BASF expands PGM refining capacity in the USA

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF, the world's largest petrochemical compnay, has announced the expansion of its Seneca, South Carolina, USA, Platinum Group Metals (PGM) refining facility, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The company will invest double-digit millions in capital improvements to increase refining capacity to recycle precious metals from spent catalysts such as automotive catalytic converters. Recycled metal has as much as 90% lower CO2 emissions than metal from primary mines. By recovering the precious metals for reuse in fresh catalysts BASF closes the loop with circular economy solutions.

“This investment further strengthens our global leadership position in the spent automotive catalyst recycling market,” said Tim Ingle, Vice President, BASF Precious Metals Refining, Chemicals & Battery Recycling. “We are proud to enable the circular economy and to support our customers’, and our own, sustainability goals.”

BASF’s Seneca site produces precious metal catalysts and chemicals that are used by BASF customers to produce a wide variety of products, including herbicides, plastics, pharmaceuticals, automotive emission catalysts, fragrances and fertilizers.

As MRC reported earlier, in April 2020, Trinseo, a global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex binders and synthetic rubber, and BASF announced the intention to expand their businesses with the production of styrene monomer (SM) based on circular feedstock.

BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries.
MRC

Worley wins contract for fuel production project in Sweden

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Worley has been awarded a front-end engineering design (FEED) services contract for a power-to-fuel project in Sweden, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Liquid Wind plans to build its first commercial scale eMethanol facility in Ornskoldsvik, northern Sweden. The facility is expected to produce 50,000 tons of renewable methanol every year. The feedstock for the facility will use biogenic carbon dioxide from a biomass-fired power plant and combine it with green hydrogen, made from renewable electricity and water, to produce eMethanol.

This provides an alternative to fossil fuels and a potential pathway to reduce carbon emissions by over 90 per cent in marine transportation. eMethanol can also be used as a building block in the production of other sustainable chemicals. These include acetic acid, formaldehyde and olefins. This synthetic methanol can contribute to the decarbonization of industries such as adhesives, solvents and plastics.

Worley will provide FEED services, including the project’s cost estimate. These will be executed by Worley’s Sweden and UK offices with support from its Global Integrated Delivery team. Liquid Wind plans to build 500 facilities by 2050. The focus will be on designing operations for scalability through intelligent replication of facilities, to reach the scale needed to reduce carbon emissions significantly. Worley will make this possible through a standardized design concept that can be replicated and utilized in Liquid Wind’s future developments.

"Worley has extensive, relevant experience and we are confident it will be a valuable partner in developing standardized and replicable eMethanol facilities,” said Claes Fredriksson, CEO and Founder at Liquid Wind. “Its experience with a modular approach will support in keeping costs down and increasing our speed to market. As well as enabling the rapid replication of facilities, which is needed to meet the growing demand for carbon-neutral liquid fuel”.

"Synthetic fuels will play a significant role in the future of transportation and in the decarbonization of several other industries,” said Bradley Andrews, President at Worley. "We are committed to delivering a more sustainable world and we look forward to helping Liquid Wind achieve its sustainability goals and ambitions to bring renewable methanol to market at scale."

As per MRC, WorleyParsons has been awarded a new three-year contract by NOVA Chemicals for continued engineering on the Corunna Cracker Expansion Project (Phase 3) in Ontario Canada. This award follows WorleyParsons successful completion of services to Phase 2 of the Project. Under the new contract, WorleyParsons will provide engineering, procurement, construction management and project management services.

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.

MRC

Pertamina, and Air Products aim coal-gasification, DME project in Indonesia

MOSCOW (MRC) -- U.S. company Air Products and Chemicals Inc is “prepared” to invest USD10 billion in Indonesia, including in a project involving the state oil company and a coal firm, the secretary general of Indonesia’s National Energy Council said, as per Reuters.

“Air Products has sent a letter to the government of Indonesia. They are prepared to invest USD10 billion,” Djoko Siswanto told CNBC Indonesia on Thursday. He said the first USD2 billion would be invested in a project with state coal miner PT Bukit Asam and state oil company PT Pertamina.

Bukit Asam has already partnered with Air Products on a coal gasification plant worth USD2.1 billion, which is expected to start commercial operation in 2024. Air Products could not immediately be reached for comment.

As per MRC, Pertamina halted production at two catalytic cracking units in Balongan (Balongan, West Java, Indonesia) on 29 March after a fire broke out at the complex. It is currently unknown when these units with a total capacity of 440,000 tonnes/year of propylene per year (260,000 and 180,000 tonnes) will be able to return to work.

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.

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

US pipeline shutdown after cyberattack spurs refiners to book storage tankers

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Refiners booked at least five tankers to store gasoline stranded at US Gulf Coast plants following a cyberattack that crippled the biggest fuel pipeline in the country, reported Reuters with reference to sources and shipping data.

The attack on the Colonial pipeline network, which supplies half of the fuel consumed along the East Coast, has forced Gulf Coast refineries to scale back operations due to lack of storage space. North Carolina suspended restrictions on fuel shipments to combat gasoline shortages.

The tankers, booked by Marathon Petroleum, Valero Energy, Phillips 66 and PBF Energy, can hold around 350,000 tonnes of fuel. Two of them were booked for up to a month, and three were provisional bookings that could be cancelled, according to data and shipbroking sources.

As MRC informed earlier, Colonial on Friday shut its 5,500-mile (8,850-km) pipeline network, which moves fuels including gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, to protect its systems. It has restarted some smaller lines.

In the wake of the outage, traders also booked several tankers to ship gasoline and diesel from Europe to the US East Coast.

French oil major Total SE and commodities trading houses Vitol and Trafigura each booked 90,000-tonne tankers to ship diesel on the transatlantic route, shipping data showed, a relatively rare route as Europe consumes more diesel than it produces.

Several Gulf Coast refiners that rely on Colonial for shipments have cut output. Total and Motiva Enterprises cut gasoline production at their Port Arthur, Texas refineries and Citgo Petroleum pared back at its Lake Charles, Louisiana, plant, sources told Reuters.

We remind that Marathon Petroleum, the largest US refiner, can meet its supply commitments for now but is working to find alternative ways to ship motor fuels to the eastern United States if the Colonial Pipeline shutdown is extended.

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.
MRC

Sadara first quarter profit surges on chemical prices increase

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sadara Basic Service’s first-quarter profit jumped year on year on the back of firmer pricing and debt re-profiling, the Saudi-based joint venture producer said.

Sadara Chemical Company (Sadara) announced its first quarter financial performance for 2021, stating that the company’s revenues reached more than SR4.4 billion — 30.5% higher compared to the previous quarter in 2020 and an increase of more than 80% compared to the same quarter last year.

For the first time in its history, Sadara’s net profits after Zakat & Tax in this first quarter exceeded SR1.6 billion compared to net losses of more than SR1.27 billion and SR24 million in the same quarter of 2020 and last quarter, respectively.

These positive results reflect the company’s ongoing commitment toward shareholders and manufacturing high-quality products for customers in the Kingdom and beyond. The improvement in net profit in the first quarter compared to the previous period is mainly attributable to higher selling prices, continuous financial discipline, and the recognition of a modification gain of SR1.05 billion from debt reprofiling.

These results showcase Sadara’s better financial positioning after achieving its Project Completion Date (PCD) late last year, followed by lenders’ approval of its debt reprofiling in March 2021.

Despite the local and global challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the company has maintained a high level of performance and taken a series of proactive and preventive measures to ensure the health and safety of its employees, as well as ensuring that the business operations remain largely unaffected.

Sadara took many positive steps over the last period toward progressing its financial strength and operations. In addition, the company has been maintaining its focus on continuously excelling in key pillars, including safety, employee engagement, operations, customer service, sustainability, community service and financial performance.

As per MRC, Dow noted in late April that Sadara, along with other polyethylene joint venture complexes in Kuwait and Thailand, drove a strong increase in equity earnings during the first quarter.

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.
MRC