in August 1968 by the merger of Pertamin (established 1961) and Permina (established 1957). Pertamina is the world's largest producer and exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
MRC

PVC imports to Ukraine fell by 36% in January-October 2018

MOSCOW (MRC) - Imports of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) into Ukraine decreased by 36% in the first ten months of this year, compared to the same period in 2017 and reached about 57,100 tonnes. The main reason is the growth of own production volumes, according to MRC DataScope.

Last month's SPVC imports to the Ukrainian market dropped to 3,900 tonnes from 4,100 tonnes in September, with US resin accounting for the main decrease. Overall SPVC imports reached 57,100 tonnes in January-October 2018, compared to 89,000 tonnes a year earlier. Stable work of Karpatneftekhim after many years of shutdown helped reduce the dependence of the Ukrainian market on imports.

Structure of PVC imports into Ukraine over the reported period was as follows.

Last month's imports of US SPVC shrank to 1,000 tonnes from 1,600 tonnes in September. Thus, imports of US PVC totalled 34,000 tonnes in the first seven months of 2018, compared to 44,600 tonnes a year earlier. February-March accounted for the peak of imports.

October imports of European PVC into Ukraine increased to 2,900 tonnes, compared with 2,400 tonnes in September. Total imports of European PVC into Ukraine were about 21,800 tonnes in the first ten months of the year, compared with 29,400 tonnes year on year.


As reported earlier, Karpatneftekhim shut down its PVC production for a scheduled turnaround on 5 November. The shutdown will be quite long and will last approximately until 9 December. The plant's overall annual PVC production capacity is 300,000 tonnes.

MRC

EcoCortec opens second production plant in Croatia

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Croatian manufacturer and converter of biodegradable films, EcoCortec, has officially started up its second production plant in Beli Manastir, Croatia, as per Plasticsnewseurope.

Part of Cortec Corporation of St Paul, Minnesota in the US, EcoCortec produces corrosion protection films using the parent group’s VpCI (Vapor phase corrosion inhibitor) technology. The new 2,000m? production unit at the existing Croatian facility houses “state-of-the-art” E5 extrusion lines, which include features such as: 6.2m wide film, bags on roll and perforated sheets.

Partly-funded by the Croatian ministry of economy, the expansion doubles production capacity at EcoCortec. Apart from extrusion, the operation also has bag converting and printing facilities to meet the market’s custom product demands.

The company said in a 15 Nov statement that 2018 has been an "especially successful" year for EcoCortec, with the company completing its expansion and entering new projects.

The projects include a “Europe’s first” collection and recycling initiative for used films and plastic bags. As part of the programme, launched late last year, EcoCortec’s customers send their waste material back to the Croatian plant where it is recycled and used for manufacturing a new product.

Over the past few years, the Croatian company has participated in a number of large European-funded projects, such as ‘Marine Clean’ through which it developed its EcoOcean flexible marine biodegradable packaging from biobased PHA polymers.
MRC

CGPC eyes maintenance at Linyuan PVC plant

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China General Plastics Corporation (CGPC) is likely to shut its polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plant for maintenance turnaround, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Taiwan informed that the plant is planned to be taken off-line in January 2019 for a period of around one week. The exact date of shutdown could not be ascertained.

Located in Linyuan, Taiwan, the PVC plant has a production capacity of 400,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote before, CGPC conducted maintenance at its PVC plant in Taiwan from 20 to 31 July, 2015. Located in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, the plant has a production capacity of 170,000 mt/year.

Founded in 1964, China General Plastics Corporation manufactures, sells, and services various vinyl products in Taiwan and internationally. The company offers raw materials and fabrication products. Its products include PVC resins for use in various applications, including injection and blowing molding, hollow-vacuum forming, rigid and shrinkable films, general purpose soft and semi-rigid products, rigid pipes, hoses, wire and cable insulation, high impact flexible products, high impact sheets, high voltage wires, and cable insulations, as well as PVC compound products comprising soft and rigid type compounds.
MRC