Maire Tecnimont and AVEVA sign MOU to create new industrial digital maintenance services

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Maire Tecnimont Group, through its subsidiary Tecnimont, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with AVEVA to create new digital predictive and prescriptive maintenance services that drive enhanced business outcomes, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

This partnership will extend usage of AVEVA’s Asset Performance Management (APM) solutions across the Maire Tecnimont Group, globally, enhancing plant operability and lowering maintenance costs. This will in turn deliver increased information availability empowering better, more informed decision-making, and ultimately improving overall business performance.

As part of the agreement, the two companies will work together over a twelve-month period on a defined number of customer projects to promote the application of predictive maintenance technology for critical plant assets.

As an EPC contractor and global leader in the transformation of natural resources, Maire Tecnimont will leverage its unique process, automation, and maintenance competencies to supply plant owners with perfectly customized digital products and solutions that are tailor-made for their maintenance needs.

The combination of Maire Tecnimont’s proven market experience and AVEVA’s leadership as an industrial technology provider will deliver improved analytics which in turn will help to reduce inefficiencies, optimize operations, and improve our customer’s profitability.

With this MoU, Maire Tecnimont Group has reached a new milestone in its digital transformation journey, with the activation of a new technology-enabled value stream which is a crucial part of its roadmap. To achieve its drive to become the ‘contractor of the future’, Maire Tecnimont is enhancing overall value for plant owners through a suite of advanced digital products and services geared towards EPC customers.

As MRC wrote previously, Maire Tecnimont S.p.A. has just announced that its subsidiaries Tecnimont S.p.A. and Mumbai-based Tecnimont Private Limited were awarded an EPCC (Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Commissioning) Lump Sum contract by Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), for the implementation of a new paraxylene (PX) plant and the relevant offsites facilities. The plant will be located in Paradip, in the State of Odisha, in Eastern India. The overall value of the contract is about USD450 million.

PX is a feedstock for the production of purified terephthalic acid (PTA). PTA is used to produce polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which, in its turn, is used in the manufacturing of plastic bottles, films, packaging containers, in the textile and food industries.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PET consumption reached 64,750 tonnes in March 2021, which corresponds to the last year's figure (64,520 tonnes). Overall estimated PET consumption in Russia decreased by 5% year on year to 182,300 tonnes in January-March, 2021.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Braskem SA (BAK) reported first-quarter net income of USD456.3 mln, after reporting a loss in the same period a year earlier, said the company.

The Butanta, Brazil-based company said it had net income of USD1.15 per share. The petrochemical company posted revenue of USD4.15 billion in the period.

Braskem shares have more than doubled since the beginning of the year. The stock has more than doubled in the last 12 months.

Braskem swung to a first-quarter net profit of reais (R) 2.49bn from a loss of R3.65bn in the same period of last year

Q1 recurring operating result surged, reflecting the 23% depreciation in the Brazilian real against the U.S. dollar.
Resin demand in the Brazilian market increased in the first quarter, led by healthy demand from various sectors of the economy, notably the automotive, infrastructure, agribusiness, construction, home appliance and packaging industries.

Compared to Q1 2020, the capacity utilisation rate of the crackers in Brazil increased, reflecting the non-scheduled shutdown of the cracker in Rio Grande do Sul in the prior year quarter.

Braskem America plans to raise North American polypropylene (PP) prices by 8 cents / lb (USD176/tonne) in addition to any changes in propylene feedstock prices from June 1. PP demand continues to be strong in the region thanks to increased manufacturing activity as well as increased demand for PP packaging and PP for filaments and fibers driven by the pandemic. Earlier it was reported that Braskem America in April raised the price of polypropylene (PP) by 12 cents per pound (USD265 /tonne).

According to the ICIS-MRC Price Report, in the Russian spot market last week the decline in prices for propylene homopolymer (PP-homo) continued for some sellers, and converters expect further price declines in May. In the contract market, on the contrary, the processors noted the rise in prices and quite serious.

Based in Sao Paulo, Braskem is a leading Brazilian petrochemical company and the main producer of polyethylene and polypropylene in the country. The company owns the largest petrochemical facilities in Latin America and is the fifth largest in the world in petrochemical production. Braskem operates 18 chemical plants with a production capacity of over 11 million tonnes of chemical and petrochemical products per year.
MRC

1. Indian refineries reduced fuel sales in April due to the second wave of coronavirus infections

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Indian state refiners' local fuel sales in April declined due to state-level restrictions aimed at stemming a rampant second wave of coronavirus infections, preliminary data shows, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.The deadly second wave topped 400,000 new daily cases for the first time on Saturday. Authorities reported 401,993 new cases in the previous 24 hours, the highest daily count globally, after 10 consecutive days over 300,000. Deaths from COVID-19 jumped by 3,523, taking the total toll in India to 211,853.



MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Technip Energies has been recently awarded a significant Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Commissioning (EPCC) contract by Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) for its BR9 Expansion Project in Barauni, Bihar, in the Eastern part of India, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

This EPCC contract covers the installation of a new Once-through Hydrocracker Unit (OHCU) of 1 million metric tonnes per annum (MMTPA) capacity, a Fuel Gas Treatment Unit (FGTU) and the associated facilities.

The OHCU, in combination with downstream refinery units, will enable production of BS VI Grade fuels - similar to Euro VI Grade fuels - and petrochemicals.

IOCL’s Barauni refinery, built in 1964, is the second refinery to be built in India. The BR9 Expansion project shall enhance refinery capacity from 6 MMTPA to 9 MMTPA and will add petrochemicals such as polypropylene (PP) into Barauni refinery’s product portfolio.

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.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 410,890 tonnes in January-March 2021, up by 56% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.

Indian Oil Corporation Limited, or IndianOil, is an Indian state-owned oil and gas corporation with its headquarters in New Delhi, India.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Crude oil futures were rangebound during mid-morning Asian trade May 6 following the release of the US Energy Information Administration's latest data, which was mixed, reported S&P Global.

At 11:30 am Singapore time (0330 GMT), the ICE Brent July contract was up 24 cents/b (0.35%) from the May 5 settle at USD69.20/b, while the June NYMEX light sweet crude contract was up 15 cents/b (0.23%) at USD65.78/b.

The EIA data released late May 5 showed US crude inventories experiencing their largest draw since the week ended Jan. 1. According to the data, US crude inventories declined 7.99 million barrels to 485.12 million barrels in the week ended April 30.

The draw in crude inventories not only exceeded analysts' expectations of a 3.9 million-barrel fall, but was also ahead of the American Petroleum Institute's May 4 report of a 7.69 million-barrel decline in inventories.

The EIA's crude draw came on the back a 62% surge in US crude exports to 4.12 million b/d and a 1.5% increase in total refinery net crude input to 15.24 million b/d, according to the data.

The data, however, also had bearish elements, as it showed that total US gasoline stocks had climbed for a fifth-straight week, moving 740,000 barrels higher to 235.81 million barrels in the week ended April 30. US implied gasoline demand also edged 10,000 b/d lower to 8.86 million b/d, a six-week low.

Implied demand for distillates was down by nearly 5% at 4.13 million b/d, even as inventories declined 2.9 million barrels to a one-year low of 136.15 million barrels.

Meanwhile, the market continues to monitor the evolving pandemic situation in Asia, and in particular India, where burgeoning COVID-19 infection and fatality numbers have forced parts of the country to go under lockdown. The mobility restrictions imposed in the country are expected to weigh on oil demand.

As MRC informed earlier, COVID-19 outbreak has led to an unprecedented decline in demand affecting all sections of the Russian economy, which has impacted the demand for petrochemicals in the short-term. However, the pandemic triggered an increase in the demand for polymers in food packaging, and cleaning and hygiene products, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company. With Russian petrochemical companies having the advantage of access to low-cost feedstock, and proximity to demand-rich Asian (primarily China) and European markets for the supply of petrochemical products, these companies appear to be well-positioned to derive full benefits from an improving market environment and global economy post-COVID-19, says GlobalData.

We remind that in December 2020, Sibur, Gazprom Neft, and Uzbekneftegaz agreed to cooperate on potential investments in Uzbekistan including a major expansion of Uzbekneftegaz’s existing Shurtan Gas Chemical Complex (SGCC) and the proposed construction of a new gas chemicals facility. The signed cooperation agreement for the projects includes “the creation of a gas chemical complex using methanol-to-olefins (MTO) technology, and the expansion of the production capacity of the Shurtan Gas Chemical Complex”.

Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 576,270 tonnes in the first three month of 2021, up by 4% year on year. Low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 410,890 tonnes in January-March 2021, up by 56% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.
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