USA plans to invest in the market of advanced green energy technologies

MOSCOW (MRC) -- U.S. President Joe Biden’s vast plan to modernize the nation’s infrastructure includes hundreds of billions of dollars to boost the market for electric vehicles, renewable power and advanced clean energy technologies, while stripping away subsidies for fossil fuels, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

That makes the USD2 trillion infrastructure blueprint one of the administration’s biggest steps to date in achieving its agenda to decarbonize the U.S. economy by 2050 and restore the nation’s leadership in addressing global warming. While much of the package is aimed at traditional infrastructure goals like rebuilding roads and bridges, about a third, or USD628 billion, is linked to climate, according to an estimate by investment firm Raymond James.

The proposals, which must still be debated and approved by Congress before becoming reality, drew cheers from the renewable energy industry and some environmentalists, along with criticism oil and gas drillers. “President Biden’s infrastructure proposal is a significant step in meeting our collective clean energy goals,” Solar Energy Industries Association Chief Executive Abigail Ross Hopper said in a statement.

The American Council on Renewable Energy said the plan “will move the clean energy sector beyond the endless cycles of temporary stopgap incentives.” The American Petroleum Institute, which represents the country’s biggest oil and gas companies, said the plan would “undermine the nation’s economic recovery and jeopardize good-paying jobs."

Among the biggest climate-related provisions, the plan includes USD174 billion in investment to “win the EV market” by spurring domestic supply chains and giving consumers rebates to buy electric cars. It also delivers a key win for wind and solar project developers with a proposal to extend the industry’s key tax credits by a decade, far longer than the timelines the subsidies have enjoyed in the past. By contrast, it would strip away billions of dollars’ worth of subsidies available to fossil fuels producers, mainly in the form of tax breaks.

As per MRC, Clermont-based company Carbios signed an agreement with Equipolymers which should host, at its site in Schkopau (Germany), a unit that will produce 40,000 tonnes of recycled PET each year. In March, Carbios and Equipolymers, a subsidiary of Equate Petrochemical, signed a “ non-exclusive and non-binding agreement in the form of a Letter of Intent ”. If confirmed, Equipolymers, “ European leader in PET production ”, will host a unit at its Schkopau (Germany) site that will produce 40,000 tonnes of recycled PET each year using the enzymatic process developed by Carbios.

According to MRC's ScanPlast, the estimated PET consumption in Russia in January 2021 increased by 3% compared to the same indicator a year earlier. In total, according to the results of the first month of the year in Russia, the total estimated consumption of PET amounted to 57,420 tonnes.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) – Americas Styrenics (AmSty, Woodlands, Texas), the largest polystyrene producer in the Americas, and Agilyx Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Agilyx AS, a pioneer in the advanced recycling of post-use plastics, have announced an agreement to explore the development of a jointly owned advanced recycling facility, according to CISION.

The initial scope of this project will be a 50 to 100 ton per day advanced recycling facility located at AmSty’s Styrene production facility in St. James, Louisiana.

The facility will be a next generation expansion of Agilyx advanced recycling technology already in use at the parties’ Regenyx joint venture operating in Tigard, Oregon, where post-use polystyrene (PS) products are converted back into virgin-equivalent styrene monomer. A feasibility study for the project is under way, with a timeline for construction and commissioning to be announced as progress continues.

"PS is an ideal material for the future of recycling,” said Dr. Randy Pogue, president, and chief executive officer of AmSty. "Not only can polystyrene products offer sustainability advantages where less material is required (e.g., a polystyrene foam cup is 95% air), but PS is particularly advantageous for advanced recycling because it can be "unzipped" back to its original liquid form, styrene monomer, using 40% less energy than other polymers. As the global plastics industry moves toward circular recycling to build value and grow access, PS becomes very attractive as a first mover with its inherent conversion advantages. AmSty is committed to keeping polystyrene products out of landfills through circular recycling. We are excited to expand our relationship with Agilyx in this new project to accelerate progress.”

“Development of this technology has picked up over the past decade, and it is time to reach a larger scale,” said Tim Stedman, chief executive officer of Agilyx. “We have been operating Regenyx with AmSty since 2019 and are pleased to expand our relationship toward a much larger facility at St. James. Joining AmSty as a co-investor underlines our commitment to accelerating the implementation of Agilyx advanced recycling technology and our licensing model. We believe that our technology will significantly increase the availability of recycled content for producers.”

As MRC informed previously, AmSty has announced a price increase for all its PS grades, effective as of 1 March 2021. The rise of 11 cents/pound (cts/lb) supersedes all other previously announced price changes. AmSty increased its PS prices by 3 cts/lb on 1 February this year. No comment on the reason for the increase was given by the company.

Styrene is the main feestock for the production of polystyrene (PS).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated consumption of PS and styrene plastics totalled 520,630 tonnes in 2020, which corresponded to the same figure a year earlier. December estimated consumption of PS and styrene plastics grew by 5% year on year to 47,490 tonnes.

Agilyx (AGLX), is an early leader in the advanced recycling of difficult-to-recycle post-use plastic streams. With Agilyx's chemical recycling technology, mixed plastic waste can be converted to new virgin-equivalent plastics, as well as chemical products and fuels - creating the opportunity for true circularity. The company has not only developed these first-to-market products but has also developed a feedstock management company Cyclyx International, Inc. and is working with many waste service providers, municipalities, petrochemical, and brand and retail companies to develop closed-loop advanced recycling solutions for mixed waste plastics.

AmSty is a leading integrated producer of PS and styrene monomer, offering solutions and services to customers in a variety of global markets. AmSty is a member of the American Chemistry Council and its Responsible Care initiative, and is headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas. AmSty is a joint venture equally owned by Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LP and Trinseo LLC.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas), Malaysia’s fully integrated oil and gas multinational, has partnered with AVEVA, a global leader in industrial software, driving digital transformation and sustainability, to provide a modern enterprise solution that promotes integration across the entire value chain, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Petronas selected AVEVATM Unified Supply Chain in the cloud to enable simplified business processes and deeper collaboration, while reducing value leaks and sustaining productivity. As the only industrial software company that offers unified design applications across all supply chain activities, AVEVA’s solution uses Enterprise Crude Knowledge Management, to drive Value Chain Optimization for the oil and gas industry.

The AVEVA solution will provide easy data management to deliver a single source of crude oil information that is easily shared across different teams and locations. The modern and intuitive software will eliminate the requirement for specific coding, drastically reducing the learning curve delivering high-performance computing and advanced data processing that will enable PETRONAS to run complex planning models at speed using the latest cloud technology.
“At PETRONAS, we are continuously looking to create value with disruptive technologies that offer optimum solutions. Utilizing AVEVA Unified Supply Chain software, we have been able to adopt a more integrated business process, that optimizes our productivity, allowing us to deliver with less,” said Mr. Yusri Yusof.

AVEVA’s strategy is to help forward-thinking organizations like PETRONAS create a collaborative environment enabling the business to be managed in a comprehensive, flexible, and connected manner that brings transparency to the decision-making process across the value chain.

As per MRC, Petronas Chemicals Ethylene, a subsidiary of the Malaysian state-owned petrochemical company Petronas, carried out preventive maintenance at its ethylene plant in Kerteh, Malaysia, in March. Repairs at the production facility with a capacity of 400,000 tonnes of ethylene per year will take approximately one month.

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) -- Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia has cut the supply of April-loading crude to at least four north Asian buyers by up to 15%, while meeting the normal monthly requirements of Indian refiners, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing with reference to refinery sources' statement to Reuters.

Saudi Arabia's reduction in supplies come as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, a group known as OPEC+, decided in March to extend most of its supply cuts into April. Thus, Saudi Arabia has pledged to continue with an extra 1 million barrels per day voluntary output cut for a third month in April.

Chinese refiners received a small cut in their Saudi supply, while the reduction in volumes for Japanese buyers was between 10% and 15%, the sources said.

Saudi Aramco is also commissioning its 400,000-bpd Jizan refinery in the south west of the country which may have reduced its exports, one of the sources said.

For India, Saudi Aramco has rejected Indian refiners' requests for extra supplies in April, but will keep average monthly supplies to the country unchanged, three Indian refining sources said.

As MRC reported earlier, Saudi Arabian state oil giant Aramco is betting on an Asian-led rebound in energy demand in 2021 after it reported a steep fall in last year's net profit and scaled back its spending plans. The COVID-19 pandemic took a heavy toll on the company and its global peers in 2020, but oil prices have rallied this year as economies recover from last year’s downturn and after oil producers extended output cuts.

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.

Saudi Aramco, officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, is a Saudi Arabian national oil and natural gas company based in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Aramco"s value has been estimated at up to USD10 trillion in the Financial Times, making it the world"s most valuable company. Saudi Aramco has both the largest proven crude oil reserves, at more than 260 billion barrels, and largest daily oil production.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Texas should consider a central clearinghouse around natural gas availability in the case of future cold weather events like Winter Storm Uri, reported Reuters with reference to a Phillips 66 refining executive speaking at an industry conference Monday.

The refining industry in the US Gulf Coast took several weeks to recover from a deadly deep freeze that sent temperatures below freezing for several days in February.

As MRC wrote previously, in line with US olefins capacity, over 80% of US polyolefins capacity was downed by the recent winter storm. There remained a considerable amount of capacity offline or in the early stages of restarting a full month later. This was partly due to the limited feedstock availability for olefins monomer, comonomer, and additives in the region.

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