Iranian Abadan oil refinery expansion work to be halted until mid-April

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Iran has decided to halt work on the expansion of its Abadan oil refinery until mid-April as part of measures to contain the new coronavirus outbreak, the semi-official Mehr news agency said, citing Managing Director of National Iranian Oil Engineering and Construction Company (NIOEC) Saeed Sattari Naini, said Reuters.

Iran contracted China’s Sinopec in 2017 to carry out the work over a period of four years.

As MRC informed earlier, Production volume of chemical and petrochemical products registered a 1.9 percent growth in 10 months of the current year (from March 21 to Jan. 20). Statistics showed that 45,885,000 tons of petrochemcials were produced from March 21, 2019 to Jan. 20, 2020, showing a 1.9 percent growth as compared to the same period of last year. In this period, production of polystyrene recorded a 60 percent decline while production of polycarbonate and resin epoxy registered a 48.8 and 11.9 percent slump respectively. In the meantime, production of rubber styrene butadiene, polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) recorded a 19, 9.5 and 8.7 percent increase respectively.

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) -- An employee at California’s largest oil refinery tested positive for the coronavirus and, along with a few other workers, went into self-quarantine this week, as per Reuters.

The worker was diagnosed with COVID-19 and a “handful of people in contact with the employee were quickly identified and left work. All are now under management of the local Public Health Department,” said Marathon spokesman Jamal Kheiry.

Marathon Petroleum Corp’s Los Angeles Refinery, located in Carson, California, is the state’s largest producer of gasoline, with the ability to process 363,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) of crude oil into fuels.

The Carson plant is continuing regular operations, Marathon said. The refinery is believed to be the first in the United States to report a worker with the fast-spreading respiratory illness.

The pandemic has infected nearly 1,900 people in the United States and 141,000 in more than 130 nations worldwide, killed more than 5,000 and shuttered schools, sports arenas and offices.

California is one of the three hardest-hit U.S. states with about 250 reported coronavirus cases. The other two are Washington state, which accounts for most of the U.S. deaths, and New York.

The employee at the Los Angeles Refinery reported to the plant’s health office and went into quarantine. How the person may have contracted the virus was not known.

The Carson plant employs about 850 people including managers and hourly labor, a person familiar with the matter said. In a crisis, it could remain in operation with about 600 people.

California has 15 refineries with a combined crude oil processing capacity of 1.9 million bpd. The West Coast has few ways of obtaining fuel from the U.S. Gulf Coast or the Midwest and often turns to Asia and the Middle East for supplies when refineries are shut.

Marathon is the largest U.S. refiner, operating 16 refineries with a combined capacity to process 3 million bpd of crude oil, or 16% of national capacity.

While refineries can operate for periods at reduced staffing, they cannot adopt work-from-home rules or be operated remotely by employees at another refining site.

As MRC informed earlier, BP said the deadly coronavirus outbreak could cut global oil demand growth by 40 per cent this year, putting pressure on Opec producers and Russia to curb supplies to keep prices in check. Brian Gilvary, the UK oil major’s chief financial officer, said 300,000-500,000 barrels a day were at risk this year - a big chunk of 1.2m b/d growth initially expected by the company and global energy agencies.

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) -- Repsol's Coruna started a programmed halt in early January that will run to the end of March and will include the finalization of three CO2 emission reduction projects at the 1.7 million cu m/yr fluid catalytic cracker, among other work, reported S&P Global.

Repsol will invest EUR64 million in the work. The work will mean halting six of the refinery's conversion units one by one.

Project G-52 will be directed towards energy efficiency and CO2 reduction, while G-53 will reduce the atmospheric particle emissions from the unit.

At the same time, project G-54 will involve the installation of a new compressor in the gas recovery unit and the substitution of steam turbines for electric motors in both that unit and the FCC.

As MRC informed before, Spain’s Repsol shut down its cracker in Tarragona (Spain) for maintenance in the fourth quarter of 2019. The turnaround at this steam cracker, which produces 702,000 mt/year of ethylene and 372,000 mt/year of propylene, was pushed back from Q3 2019. The exact dates of maintenance works were not disclosed.

We also remind that in Q1 2016, Repsol completed the construction work of its new metallocene polyethelene plant at its Tarragona site. Repsol started up the plant and began production and marketing of this new product during Q2 2016.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 215,390 tonnes in the first month of 2020, up by 23% year on year. Shipments of all grades of high density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) increased due to higher capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 127,240 tonnes in January 2020, up by 33% year on year. ZapSibNeftekhim's homopolymer PP accounted for the main increase in shipments.

Repsol S.A is an integrated Spanish oil and gas company with operations in 28 countries. The bulk of its assets are located in Spain.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Poland's largest fuel concern, PKN Orlen, said on Monday it will reduce fuel prices as much as possible, said Thefirstnews, citing Orlen CEO Daniel Obajtek.

"We have decided to reduce fuel prices as much as possible at PKN Orlen stations. As a responsible company, we encourage everyone to stay at home, but we realise that many people throughout Poland, including uniformed and medical services, must now maintain maximum mobility," Obajtek wrote.

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 1,904,410 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.

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) -- PT Polytama Propindo is planning to take its polypropylene (PP) unit in Indonesia off-stream for a routine maintenance work by the end of March, 2020, reported CommoPlast.

The company will shut its PP plant following the shutdown at its feedstock supplier - PT Pertamina.

The unit has an annual capacity of 240,000 tons/year and would remain off-line for about 20 days.

Meanwhile, PT Pertamina would shut its 578,000 tons cracker from 18 March to 18 April 2020.

As MRC wrote previously, in 2017, the company conducted maintenance at this plant from end-January to mid-February.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, PP shipments to the Russian market were 127,240 tonnes in January 2020, up by 33% year on year. ZapSibNeftekhim's homopolymer PP accounted for the main increase in shipments.

PT Polytama Propindo was established in 1993 as a signifcant manufacturer of polypropylene resin (PP resin) in Indonesia. Polytama is taking a leading role in Indonesia's fast growing economy by utilizing the country wealth i.e. the secondary processing yield of oil and natural gas , through industrial manufacturing. The factory located in Balongan, Juntinyuat district, Indramayu-West Java, using one of the best technology in the world, the Spheripol technology of Montell (now LyondellBasell), with an installed capacity of 100,000 metric tons per year.

Two years later the construction of the factory was completed on July 27, 1995 and PT Polytama Propindo started the production (the product trade name: Masplene), the supply of raw material propylene with high purity from PERTAMINA refinery UP-VI (now RU-VI ) Balongan. In 1996, and the plant capacity grown to 180,000 tons per year. Response to the addition of propylene production capacity of PERTAMINA RU-VI in 2004, PT Polytama Propindo increased its capacity to 200,000 tons per year.
MRC