Pertamina hopes to restart its refinery in Balongan in 4-5 days after blaze

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Pertamina, Indonesian state oil company, said it aims to restore operations at its Balongan oil refinery in West Java in 4-5 days, as firefighters worked to extinguish a massive blaze that broke out overnight, injuring six people, reported Reuters.

Pertamina shut the plant with the capacity of 125,000 barrels per day after the massive fire erupted.

Pertamina chief executive Nicke Widyawati told reporters the fire was concentrated in the refinery's storage tanks and there had been no impact on the processing plant.

"The main equipment at the refinery is not affected," she said. "We hope the plant can be operational again soon after we put out the fire so there are no disruptions to supply."

Separately, Nicke told local media that only four storage tanks were affected, out of the total 72 tanks in Balongan with total capacity of 1.35 million kilo litres.

As MRC wrote earlier, the fire broke out at the Balongan refinery, run by state oil firm Pertamina, at 00:45 local time on Monday (17:45 GMT Sunday). Around 950 residents have been evacuated to safety. A handful of people have been reported missing.

We remind that PT Pertamina shut its cracker in Indonesia for maintenance works from 18 March, 2020. This cracker with a production capacity of 578,000 tons remained off-stream until 18 April 2020.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 241,030 tonnes in January 2021 versus 217,890 tonnes a year earlier. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 141,870 tonnes in January 2021 versus 123,520 tonnes a year earlier. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.

Pertamina is an Indonesian state-owned oil and natural gas corporation based in Jakarta. It was created in August 1968 by the merger of Pertamin (established 1961) and Permina (established 1957). Pertamina is the world's largest producer and exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Japan's largest refiner ENEOS (formerly known as JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy) has announced plans to restart its 145,000 b/d Sendai refinery in northeast Japan in the first half of April, 2021, reported S&P Global with reference to the company's statement.

This refinery has been taken off-stream since the strong earthquake offshore Fukushima late Feb. 13.

Besides, ENEOS has shut the sole 129,000 b/d crude distillation unit at the Chiba refinery in Tokyo Bay for scheduled maintenance on Feb. 5, a spokeswoman said. The maintenance would last until mid-April, 2021.

Separetaly, ENEOS will decommission the 120,000 b/d No. 1 CDU at its 270,000 b/d Negishi refinery in Tokyo Bay in October 2022, bringing down its total refining capacity to around 1.75 million b/d. ENEOS' latest move comes as it has been considering ways to optimize its refining system in Japan in the face of a sharp decline in domestic oil demand, accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic, amid increased competition in Asia.

Under the latest development, it will also decommission secondary units attached to the No. 1 CDU, including a vacuum distillation unit and fluid catalytic cracker, the capacities of which were not immediately disclosed. ENEOS will also decommission a 270,000 mt/year lubricant output unit at the Negishi refinery.

As MRC informed before, ENEOS Corporation restarted its naphtha cracker in Kawasaki on 1 February 2021. The company shut this cracker with an annual capacity of 515,000 tons/year of ethylene, 300,000 tons/year of propylene, and 105,000 tons/year of butadiene on 4 December, 2020, for repairment after a technical issue reported at the butadiene separation unit and initially planned to resume operations on 28 December, 2020.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 241,030 tonnes in January 2021 versus 217,890 tonnes a year earlier. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 141,870 tonnes in January 2021 versus 123,520 tonnes a year earlier. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.

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) -- Gazprom and the industrial gases major Linde have signed an agreement of intent for Ust-Liga gas processing complex cooperation, said the company.

The document outlines the main terms and conditions of a prospective EPSS contract providing for engineering services, equipment supplies, and maintenance of gas processing and off-site facilities, Gazprom informed in its statement.

Gazprom and RusGazDobycha are implementing the project near the settlement of Ust-Luga, with the RusKhimAlyans as the project operator. It is the anchor project of the major gas processing and chemical cluster that is being established in the region.

The complex will have a gas processing capacity of 45 billion cubic meters per year and will be capable of producing 13 million tons per year of LNG. In addition to LNG, its commercial products will include ethane fraction, liquefied petroleum gases, and pentane-hexane fraction.

RusGazDobycha will be responsible for the construction of the technically affiliated gas chemical facility that will process ethane generated by the complex and produce up to 3 million tons of various polyethylene grades.

As per MRC in February 2020, Linde signed a contact for the provision of services for the design and construction of a part of the Amur Gas Chemical Complex (AGHK) of SIBUR. The services will be provided as part of a consortium with NIPIgaz, part of the SIBUR structure.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 241,030 tonnes in January 2021 versus 217,890 tonnes a year earlier. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 141,870 tonnes in January 2021 versus 123,520 tonnes a year earlier. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.

The Linde Group is a world-leading gases and engineering company with around 62,000 employees in more than 100 countries worldwide. In the 2012 financial year, Linde generated revenue of EUR 15.280 bn.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Synova and Technip Energies have entered into a joint development and cooperation agreement to commercialize Synova’s advanced plastic waste-to-olefins technology, in conjunction with Technip Energies’ steam cracking technology, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Synova’s patented thermochemical recycling technology closes the gap in the plastic supply chain, by taking dirty and mixed plastic waste and breaking it down to its basic building blocks, such as olefin monomers and co-products, to produce circular plastics. The process has a low carbon footprint and displaces the need for virgin polymers, in addition to reducing the need for intensive plastic waste sorting.

The technology was invented by the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), an independent Dutch research organization that, amongst others, develops technology relevant to the Circular Economy and Energy Transition. Together with Synova, the technology has been further developed, tested and piloted over a 15-year span.

Technip Energies brings its expertise in hydrocarbon treatment and purification, along with its unmatched experience in design, construction and upgrading steam cracker units to this partnership with Synova. The company will cooperate with Synova in the optimization and improvement of the plastic recycling technology.

The result of the strategic partnership will provide a unique waste-to-olefins solution, reducing carbon dioxide emissions and end-of-life plastic pollution by closing the loop in support of a circular economy. The approach gives consumer goods manufacturers a way to achieve recycled content targets, as well as the continued use of current packaging materials now that there is a process to recycle them.

As MRC reported before, in February 2021, TechnipFMC announced the completion of its spin-off transaction to create two industry leading, independent, publicly traded companies, TechnipFMC and Technip Energies.

We remind that in November 2020, TechnipFMC successfully completed the remaining conditions required to enable work to commence on the EPC contract with Assiut National Oil Processing Company (ANOPC) for the construction of a new hydrocracking complex for the Assiut refinery in Egypt.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 241,030 tonnes in January 2021 versus 217,890 tonnes a year earlier. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 141,870 tonnes in January 2021 versus 123,520 tonnes a year earlier. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shipping traffic through Egypt's Suez Canal resumed on Monday after a giant container ship which was blocking the busy waterway for almost a week was refloated, reported Reuters with reference to the canal authority's statement.

The 400-meter (430-yard) long Ever Given became jammed diagonally across a southern section of the canal in high winds early last Tuesday, halting traffic on the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia.

"Admiral Osama Rabie, the Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority (SCA), announces the resumption of maritime traffic in the Suez Canal after the Authority successfully rescues and floats the giant Panamanian container ship EVER GIVEN," a statement from the SCA said.

After dredging and excavation work over the weekend, rescue workers from the SCA and a team from Dutch firm Smit Salvage had succeeded in partially refloating the ship earlier on Monday using tug boats.

Evergreen Line, which is leasing the Ever Given, confirmed the ship had been successfully refloated and said it would be repositioned in a lake that sits between two sections of the canal and inspected for seaworthiness.

Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM), the technical managers of the container ship, said there were no reports of pollution or cargo damage, and initial reports ruled out any mechanical or engine failure as a cause of the grounding.

At least 369 vessels are waiting to transit the canal, including dozens of container ships, bulk carriers, oil tankers and liquefied natural gas (LNG) or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) vessels, the SCA's Rabie said.

The authority said earlier it would be able to accelerate convoys through the canal once the Ever Given was freed. "We will not waste one second," Rabie told Egyptian state television.

He said it could take up to three days to clear the backlog, and a canal source said more than 100 ships would be able to enter the channel daily. Shipping group Maersk said the knock-on disruptions to global shipping could take weeks or months to unravel.

Oil prices were more than 1% lower at USD63.85 a barrel after the ship was refloated. Shares of Taiwan-listed Evergreen Marine Corp - the vessel's lessor - closed 1.75% higher after the ship was partially refloated earlier on Monday.

About 15% of world shipping traffic transits the Suez Canal, which is an important source of foreign currency revenue for Egypt. The stoppage was costing the canal USD14-15 million a day.

Shipping rates for oil product tankers nearly doubled after the ship became stranded, and the blockage has disrupted global supply chains, threatening costly delays for companies already dealing with COVID-19 restrictions.

As MRC wrote previously, crude oil prices rose about 6% last Wednesday after a ship ran aground in the Suez Canal, and worries that the incident could tie up crude shipments gave prices a boost after a slide over the previous week. Oil prices were also supported by US Energy Information Administration data that showed refinery runs recovering after a winter storm shut Texas refineries last month.

As MRC informed before, the largest US refinery, Motiva Enterprises’ 607,000 barrel-per-day Port Arthur, Texas, plant, returned to normal operations. The refinery was shut on Feb. 15 when freezing temperatures, rarely seen on the US Gulf Coast, knocked out steam supply. Motiva began restarting the refinery on Feb. 24.

Motiva Chemicals has also resumed operations at its mixed-feed cracker in Port Arthur, USA. The process of restart of this cracker with the capacity of 635,000 mt/year of ethylene and 340,000 mt/year of propylene began on 27 February, 2021, and finished late last week. The cracker wa shut along with the refinery at the same site on 14 February, 2021, because of the deep freeze.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 241,030 tonnes in January 2021 versus 217,890 tonnes a year earlier. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 141,870 tonnes in January 2021 versus 123,520 tonnes a year earlier. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.
MRC