ABB to digitalize SABIC chemical plant

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ABB has won a project to install its renowned extended automation system at a greenfield pilot plant for SABIC in Jubail, Saudi Arabia, supporting SABIC’s broader vision to digitalize its operations, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Leveraging ABB Ability System 800xA, SABIC will apply ABB’s integrated automation, control and safety solutions to the company's Utilities Park and Pilot project. The park is part of the SABIC Technology Centre (STC), which marks the company’s biggest global investment in innovation, and the largest of its 21 technology centers worldwide.

Combining the functionality of a distributed control system (DCS), electrical control system and safety instrumented system (SIS), ABB’s 800xA platform will provide big data, delivered in real-time, alongside predictive analytics that support SABIC making accurate and timely decisions to enhance the productivity and performance of the pilot plant.

This is in addition to SABIC’s efforts to enable Saudi Vision 2030[i], with the collaboration showing local content impact through ABB’s participation in SABIC’s Home of Innovation™ Program.

Collaboration between ABB and Wison Engineering, the largest non-state-owned engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) service provider in China, was integral to the selection of ABB’s system. Wison Engineering secured a US$150 million EPC order from SABIC for the project last year.

Work on the pilot is due to commence in early 2020.

ABB is a market leader in delivering distributed control systems (DCS) to industry, with an installed base of over 70 million connected devices and 70,000 control systems, and an annual investment of USD1.5 billion in research and development. Since its introduction in 2004, ABB Ability System 800xA has been sold to more than 10,000 systems, including over 45,000 controllers, and 40,000 + operator stations in over 100 countries.

SABIC is a market leader in products such as ethylene, methanol, MTBE, engineering plastics and its derivatives, and is the third largest diversified chemical company in the world.

As MRC reported earlier, in early October 2019, Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC), one of the world’s largest petrochemical producers, announced that it had successfully merged two of its wholly owned affiliates, Saudi Petrochemical Company (Sadaf) and Arabian Petrochemical Company (Petrokemya). "The merger was driven by SABIC’s strategy to increase efficiency and competitiveness of its operations.

According to ICIS-MRC Price report, Russia's estimated PC consumption rose in in the first three quarters of 2019 by 11% year on year to 61,000 tonnes (54,800 tonnes a year earlier). Consumption in the injection moulding sector grew in the first nine months of 2019 by 10% year on year to 7,900 tonnes from 7,200 tonnes a year earlier.

Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) ranks among the world's top petrochemical companies. The company is among the worldпїЅs market leaders in the production of polyethylene, polypropylene and other advanced thermoplastics, glycols, methanol and fertilizers.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A US bankruptcy judge approved a process for the sale of the Philadelphia Energy Solutions oil refinery, the largest and oldest on East Coast, under which city officials and a trade union will consult on the matter, reported Reuters.

The plan resolves earlier objections by giving the United Steelworkers union and Philadelphia city officials access to the identities of bidders and, in some cases, the ability to speak with potential buyers, according to the order signed by Judge Kevin Gross of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

An auction date for the PES refinery was set for Jan. 17 in New York.

PES collapsed into bankruptcy on July 21 and put its 335,000 barrel-per-day refinery up for sale after a fire tore through an alkylation unit at the Girard Point section of the plant a month earlier. Most of the 1,100 PES workers, including more than 600 members of the United Steelworkers local union, were laid off without severance or benefits.

About a dozen parties have shown interest in buying the plant, pitching various uses for the facility, including a biofuels operation and restoring the oil refinery back to its full capacity.

The city, community activists and workers advocates have called for more transparency in the sale process of the fire-damaged plant, which could require city-issued zoning and other permits for approval.

Gross on Thursday also signed off on an additional $35 million in debtor-in-possession financing for PES, giving the refiner more time to pay legal fees and other bills as it fights for insurance coverage tied to the fire.

PES has already received USD65 million in bankruptcy financing and a USD50 million advance on future insurance proceeds. However, it has been unable to receive any of the |USD1.25 billion in property damage and business interruption insurance coverage.

To secure the debtor-in-possession deal, PES reached an agreement with ICBC Standard Bank, allowing the bank to retrieve crude oil and product that has been stranded at the facility since it closed. ICBC Standard will have 125 days to remove the oil, which it owns under an intermediation agreement with PES.

At the time of the fire, ICBC Standard said it had USD1.6 billion worth of crude and products stored at the refinery.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- International energy firms will be invited to participate in India’s privatization of state-owned oil companies, the country’s Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Pradhan said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently met with the chief executives of energy firms in Houston, including those from Exxon Mobil Corp, BP Plc, Royal Dutch Shell, Rosneft Oil Co, Saudi Aramco and Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (Adnoc).

This is the first time Pradhan has signaled the government’s intent bring foreign investment into the country’s state-owned oil companies.

“We are inviting oil majors,” Dharmendra Pradhan told reporters at an energy conference in Abu Dhabi. “They are all towards India’s energy market,” he said. Asked if the response was positive, he said “I am very enthusiastic.”

The minister said a planned oil refinery on India’s west coast in partnership with Aramco and Adnoc is on the right track. There will be more clarity once the a new government is formed in the state of Maharastra, where the project is planned, which is deadlocked after the recent elections, he said.

Asked if a firm deal with Aramco and Adnoc could be sealed soon, he said “I think so,” declining to give a timeline.

India is also open to crude oil imports from Russia, he said. “We are open to source our requirements from all over the world whoever gives us responsible and reasonable price. Russia is a very important partner for us.” On Monday, the chairman of Indian Oil Corp said the company was looking at buying Russian oil.

As MRC wrote previously, Indian Oil Corp conducted turnaround at its naphtha cracker in India from early September 2019 to early October 2019. Located in Panipat, in the northern Indian state of Haryana, the cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 857,000 mt/year and propylene capacity of 425,000 mt/year.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,589,580 tonnes in the first nine months of 2019, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 976,790 tonnes in January-September 2019, up by 4% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.

Indian Oil Corporation Limited, or IndianOil, is an Indian state-owned oil and gas corporation with its headquarters in New Delhi, India.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Clariant announced that the California-based Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute has awarded the Material Health Certificate GOLD level certification to Licocare RBW 102 Vita, Licocare RBW 106 Vita and Licocare RBW 300 Vita , bio-based lubricating and dispersing aids, said the company.

This award is a further confirmation of their excellent environmental profile and contribution to a circular economy for plastics.

The Material Health Certificate uses the rigorous, globally recognized material health assessment methodology of the Cradle to Cradle Certified Product Standard to verify a product’s support for safe and circular products. Cradle to Crade® is a design concept developed in the early 90’s by William McDonough and Michael Braungart that is inspired by nature and represents circular thinking and innovation.

To determine the suitability of Licocare RBW for the certification, Clariant worked closely with the Environmental Protection Encouragement Agency (EPEA) Switzerland GmbH, an accredited assessor for the Cradle to Cradle Certified and Material Health Certificate Certification. All ingredients present at > 100 ppm in a product are assessed with regard to material health to enable safe and circular products. As lubricants and dispersing agents are process chemicals which may be released into water, the safety of such an ingredient is one of the five criteria of the Cradle to Cradle Certified certification standard.

Licocare RBW bio-based additives are derived from rice bran wax, a non-food-competing by-product from the production of edible rice bran oil. Clariant upgrades this renewable raw material to facilitate its use as value-added, highly-effective processing aids for plastics compounders and masterbatch producers. Melt flow improvements, easier mold release and ensuring a more homogeneous distribution of pigments are features among their extensive benefits.

Given their extraordinary heat stability, typical application areas include engineering thermoplastics, biopolymers and epoxy resins, which benefits various polymer using industries such as automotive, electrical and electronical, as well as finding uses in coatings, agriculture and consumer applications.

As MRC informed earlier, Clariant announced that it has been awarded a contract by Dongguan Grand Resource Science & Technology Co. Ltd. to develop a new propane dehydrogenation unit in cooperation with CB&I. The Dongguan plant will be one of the largest single-train dehydrogenation units in the world. Clariant's technology partner CB&I will base the plant's design on its Catofin® catalytic dehydrogenation technology, which uses Clariant's tailor-made Catofin catalyst and Heat Generating Material (HGM).

Propylene is the main feedstock for producing polyprolypele (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, 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.

Clariant AG is a Swiss chemical company and a world leader in the production of specialty chemicals for the textile, printing, mining and metallurgical industries. It is engaged in processing crude oil products in pigments, plastics and paints. Clariant India has local masterbatch production activities at Rania, Kalol and Nandesari (Gujarat) and Vashere (Maharashtra) sites in India.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- First Cobalt Corp is in advanced talks with Canada’s Ontario province to finance the USD37.5 million required to restart its idled cobalt refinery, President and Chief Executive Officer Trent Mell said, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

If successful, such a deal would reduce First Cobalt’s funding reliance on Glencore Plc, which in July agreed to extend $45 million in loans to develop the project in stages.

The plant, located about 600 kilometers (373 miles) from the U.S. border in Cobalt, Ontario, would be the sole North American producer of refined cobalt for the electric vehicle market and lessen dependence of U.S. end-users on China, where most of the world’s cobalt refining capacity is located.

"We’re trying to bring our own sources of capital to the table, and we’re talking to the Ontario government to see if there’s an opportunity to ... get some kind of support under the umbrella of the Ontario and North American automotive supply chain," Mell said.

He did not indicate what form that might take but said loan guarantees are a possibility. First Cobalt has also tapped Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce to find potential partners for the project, Mell said, although those discussions are at an earlier stage. "I think everything’s on the table for us right now," Mell said.

Representatives for Ontario’s Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade and its Ministry of Energy, Northern Development and Mines did not immediately respond to an email. CIBC did not respond to a request for comment.

Canada, the United States, Australia and other western countries are keen to reduce their reliance on top supplier China for rare earths, a group of minerals used in everything from smart phones to electric vehicles. First Cobalt has said it will decide whether to restart the plant in the first quarter next year, with initial throughput of 12 tonnes per day targeted for late 2020.
MRC