PKN Orlen to develop a new generation bio-refinery

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The ORLEN Group’s ORLEN Poludnie signed a contract for the construction in Trzebinia of Poland’s first unit producing eco-friendly propylene glycol. The new unit’s annual capacity will be 30,000 tonnes, covering 75% of Poland’s total demand, said the comany.

Propylene glycol is a safe and environmentally-friendly product, with applications in medicine, cosmetics and the food industry. The project will be carried out by a consortium of two Polish companies at an estimated cost of approximately PLN 400m.

“In line with our previous declarations, we are developing and strengthening through investments the various companies of the ORLEN family. The construction of Poland’s first unit producing environmentally-friendly glycol is a major step in transforming our plant in Trzebinia into an advanced bio-refinery. Its main focus will be on eco-friendly, high-margin products,” said Daniel Obajtek, President of the Management Board of PKN ORLEN.

The Trzebinia project will see its completion in 2021 and will be constructed by a consortium formed by two Polish companies: Technik Polska Sp. z o.o. and Biproraf Sp. z o.o. The turnkey contract provides for engineering, procurement and construction of a propylene glycol unit (1.2 – MPG) together with auxiliary systems and additional infrastructure.

The construction of Poland’s first unit for the production of environmentally-friendly propylene glycol will strengthen ORLEN Poludnie’s position both as a player on the Polish biocomponents market and an employer in the region. Today ORLEN Poludnie has a workforce of over 650, more than a half of them employed at the refinery in Trzebinia. After the unit is placed in commercial operation in 2021, several dozen new jobs will be created.

The manufacture of eco-friendly propylene glycol will help utilise Trzebinia’s glycerine output, which is a by-product of biodiesel obtained mainly from rapeseed oil. The project will also benefit other Polish biodiesel producers, from whom ORLEN Poludnie will source glycerine following project completion.

The project can be pursued thanks to the company’s sound financial condition: in 2018 ORLEN Poludnie posted a net profit of PLN 89m. The propylene glycol unit, as the first project in ORLEN Poludnie’s history, has qualified for inclusion in the Polish Investment Zone programme by the Krakow Technology Park.
The propylene glycol output will be sold both to Polish and foreign companies.

As MRC informed earlier, in H1 September 2019, Honeywell announced that PKN ORLEN had licensed the UOP MaxEne process, which can increase production of ethylene and aromatics and improve the flexibility of gasoline production. The project, for the PKN ORLEN facility in Plock, Poland, currently is in the basic engineering stage. Honeywell UOP, a leading provider of technologies for the oil and gas industry, first commercialized the UOP MaxEne process in 2013. The process enables refiners and petrochemical producers to direct molecules within the naphtha feed to the processes that deliver the greatest value and improve yields of fuels and petrochemicals.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polyprolypele (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,255,800 tonnes in the first seven months of 2019, up by 9% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, the estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 796,120 tonnes in January-July 2019, up by 11% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.

PKN ORLEN would be the first refining and petrochemicals company in Europe to use the Honeywell UOP MaxEne technology for molecule management of a naphtha stream to produce high-quality products including olefins, aromatics and gasoline.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil Corp has begun planned maintenance on a small crude distillation unit at its 502,500 barrel per day (bpd) Baton Rouge refinery in Louisiana, reported Reuters with reference to sources familiar with plant operations.

The oil major was removing excess carbon from the 90,000 bpd PSLA-8 CDU’s furnace, the sources said. PSLA-8 is one of two 90,000 bpd CDUs at the refinery. They are the smallest in capacity of the four CDUs at the Baton Rouge plant.

PSLA-8 is expected to be shut for about 10 days.

ExxonMobil also operates a cracker at this site with a capacity of 1 mln tonnes of ethylene and 575,000 tonnes of propylene per year.

As MRC wrote earlier, Exxon Mobil Corp is planning to spend more than 500 million pounds (USD650 million) to upgrade the UK’s largest oil refinery, Fawley, on England’s south coast.

Besidea, we remind that, a little more than two years after announcing it had selected San Patricio County as the site for its new ethylene cracker plant, ExxonMobil and Saudi Basic Industries Corp. celebrated the groundbreaking for the new facility. This marks the symbolic start of construction on the USD7 bln Gulf Coast Growth Ventures facility near Gregory.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polyprolypele (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption was 1,081,100 tonnes in the first half of 2019, up by 8% year on year. Deliveries of all PE grades increased. Meanwhile, the estimated consumption of PP in the Russian market totalled 694,210 tonnes in January-June 2019, up by 14% year on year. The supply of propylene block copolymers (PP-block) and propylene homopolymers (PP-homo) increased.

ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world's oil and about 2% of the world's energy.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Converting and process films supplier Mid South Extrusion (MSE) is committing USD4.5 million to add a new blown-film production line at its Monroe, LA polyethylene (PE) films plant, the company announced in a release Tuesday with Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, said the company.

This will be the 10th production line for Mid South Extrusion Inc., which makes polyethylene films. The new capacity in Monroe, La., is expected to create eight new jobs with an average annual salary of USD28,000 plus benefits according to the office of Gov. John Bel Edwards.

The facility already employs 128. "In addition to substantially increasing our plant capacity, this investment will allow MSE to target new markets and customers in the food packaging sector," MSE President Ron Mason said in a statement.

MSE started with a single production line and four employees in 1986 and currently is in a 200,000-square-foot production facility. The company ranks No. 67 in Plastics News' ranking of North American film and sheet manufacturers, with film sales of USD85 million.

As per MRC DataScope, Last month's PE imports decreased to 21,800 tonnes from 25,500 tons in July, local companies decreased their purchasing of high density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE). Overall PE imports reached 178,400 tonnes in January-August 2019, compared to 162,500 tonnes a year earlier. Import deliveries of HDPE and linear polyethylene increased, while imports of other types of ethylene polymers decreased.

MSE makes films for retail packaging, lamination substrates, and construction and pipe wrapping applications. Other markets include packaging film used for bedding, furniture, carpet, medical, textile and canning applications, according to the governor's office.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- India’s Haldia Petrochemicals is operating its naphtha cracker at full capacity as fire at a pipeline did not affect throughput, reported Reuters on Friday with reference to a source familiar with the matter.

The fire came a time when naphtha prices have surged following attacks on Saudi’s oil facilities on Saturday.

Haldia operates a naphtha cracker that can produce more than 600,000 tonnes of ethylene a year.

It buys naphtha from Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC) and Indian Oil Corp (IOC).

There will be no impact on naphtha cargo purchases from KPC and IOC, the source said.

As MRC informed before, Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL) resumed production at its cracker and downstream plants following a maintenance turnaround on 9-10 June, 2018. The complex was shut on May 10, 2018 for a period of about 20-25 days. Located at Haldia in the eastern Indian state of west Bengal, the complex can produce 700,000 mt/year of ethylene and 350,000 mt/year of propylene and provides feedstock to a 330,000 mt/year high density PE plant, a 370,000 mt/year HDPE/linear low PE swing plant and a 350,000 mt/year polypropylene unit.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polyprolypele (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,255,800 tonnes in the first seven months of 2019, up by 9% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, the estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 796,120 tonnes in January-July 2019, up by 11% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.

Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd is a modern naphtha based petrochemical complex at Haldia, West Bengal, India. Haldia has played the role of a catalyst in emergence of more than 500 downstream processing industries in West Bengal with a capacity to process more than 3,50,000 TPA of polymers, among which are PE and PP.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Aramco will bring full oil production capacity at Abqaiq by the end of September, Khalid Buraik, the company’s vice-president for southern area oil operations said, as per Reuters.

Abqaiq, one of the world’s largest petroleum processing facilities, sustained heavy damage from an attack by drones and missiles on Sept. 14.

Aramco is shipping equipment from the United States and Europe to rebuild the damaged facilities, Fahad Abdulkarim, Aramco's general manager for the southern area oil operation, told reporters on a tour organized by the company to the two sites east of the capital Riyadh.

As MRC reported before, a number of Saudi Arabia's companies, such as Tasnee, Sadara, Advanced Petrochemical and Saudi Kayan, announced a curtailment of feedstock to their petrochemical plants, including polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) facilities, by an average of 30-50% due to the attacks on key Saudi Aramco facilities on Saturday.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,255,800 tonnes in the first seven months of 2019, up by 9% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, the estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 796,120 tonnes in January-July 2019, up by 11% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.
MRC