Linde and Shell team up to commercialize lower-carbon technology for ethylene

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Linde GmbH and Shell have announced an exclusive collaboration agreement on ethane-oxidative dehydrogenation (E-ODH) technology for ethylene production, as per Shell's press release.

The catalytic process is an alternative route to ethane steam cracking, offering the potential of economic advantages, acetic acid co-production and significantly lower overall carbon footprint through electrification of power input.

The two companies have been developing E-ODH independently for many years and this new collaboration brings together their complimentary patent positions, expert know-how and common commitment to a lower-carbon future. The agreement will enable accelerated deployment of this novel technology across the wider chemicals sector, with Linde marketing to customers under the name EDHOX.

"With the EDHOX process, we have not only developed a cost-efficient alternative but are also providing the petrochemical industry with a low-emission process”, said John van der Velden, senior vice president Global Sales & Technology at Linde Engineering. “For decades, we have been actively developing technologies for more sustainability in this industry - from efficiency improvements to carbon management and new process routes. We are convinced that Linde's EDHOX technology position will be strengthened by Shell?s intellectual property and know-how in this area."

Thomas Casparie, executive vice president of Shell’s global chemicals business, said: “Base chemicals are transformed into a range of finished products that help society live, work and respond to climate change. We look forward to our Shell in-house innovation going on to contribute to the collective reduction of carbon emissions from the manufacture of chemicals. It’s been great to work with Linde on this ambitious and creative combination of technology.”

As MRC informed before, TechnipFMC says it has been awarded a contract by Shell to supply eight new ethylene furnaces at the Moerdijk petrochemicals complex in the Netherlands. The contract is described as “significant” by TechnipFMC, a term it uses to cover value between USD75 million and USD250 million.

We remind that Shell will announce a major restructure by the end of the year as the company prepares to accelerate its shift toward its net-zero emissions goal by 2050, said CEO Ben van Beurden to employees. The restructuring will include workforce reductions as part of broader cost-cutting measures, although no figures have been decided yet, the CEO reportedly said during an internal webcast.

Ethylene is the main feedstock for the production of polyethylene (PE).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,496,500 tonnes in the first eight months of 2020, up by 5% year on year. Shipments of all ethylene polymers increased, except for linear low desnity polyethylene (LLDPE).

Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.
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1. Henkel's adhesives business achieved sales growth in third quarter

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Henkel has provided a business update for the third quarter and says that, based on preliminary figures, its adhesive technologies business unit achieved positive organic sales growth of 1.3% in the quarter, said Chemweek. All business areas in adhesive technologies showed a recovery in demand compared with the second quarter, the company says. Henkel notes that in the first nine months of 2020, adhesive technologies recorded a 6.8% decline in organic sales. “Despite the continued challenging economic environment as a result of the corona crisis, based on preliminary sales figures, Henkel delivered a strong organic sales growth of plus 3.9% in the third quarter. Sales reached around EUR5.0 billion [USD5.9 billion] and all business units contributed to the good performance,” says Carsten Knobel, CEO at Henkel. Based on the preliminary business performance in the first nine months, Henkel has provided new guidance for 2020, following the withdrawal of its full-year guidance in April due to the high level of uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.


MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chevron CEO Mike Wirth on Oct. 13 defended the company's commitment to shale and said its upstream portfolio would remain weighted toward tight oil and gas, with fewer large, non-shale projects than in the past, while he acknowledged a less "enthusiastic" outlook for the shale sector generally, reported S&P Global. Speaking during the Energy Intelligence Forum, previously Oil & Money, Wirth said he did not foresee US crude oil production getting back in the next couple of years to its record highs of 13 million b/d before the coronavirus pandemic. He also said the major's entry into Israel, with the recent purchase of Noble Energy, fit with a trend toward more cooperation in the region, apparently referring to recent diplomatic moves in the Middle East, as well as multiple opportunities to meet gas demand.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shell has recently relaunched the sale of its Fredericia refinery in Denmark after suspending the sale in 2018, reported S&P Global.

As MRC informed before, TechnipFMC says it has been awarded a contract by Shell to supply eight new ethylene furnaces at the Moerdijk petrochemicals complex in the Netherlands. The contract is described as “significant” by TechnipFMC, a term it uses to cover value between USD75 million and USD250 million.

We remind that Shell will announce a major restructure by the end of the year as the company prepares to accelerate its shift toward its net-zero emissions goal by 2050, said CEO Ben van Beurden to employees. The restructuring will include workforce reductions as part of broader cost-cutting measures, although no figures have been decided yet, the CEO reportedly said during an internal webcast.

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.

Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Total has agreed to sell its Lindsey refinery in the UK to fuel trader and marketer Prax Group, as the French oil major focuses on its integrated downstream assets and the coronavirus adds to the uncertainty over long-term demand for fuel, according to S&P Global.

As MRC reported earlier, within the framework of its net zero strategy, Total will convert its Grandpuits refinery (Seine-et-Marne) into a zero-crude platform and will invest more then EUR500 mln into this project. By 2024 the platform will focus on four new industrial activities: production of renewable diesel primarily intended for the aviation industry, production of bioplastics, plastics recycling and operation of two photovoltaic solar power plants.

We remind that in November 2019, Total disclosed that itis evaluating construction of a new gas cracker at its Deasan, South Korea, joint venture (JV) with Hanwha Chemical.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,496,500 tonnes in the first eight months of 2020, up by 5% year on year. Shipments of all ethylene polymers increased, except for linear low desnity polyethylene (LLDPE). At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 767,2900 tonnes in the eight months of 2020 (calculated using the formula - production minus exports plus imports - and not counting producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply increased exclusively of PP random copolymer.

Total S.A. is a French multinational oil and gas company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world with business in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia. The company's petrochemical products cover two main groups: base chemicals and the consumer polymers (polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene) that are derived from them.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chevron CEO Mike Wirth on Oct. 13 defended the company's commitment to shale and said its upstream portfolio would remain weighted toward tight oil and gas, with fewer large, non-shale projects than in the past, while he acknowledged a less "enthusiastic" outlook for the shale sector generally, reported S&P Global.

Speaking during the Energy Intelligence Forum, previously Oil & Money, Wirth said he did not foresee US crude oil production getting back in the next couple of years to its record highs of 13 million b/d before the coronavirus pandemic.

He also said the major's entry into Israel, with the recent purchase of Noble Energy, fit with a trend toward more cooperation in the region, apparently referring to recent diplomatic moves in the Middle East, as well as multiple opportunities to meet gas demand.

Wirth said shale had fundamentally reset Chevron's financial framework, noting the company had cut its annual capital expenditure from USD40 billion in 2014 - with no growth in the company - to USD20 billion going into the latest crisis in markets, and now closer to USD12 billion, with the company on a growth path.

"From USD40 billion to USD12 billion a year (shows) incredible flexibility on capital, lower capital intensity, and we've got the ability to adjust our program to meet market conditions on a much more contemporaneous cycle," Wirth said.

"We found ourselves in the last decade with many multibillion-dollar, multiyear investments which were hard, challenging, and the industry's experience broadly was not good," Wirth said.

"We'll always have room for some of these large, long-cycle projects," he said, noting the challenges of an expansion project at the Chevron-led Tengiz field in Kazakhstan, which has been hit by cost rises and coronavirus outbreaks. Deepwater projects in the Gulf of Mexico that could be tied into existing infrastructure would also remain attractive, but stand-alone "greenfield" projects less so, Wirth said.

On "long-cycle" investments generally, he said, "We won't find ourselves weighted or over-weighted to those -- In the foreseeable future I think it will be quite the opposite."

"We'll continue to prefer a pretty significant weighting on shorter cycle things that frankly offer higher returns and more flexibility," Wirth said, noting Chevron's shale activity now extends to Canada and Argentina, which he said had become "increasingly competitive as we acquire the learnings."

When it comes to non-shale projects, "Number 1 is you do fewer of them so you can focus more attention on the ones that you're executing, you can have your very best people working on these," he said. "We've got to learn how to really scope things well and prepare well for execution on these."

Wirth acknowledged the change in investors' view of shale even before COVID-19, saying that looking ahead, "We certainly won't see an upturn in activity and the commensurate production response as we come out of this."

"Demand questions are weighing heavily on the market, the capital discipline that the industry has lacked is beginning to re-emerge."

"Investors are holding the industry accountable. You will see the eventual resumption of development in the US being done in a less enthusiastic way, a more disciplined way. I think that means a shallower growth curve.... Whether or not that gets back to 13 million b/d, I don't think it does in the next couple of years," he said.

Speaking after Chevron completed its purchase of Noble Energy, and as the Trump administration has promoted a diplomatic thaw between Israel and a number of countries in the Gulf region, Wirth said he saw strong prospects for the Israeli gas resources that came with the Noble purchase.

"We think it's a good quality resource in a good place. The trends in that part of the world seem to be towards more cooperation. It's not without challenges, its not without differences of opinion among certain countries, but in general the ties between countries are moving in a positive direction," Wirth said.

"These things aren't a straight line (but) we see a lot of positives to support the development of commercial ties between countries and energy can be a very important component of that," Wirth said, adding he saw opportunities for Israeli gas exports both by pipeline and as LNG.

"There is existing pipe infrastructure into certain markets," he said, referring to pipeline links to Egypt and Jordan. "There are LNG facilities that are not far from some of these resources that have capacity. I don't think it's an either-or. I think it's probably some combination of the two over time that we'll see as the pathway to markets and commercialization," Wirth said.

As MRC reported earlier, Chevron Phillips Chemical, part of Chevron Corporation, still has not lifted force majeure on its polyethylene (PE) products after assessing the impact of Hurricane Laura to its Gulf Coast PE operations. The force majeure circumstances were declared on 1 September, 2020. CP Chem operates a 420,000 mt/year high-density polyethylene (HDPE) plant in Orange, Texas, and an 855,000 mt/year cracker in Port Arthur. The company plans to minimize the impact of the event and return to full PE deliveries as soon as possible.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,496,500 tonnes in the first eight months of 2020, up by 5% year on year. Shipments of all ethylene polymers increased, except for linear low desnity polyethylene (LLDPE). At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 767,2900 tonnes in the eight months of 2020 (calculated using the formula - production minus exports plus imports - and not counting producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply increased exclusively of PP random copolymer.

Headquartered in San Ramon, California, Chevron Corporation is the the second-largest integrated energy company in the United States and among the largest corporations in the world. Chevron is involved in upstream activities including exploration and production, downstream activities including refining, marketing and transportation, and advanced energy technology. Chevron is also invested in power generation and gasification processes.
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