Algerian oil refinery restarts, kicking off fuel export plan

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Algeria has restarted the Sidi Rezine oil refinery in Algiers after modernization works that lift annual output to 3.645 million tons from 2.7 million tons a year ago, Hydrocarbonprocessing reported.

Fuel importer Algeria aims to start exporting gasoline next year and diesel in 2024 after upgrades to its refineries, state news agency APS said, quoting Sidi Rezine plant manager Hassen Boukhalfa.

Inaugurated by Prime Minister Abdelaziz Djerad, the Sidi Rezine refinery was shut down in 2018 for modernization work by China Petrolum Engineering and Construction (CPECC).

Algeria currently produces about 30 million tons of refined products a year and imports large quantities to meet growing domestic demand.

OPEC member Algeria’s gasoline output reached 2.7 million tons in 2019, against total domestic consumption of 4 million tons, Boukhalfa said.

It aims to stop imports this year and begin exporting in 2021 after completion of the upgrades at other refineries.

The modernization plan will also help to increase diesel production, paving the way for first exports in 2024, Boukhalfa said.

As MRC informed earlier, Turkey and Algeria will jointly establish a petrochemicals plant in Adana on the Mediterranean coast, Algerian Energy Minister Mohammed Arkab told state-run Anadolu Agency. Turkey’s Ronesans Holding and Algeria’s state-owned energy company Sonatrach will take part in the project, Arkab said on the margins of the Turkey-Algeria Business Forum. The facility is planned in Seyhan industrial zone for petrochemical development and will have production capacity of 450,000 tons per year of polypropylene (PP). The construction of the plant will be completed in two years and the facility is expected to become operational in July 2022, Arkab said.Sonatarch will supply the planned plant with 540,000 tons per year of propane that will be used to produce polypropylene, he added.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, the estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,260,400 tonnes in January-December 2019, up by 4% year on year. Supply of almost all grades of propylene polymers increased, except for statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- JPMorgan Chase will reportedly announce a number of policies to increase restrictions on global coal funding and to end direct project funding of Arctic oil and gas projects, said Commondreams.

JPMorgan Chase, which has steadfastly remained the largest funder of fossil fuels despite long-standing climate protests, is announcing an intent to reduce its funding of coal and Arctic oil and gas. This announcement follows similar commitments made by a number of European banks and by Goldman Sachs, the first U.S. bank to announce such limits on fossil fuel funding.

JPMorgan Chase has been under fire from a range of groups for its outsized support of fossil fuels. Rainforest Action Network, Sierra Club, and World Resources Institute have published reports showing JPMorgan’s pivotal role in contributing to climate change. As noted by Bill McKibben in a recent Rolling Stone article, "JPMorgan Chase has lent more money to the fossil fuel industry than any other bank on Earth." McKibben and others launched a Stop the Money Pipeline campaign this year focusing on banks’ fossil fuel financing activities.

Investor concern for JPMorgan’s inaction on climate has also been increasing. This year, JPMorgan is facing climate-related shareholder proposals, including a resolution from As You Sow requesting that the company measure and reduce its carbon-intensive lending in line with the Paris 1.5 degree goal, as well as a campaign to remove a climate-skeptic from the company’s board.

As MRC informed earlier, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley have been picked to advise on Saudi Aramco's plan to buy a controlling stake in petrochemical maker SABIC.

We remind, Saudi Aramco is set to gain unconditional EU antitrust approval for its USD69 billion buy of a 70% stake in petrochemicals group Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC). Aramco announced the deal to acquire the controlling stake from sovereign investor Public Investment Fund (PIF) in March last year, a move key to its diversification into refining and petrochemicals.

Earlier last year, SABIC took off-stream its SABIC Olefins 4 cracker owing to technical issues on May 10, 2019. Further details on duration of the shutdown could not be ascertained. Located in beek, the Netherlands, the cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 690,000 mt/year and a propylene production capacity of 360,000 mt/year.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,093,260 tonnes in 2019, up by 6% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. PE shipments rose from both domestic producers and foreign suppliers. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,260,400 tonnes in January-December 2019, up by 4% year on year. Supply of almost all grades of propylene polymers increased, except for statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russian offline primary oil refining capacity will rise by 1.5 times from February to 1.44 million tonnes in March, reported Reuters with reference to energy ministry data, because of the start of seasonal maintenance.

The data also showed that the idle capacity reached 785,000 tonnes in January and is forecast to rise to 977,000 tonnes last month.

We remind that, as MRC wrote previously, Lukoil, Russian petrochemical major, is likely to take off-stream its acrylonitrile (ACN) plant in April 2020. The company has planned to shut the plant in early-April, 2020. The plant is expected to remain off-line for around 10-15 days. Located in Saratov, Russia, the plant has a production capacity of 190,000 mt/year.

ACN is a feedstock for the production of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS).

According to MRC's DataScopr report, overall ABS imports to the Russian market decreased in 2019 by 4% year on year to 33,700 tonnes.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Chemistry Industry Association of Canada (CIAC) plans to form a new plastics division by absorbing the Canadian Plastics Industry Association (CPIA), which will be dissolved, reported Chemweek.

The two organizations say they agreed to the move after an extensive due diligence process. Members voted unanimously in favor of the transaction, the details of which will be released in the next few months.

"We’re excited to move forward with this transaction because the combination of the two organizations will deliver a stronger, clearer and more unified voice for plastics at a time when unity is needed by the industry to educate Canadians and different levels of government on the value of plastics and policy alternatives to product bans," says Joel Rudolph, chair of the CPIA board of directors and vice president of strategy and business development at Farnell Packaging.

As MRC wrote before, a new multibillion-dollar petrochemical facility being developed in Alberta will be built by a 50/50 partnership between Fluor Canada Ltd. and Kiewit Construction Services ULC. The partnership is called Canada Kuwait Petrochemical Corporation (CKPC). "With more than 25 million hours of construction experience in Alberta, we bring together two industry-leading contractors to deliver end-to-end engineering, procurement and construction services for CKPC’s new PDH unit – the third world-scale facility of its kind for Fluor in recent years,” said Mark Fields, group president of Fluor’s Energy & Chemicals business.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,093,260 tonnes in 2019, up by 6% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. PE shipments rose from both domestic producers and foreign suppliers. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,260,400 tonnes in January-December 2019, up by 4% year on year. Supply of almost all grades of propylene polymers increased, except for statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Spokesman of Iran's Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Products Exporters' Union, Seyyed Hamid Hosseini said that Iran’s export of petrochemical products increased 5 percent in the 10 months of the current year (from March 21, 2019 to Jan. 20, 2020) as compared to the last year’s corresponding period, said Mehrnews.

He made the remarks on Sun. in an interview with IRNA and added, "launching new petrochemical units in the country has been cited as one of the main reasons behind export increase of petrochemicals."

He pointed to the spread of coronavirus in the world and its impact on energy market and added. “outbreak of COVID-19 has left severe effects on oil market and downstream industries from two aspects."

According to him, Islamic Republic of Iran may be affected severely as a result of outbreak of coronavirus, for, a major part of Iran’s petrochemical products is exported to neighboring countries.

Iran’s petrochemicals are mainly exported to two neighboring countries of Turkey and Iraq, he said, adding, "if closure of borders and insecurity continue in this field, it may affect exports market greatly."

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,904,410 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2019, up by 6% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. PE shipments increased from both domestic producers and foreign suppliers. The PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,161,830 tonnes in January-November 2019, up by 7% year on year. Deliveries of all grades of propylene polymers increased, with the homopolymer PP segment accounting for the largest increase.
MRC