Two Libyan oil ports resumed loading, NOC says

Two Libyan oil ports resumed loading, NOC says

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Loading operations at the Libyan oil terminals of Es Sider and Ras Lanuf resumed on Friday after a one-day stoppage, National Oil Corp (NOC) said, though an engineer at a third port, Hariga, said it was still closed by protesters, said Reuters.

The closures of oil ports this week have underscored the continued fragility of Libyan oil output, which has been about 1.3 million barrels a day this year, in the face of insecurity, budget disputes and political divisions. NOC head Mustafa Sanallah said in a statement that blockages at oil ports had been planned by one Libyan official and that another had taken part, without naming either.

Last year, eastern-based forces in the civil war blockaded almost all exports for months, ending with negotiations that came in the context of a wider push towards peace. Earlier this year, NOC declared force majeure on some exports after its subsidiaries said they were unable to continue operating because of a lack of funding through the budget.

The eastern-based parliament has repeatedly rejected the budget plans of the interim unity government, which was installed in March as part of a U.S.-backed peace push. Meanwhile there has been friction between the unity government's oil minister, Mohamed Oun, and NOC chief Sanallah.

Oun has said he is suspending Sanallah because he left Libya without seeking permission from the ministry. Sanallah has rejected that, saying only the cabinet has the power to suspend him. "We will never be satisfied with the politicisation of NOC, and it being used as a bargaining chip by some politicians and influential people to achieve non-national interests and agendas," Sanallah said, without specifying who he referred to.

The people who shut down exports at Es Sider and Ras Lanuf demanded jobs and the dismissal of Sanallah. Those at Hariga demanded jobs. A group at Sharara oil field has also threatened to stop output unless Sanallah is dismissed. All those areas are held by the eastern-based forces of commander Khalifa Haftar.

In Ocotber 2019, Libyan Ras Lanuf Oil and Gas Manufacturing Company (Rasco), a subsidiary of the state-owned National Oil Corporation (NOC) and the largest petrochemical producer in the country, announced the launch of a polyethylene (PE) plant in Ras Lanuf (Ras Lanuf, Libya) after six years of shutdown.

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 1,176,860 tonnes in the first half of 2021, up by 5% year on year. Shipments of exclusively low density polyethylene (LDPE) decreased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 727,160 tonnes in the first six months of 2021, up by 31% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased. Supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.

Ras Lanuf Oil and Gas Manufacturing Company is a subsidiary of the state-owned Libyan National Oil Corporation (NOC). Rasco produces fuel oil, gas oil, LPG, naphtha and kerosene. The refinery also produces petrochemicals using naphtha as a feedstock for the production of ethylene and propylene.
MRC

PureCycle Technologies to start operating its new PP recycling plant in Ohio at scale in late 2022

PureCycle Technologies to start operating its new PP recycling plant in Ohio at scale in late 2022

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PureCycle Technologies, Inc., the innovative recycled polypropylene (PP) producer, is in plans to start operating its flagship PP recycling plant at Ironton, Ohio, which will convert carpet scraps based on PP composite material into high-purity pellets, at scale in late 2022, according to Today's Machining World.

The company has ordered two extruders from Germany-based plastics machinery manufacturer KraussMaffei for this plant.

PureCycle uses proprietary technology licensed from The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) to recycle waste PP into ultra-pure recycled-PP for applications spanning consumer goods, automotive, building and construction, and industrial uses.

“Thanks to PureCycle’s technology, we have succeeded in removing all impurities, odors, and dye residues from carpet remnants so that the PP pellets produced are equivalent to virgin material, both in terms of appearance and mechanical properties,” explains Brett Hafer, VP Manufacturing at PureCycle. “Now that PureCycle has passed the pilot phase successfully, we are building the world’s most modern PP recycling line.”

The core component of the new PureCycle line is the extraction process. The technique cleans melted PP composite material from dye residues, foreign plastics and odors, providing for a pure PP melt and a recycled, re-usable co-product. The circulating solvent is then purified and returned to the process.

Two twin-screw extruders from KraussMaffei serve for melting the dry PP carpet scraps that are used as feedstock for the PureCycle process.

After passing PureCycle’s first processing stage, the cleaned melt is fed into the degassing extruder specifically designed to effectively remove any high-molecular residual monomers. Volatile matter like solvent residues and other impurities, such as adhering odorous substances and low-molecular compounds, are gently separated from the melt. The result is pure PP pellets that can easily be used to manufacture a wide variety of products by injection molding or extrusion coating processes.

As MRC reported earlier, this summer, PureCycle Technologies reached an agreement with The Augusta Economic Development Authority to build its first US cluster facility to produce ultra-pure recycled (rPP) from waste PP. The 200-acre location in Augusta Corporate Park will create over 80 manufacturing jobs with an initial USD440 million investment to primarily fund three lines of 130 million pounds of capacity during Phase 1 of the project. Augusta-Richmond County was selected based on feed and product delivery supply-chain efficiencies, community support, a skilled labor market, and Georgia’s business-friendly environment.

We remind that in May 2020, Total signed an agreement with PureCycle Technologies to develop a strategic partnership in plastic recycling. As part of the agreement, Total undertakes to purchase part of the output of PureCycle Technologies’ future facility in the United States and to assess the interest of developing a new plant together in Europe. PureCycle Technologies uses an innovative, patented technology to separate color, odor and any other contaminants from plastic waste feedstock to transform it into virgin-like rPP. The company, which was to begin construction on its first plant in Ohio (USA) last year, will produce 48,000 tons of rPP.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, PP shipments to the Russian market were 727,160 tonnes in the first six months of 2021, up by 31% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased. Supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.
MRC

Shell invests in plastic waste-to-chemicals technology company

Shell invests in plastic waste-to-chemicals technology company

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shell Ventures BV and BlueAlp Holding BV formed a strategic partnership to develop, scale and deploy BlueAlp’s plastic waste to chemical feedstock technology, said the company.

The technology transforms plastic waste which is tough to recycle into a recycled feedstock (i.e. pyrolysis oil) that can be used to make sustainable chemicals. Shell has taken a 21.25% equity stake in BlueAlp as part of the agreement. “With BlueAlp’s innovative technology and Shell’s size and experience we can advance the plastic waste recycling technology needed to meet growing customer demand for sustainable chemicals. This partnership is one of the important steps Shell is taking to reach our ambition of recycling one million tonnes of plastics waste a year in our global chemicals plants by 2025,’’ said Robin Mooldijk, Executive Vice President of Shell Chemicals and Products.

“We are also working across the value chain to provide our customers with a secure supply of high-quality circular products including collaborating with industry partners to drive the development of the infrastructure needed to collect and sort plastic waste." Under the agreement, Shell and BlueAlp will form a joint-venture company to build two new conversion units in The Netherlands, which are forecast to convert more than 30 KT of plastic waste per year. The units are planned to be operational in 2023 and will supply 100% of their pyrolysis oil as feedstock to Shell’s Moerdijk and Rhineland crackers. Shell is exploring licensing a further two units for deployment within Asia to supply the Shell Energy and Chemicals Park Singapore.

“BlueAlp’s aim is to efficiently transform plastic waste into a useable and economic product, and we have developed an exciting and innovative technology. With Shell as a strategic partner, I believe BlueAlp has a great opportunity to grow into a global leader in the pyrolysis market” said Chris van der Ree, CTO of BlueAlp. “Our immediate focus is to increase the technology’s current processing capacity and then license our technology to third-parties. This I expect will help communities worldwide put hard to recycle plastic waste to better use."

BlueAlp’s technology has already been developed to a commercial scale. Shell’s technology team, based in Amsterdam, will now work with BlueAlp to further improve and scale-up the technology’s capacity to recycle larger volumes of plastic waste. Production of larger volumes of pyrolysis oil are also hindered by inconsistent purity of feedstocks. Shell plans to deploy its own technology to upgrade the purity of pyrolysis oil at its assets. These technology developments are pivotal to achieving circularity by turning hard to recycle plastic waste into sustainable chemicals.

Shell will be able to support more of its customers achieve their sustainability goals. It follows a successful pilot using pyrolysis oil at Moerdijk petrochemicals plant in August 2021; and the increased use of recycled feed at Shell’s Norco petrochemical complex in the U.S. since November 2019.

As per MRC, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, one of the largest operators in the Gulf of Mexico, declared force majeure on some oil deliveries due to damage from Hurricane Ida, which has crippled U.S. offshore oil production. More than three-quarters of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico's offshore oil output remained shut following Ida. Crude buyers said the full restart of production remained unclear due to extensive damage to various facilities. The hurricane was one of the most devastating for offshore producers since back-to-back storms in 2005 cut output for months.

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 1,176,860 tonnes in the first half of 2021, up by 5% year on year. Shipments of exclusively low density polyethylene (LDPE) decreased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 727,160 tonnes in the first six months of 2021, up by 31% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased. Supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.

Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.
MRC

COVID-19 - News digest as of 10.09.2021

1. Binh Son refinery cuts output, faces suspension on weak demand

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Vietnam's Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical has cut output at its refinery for the second time in a month and could see operations suspended due to weak domestic fuel demand, as per Reuters. The 130,000-barrel-per-day refinery in central Vietnam has cut output to 80% of capacity, the Thanh Nien newspaper reported, after a reduction last month to 90% of capacity as a worsening coronavirus outbreak hurt demand. A new wave of infections since late April saw Vietnam impose movement restrictions in a third of its cities and provinces and forced many companies to suspend operations.


MRC

Crude oil futures increase in Asia on supply disruptions in the US Gulf Coast following Hurricane Ida

Crude oil futures increase in Asia on supply disruptions in the US Gulf Coast following Hurricane Ida

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Crude oil futures were higher in midmorning Asia trade Sept. 10 with the outlook tightened by supply disruptions in the US Gulf Coast following Hurricane Ida, reported S&P Global.

At 11:15 am Singapore time (0315 GMT), ICE November Brent futures was 29 cents/b (0.41%) higher at USD71.74/b while the NYMEX October WTI contract was up 22 cents/b (0.32%) at USD68.36/b.

"The impact from Hurricane Ida will continue to linger for some time," ING research analysts said Sept 10, adding that total crude oil production losses as a result of the storm now amount to slightly more than 22 million barrels, and with output still struggling to recover, this would grow.

Loading disruptions and supply issues due to Hurricane Ida have likely contributed to the week-on-week decrease in supply, with a few terminals, including Louisiana's Offshore Oil Port, shut following the storm.

As of Sept. 9, 1.392 million b/d, or 76.5%, of US Gulf of Mexico crude oil production remained offline, according to the US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement

Despite the uptick in prices, uncertainties loomed as the market came under renewed pressure. China announcement Sept. 9 that it will release a part of its state oil reserves through public auction to offer domestic refiners relief from high feedstock costs.

Throughputs at China's independent refineries in eastern Shandong province have continued to fall in August due to maintenance works and cuts earlier in the month amid weak margins, according to S&P Global calculations based on data from JLC. The combined throughput comprising crude, bitumen blend and fuel oil fell to a 17-month low of 9.45 million mt in August, according to JLC data Sept. 9.

In inventory news, the total US commercial crude stocks declined 1.53 million barrels in the week ended Sept. 3 to 423.87 million barrels, according to the Energy Information Administration on Sept. 9, leaving them around 6% behind normal for this time of the year. Total motor gasoline inventories decreased 7.2 million barrels last week and are about 4% below the five-year average for this time of the year.

The EIA in its September Short-Term Energy Outlook released Sept. 8 have also said that growing concerns about the spread of the delta variant have fostered continued declines in oil prices. Sharing a similar sentiment, ANZ analysts said demand in the aviation sector looked bearish with US airlines warning of slowing growth. United, Southwest and other airlines have said that a surge in COVID-19 cases is likely to hamper their recovery, with customer bookings slowing recently.

As informed earlier, Shell said it observed damage from Hurricane Ida to its transfer station West Delta-143 offshore facilities in the Gulf of Mexico. West Delta-143 serves as the transfer station for all production from its assets in the Mars corridor in the Mississippi Canyon area of the Gulf of Mexico to onshore crude terminals. Shell said it is not yet safe to send personnel offshore to learn the full extent of the damage and estimate the effect on production.

We remind that in late August, 2021, US crude stocks dropped sharply while petroleum products supplied by refiners hit an all-time record despite the rise in coronavirus cases nationwide, the Energy Information Administration said. Crude inventories fell by 7.2 million barrels in the week to Aug. 27 to 425.4 million barrels, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 3.1 million-barrel drop. Product supplied by refineries, a measure of demand, rose to 22.8 million barrels per day in the most recent week. That's a one-week record, and signals strength in consumption for diesel, gasoline and other fuels by consumers and exporters.

We also remind that US crude oil production is expected to fall by 160,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2021 to 11.12 million bpd, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a monthly report, a smaller decline than its previous forecast for a drop of 210,000 bpd.
MRC