PDH plant taken off-stream by Ningbo Haiyue

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Ningbo Haiyue New Material Co has undertaken a planned maintenance at its propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the company has started maintenance at the plant on March 4, 2019. The turnaround is expected to remain in force for around four weeks.

Located in Ningbo, China, the plant has a propylene production capacity of 600,000 mt/year.

We remind that, as MRC informed before, in March 2017, Clariant, a world leader in specialty chemicals, announced that it had been awarded a contract by Dongguan Grand Resource Science & Technology Co. Ltd. to develop a new propane dehydrogenation unit in cooperation with CB&I. The project includes the license and engineering design of the unit, which is to be built in Dongguan City, Guangdong Province, China.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Two of the world's leading specialists in fouling removal technology for heavy industries, Tube Tech International and Cokebusters, have announced a strategic alliance that will benefit both companies' global client base, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Cokebusters is world-renowned for its specialist internal tube mechanical decoking and ultrasonic inspection services, focusing on intelligent solutions to oil refineries across the world. Tube Tech International specializes in delivering unrivalled levels of external fouling removal to heat exchanger tubes. Together, the two British companies will provide a seamless, end-to-end solution to refineries, sharing world-class patented cleaning and inspection technology and expertise.

Tube Tech International Managing Director, Jon Camp commented, "it's great to see two British companies delivering shared innovation to a global client base. We specialize in external cleaning and Cokebusters specializes in de-coking, but our customers are the same, so it makes sense to offer unified solutions and share our expertise and services."

"Customers will also benefit from the synergy between the two companies with a similar culture and commitment to investment in innovation and driving improvements in time and cost efficiencies."

Cokebusters Technical Director, Dr. David Thewsey added, "Cokebusters has always worked hard to offer our clients around the world the best possible service, and our alliance with Tube Tech will enable us to offer refineries a truly world-leading range of solutions to reduce downtime and emissions and improve productivity and safety."

Alongside their UK headquarters', both Tube Tech International and Cokebusters have established permanent bases in Houston, Texas and are establishing a reputation for contract mobilization across multiple continents.

In its 30th year, Tube Tech International was awarded multi-million-euro EU funding for the development of next-generation fouling removal technology in 2018, while Cokebusters received the Queen's Award for Enterprise for its achievements in international trade in 2018.
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MOSCOW (MRC) - Workers at the largest oil refinery operated by Portugal’s Galp Energia started a month-long strike on March 1, cutting output at the Sines facility by 25-30 percent, union leaders said, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Galp said in a statement it would not comment on the impact of the strike, adding it did not recognize the union’s calculations. During similar strikes in the past, it has said production has not been significantly affected.

Striking workers said the oil and gas company had failed to resume a collective bargaining agreement or to negotiate better salaries, health and social benefits.

“Production at the main units in Sines is at 60 percent (of capacity),” said Miguel Bravo, from the Fiequimetal union. “We estimate that the impact on (production) is at a 25 to 30 percent reduction, which corresponds to 15-20 million euros (so far during this strike)."

Sines, in southern Portugal, produces 220,000 barrels per day. Workers at Galp’s second Portuguese refinery, in Matosinhos, which has around half the capacity, are due to strike from March 15, the union said.

In a statement sent to Reuters, Bravo said the strike is also having an impact on exports. Speaking to Portugal’s Lusa news agency, the union said Galp registered a loss of 36 million euros ($40.7 million) in exports due to strike action that unfolded during the first three months of 2019.

Asked about any impact on exports, Galp said: "above all, the group’s exports have reflected current market conditions, namely the exceptionally low levels of ‘gasoline cracks’ in the international market."

Shares in Galp were up 0.44 percent at 1057 GMT.
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MOSCOW (MRC) - Asian refining margins for 10 ppm gasoil slipped, while weaker buying interest in the physical market pushed cash differentials for the industrial fuel lower, Reuters.

Refining margins or cracks for gasoil with 10ppm sulfur content were at USD15.99 a barrel over Dubai crude during Asian trade, 15 cents lower from Monday's USD16.14 per barrel.

Cracks for the region's benchmark gasoil grade, however, have gained about 15 percent in the last one month, and are seasonally at their highest levels since 2015, Refinitiv Eikon data showed. Despite a few gasoil shipments towards the West from Asia last month, the arbitrage window is not quite open at the moment, trade sources said, as Singapore cracks are quite strong and the region's supplies are tightening with seasonal refinery turnarounds picking up.

The exchange of futures for swaps (EFS), which determines the gasoil price spread between Singapore and North West Europe, narrowed to around minus USD16 per tonne on Tuesday, according to Refinitiv Eikon data.

The arbitrage is usually profitable when the EFS trades at about minus USD18 a tonne or below, traders said. Cash discounts for 10ppm gasoil GO10-SIN-DIF were at 29 cents a barrel to Singapore quotes on Tuesday, compared with a 28-cents discount a day earlier.

Meanwhile, cash discounts for jet fuel JET-SIN-DIF remained unchanged at 29 cents a barrel to Singapore quotes as the physical market in the Singapore window remained quiet with no bids or deals on Tuesday. Jet fuel refining margins dropped to USD14.12 a barrel over Dubai crude on Tuesday, compared with USD14.54 a barrel on Monday.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Haldor Topsoe, a world leader in high-performance catalysts and proprietary technologies, and the connected plant leader Honeywell announced a technology alliance to expand the benefits of connected services to a broader range of the chemical and refining industries, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

As a product of this alliance, Topsoe has launched ClearView – a breakthrough service to maximize plant output, save energy, and improve reliability. Using Honeywell’s cloud-based software platform, the ClearView service gathers operating data from the plant, cleanses the data, applies Haldor Topsoe’s tools and experience, and delivers performance-enhancing insights straight to the plant’s process engineers and managers.

"As a global market leader in catalysts and technology, we are thrilled to offer our customers a service that puts our decades of experience at their fingertips every hour of every day. Using Honeywell’s proven software platform and tools, ClearView applies Topsoe’s unique insights and allows our experts to work more closely with plant engineers to meet critical performance targets and reduce the risk of unplanned shutdowns," says Bjerne S. Clausen, CEO, Haldor Topsoe.

Haldor Topsoe’s proprietary modelling and simulation tools have been constantly updated and refined to design increasingly energy-efficient and reliable plants and help customers optimize existing production and catalyst utilization. Now, the ClearView service gives Topsoe customers continuous access to these tools to increase the profitability of their plants. As part of the service, Topsoe engineers follow plant performance and proactively guide the customers’ plant engineers in optimizing performance and quickly addressing operational issues based on output from the ClearView service.

"In essence, ClearView constitutes a completely new way for plant personnel and Topsoe experts to join forces in pursuing optimal utilization of a plant or a unit,” says Michael Fjording, Director, Connected Services, Haldor Topsoe.

The ClearView Service is a great addition to the Honeywell Connected Plant partner ecosystem, because it meets a growing need in a broader area of the chemicals and refining processes,” said Zak Alzein, vice president and general manager of Honeywell’s Connected Performance Services business. “The technology alliance with Topsoe leverages the power of the connected plant and brings the deep domain expertise of Topsoe into a growing partner network.”

Honeywell Connected Plant solutions is already well-proven, as such solutions have been deployed or are in the process of being deployed in more than 60 customers’ process units.
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