Nouryon starts production at new facility in Ningbo to meet growing demand for polymers in Asia

Nouryon starts production at new facility in Ningbo to meet growing demand for polymers in Asia

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Nouryon (formely AkzoNobel Specialy Chemicals), a global specialty chemicals leader, has started production at a new manufacturing facility located at its site in Ningbo, China, to meet increasing demand in the Asia region for polymers used in the Packaging, Paints and Coatings and Construction end-markets, as per the company's press release.

The facility, which began development in 2020, has an annual capacity of 35,000 tons and will produce two key intermediates - tert-Butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP) and tert-Butyl alcohol (TBA) - which are essential ingredients in the production of polymers and composites.

"Nouryon is pleased to further support our customers across Asia now that operations are up and running at our new China facility,” said Alain Rynwalt, Vice President of Polymer Specialties at Nouryon. “This investment supports Nouryon’s commitment to meet the growing needs of our customers in the region for products such as safe and hygienic food packaging, paint resins and PVC pipes."

Sobers Sethi, Senior Vice President of Emerging Markets and China at Nouryon, said: "Asia is a key region for Nouryon and the Ningbo site plays a pivotal role in achieving our growth targets. The investment in this new facility underlines our strategy of strengthening our presence in attractive high-growth markets."

Nouryon’s Ningbo site is comprised of six manufacturing facilities that produce chelating agents, organic peroxides, ethylene amines, cellulose ethers and surfactants. In Asia, Nouryon produces organic peroxides in Ningbo and Tianjin, China; Asa, Japan; and Mahad, India.

As MRC reported earlier, in April 2021, Nouryon and Atul successfully started production at Anaven, a new joint venture in Gujarat, India, that will help meet the rapidly growing demand in India’s agricultural, personal care and pharmaceutical markets.

We remind that in January 2021, Nouryon said it had decided to rename its industrial chemicals subsidiary Nobian as part of the company's global growth and branding strategies. The branding change will allow Nobian to develop its integrated European value chain for base chemicals under its own name and brand, the company says. It will also enable Nouryon to focus on growing its worldwide position in specialty chemicals, the company says.

Nouryon was officially formed in October 2018 after separating from AkzoNobel. The company manufactures everyday products, such as paper, plastics, building materials, food, pharmaceuticals, and personal care items. The company operates in over 80 countries around the world and its portfolio of industry-leading brands includes Eka, Dissolvine, Trigonox and Berol.
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Dangote refinery will cut West Africa fuel imports

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Dangote’s 650,000 barrels per day (BPD) oil refinery project has been identified as one of the oil distillation companies that would boost global refining capacity by 6.9 million barrels per day between 2021 and 2026, said the company.

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which made this disclosure in its 2021 World Oil Outlook released recently, said Africa’s medium-term outlook appears more optimistic with 1.2 million barrels-per-day (mb/d) of new capacity expected by 2026; half of which is to be accounted for by the 650,000 BPD Dangote Oil Refinery project in Nigeria, which is likely to come on stream in 2022.

The oil cartel identified these projects, which are located mostly in Nigeria, Angola and Ghana, to include a number of pre-fabricated modular facilities. “Once commissioned, these projects will help to reduce product imports to Nigeria and West Africa and will, in turn, increase the use of local crude. In North Africa, refinery capacity expansions are likely in Algeria and Egypt,” it said.

Similar to previous outlooks, OPEC said refinery additions are concentrated in developing regions, such as the Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa. OPEC added that the total medium-term capacity additions of 6.9 mb/d are composed of projects in different development stages.

“Around 3.5 mb/d of capacity is under construction or close to this stage; hence, these are the projects with the highest certainty to materialize in the medium-term. There are also projects totalling 3.4 mb/d that are mostly in early stages of development, but still advanced enough in terms of financing and engineering to be considered ‘firm’ medium-term additions,” the global organisation stated.

These regions, it noted, account for almost 90% of the additions in the period 2021–2026. “The medium-term outlook contains several large projects, many of which have petrochemical integration as well. These developments are in line with expected oil demand growth,” it added.

Speaking on investments in refinery projects, OPEC puts the total global estimated required investments at USD1.5 trillion in the 2021-2045 period. It noted that these include investments of nearly USD450 billion in new refinery projects and expansions of existing units located mostly in developing countries, including those in the Middle East, Asia-Pacific, Africa and Latin America.

OPEC stated, “Required investments in the midstream sector are estimated at around USD1.1 billion in the same time horizon and are attributed to the expansion of the infrastructure for refining, storage and pipeline systems, predominantly in developing regions, but also in large oil-exporting regions (e.g. the US & Canada and the Russia & Caspian). Thus, globally, oil-related investment needs in the long term are estimated at USD11.8 trillion.

“Long-term (2021–2045) capacity additions are expected at 14 mb/d, mostly in developing countries. However, the Reference Case projects a significant slowdown in the rate of additions. Africa and Other Asia-Pacific are the regions where significant incremental capacities are expected, even after 2030. The report said, “The continent of Africa is home to an abundance of energy resources, including about 10 per cent of the world’s oil reserves; however, it still has difficulty in harnessing these precious resources to meet its energy demand.

This, in turn, hinders efforts to provide affordable and reliable energy required for economic growth and development. “Africa has yet to unlock its huge potential in the energy sector, although its ever-increasing population growth and economic prospects require more energy. This drawback is mostly due to regional uncertainties, as well as government policies and regulatory frameworks guiding the energy sector, and more recently, the efficiencies required to reduce CO2 emissions in exploration and production activities.

These challenges have made it increasingly difficult to secure much-needed financing for E&P from foreign investors."

The report noted that the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic had also been a major setback, especially for those countries depending heavily on revenue from fossil fuels for their economic growth and development.

As per MRC, in May this year, Four oil firms including Nigeria's state-oil company approached Dangote Industries to acquire a stake in Africa's largest oil refinery.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,396,960 tonnes in January-July 2021, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 841,990 tonnes in the first seven months of 2021, up by 29% year on year.
MRC

Air Products brings liquid hydrogen plant onstream in La Porte

Air Products brings liquid hydrogen plant onstream in La Porte

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Air Products, the leading global hydrogen provider, announced that its new liquid hydrogen plant at its La Porte, Texas facility is onstream to supply increasing demand in several customer markets, said Gasworld.

The new La Porte liquid hydrogen plant produces approximately 30 tons per day and will draw its hydrogen to be liquefied from Air Products' existing Gulf Coast hydrogen pipeline network, the world's largest hydrogen plant and pipeline system.

"We invested in this new liquid hydrogen production facility in Texas to show our commitment to our customers and to help meet current and future demand. The addition of this new capacity also will allow us to target the increased growth we anticipate from several markets, namely the hydrogen for mobility market. The La Porte facility's location and operational benefits provide us with numerous supply options from this plant. We look forward to providing this new reliable source of liquid hydrogen, which is very important to manufacturing and other operations in several states," said Francesco Maione, president, Americas at Air Products.

Maione added that Air Products also plans to build a green liquid hydrogen production facility in the Southwest U.S. The zero-carbon facility will produce liquid hydrogen to be sold to the hydrogen for mobility market in California and other locations requiring zero-carbon hydrogen fuel.

From its newest commercial facility at La Porte, the hydrogen will be delivered in trailers to customers in industries including: electronics, chemical and petrochemical, metals, material handling, float glass, edible fats and oils, utilities, and the rapidly-developing hydrogen for mobility market. Air Products recently announced its intent to begin the process of converting its global fleet of approximately 2,000 distribution vehicles to hydrogen fuel cell zero emission vehicles starting in 2022.

Air Products also has liquid hydrogen production plants operating in New Orleans, Louisiana; Sacramento, California; Sarnia, Ontario, Canada; and Rotterdam in The Netherlands.

The new plant at La Porte will join Air Products' existing hydrogen and syngas production operations, as well as an air separation unit at the site. The liquid hydrogen plant will connect to, and draw hydrogen to be liquefied from, Air Products' Gulf Coast Pipeline (GCP), an approximately 700-mile pipeline stretching from the Houston Ship Channel in Texas to New Orleans, Louisiana, and capable of supplying customers with over 1.9 billion feet of hydrogen per day from 25 hydrogen production facilities. The vast pipeline includes the supply of blue hydrogen from Air Products' Port Arthur, Texas facility where approximately one million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) has been captured annually since 2013, transported via pipeline, and used in enhanced oil recovery operations.

Pipelines offer a safe, robust and reliable supply of hydrogen to industries around the world. Globally, Air Products' pipeline operational expertise is evidenced by its network of systems. Besides the GCP, Air Products also has hydrogen pipelines in California in the U.S., in Sarnia, Ontario and Alberta, Canada, and in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

As per MRC, Aramco, Air Products, ACWA Power and Air Products Qudra have signed a deal for the asset acquisition and project financing of a USD12bn air separation unit (ASU)/gasification/power joint venture (JV) at Jazan Economic City in Saudi Arabia.

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 1,396,960 tonnes in January-July 2021, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 841,990 tonnes in the first seven months of 2021, up by 29% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymers (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.

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

Eneos to buy Japan Renewable Energy

Eneos to buy Japan Renewable Energy

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Eneos Holdings Inc, Japan's biggest refiner, plans to buy Japan Renewable Energy for about 200 billion yen (USD1.8 billion) from Goldman Sachs and Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The deal would mark the first major purchase of a renewables company by a top Japanese oil company, the Nikkei said, as Eneos looks to shift away from fossil fuels.

Founded in 2012, Japan Renewable Energy develops and builds renewable energy assets and has 419 megawatts of solar, onshore wind and biomass capacity in operation, with a further 410 MW under construction.

An Eneos spokesperson said the company was considering various options to expand its renewable energy business but that nothing had been decided. A Goldman Sachs spokesperson declined to comment.

Like overseas counterparts including Royal Dutch Shell Japan's oil companies are shifting into new areas, especially after Tokyo stepped-up commitments on cutting atmosphere heating emissions along with other countries.

Japan Renewable's website has few financial details but, with its comparatively small capacity, any acquisition is unlikely to make much of an immediate contribution to Eneos' typical annual sales of around 10 trillion yen (USD90 billion).

As per MRC, Eneos (formerly JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy), part of Eneos Holding, a major petrochemical producer in Japan, has nominated the October contract price for benzene in Asia at USD1,010 per tonne, up USD30 per tonne from the contract price in September. The price was nominated on CFR Asia delivery terms.

Benzene is a raw material for the production of styrene, which, in turn, serves as the main raw material for the production of polystyrene (PS).

According to the MRC's ScanPlast, the total estimated consumption of EPS in August increased by 15% compared to August last year and amounted to 11,650 tonnes. The total production volume of EPS for the reporting month amounted to 8,770 tonnes, a decrease in comparison with August last year amounted to 8%.

Eneos Holding (formerly known as JXTG) is Japan's largest oil company. Its activities include the exploration, import and refining of crude oil; production and sale of petroleum products (ethylene, propylene, butadiene, styrene, paraxylene, orthoxylene, etc.), including fuels and lubricants. In recent years, the company has been expanding its production facilities in other countries. Its products are sold under the ENEOS brand. On June 25, 2020, JXTG, founded in April 2017 after the merger of two Japanese companies, JX Holding and TonenGeneral, changed its name to Eneos Holdings, while its subsidiary JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy changed its name to Eneos.
MRC

Tatneft joined the Top -10 of environmental efficiency rating

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Tatneft joined the Top -10 of environmental efficiency rating, said the company.

The environmental rating of the ERA agency assessed the fundamental efficiency of the production activities of companies. This rating reflects the ability of enterprises to operate with a low environmental impact, economical consumption of resources and energy, minimal losses of ecosystem stability in the area of presence of enterprises, with an increase in production per unit of resource costs and environmental reporting open to society.

The ranking identified 160 leaders in 16 groups based on technological similarities. 289 companies participated in the Oil and Gas Production and Pumping Group. When evaluating ERA, 5 criteria were used (energy resource, technological and ecosystem efficiency, efficiency dynamics and transparency). The transparency indicator of Tatneft was 91.6%.

Information transparency is an important factor in business sustainability. Tatneft publishes a sustainability report that meets the requirements of the GRI standards. By joining the UN Global Compact, the Company increases the level of integration into business processes of all aspects of sustainable development and continues to increase its contribution to the fight against climate change.

As per MRC, Tatneft intends to develop the production of composite materials. Currently, the development strategy of Tatneft's petrochemical complex projects is at the stage of updating, integrating a new project of the company for the production of butadiene rubbers in Kazakhstan and the recently acquired EcoPet plant (Kaliningrad) for the production of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Within the framework of updating the strategy, Tatneft plans to pay great attention to "green" projects.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PET consumption totalled 411,200 tonnes in the first six month of 2021, up by 12% year on year. Russian companies processed 62,910 tonnes in June, compared to 85,890 tonnes a month earlier.

JSC Tatneft is part of JSC Tatneftekhiminvest-holding, an industrial and financial company that unites the largest enterprises of the oil and gas chemical complex of Tatarstan. Tatneft accounts for over 80% of oil produced in Tatarstan. In 2013, the company increased oil production by 0.4% to 26.107 million tons. The main shareholder of Tatneft is the state holding OJSC Svyazinvestneftekhim, which owns 30.44% of the shares in the authorized capital of the company. Tatarstan owns the "golden share" of Tatneft.
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