Total starts biofuel production at La Mede refinery

MOSCOW (MRC) -- French oil and gas major Total said that the first batches of biofuel had come off the production line at its converted La Mede refinery in the south of France, reported Reuters.

The biorefinery has a capacity of 500,000 tons per year. It will produce both biodiesel and biojet fuel for the aviation industry, and Total added it would also produce premium hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), known as renewable diesel.

Total invested EUR275 million (USD310.4 million) to convert the previous loss-making crude refinery so that it now produces biofuels.

"Biofuels are fully renewable, and an immediately available solution to cut carbon emissions from ground and air transportation," Bernard Pinatel, Total’s president for refining and chemicals, said in a statement.

When produced from sustainable raw materials, they emit over 50% less carbon than fossil fuels, Pinatel said, adding that the refinery at La Mede will help France curb biofuels imports.

Total has said it will produce the biofuels using around 60% to 70% sustainable vegetable oils including rapeseed, palm oil and sunflower oil, and 30% to 40% from treated waste from animal fats, cooking oil and residues.

Total has come under criticism from farmers who have expressed concern that imported palm oil for the refinery would unfairly compete with locally produced vegetable oil, while environmental activists against the refinery, citing the deforestation caused by palm oil production.

Total said that as part of its agreement with the government, it has committed to using no more than 300,000 tons of palm oil per year or less than 50% of the total volume of raw materials needed.

It said that at least 50,000 tons of French-grown rapeseed oil would be used in the refinery.

As MRC wrote earlier, in December 2017, Total inaugurated the new units at its Antwerp integrated refining & petrochemicals platform, which had progressively started up in the previous few months. This event marked the completion of the upgrade program launched in 2013 of one of the largest and most efficient integrated refining & petrochemicals platforms in Europe. Thus, the company had invested more than EUR1 B to further improve the competitiveness of this major site located in the heart of Europe's main markets.
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Philadelphia refinery seeks to sell oil stocks, equipment after fire

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Philadelphia refinery ravaged by a massive fire two weeks ago has begun offering to sell off its stocks of oil and some equipment, according to four people familiar with the matter, after the refinery's owner announced it would seek to permanently shut it, reported Reuters.

Philadelphia Energy Solutions Inc has said it will close the 200,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) Girard Point section of the 330,000-bpd complex, the largest and oldest on the US East Coast, after a fire extensively damaged the facility. The plant employed more than 1,000 workers and was a major source of gasoline in the most densely populated corridor of the United States.

The business has struggled financially since emerging from bankruptcy last year.

The asset sell-off started this week and triggered worries among workers that the company no longer aimed to find a buyer willing to restart the plant, as it had promised after the fire. The sale proposals included offers for future crude cargoes and time-chartered Jones Act vessels, two of the people familiar with the matter said.

"PES is continuing its efforts to secure the facility in anticipation of potentially rebuilding the damaged infrastructure, and preparing for a possible sale and restart," PES said.

PES declined to comment on the asset offers.

Workers this week began draining crude from some of the refinery's processing units as well as fuel and any corrosive liquids, one refinery employee said.

PES has offered at least one cargo of Chadian Doba Blend, a heavy, sweet crude from the north-central African nation, four trade sources said.

The company owns or leases a fleet of railroad tank cars. Its fleet encompasses about 10 sets of unit trains consisting of dozens of DOT-117 tank cars, a fairly new and in-demand type in the rail industry, one person said. It was unclear whether PES has begun offering the cars or leases to potential buyers.

While the company was offering to sell some assets, it did not appear to be the start of a liquidation, one of the people said. PES on Wednesday reversed plans to shut the undamaged Point Breeze section of the complex this week and will continue operating it at a reduced level for at least another month, two people familiar with the plant's operations told Reuters.

As MRC wrote previously, the larger, Girard Point section of the refinery complex has been shut since the fire on June 21 destroyed an alkylation unit, which produces high-octane components that go into premium gasoline and chemicals.
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Siemens successfully commissions wet air oxidation unit for olefins plant

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Siemens Water Solutions successfully installed and started up a Zimpro wet air oxidation (WAO) system at a global petrochemical company’s olefins plant in the Southern US, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The order, received in November 2017, is the second Zimpro wet air oxidation system supplied to the customer. The first system was supplied in 2004.

The Zimpro WAO system will treat spent caustic generated in the production of ethylene by destroying odorous and high chemical oxygen demand (COD) pollutants. The system also generates an effluent that can be safely neutralized and sent to a biological treatment plant, where it is further treated for discharge.

Siemens Water Solutions addresses water and wastewater needs of the oil and gas industry with a portfolio that includes physical and chemical separation, biological treatment, and complex hydrothermal technologies.

As MRC informed before, in April 2019, Braskem, the largest petrochemical company in Latin America, entered into an agreement with Siemens to modernize a cogeneration power and steam plant at its Petrochemical Complex in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Completion of the project is expected in early 2021.
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Saudi Arabia Falih says Aramco IPO to happen in 2020-21

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Investment banks are scrambling to re-pitch to advise Saudi Aramco on a possible initial public offering, sources familiar with the matter said, with Saudi Arabia’s energy minister confirming plans for the listing to proceed in 2020 or 2021, as per Reuters.

FILE PHOTO: An Aramco oil tank is seen at the production facility at Saudi Aramco's Shaybah oilfield in the Empty Quarter, Saudi Arabia, May 22, 2018.

“There is some shifting in terms of what roles the banks might have if IPO talks go ahead.” JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley and HSBC were picked to play a leading role in the world’s biggest ever IPO when the plan was first announced in 2016. Boutique investment banks Moelis & Co and Evercore were also hired by Aramco as independent advisers. But plans for a domestic and international listing were later postponed.

The Saudi energy minister Khalid al-Falih, who also chairs Aramco, said on Tuesday the company was ready to start working on the long-awaited listing, adding it could happen in 2020-2021. “The IPO process was never fully suspended,” al-Falih said.

“We have always been clear that the IPO will happen in the 2020-2021 timeframe. We have never stopped talking about the IPO.”

Al-Falih pointed to Aramco’s USD69.1 billion acquisition of a 70 percent stake in petrochemicals firm Saudi Basic Industries (SABIC) along with a recent USD12 billion bonds sale as the main reason for the IPO delay. “Now that all of these issues have been cleared, we are ready to start planning for the IPO,” he said.

Al-Falih confirmed the same timeline that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known as MbS, provided on June 16 when he said the government remained fully committed to the IPO project, expecting it to take place between 2020 and early 2021.

MbS’s comments triggered a series of approaches by international investment banks who wanted to be in the driving seat, one of the sources said. The IPO is a centerpiece of the crown prince’s plan to diversify the kingdom’s economy beyond oil.

“It is a catch 22 situation,” another source said. “After the statement by the Crown Prince, banks have been rushing to Aramco to pitch.

As part of their client coverage, investment banks frequently discuss listing options with Aramco, but no formal IPO process is underway, a third source said.

Bloomberg earlier reported on Tuesday that Saudi Aramco recently held talks with a group of investment banks to discuss roles in its potential initial public offering, citing people familiar with the matter.
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New range of polyolefins incorporating post-consumption recycled material

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Repsol has carried out the industrial production of its Repsol 50RX2805 grade for the manufacturing of bundle shrink film, putting on the market its first material resulting from its Reciclex Project, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The material's formulation consists of a low density polyethylene (LDPE) compound into which a 50% post-consumer plastic waste is incorporated, which ensures the consistency of the material and its functionality for the final application.

This grade is the first derived from its Reciclex Project to become part of Repsol's new polyolefins portfolio incorporating a percentage of post-consumer plastic waste. The new material offers new solutions to boost the circular economy, enabling to incorporate recycled plastic on a commercial scale in an application where its presence was merely testimonial; and it unfolds new uses, without compromising the final application technical requirements.

Repsol 50RX2805, used in bundle shrink films as secondary packaging for transport packs of cans, bottles, bricks or cardboard boxes, allows the converter to incorporate between 25-30% post-consumer recycled content in the formulation of the final film, without altering its mechanical properties Repsol 50RX2805, used in bundle shrink films as secondary packaging for transport of multi-packs of cans, bottles, cartons or cardboard boxes, allows the converter to incorporate between 25-30% post-consumer recycled content in the formulation of the final film, without altering its mechanical properties.

With these new materials, Repsol advances its commitment to the circular economy and its value chain, putting into the market new solutions that will generate additional demand for plastic recycling, in line with its pledge in the Circular Plastics Alliance (CPA), launched by the European Commission in December 2018.
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