Refinery to undergo maintenance and repair

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Bilfinger, an international leading engineering and industrial services provider and Teknokon, a renowned multi-disciplinary group headquartered in Istanbul, have been awarded a contract by Tupras to render maintenance and repair services for the Tupras' Izmir refinery, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The contract award underscores Bilfinger's growth strategy in the Middle East region and demonstrates the strategic value-add of the advanced solutions such as BMC in the Refining & Petrochemical sector.

"We are proud of being awarded this contract and are equally grateful for Tupras' invaluable trust. This is an important milestone for Bilfinger in the Middle East and represents a big step forward, in servicing the growing Refining and Petrochemical sector in the region," Ali Vezvaei, President & CEO of Bilfinger Middle East, commented.

Mr. Erkan Ergin, Chairman of Teknokon Group, commented: "We are very pleased to have been entrusted by Tupras for such an important maintenance contract. We strongly believe that our skilled resources coupled with the strong know-how and capabilities of Bilfinger will enable us to provide the customers with unique solutions and services."

As MRC informed before, in October 2018, SOCAR, the largest direct foreign investor in Turkey, launched its USD6.3-billion SOCAR Turkey Aegean Refinery - STAR Refinery, which will provide a large portion of oil products demand in the local market with 10 million tons of annual oil processing capacity.
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MOSCOW (MRC) - Russian has expanded the list of oil refineries eligible for so-called reverse excise tax after they agreed to invest around 300 billion roubles (USD4.5 billion) to upgrade capacity by 2026, the energy ministry said, as per Reuters.

Russia’s most significant oil industry tax overhaul took effect on January 1.

It is phasing out exporting duty in the next five years and increasing its mineral extraction tax.

Some refineries, including those affected by Western sanctions against Moscow, will be able to claim back some excise tax.

The ministry said it has expanded the list of the plants eligible to claim back the excise tax to include nine refineries: Neftekhimservis, Novoshakhtinsky, Afipsky, Taneko, Orsk, Antipinsky, Mariysky, Ilsky and Slavyansk ECO.

The refineries have pledged to launch 13 secondary processing units by Jan. 1 2026 to boost their combined high-quality gasoline production by over 3 million tonnes per year.

Their investment from 2015 to 2026 is seen at around 300 billion roubles, the ministry said.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries posted a record quarterly profit, driven by growth in its petrochemicals and refining business, while its telecoms group Jio notched up a fifth consecutive profitable quarter, as per Reuters.

The telecoms business is central to the ambition of Chairman Mukesh Ambani - Asia’s richest man - to make Reliance’s consumer businesses as big as its energy operations, which contribute the bulk of group revenue and profit.

In the last two years, Jio has used cut-price data and free voice calls to cornered over 250 million subscribers, leaving rivals nursing losses. Jio posted a nearly 65 percent jump in profit to 8.31 billion rupees (USD117 million).

In the conglomerate’s refining and petrochemicals unit, which contribute around three-quarters of overall revenue and profits, revenue rose 47 percent and 37 percent respectively.

On a standalone basis, which includes primarily refining and petrochemicals, Reliance’s third-quarter profit rose 5.6 percent to 89.28 billion rupees.

Gross refining margin (GRM)- the profit earned on each barrel of crude processed - was USD8.8 per barrel for the quarter, outperforming the benchmark Singapore complex margin by USD4.5 per barrel.

The benchmark GRMs have come down to multi-year lows in the third quarter to below USD2 per barrel, hitting all refining companies globally.

Reliance’s refinery in the western state of Gujarat is the world’s biggest single-location refinery, with a capacity to process 1.36 million barrels per day of crude.

Net profit on a consolidated basis rose to 102.5 billion rupees (USD1.44 billion) for October-December, beating analyst average estimate of 96.48 billion rupees, Refinitiv Eikon data showed.

Reliance’s consolidated revenue grew 56.4 percent to 1.60 trillion rupees.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Brazil’s Paulinia refinery (Replan), the country’s largest, is back to operating at full capacity after the ANP oil regulator said it had authorized the reopening of a unit shuttered in the wake of a 2018 accident, reported Reuters.

The ANP said the refinery, owned by state-run oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro SA, was still without one of the three units that had been closed after the accident, but noted it did not affect production.

As MRC wrote before, on 5 December 2018, Brazil's state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA said it had halted operations at its Abreu and Lima refinery in Pernambuco state after a fire broke out there early in the morning. The fire, which occurred in a tower of the coking unit, caused no injuries and has been put out, Petrobras said, adding that it should not affect fuel supply.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Par Pacific Holdings, Inc. announced that it has successfully completed its previously announced acquisition of U.S. Oil & Refining Co. and certain affiliated entities, a privately-held downstream business, for USD358 million plus net working capital, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The transaction was financed with proceeds from a USD250 million Term Loan B issuance, a USD45 million Par Pacific Term Loan funded by Bank of Hawaii ("BOH"), the issuance of approximately 2.4 million shares of Par Pacific common stock to the seller of U.S. Oil, and available liquidity.

These shares represent the initial tranche of shares issuable to the seller at closing. Par Pacific elected not to exercise its right to issue additional shares to the seller to fund the transaction. Additionally, the Company has executed a non-binding term sheet with BOH that contemplates replacing the Par Pacific Term Loan with a newly-issued loan secured by certain unencumbered real estate assets in the State of Hawaii.

"We are pleased to close the U.S. Oil transaction, which balances our Pacific and mainland market exposure," said William Pate, President and CEO of Par Pacific. "We expect the transaction to be immediately accretive to our 2019 earnings and cash flow. We would like to take this opportunity to welcome our new colleagues to the Par Pacific organization."
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