MOSCOW (MRC) -- BP and the Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping signed a partnership agreement committing to a long-term collaboration on the development of new alternative fuels and low carbon solutions for the shipping industry, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.
As a strategic partner to the Center, bp will second experts to work on relevant research and development projects in the Center’s portfolio and contribute to the development of methodologies and optimized pathways for safe and sustainable fuel solutions for shipping. Additionally, bp will join the Center Advisory Board providing guidance for transition strategies and further development of the Center’s activities.
William Lin, bp’s executive vice president of regions, cities and solutions said: “At bp, we want to play a role in advocating for policies to help decarbonize carbon intensive sectors like shipping. The shipping industry’s transition to net zero is complex and requires technology advancements and policies that will give companies across the value chain the confidence to act. This is a privileged opportunity to collaborate and advocate with key industry players to progress solutions at the pace and scale needed. When we work together, we can fast track development, de-risk investments and provide signals to the market that will speed up the decarbonization of the shipping industry.”
With 70,000 ships consuming m300Tons fuel p.a., global shipping accounts for around 3% of global carbon emissions, a share that is likely to increase as other industries tackle climate emissions in the coming decades.
Achieving the long-term target of decarbonization requires new fuel types and a systemic and regulatory change within the industry. Shipping is a globally regulated industry, which provides an opportunity to secure broad-based industry adoption of new technology and fuels.
As MRC reported before, BP and Lukoil want to quit their Iraqi energy projects due to the current investment environment, the country's oil minister said earlier this month, as OPEC's second biggest producer faces an exodus of international oil companies that want to exit unattractive contracts. Lukoil wants to sell its stake in West Qurna 2 to Chinese companies.
We remind that Russian energy major Lukoil (Moscow) is studying several potential petrochemical projects in Russia and Bulgaria, with investment decisions expected to be made on two of them in 2021.
Thus, Lukoil announced an investment decision in June, 2019, to proceed with a 500,000-metric tons/year polypropylene (PP) plant at its Kstovo refinery. In September this year it selected Lummus Technology’s Novolen PP technology and basic design engineering for the facility’s production unit. Kstovo is one of Lukoil’s largest crude refineries in Russia with a throughput of 17 million metric tons/year, with the company recently adding a catalytic cracking unit that almost doubled the refinery’s production of propylene feedstock to 300,000 metric tons/year.
At Budennovsk in Russia’s far south west, the company’s Stavrolen petchems complex currently has the capacity to produce 350,000 metric tons/year of ethylene, 300,000 metric tons of polyethylene (PE), 120,000 metric tons/year of PP, and 80,000 metric tons of benzene. Lukoil has for several years been considering construction of a new gas chemicals plant at Stavrolen to crack more ethane extracted from associated petroleum gas produced by its oil and gas fields in the north of the Caspian Sea. The potential new plant would raise Stavrolen’s ethylene and PE output to around 600,000 metric tons/year each, and increase PP production to 200,000 metric tons/year.
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 953,400 tonnes in the first five months of 2021, which virtually corresponded to the same figure a year earlier. High denisty polyethylene (HDPE) shipments decreased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 607,8900 tonnes in January-May 2021, up by 33% year on year. Shipments of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whereas deliveries of PP random copolymers decreased.
BP is one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, serving millions of customers every day in around 80 countries, and employing around 85,000 people. BP’s business segments are Upstream (oil and gas exploration & production), and Downstream (refining & marketing). Through these activities, BP provides fuel for transportation; energy for heat and light; services for motorists; and petrochemicals products for plastics, textiles and food packaging. It has strong positions in many of the world's hydrocarbon basins and strong market positions in key economies.
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