ExxonMobil starts turnaround at Singapore cracker

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil, one of the world's petrochemical major, has undertaken a planned shutdown at its cracker in Singapore, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Europe informed that, the company halted operations at the cracker for maintenance on September 14, 2020. The cracker is expected to remain off-line till end-October, 2020.

Located at Jurong Island, Singapore, the cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 1 million mt/year and a propylene production capacity of 450,000 mt/year.

As MRC reported earlier, in June, 2019, ExxonMobil said that it had completed an expansion at its Singapore refinery to upgrade its production of EHC Group II base stocks, strengthening the global supply of high-quality base stocks and enhancing the integrated facility’s competitiveness.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall PE production totalled 1,712,400 tonnes in the first seven months of 2020, up by 58% year on year. Linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) accounted for the greatest increase in the output. At the same time, overall PP production in Russia increased in January-July 2020 by 24% year on year to 1,063,700 tonne. ZapSibNeftekhim accounted for the main increase in the output.

ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world's oil and about 2% of the world's energy.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Eneos Corporation, formerly known as JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy, has taken off-stream its fluid catalytic cracker (FCC) unit owing to technical issues, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Japan informed that, the company has undertaken an unplanned shutdown at the unit around September 7, 2020. The unit is likely to remain off-line for around 15 days.

Located at Chiba in Japan, the FCC unit has a propylene capacity of 50,000 mt/year.

As MRC reported earlier, JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy brought on-stream its FCC in Sendai with a propylene capacity of 100,000 mt/year on 14 August, 2020. The unit was shut for maintenance, on July 28, 2019.

According to MRC's DataScope report, PP imports into Russia rose in the first six months of 2020 by 21% year on year to 105,300 tonnes. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.

Japan's largest refiner JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy was renamed ENEOS Corporation on 25 June, 2020, as part of a wider re-organization of the parent company JXTG Holdings. The move, which also involved renaming the parent company to ENEOS Holdings upon approval at its annual shareholders meeting in June 2020, comes as it strives to be a more comprehensive energy and materials company under its 2040 vision announced in May, 2019. JXTG Holdings was formed as a result of a merger between JX Holdings and TonenGeneral in April 2017. This followed the establishment of JX Holdings as a result of the merger between Nippon Oil and Nippon Mining Holdings in April 2010.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Storm-tossed U.S. offshore energy producers and exporters began clearing debris from Hurricane Sally and booting up idle Gulf of Mexico operations after hunkering down for five days, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The storm toppled trees, flooded streets and left almost 500,000 homes and businesses in Alabama and Florida without power. Sally became a tropical depression on Thursday, leaving widespread flooding along its path with up to a foot (30 cm) of rain falling in parts of Florida and Georgia.

Crews returned to at least 30 offshore oil and gas platforms. Chevron Corp began restaffing its Blind Faith and Petronius platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, following Murphy Oil Corp.'s restart. Bristow Group, which transports oil workers from a Galliano, Louisiana, heliport, resumed crew-change flights to facilities in the west and central Gulf of Mexico.

"We are making flights offshore and experiencing a slight increase in outbound passengers," said heliport manager Lani Moneyhon. The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, a deepwater oil port that handles supertankers, reopened its marine terminal after suspending operations over the weekend.

Sally had shut 508,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil production and 805 million cubic feet of natural gas, more than a quarter of U.S. Gulf of Mexico output, and halted petrochemical exports all along the Gulf Coast. About 1.1 MMbpd of U.S. refining capacity were offline on Wednesday, according to the U.S. Energy Department, including two plants under repair since Hurricane Laura and another halted by weak demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Crude weakened early Thursday with U.S. futures down a fraction and trading below USD40 a barrel. Gasoline futures inched higher in early trading, continuing gains this week. On Thursday morning, Sally was a tropical depression drenching an area from eastern Alabama to central Georgia with torrential rain. It was located about 50 miles (80 km) southeast of Montgomery, Alabama, and packed sustained winds of 30 miles per hour (45 km/h), according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.

Sally is forecast to degenerate into a remnant low by Thursday night, according to the hurricane center. Phillips 66, which shut its 255,600-bpd Alliance, Louisiana, oil refinery ahead of the storm, said it was advancing planned maintenance at the facility and would keep processing halted.

Royal Dutch Shell's Mobile, Alabama, chemical plant and refinery reported no serious damage from an initial survey, the company said. Chevron said its Pascagoula, Mississippi, oil refinery operated normally through the storm.

Shell will also keep the crude distillation unit, alkylation unit and reformer shut for at least a week at its 227,400-bpd Norco, Louisiana, refinery for short-term maintenance work, according to sources. The units were shut due to the threat from Sally.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall PE production totalled 1,712,400 tonnes in the first seven months of 2020, up by 58% year on year. Linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) accounted for the greatest increase in the output. At the same time, overall PP production in Russia increased in January-July 2020 by 24% year on year to 1,063,700 tonne. ZapSibNeftekhim accounted for the main increase in the output.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- OQ Chemicals (formerly Oxea) has entered into an agreement to license its advanced proprietary technology for the production of ethylene and propylene derivatives to Duqm Refinery and Petrochemicals Industries Company (DRPIC) in Oman. DRPIC, a joint venture between Oman Oil Company and Kuwait International Oil Company, is a planned grassroots petrochemical complex at Duqm, Oman. In all, DRPIC awarded twelve license packages to international licensors, said the company.

“At OQ Chemicals, we are pleased to provide our advanced, proven technology and know-how to DRPIC to contribute to the company’s growth and the further development of the region”

“DRPIC is proud to have reached a major milestone with the conclusion of Front-End Engineering Design. We selected OQ Chemicals in a competitive global bidding process. As an international know-how leader, they convinced us with an excellent long-term solution to the challenge of integrating different production technologies and efficient operation of the new plants. This will support DRPIC to better serve the growing demand in Asia-Pacific,” commented Dr. Salim Al Huthaili, CEO of DRPIC.

OQ Chemicals has now entered into the design phase for five world-scale production units for the manufacturing of propanol, butyraldehyde, neopentyl glycol (NPG), 2-Ethylhexanol (2EH), and 2EH acid. The company will supply a process design package and support contractors during the design and construction phase. After commissioning the new units, OQ Chemicals will provide various services, including support for operations, maintenance, troubleshooting, training, and ongoing process optimization at Duqm.

"At OQ Chemicals, we are pleased to provide our advanced, proven technology and know-how to DRPIC to contribute to the company’s growth and the further development of the region,” said Markus Heuwes, Project Director at OQ Chemicals. “We have a long-standing track record with our proprietary oxo technology and can draw on the extensive expertise of our experienced teams from engineering, construction, and operations. For the Duqm Petrochemical Project, we are applying the latest technologies that we developed for our production plants in Bay City, Texas, and Oberhausen, Germany,” Oliver Borgmeier, COO of OQ Chemicals, added.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall PE production totalled 1,712,400 tonnes in the first seven months of 2020, up by 58% year on year. Linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) accounted for the greatest increase in the output. At the same time, overall PP production in Russia increased in January-July 2020 by 24% year on year to 1,063,700 tonne. ZapSibNeftekhim accounted for the main increase in the output.

OQ Chemicals, formerly Oxea, is a global manufacturer of oxo intermediates and oxo derivatives, such as alcohols, polyols, carboxylic acids, specialty esters, and amines. These products are used for the production of high-quality coatings, lubricants, cosmetics and pharmaceutical products, flavours and fragrances, printing inks and plastics. OQ Chemicals is part of OQ, an integrated energy company that delivers sustainability and business excellence. OQ operates in 16 countries and covers the entire value chain from exploration and production to the marketing and distribution of its products.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The economic trauma caused by the coronavirus pandemic has pushed energy companies to step-up investment in renewables, hydrogen and other low carbon alternatives, but fossil fuels will be their dominant business for the foreseeable future, reported Reuters with reference to industry executives' statement.

Reeling from the onset of the pandemic, global oil consumption shrank by more than 20% in the second quarter and prices hit their lowest in decades, making companies rethink how fast they should make the transition away from reliance on oil and gas.

"Everyone's talking about this great reset ... What do we need to do to survive this?" Arif Mahmood, Petronas' executive vice president and CEO of downstream, said at the virtual Platts APPEC 2020.

"Energy transition will be pushed forward much faster," he concluded.

The Malaysian state energy company posted a USD5 billion loss in April-June and has set up a team to reshape its portfolio and expand in solar and wind for power generation.

Malaysia is the world's fourth largest exporter of LNG, and Petronas would maintain its "gas agenda", Arif said, noting that the company was about to begin operations at a second floating LNG plant in Malaysia, and it was also working on an LNG joint venture in Canada.

Oil majors such as BP have set ambitious targets while Chinese state energy companies tiptoed into renewables as they continue to prioritize hydrocarbons for China's energy security needs.

Besides expanding into solar and wind for power generation, more energy companies are researching blue hydrogen produced from natural gas and using carbon capture and storage (CCS) to reduce emissions in the process. The hydrogen could be used in power plants and fuel cell vehicles.

Royal Dutch Shell is involved in biomethane, biofuels and hydrogen and has done "significant work" on CCS as the energy major strikes a balance between energy transition and its core hydrocarbons business, Mark Quartermain, Shell's vice president of crude trading & supply, told the conference.

"We've got to make sure we don't ignore the fact that oil and gas are going to remain essential fossil fuels," Quartmain said, before adding that going forward there will greater focus on climate change and energy transition.

"When it comes to energy transition we need to be in these markets," Quartermain said.

Heads of research at commodity trader Vitol and Citigroup expect CCS to be the next key area of development.

"Hydrogen and carbon capture are more likely in short term to be contributing to decarbonization," Giovanni Serio, Vitol's global head of research, said, calling on the industry to invest more in CCS.

"Some countries are finding ways through credit systems and other mechanisms to price carbons...It's what's really needed for carbon capture to take off," Ed Morse, managing director and global head of commodities research at Citigroup said.

However, "the cost structure of hydrogen is just not competitive enough...it's there but it could be end of the decade phenomenon," Morse said.

In the refining and petrochemical sectors, companies are exploring biofuels, producing chemicals for products that are more widely used in the pandemic such as gloves and for recyclable materials, industry executives said at APPEC.

As MRC informed before, Shell has recently announced that it will replace the ethylene steam cracker furnaces at its Moerdijk petrochemicals complex, The Netherlands, in a move that will reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.

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

According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia dropped in January-June 2020 by 7% year on year to 328,000 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the main decrease in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia rose in the first six months of 2020 by 21% year on year to 105,300 tonnes. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.
MRC