Pemex says new refinery environmentally viable despite risks

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s push to build a new oil refinery involves high risks of flooding and other environmental issues, according to government document, but is described as otherwise viable, reported Reuters.

The documents cover environmental impacts declared by state energy company Pemex and were made public by the oil industry environmental regulator known as ASEA. They conclude that while the development of the Dos Bocas refinery will moderately affect the environment, those impacts "will be controlled, mitigated or compensated."

The assessment by Pemex, which has been directed by Lopez Obrador to oversee the construction of the refinery, also asserts that the facility’s operations "will totally comply" with all existing environmental laws and is economically viable.

ASEA has 60 days to evaluate the assessment.

Lopez Obrador has pitched the USD8 billion project, which if completed would be Mexico’s biggest refinery, as needed to reduce a growing dependence on imported fuels.

The refinery is expected to process 340,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Mexico’s flagship grade, Maya heavy crude, mainly to produce gasoline and ultra-low-sulfur diesel (ULSD), a type of motor fuel that is set to become a standard in the country.

The president personally attended the ceremonial groundbreaking for the project at the construction site in the Gulf Coast port of Dos Bocas, in his home state of Tabasco, on June 2.

In May, Lopez Obrador ordered Pemex to supervise construction after he dismissed would-be private builders as unable to meet his budget or aggressive three-year timeframe.

Parts of Pemex’s environmental assessment of the project are blacked out, including details such as estimated emissions and damages to nearby beaches, which the government argues should be treated as confidential.

ASEA is part of the environment ministry and its executive director is a presidential appointee who does not need to be approved by the Congress.

Major credit ratings agencies have called out the refinery as an ill-conceived project for both the government as well as state-owned Pemex, the world’s most indebted oil company, arguing it is unnecessary and would divert money away from more profitable exploration and production activities.

Fitch Ratings has already stripped Pemex debt of its investment-grade status, and if another ratings agency does the same, it would trigger billions of dollars in forced selling and likely lead to a spike in the company’s financing costs.

As MRC informed previously, Mexican national oil company Pemex is currently processing about 9 percent more crude oil at its domestic refineries than it did in 2017, said Chief Executive Officer Carlos Trevino in April 2018.

Pemex, Mexican Petroleum, is a Mexican state-owned petroleum company. Pemex has a total asset worth of USD415.75 billion, and is the world's second largest non-publicly listed company by total market value, and Latin America's second largest enterprise by annual revenue as of 2009. Company produces such polymers, as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS).
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Indian Maharashtra identifies site for Saudi Aramco and ADNOC refinery

MOSCOW (MRC) -- India’s Maharashtra state has identified a new site for the planned USD44 billion oil refinery that state-run firms are building with Saudi Aramco and Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC), reported Reuters with reference to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

The new sit in western Maharashtra would be at Raigad district, about 100 kms (62 miles) south of the country’s financial capital Mumbai.

The refinery was initially proposed to be built at Nanar, a village in Ratnagiri district, some 400 kms (250 miles) south of Mumbai.

But thousands of farmers refused to surrender land, fearing it could damage a region famed for its Alphonso mangoes, vast cashew plantations and fishing hamlets that boast bountiful catches of seafood.

The protests forced the Maharashtra government to suspend the land acquisition process for a refinery in Nanar.

The 1.2 million barrels per day refinery and associated petrochemical project is seen as a game changer - offering India steady fuel supplies and meeting Saudi Arabia and ADNOC’s need to secure regular buyers for their oil.

In Raigad, the state-run City and Industrial Development Corporation plans to acquire land from 40 villages for the refinery, Fadnavis said in a written reply to state lawmakers.

State run companies - Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp and Hindustan Petroleum - own 50% of the Ratnagiri Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd (RRPCL), the company that is building the project. Saudi Aramco and ADNOC hold the remainder.

As MRC informed previously, in December 2018, India delayed the commissioning of a giant refinery that state-owned firms are building in tie-up with Saudi Aramco and Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) by two year to 2025.
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ELIX ABS-3D materials added to Ultimaker Marketplace

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ELIX Polymers, a leading specialist in high-performance ABS materials, has added two new grades to the Ultimaker Marketplace for 3D printing equipment FDM applications, as per the company's press release.

The move was made together with three partner companies producing filament from ELIX ABS: 3R3D, based in Spain; Filoalfa brand owner Ciceri de Mondel (Italy); and Print-me (Poland). The companies in the partnership cooperated within the Ultimaker Material Alliance Program.

The two new ABS grades are ELIX 3D-FC and ELIX ABS 3D-HI. ELIX 3D-FC is certified for medical and food contact applications, complying with the ISO 10993-1 and USP Class VI standards determining biocompatibility. Certification covers the whole material recipe, including color pigments (the material is available in different colors).

The second grade, ELIX 3D-HI, is a high-impact ABS grade with lower density than other ABS grades and offering very high impact resistance, even at very low temperatures. Impact performance is comparable with ABS/PC, which has a higher density, making the new grade particularly suitable for automotive applications where weight-saving is an issue.

Both new ELIX grades offer superior layer adhesion and 3D printing results. Possible applications include functional prints of prototype parts (assembly tests in automotive, for example), industrial/medical tooling (jigs and fixtures), and short series of personalized parts.

"We are very excited to make these new ABS materials available via the Ultimaker Material Alliance Program," said Luca Chiochia, ELIX Business development Manager, "particularly as some of our traditional injection moulding customers are now starting to adopt Ultimaker 3D printers." At Ultimaker, Bart van As, Product Manager Materials, added: "I am very happy that these specialty materials are added to the expanding range of materials available in the Ultimaker Marketplace. Together with our partners, we are opening up new applications for 3D printing with our printers."

"We are really proud to cooperate with ELIX and be part of the Ultimaker Alliance Program," said Antonio Berera, research and development manager at Ciceri de Mondel. "Our company has innovation and research to develop better 3D printing materials in its DNA. We believe the results we have achieved together are very interesting in the panorama of ABS for 3D printing."

At Print-me, Mateusz Kasprowiak said: "We are able to make such good quality filaments thanks to the excellent raw materials from ELIX Polymers optimized for 3D printing. We are proud of having the opportunity to participate in the Ultimaker Material Alliance Program, and that our material works with Ultimaker hardware."

"Our customers demand more and more warranty of performance of our filaments in 3D printers, and require accurate and clear print profiles," said Josu Aseguinolaza at 3R3D. "Our company is participating with its wide range of eco-sustainable and high-performance filaments in open programs involving several brands of 3D FDM printers, with ELIX Polymers materials, and with other compounders."

During the Hannover Messe in April, Ultimaker - the global leader in desktop 3D printing - announced that its Ultimaker Material Alliance Program had already influenced over 80 companies worldwide to develop material print profiles for FFF 3D printing. The program was launched a year earlier to meet the growing demand for industrial-grade engineering 3D printing materials.

Today, many leading material manufacturers and filament producers use Ultimaker’s Print Profile Assistant to more rapidly bring a wide variety of high-performance FFF 3D printing materials to the professional market. These material print profiles become available for download in the Marketplace in Ultimaker Cloud.

As MRC reported earlier, in April 2019, ELIX Polymers presented its portfolio of products and innovations in materials for several key markets. These innovations are the result of the company’s strong emphasis on product differentiation and its significant investments in R&D, thereby allowing it to stand out among manufacturers of basic ABS products.
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From gas in Russia to China-bound plastics, Austrian OMV shifts focus for growth

MOSCOW (MRC) -- After years of largely banking on low-cost Russia for growth, OMV is shifting attention towards the Middle East as its chemist chief executive chases his vision of making the Austrian oil and gas group a major supplier of plastics, reported Reuters.

OMV boss Rainer Seele has spent more than 4 billion euros (USD4.5 billion) - 40% of the group’s M&A budget until 2025 - for oil and gas concessions in the region, a 15% stake in Abu Dhabi National Oil Co’s (ADNOC) refining business and a to-be-formed trading joint venture with ADNOC and Italy’s Eni.

"We want to have a fully integrated business model in Abu Dhabi - from the well via the refinery and the petrochemicals all the way to marketing and trade in international markets," the chief of Austria’s second-largest listed company told shareholders last month.

OMV traditionally earns its money from producing, distributing and refining oil and gas in Europe. A focus on low-cost oil and gas fields in Russia - a source of investor concern due to US and EU sanctions - helped the group get back on its feet financially in recent years and become one of the best cash-flow generators in the sector.

After fixing a price this month for the purchase of Siberian gas assets from Gazprom, OMV has largely achieved its Russian expansion plans.

The Russia-led Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, of which OMV is a financing partner, could face delays. However, OMV’s downside risks are limited to the 950 million euros it has committed, of which it has paid 644 million euros so far.

"This is already captured by its discounted valuation relative to its peers," analysts at Berenberg said in a note.

Seele’s new, Middle East-focused strategy stems from a shift in the environment surrounding OMV’s business model, with challenges created by the politically promoted rise of renewable energy and increased use of electric vehicles.

Consultancy Wood Mackenzie forecasts that demand for oil in developed countries will revert to structural decline next year and drop by about 4 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2035. In contrast, it expects demand in developing economies, mainly in Asia, to increase by nearly 16 million bpd in the same period.

The rise in developing-country demand is seen largely driven by the petrochemicals industry, which uses oil to make the plastics needed for fertilisers, packaging, detergents and clothes, as well as for electric-car parts, solar panels and wind turbines.

This is where Seele gets excited. Refraining from expanding into renewables like BP and Royal Dutch Shell, the CEO plans to monetize his oil with the expected surge in demand for plastics and also jet fuel, especially in China.

For Seele, the new focus is a journey back to his roots. The 58-year-old German holds a PhD in chemistry and started his career as a chemical research scientist.

He has chosen the United Arab Emirates as a base from which to secure a big piece of the Asian petchem pie, aiming to maximize profit via the entire value chain.

"What I am always preaching is, hey guys, try to think integrated," he told Reuters when asked why he did not simply buy into China. "I cannot come up with an integrated business model in Asia if I buy into a petchem unit there. It would be an isolated investment."

The UAE, a strategic investor in OMV since 1994, has aggressive energy ambitions for the coming decade. It is cooperating with international groups including Shell, Germany’s Wintershall DEA and US investment firms KKR and BlackRock to pioneer approaches and technologies.

Last year, the UAE launched a USD132 billion capex program to become self-sufficient in gas by 2030 and establish itself as an exporter of petrochemical products. It plans to invest USD45 billion alone into the Ruwais complex, which is located 240 km (150 miles) west of Abu Dhabi, to make it the largest integrated refinery/petrochemicals facility in the world.

As MRC wrote before, in October 2018, OMV and Gazprom signed a "Basic Sale Agreement" which foresees a potential acquisition of a 24.98% interest in the Achimov IV and V phase development in the Urengoy gas and condensate field by OMV for a purchase price to be negotiated in good faith.

OMV is producing and marketing oil and gas, innovative energy and high-end petrochemical solutions – in a responsible way. With Group sales of EUR 20 bn and a workforce of around 20,700 employees in 2017, OMV Aktiengesellschaft is one of Austria’s largest listed industrial companies. In Upstream, OMV has a strong base in Romania and Austria and a balanced international portfolio, with the North Sea, the Middle East & Africa and Russia as further core regions. 2017 daily production stood at approximately 348,000 boe/d. In Downstream, OMV operates three refineries with a total annual processing capacity of 17.8 mn tons and more than 2,000 filling stations in ten countries as of year-end 2017. OMV runs gas storage facilities in Austria as well as in Germany; its subsidiary Gas Connect Austria GmbH operates a gas pipeline network in Austria. In 2017, gas sales volumes amounted to 113 TWh.
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Zhong Tian to restart PP plant in China

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Zhong Tian He Chuang, a joint venture of Sinopec and China Coal Energy Group, is in plans to brought on-stream its polypropylene (PP) plant following an unplanned outage, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China, informed that the company is likely to resume operations at the plant in end-June, 2019. The unit was shut on June 11, 2019 owing to technical issues.

Located at Ordos in Inner Mongolia, China, the plant has a production capacity of 350,000 mt/year.

As MRC reported before, in September 2018, Sinopec Corp joined a group planning to build an oil refinery in Alberta, an enterprise that would strengthen demand for the Canadian province's heavily discounted crude.

Sinopec Corp. is one of the largest scale integrated energy and chemical company with upstream, midstream and downstream operations. Its principal business includes: exploring, developing, producing and trading crude oil and natural gas; producing, storing, transporting and distributing and marketing petroleum products, petrochemical products, synthetic fiber, fertilizer and other chemical products. Its refining capacity and ethylene capacity rank No.2 and No.4 globally. Sinopec listed in Hong Kong, New York, London and Shanghai in August 2001. Sinopec Group, the parent company of Sinopec Corp., is ranked the 5th in Fortune Global 500 in 2012.
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