Husky receives approval to begin superior refinery rebuild

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Husky Energy continues to make steady progress towards a return to full operations at the Superior Refinery, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The Company has received the required permit approvals to begin reconstruction activities at the site and work is expected to begin immediately. Demolition of damaged equipment resulting from a fire in April of 2018 is now largely complete and the rebuild will take place over the next two years with an expected return to full operations in 2021.

“Our continued investment in this refinery and the community will support the Superior-Duluth regional economy through jobs, procurement, taxes and essential energy products for years to come,” said CEO Rob Peabody. “The Superior Refinery is an integral part of Husky’s Integrated Corridor business, which maximizes margin capture across the value chain.”

Husky acquired the Superior Refinery, located in Superior, Wisconsin, in 2017. As the first U.S. refinery along the route of the Enbridge mainline, it is ideally positioned to process the Company’s Canadian heavy crude feedstock into high-demand products such as gasoline, diesel and asphalt for the U.S. Midwest market. The refinery has about 200 employees and works with numerous contractors and suppliers in the region. During the construction phase, more than 350 contractor jobs are expected to be created at peak.

Once the refinery is fully ramped up, Husky’s overall downstream throughput capacity is expected to be approximately 400,000 bbls/day.

As MRC informed earlier, Cambridge, AVEVA, a global leader in engineering and industrial software, has signed an agreement with Calgary-based integrated oil and gas company Husky Energy to deliver an end-to-end supply chain management solution for Husky’s downstream business.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Brazilian state-controlled oil company Petrobras said a fire broke out at its Revap refinery, in the city of Sao Jose dos Campos, on Sunday afternoon, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Petroleo Brasileiro SA, as the company is formally known, said in a statement the fire had already been brought under control without any casualties.

The blaze broke out in tanks that store materials used to produce asphalt and fuel.

Petrobras said the cause of the fire was still under investigation. It did not say immediately if production at Revap had been halted.

As MRC informed earlier, in June 2019, Petroleo Brasileiro SA said it has signed a deal with local antitrust regulator CADE regarding the proposed sale of some of its refining installations. The company said the agreement will allow for increased competition in Brazil’s refining sector, by attracting new players to the business. Petrobras, as the oil firm is known, will sell eight refineries in seven different Brazilian states.

Headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Petrobras is an integrated energy firm. Petrobras' activities include exploration, exploitation and production of oil from reservoir wells, shale and other rocks as well as refining, processing, trade and transport of oil and oil products, natural gas and other fluid hydrocarbons, in addition to other energy-related activities.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Two more petrochemical companies in Saudi Arabia announced over the weekend that feedstock supplies from Saudi Aramco have returned to normal levels, said Spglobal.

Sadara and Advanced Petrochemical Co. were the two companies that announced resumption of normal supplies.

Late last week, six of Saudi Arabia's petrochemical firms said feedstock ethane supplies from Saudi Aramco returned to normal. The companies were -- Sipchem, Saudi Kayan, Tasnee, Yansab, Sabic and Petro Rabigh.

Feedstock supplies were cut to crucial Saudi petrochemical companies after the attacks on key Saudi Aramco oil facilities on September 14. The attacked oil field also produces and supplies gas for petrochemical production, and the country's petrochemical industry was particularly hit by the gas supply cut.

Feedstock ethane supplies were cut 16%-50% just after the attacks.

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI) today announced further initiatives to accelerate the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and support the goals of the Paris Agreement, ahead of OGCI’s annual event in New York City, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

First, OGCI launched a new initiative to unlock large-scale investment in carbon capture, use and storage (CCUS), a crucial tool to achieve net zero emissions. OGCI’s CCUS KickStarter initiative is designed to help decarbonize multiple industrial hubs around the world, starting with hubs in the US, UK, Norway, the Netherlands, and China. The aim of the KickStarter is to create the necessary conditions to facilitate a commercially viable, safe and environmentally responsible CCUS industry, with an early aspiration to double the amount of carbon dioxide that is currently stored globally before 2030.

Second, OGCI showed progress towards its methane intensity target announced last year. Members are on track to meet the methane intensity target, having reduced collective methane intensity by 9% in 2018. In addition to the methane intensity target, OGCI is now working on a carbon intensity target to reduce by 2025 the collective average carbon intensity of member companies’ aggregated upstream oil and gas operations.

Third, all OGCI member companies have pledged to support policies that attribute an explicit or implicit value to carbon. Acknowledging the role that attributing a value to carbon plays as one of the most cost-efficient ways to achieve the low carbon transition as early as possible, OGCI supports the introduction of appropriate policies or carbon value mechanisms by governments.

OGCI Climate Investments, OGCI’s USD1 billion-plus fund, has nearly doubled the number of investments in promising clean technologies over the year. The fund now has a total of 15 investments in its portfolio. Climate Investments actively supports these companies in deployment and scale-up as well as continuing to search for additional opportunities in its focus areas.

In a joint statement, the heads of the OGCI member companies said: “We are scaling up the speed, scale, and impact of our actions in support of the Paris Agreement. Accelerating the energy transition requires sustainable, large-scale actions, different pathways and innovative technological solutions to keep global warming well below 2°C. We are committed to enhancing our efforts as a constructive partner with governments, civil society, business and other stakeholders working together to transition to a net zero economy."

“The progress towards our methane intensity target makes us confident that the actions we are taking deliver results. We are on track to reach our methane intensity target of 0.25% by 2025. Encouraged by our experience of working together on reducing methane emissions, we are now working on a target to reduce by 2025 the collective average carbon intensity of our aggregated upstream oil and gas emissions."
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Algeria’s state-owned Sonatrach held meetings with Exxon Mobil last week to discuss possible partnerships, a Sonatrach statement said on Monday, a week after it said it had talked with Chevron Corp., said Reuters.

Sonatrach gave no further details of the September 25 and 26 meetings but the energy producer has said it wants to boost output to increase revenues after a decline in prices hit its budget.

Some 95% of Algeria’s foreign revenue comes from oil and gas sales. Since energy prices dropped in 2014, its foreign exchange reserves have fallen to USD72.6 billion from USD178 billion.

The talks with foreign oil majors come at a sensitive time for Algeria after mass protests in February unseated veteran president Abdleaziz Bouteflika, creating a constitutional limbo that the army hopes to resolve with an election in December.

Algeria, a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and a major gas supplier to Europe, has struggled to lift production to meet rising domestic demand, while foreign investors have often baulked at contract terms.

As it was informed earlier, Sonatrach's petrochemicals joint venture with Total has selected Honeywell UOP's C3 Oleflex technology for its proposed 565,000 tonne/year polymer-grade propylene project in Arzew, Algeria. The catalytic dehydrogenation technology converts propane into propylene.

Propylene is a feedstock for producing polyprolypele (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's 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.

STEP was created last year as a 51:49 JV between Algeria’s state oil company Sonatrach and French energy and petrochemicals major Total to develop the Arzew petrochemicals project.
MRC