Private refiners in China ramp up breaking records for throughput

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China's crude oil throughput rose in April to match record daily levels, government data showed on Wednesday, buoyed by growing production at private refiners including a mammoth new facility in the country's northeast, reported Reuters.

Refinery runs climbed 5% from the year before to 52.1 million tonnes, or 12.68 million barrels per day (bpd), matching record daily levels racked up earlier this year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed.

Privately owned Hengli Petrochemical Co Ltd started trial runs around five months ago at its 400,000 bpd plant in northeast China, with production expected to hit full capacity later this month.

"Throughput at Hengli and ... teapot refineries increased significantly," said Wang Zhao, head of crude oil research at Sublime Information Co. Independent refiners in China are often referred to as 'teapots'.

The return of refineries after maintenance contributed to the higher runs in April, Wang added.

The robust crude runs, which stood in contrast to slower-than-expected growth in China's industrial output last month, also come amid mounting efforts by state majors to export refined products to offset domestic gluts.

PetroChina shipped gasoline from domestic refiners to Nigeria for the first time in the first quarter.

For the first four months of 2019, crude runs were up 4.7% from a year earlier at 207.47 million tonnes, or 12.62 million bpd, the data showed.

Crude oil output stood at 15.71 million tonnes, or 3.82 million bpd, down from 3.89 million bpd in March.

Natural gas output came in at 14.1 billion cubic metres (bcm) in April, up 7.9% from the same month a year earlier, but the lowest level since October 2018 due to slower demand towards summer.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- French oil and gas major Total said on Friday that it had suspended operations at some units of the 230,000 barrel-per-day Leuna refinery in Germany for technical checks following the prolonged situation of contaminated Russian crude supply, reported Reuters.

Total said it was carrying out the checks to manage any long-term supply complications due to the contaminated Russian crude.

"It is expected that operations will resume as early as Saturday, using alternative supply via Gdansk (in Poland)," the company said in a statement.

"With the continuing problems in connection with the Druzhba pipeline, the capacity of the refinery will remain limited," it said, adding that efforts would be made to limit the effect on the supply of petrol, diesel and heating oil to clients.

Total declined to give details of the units that were halted. Industry monitor Genscape said earlier on Friday that the 112,000 bpd vacuum distillation unit at the refinery was one of the units that was halted.

Russia's oil export flows have been disrupted since April when high levels of organic chloride were found in crude pumped via the Druzhba pipeline to the Baltic port of Ust-Luga and other European countries.

As MRC informed earlier, in April 2015, Total announced that its proposed new ethane cracker near its refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, is being designed to have a capacity of 1 million tpy.

Total S.A. is a French multinational oil and gas company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world with business in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia. The company's petrochemical products cover two main groups: base chemicals and the consumer polymers (polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene) that are derived from them.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Wison Engineering has completed construction on Nanjing Chengzhi Yongqing Energy Technology Co.'s new methanol-to-olefins (MTO) plant and butene-to-butadiene unit in Nanjing, China, as per Apic-online.

The 600,000-t/y MTO facility utilizes Honeywell UOP's advanced reaction technology and Wison's proprietary olefin separation technology.

The 100,000-t/y butadiene plant is based on Wison's proprietary Oxidative Dehydrogenation of Butene to Butadiene (ODH) technology. Cost of the project was not available.

Wison was awarded the engineering, procurement and construction contract for the project in late 2017. The project was completed and delivered within 18 months.

This is Wison's "first" commercial project for integrating ODH technology with MTO technologies, and the "second" such application in the world, Wison noted.

As MRC reported earlier, in October 2018, the global leading engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) service provider Wison Engineering Services Co. Ltd. announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Wison Engineering Ltd. has signed an EPC contract, approximately USD150 million, with Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) for a Utilities Park & Pilot Plants project. The park and plants project is part of the ongoing SABIC Technology Center (STC) expansion plan in Jubail, marking SABIC's biggest investment in innovation, globally. Once the expansion plan completed, the fully integrated complex will be the biggest of SABIC's 21 global technology and innovation centers spread across different regions.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Lotte Chemical Corp said that its US ethane cracker in Louisiana is expected to commence commercial operations within May, reported Reuters.

With the commencement of the plant, the South Korean company hopes to boost its cost competitiveness by diversifying away from mainly naphtha as a feedstock to make ethylene, a key ingredient for petrochemical products, it said in a statement.

Lotte Chemical’s US ethane cracker is a joint venture with Axiall Corp, which is now merged with Westlake Corp. Lotte owns an 88 percent in the plant, while Westlake Corp holds the remainder.

South Korean petrochemicals makers including Lotte Chemical, typically use naphtha derived from crude oil as a feedstock to make ethylene. Ethane crackers use ethane gas as a feedstock and can take advantage of cheap U.S. shale gas.

Lotte’s ethane cracker in the United States can produce 1 million tonnes of ethylene a year, taking Lotte Chemical’s global ethylene output capacity to 4.5 million tonnes, the statement added.

At home, Lotte Chemical runs two naphtha crackers which have a combined ethylene production capacity of 2.2 million tonnes per year.

As MRC informed before, in May 2018, South Korea’s major refiner Hyundai Oilbank Co. and petrochemical firm Lotte Chemical Corp. joined hands to build a heavy-feed petrochemical complex (HPC) at a combined investment of KRW 2.7 trillion (USD 2.5 billion).

South Korean Lotte Chemical is a global petrochemical company, established in 1976. It produces low density polyethylene (LDPE), high density polyethylene (HDPE), linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), polypropylene (PP), functional resins, styrene monomer (SM), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), etc.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Polypropylene (PP) imports into Russia slumped in the first four months of 2019 by 7% year on year to 57,900 tonnes.
Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the greatest decrease, as per MRC's DataScope report.

April PP imports into the Russian market rose to 18,700 tonnes from 13,900 tonnes a month earlier, supply of all grades of propylene polymers grew. In general, total PP imports into the country decreased to about 57,900 tonnes in January - April compared with 62,000 tonnes year on year.

The volume of external purchases for all grades of polymers of propylene decreased, with the exception of stat-copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers), with the most noticeably reduced imports of homopolymer PP. Overall, the structure of PP imports by grades looked the following way over the stated period.

April imports of homopolymer PP increased to 6,300 tonnes against 5,600 tonnes a month earlier, shipments of homopolymer PP from Azerbaijan increased slightly. Thus, overall imports of homopolymer PP to Russia totalled about 18,900 tonnes in the first four months of 2019, compared to 21,000 tonnes a year earlier.

April imports of PP block copolymers in Russia were about 5,600 tonnes against 3,500 tonnes in March on increased demand for pipe and injection moulding PP. Imports of PP block copolymers into Russia reached 16,000 tonnes in January-April 2019, compared to 16,200 tonnes a year earlier.

April imports of PP random copolymers were about 3,600 tonnes versus 3,400 tonnes a month earlier, on increased volumes of pipe PP purchases. Total imports of PP random copolymers in Russia were 11,400 tonnes in January - April 2019, compared with 10,800 tonnes year on year.

Russia's imports of other polymers of propylene for the period were about 11,600 tonnes in the first four months of the year, compared with 14.000 tonnes year on year.

MRC