MOSCOW (MRC) -- Versalis (Milan), the chemicals subsidiary of Italy’s Eni (Rome), is embarking on a wide-reaching transformation that could see its sales of intermediates and plastics drop from around 5 million metric tons/year (MMt/y) currently to 4 MMt/y by 2035 and to about 3 MMt/y by 2050, reported Chemweek.
At the same time, the company expects the share of specialty plastics will rise from the current 25% to around 65% of the total in 2035 and to 85% in 2050. This implies that intermediates and commodity plastics sales could drop by around 63% from around 3.75 MMt/y currently to around 1.4 MMt/y in 2035 and then more than halve to 0.6 MMt/y in 2050, while specialty plastics volumes could double from around 1.25 MMt/y currently to 2.6 MMt/y in 2035, before stabilizing around that level. The company also expects to produce about 1 MMt/y of chemicals from renewable biological or recycled raw materials by 2035, spread about 50/50 between bio and recycled material.
The pledge involves the gradual conversion of existing sites to produce more specialties and utilizing more bio and plastic recycling technologies. The company will focus on the production of high-performance polymers and aims to develop production of chemicals from renewables and chemical and mechanical recycling, including the pyrolysis of nonrecyclable plastics to make feedstocks for polymers with characteristics identical to those produced from conventional hydrocarbons. More specifically, Versalis says it aims to "rebalance" its ethylene-polyethylene chain and integrate it with mechanical and chemical recycling. It will also expand further downstream into compounding to reduce the volatility of its plastics margins.
These targets are part of a much wider long-term strategic plan for Eni, a diversified oil and energy group, in response to concerns about climate change and the drive to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. “We have fixed a target of an 80% reduction in net GHG emissions of our energy products by 2050, which exceeds the 70% indicated by the International Energy Agency in their sustainable development scenario, which aims to be compatible with the Paris Agreement,” says Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi. Significantly, this target includes direct and indirect GHG emissions from both Eni's own operations and from Eni products bought by third parties. The group expects to be carbon-neutral in its own operations by 2040.
As part of its strategic plan, Eni expects its upstream production of oil and gas to grow at an annual rate of 3.5% per year from the current 1.9 million b/d of oil equivalent (MBOED) until 2025, before plateauing at around 2.3 million MBOED and then going into a "flexible decline," particularly in oil. LNG volumes will continue to grow, reaching approximately 16 MMt/y by 2025. Eni expects natural gas to account for 60% of its upstream business by 2035 and 80% by 2050. The group also expects to realize 94% of the value of its current oil and gas reserves by 2035, minimizing the risk of "stranded assets."
The group aims for a gradual conversion of all its refining sites in Italy to utilize new technologies in the production of low-carbon products from the recycling of waste material. Eni aims to increase biorefining capacity to 5 MMt/y and be palm-oil-free from 2023, seven years ahead of the EU ban. It currently uses over 320,000 metric tons/year of the product. Castor oil will be emphasized as a new feedstock for refining. The group will also step up efforts in the fields of plastics and waste gasification, and will progressively add capacities at its Italian refining sites for the production of hydrogen, methanol, and biomethane.
Last year, Eni acquired a 20% stake in the refining business of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (Adnoc). Adnoc refines in excess of 922,000 b/d of crude oil at Ruwais. The deal increased Eni’s global refining capacity by 35%. Eni says that, in the long term, the Ruwais refinery will be the only traditional refinery in operation within the Eni system.
As MRC informed earlier, Versalis shut its cracking unit in Priolo, Sicily, for repairs in the last days of December, 2019. The capacity of the cracking unit at this complex is 490,000 tonnes of ethylene and 130,000 tonnes of propylene per year. The maintenance works lasted until February 2020. Loading at this cracker was reduced in November and December 2019.
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).
Versalis is a petrochemical company, a 100% subsidiary of the Italian oil and gas company Eni SpA. The company produces a wide range of petrochemical products, and is also one of the world's leading elastomer companies.
Eni spa (Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi) is an Italian oil and gas company headquartered in Rome. Eni operates in 70 countries.
MRC