CNOOC keeps crude runs rate stable at Huizhou refinery after blast

MOSCOW (MRC) - A blast at CNOOC’s Huizhou refinery that killed one worker has not affected crude oil runs at the company’s biggest refinery, a manager from the refinery told Reuters.

The manager declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue. The blast, which also injured another worker, came during a trail start of one of the refinery’s secondary units on Feb. 18, a document from Guangdong Administration of Work Safety showed on Tuesday.

The blast was caused by fuel gas exceeding safe limits at a steam furnace at the refinery’s partial oxidization coal-to-hydrogen plant, according to the document published on the official wechat account of China’s Chemical Safety Association.

The work safety administration has ordered CNOOC to shut down the coal-to-hydrogen unit, which is part of its phase two expansion, according to the document.

CNOOC has already started a full maintenance program at the 240,000 barrel-per-day refinery, according to sources with direct knowledge of the matter.

A CNOOC press officer did not immediately respond to Reuters inquiry for comment. The Guangdong Administration of Work Safety cannot be reached for comment.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Evonik Industries is fully on track to expand its production capacities for tire silica, said the company.

The company is responding to the tire industry’s growing demand for innovative silica used in the production of low rolling resistance tires. At the same time, the expansions make it possible to react quickly and reliably to increased regional demand for specialty products.

"Our strategic capacity expansion came in response to regional customer requirements, and it improves the supply security and local availability of tire silica and specialty products," says Andreas Fischer, the head of the Silica Business Line at Evonik. Hark-Oluf Asbahr, head of marketing at Tire and Rubber Materials, confirms this for the current demand for specialty silicas such as ULTRASIL® 9100 GR and ULTRASIL® 5000 GR: “We are adapting our product range on site to shorten transport routes and to increase availability and supply security for the benefit of our customers."

The new plant in Americana, Brazil, commissioned in July 2016, has already reached full capacity due to high regional demand. Commercial production is also underway in the plant in Charleston, USA, which was opened in October 2018. "The new silica production in the American ‘Tire Belt’ was received very well by regional customers," Fischer reports.

Evonik produces the innovative silica ULTRASIL 7800 GR for energy-saving SUV tires at its two new sites in Americana, Brazil and Charleston, USA as well as in Chester, USA. There is large demand for this groundbreaking product, which was launched last year.

The expansion of the production plant in Adapazari, Turkey will primarily serve customers in southeastern Europe and the Middle East. Designed to increase capacity by 40,000 tons, the construction project is on schedule and expected to be completed in late 2019.

In the years to come, Evonik will further strengthen its global leadership position as a provider of silica and offer products and solutions individually tailored to the tire industry.

Evonik is a leading global manufacturer of silica. In addition to the fumed silica AEROSIL and the precipitated silicas ULTRASIL, SIPERNAT, ZEODENT and SPHERILEX, Evonik also produces matting agents made from silica under the brand name ACEMATT and other fumed metal oxides under the brand name AEROXIDE. Overall, the company has global production capacities of approximately 1 million metric tons a year for all silica products.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Aramco plans to sign preliminary deals to invest in two oil refining and petrochemical complexes in China during the Saudi Arabian crown prince’s visit this week, reported Reuters with reference to sources familiar with the plans' statement, as Beijing seeks expanded ties with Riyadh.

The Saudi delegation, including top executives from Aramco, arrived in Beijing on Thursday for a two-day visit, part of the crown prince’s Asia tour, during which the kingdom has pledged USD20 billion of investment in Pakistan and sought additional investment in India’s refining industry.

Mohammed bin Salman will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has made stepping up China’s presence in the Middle East a key foreign policy objective, despite its traditional low-key role there. China has given few details about the visit.

Saudi Aramco, the world’s top oil exporter, will sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to build a refinery and petrochemical project in the northeastern Chinese province of Liaoning in a joint venture with China’s defense conglomerate Norinco, said three sources with knowledge of the matter.

Aramco is also expected to formalize an earlier plan to take a minority stake in Zhejiang Petrochemical, controlled by private Chinese chemical group Zhejiang Rongsheng Holding Group, said two sources with knowledge of this particular deal. Zhejiang Petrochemical is building a refinery and petrochemical complex in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang.

T he investments could help Saudi Arabia regain its place as the top oil exporter to China, which it has relinquished to Russia for the past three years. Saudi Aramco is poised to bolster its market share by signing supply agreements with non-state Chinese refiners.

It is not clear what new details will be in the MOU with Norinco expected during the visit, as the two companies first announced an alliance in May 2017 during Saudi ruler King Salman’s visit to Beijing.

Under that earlier MOU, the companies agreed to build a refinery capable of processing 300,000 barrels per day of crude and a facility that would make 1 million tonnes per year of ethylene, a building block for petrochemicals, at an estimated cost of over USD10 billion.

A senior Aramco executive said last June that he expected the front-end engineering for the Norinco project to be finished by mid-2019, following which the company will take a final investment decision.

Norinco public affairs officials were not immediately available for comment.

Aramco officials did not reply to a request for comment sent by email.

All the sources declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter.

Meanwhile, the Zhejiang agreement would give Saudi Aramco control of the 9-percent stake in the project held by the Zhejiang provincial government.

The agreement follows an earlier MOU that Aramco signed in October to invest in Zhejiang’s project, which is planned as a refinery to process 400,000 bpd of crude and associated petrochemical facilities in the city of Zhoushan, south of Shanghai.

Reuters was not able to immediately reach Zhoushan Ocean Development and Investment Co Ltd, which holds the 9-percent stake in Zhejiang Petrochemical for the provincial government, for a comment.

China has had to step carefully in its relations with Riyadh due to Beijing also having close ties with Saudi’s regional foe Iran.

On Wednesday, the day before the crown prince arrives, Xi told the speaker of Iran’s parliament that China’s desire to develop close ties with Iran will remain unchanged, regardless of the international situation.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Saudi Aramco’s Chief Executive Officer Amin Nassar said that the company is in talks with India’s Reliance Industries Ltd for possible investments and is seeking other opportunities in the country, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Saudi Aramco signed an agreement in April with a consortium of state-owned Indian refiners to participate in a USD44 billion refinery project on the country’s west coast. “We are looking at additional investment in India so we are in discussions with other companies as well, including Reliance and others,” Nasser said in a panel discussion in New Delhi.

“We are looking at it. We are not limited to that investment which is the mega refinery,” Nasser said, referring to the west coast project, which would process 1.2 million bpd of crude and produce 18 million tonnes per year of petrochemicals.

Nasser is part of the entourage traveling with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is in India for a one-day visit.

Reliance Industries, controlled by Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, is India’s biggest refining and petrochemicals company and runs a 1.4 million barrels per day (bpd) refinery in western India. It plans to expand the capacity to 2 million bpd by 2030, according to plans shared with the Indian government.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest crude oil exporter, is keen to expand further into oil refining and petrochemicals. India would provide a fast growing market for oil and fuels and is already a steady buyer of Saudi oil.

"India is an investment priority for Saudi Aramco. India takes from us almost 800,000 barrels a day and by 2040 India’s total consumption will be around 8.2 million barrels per day," Nasser said. India is currently the world’s third-biggest crude oil consumer with a demand of 4.7 million bpd, according to government figures.

However, Aramco is already facing delays for the refinery project, planned for the western state of Maharashtra, as thousands of farmers have refused to surrender land for it.

Reuters reported on Tuesday the Maharashtra government is looking to move the refinery location. Yousef al-Benyan, the chief executive officer for SABIC, the Saudi Arabia-based petrochemical company that is the fourth largest in the world, was also on the panel. He said SABIC wants to expand its business and presence in India.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia’s largest petrochemicals company, Sibur, suffered an almost 8% drop in net income last year to 110.8 billion roubles (USD1.7 billion), it said, citing currency weakness and a disposal that had boosted the previous year’s numbers, as per Reuters.

The weaker rouble, which increases debt held in other currencies, helped to lift Sibur’s net debt to 317.6 billion roubles, up by 20 percent from 2017.

Sibur has been preparing an initial public offering (IPO) that could raise as much as USD3 billion.

Businessman Leonid Mikhelson, the head of and a major shareholder in Russia’s largest gas producer Novatek, owns 48.5 percent of Sibur, which is the largest petrochemicals producer in Eastern Europe.

The company said 2018 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose last year by a quarter to 201 billion roubles, a record high, on revnue also up 25 percent at 568.65 billion roubles.
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