Petrobras to raise gasoline and cooking gas prices because of inflation concerns

Petrobras to raise gasoline and cooking gas prices because of inflation concerns

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Brazilian state-run oil company Petrobras announced it will raise gasoline and cooking gas prices at the refinery starting on Saturday, at a time when high energy prices have been weighing on inflation, said Reuters.

According to Petroleo Brasileiro SA, as the company is formally known, gasoline prices will rise to 2.98 reais (USD0.5411) per liter from 2.78 reais, while cooking gas will go up to 3.86 reais per kg from 3.60 reais.

Petrobras said this marks the first adjustment to gasoline prices in 58 days and the first one for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in 95 days.

It added that the pricing changes come on the back of higher international oil prices and a stronger U.S. dollar.

Brazil’s consumer prices rose in September at the fastest pace for the month since 1994, with rising fuel and electricity prices largely to blame.

We also remind that Braskem is no longer pursuing a petrochemical project, which would have included an ethane cracker, in West Virginia. And the company is seeking to sell the land that would have housed the cracker. The project, announced in 2013, had been on Braskem's back burner for several years.

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.

Headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Petrobras is an integrated energy firm. Petrobras' activities include exploration, exploitation and production of oil from reservoir wells, shale and other rocks as well as refining, processing, trade and transport of oil and oil products, natural gas and other fluid hydrocarbons, in addition to other energy-related activities.
MRC

Neste expands availability of its renewable diesel

Neste expands availability of its renewable diesel

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Following the launch of Neste MY Renewable Diesel on the Belgian market in July, Neste has now entered a partnership with Q8 to offer the product on seven Q8 stations during this year., said Hydrocarbonproceesing.

Neste MY Renewable Diesel is a premium diesel?made entirely from renewable raw materials. It helps reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by up to 90%* when emissions over the fuel's life cycle are compared with fossil diesel. The renewable diesel is a “drop-in” fuel, fully compatible with all diesel engines, not requiring any modifications to the existing vehicles or fuel distribution infrastructures.

Neste MY Renewable Diesel is from available at Q8?Zaventem/Nossegem, Q8 Mechelen Brusselsesteenweg and Q8 Rotselaar. By the end of this yr, 3 more locations will be added: Q8 Lokeren, Q8 E34 Ranst direction Turnhout and Q8 E42 in Verlaine. "These locations were chosen strategically in order to support the development of the market," explains Sven Dochez, Director Supply & Innovation at Q8. "And our ambitions do not stop here. If this offer is successful, we will extend the implementation in our network."

Expanding the availability of Neste’s renewable diesel significantly strengthens the presence of Neste in Belgium. "We are delighted to extend the availability of our renewable products in the Belgian market. This expansion is an important step in the implementation of our global growth strategy,” says Peter Zonneveld, Vice President Sales Renewable Road Transportation at Neste.

Neste and Q8 are convinced that all solutions are needed to reduce mobility emissions as a contribution to the European goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. "We can do that in an instant with our Neste MY Renewable Diesel. Neste is committed to supporting to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20 MM tons CO2 equivalent annually by 2030,” says Peter Zonneveld.

As per MRC, Neste Corporation has signed an agreement to sell its existing base oils business to Chevron Corporation, one of the world's leading integrated energy companies. The agreement covers a combination of share and asset deals forming Neste's entire global base oils business. As part of the divestment, the parties have also agreed on a long-term offtake for Neste’s base oils supply from Porvoo, Finland.

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.
MRC

Total Port Arthur to restart FCCU refinery next week in Texas

Total Port Arthur to restart FCCU refinery next week in Texas

MOSCOW (MRC) -- TotalEnergies SE plans to begin restarting the gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracker unit (FCCU) at its 225,500 barrel-per-day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas, refinery by Oct. 14, said sources familiar with plant operation, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

TotalEnergies did not reply to a request for comment. The 76,000-bpd FCCU shut down on Sept. 9 because of a boiler leak, forcing a shutdown of the entire refinery due to the loss of steam supply from the FCCU, the sources said.

Late last week, Total restarted the 40,000-bpd ACU-2 crude distillation unit (CDU) and its attached 51,000-bpd vacuum distillation unit-1 (VDU-1), according to the sources. Both units shut down on Sept. 9.

ACU-2 is the smaller of two CDUs at the refinery. The 150,000-bpd ACU-1 CDU and its attached 60,000-bpd VDU-2 as well as the 60,000-bpd coker are remaining shut for a planned overhaul scheduled to last about two months, the sources said.

CDUs do the initial breakdown of crude oil into feedstocks for all other units at the refinery. VDUs refine at vacuum pressure residual crude from the CDUs, which operate at atmospheric pressure. Cokers convert residual crude from distillation units into either motor fuel feedstocks or petroleum coke, a coal substitute.

Total has had a string of issues at its French refineries in recent years. The 240,000 b/d Gonfreville refinery near Le Havre only resumed crude runs in June following a fire at the end of 2019. Cracks in a pipeline that supplied crude to the 93,000 b/d Grandpuits refinery were discovered last year, forcing the plant to shut ahead of schedule. Grandpuits was already earmarked for conversion into a biorefinery. A previous pipeline leak shut the refinery in June 2014.

Leaks in the pipeline supplying Feyzin forced a three-week shutdown in the summer of 2019. And a crack was also found earlier this year in a pipeline that supplies crude to TotalEnergies' 222,000 b/d Donges refinery. Donges was shut on economic grounds at the time and is due to remain closed until next 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 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.

Total S.A. is a French multinational oil and gas company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world with business in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia. The company's petrochemical products cover two main groups: base chemicals and the consumer polymers (polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene) that are derived from them.


MRC

PKN Orlen develops carbon dioxide polymer technology

PKN Orlen develops carbon dioxide polymer technology

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Poland's biggest refiner PKN Orlen is exploring ways to produce polymers using carbon dioxide, its director of innovation and new technology development Arkadiusz Majoch said, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

New technology to capture, store, reuse or replace carbon pollution is being explored around the world, with some companies working on methods of converting the greenhouse gas into products such as plastic, soap, or fabric.

"Right now we are finishing some research in the laboratory and already we started purchasing pilot plans where CO2 will be the raw material...and at the end, we are expecting to have some polymers," Majoch told a panel during a conference on carbon capture and utilization (CCU).

He said Orlen had a budget of more than two billion zlotys (USD509.2 million) to spend over the next nine years on developing and implementing technology across the group's companies and was looking to implement the results of the polymer pilot at one of them, possibly in Plock in central Poland.

All of the group's more than 500 projects qualified as decarbonisation or related to decarbonisation, with some "strictly dedicated" to CCU, Majoch added when asked how much of the budget would be ringfenced for CCU.

Under its 2030 strategy, Orlen plans to reduce CO2 emissions from existing refining and petrochemical assets by 20% and by 33% from its power generation business. It has also set a 2050 target date for achieving a net zero carbon footprint.

As per MRC, Orlen Unipetrol (part of PKN Orlen), a major Czech producer of petrochemical products, will expand the capacity of its steam cracker in Litvinov (Czech Republic) by installing a new furnace. The new cracking unit will be built by Technip Energies in Zaluzi, the largest chemical plant in the Czech Republic, and is due to be commissioned in 2022. Orlen is investing over 700 mln Polish zlotys (Zl) in the project.

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.

Czech Orlen Unipetrol is a joint stock company that deals with oil refining and production of petrochemical products in the Czech Republic and Central Europe. It is one of the ten largest Czech companies in terms of revenue. The company was founded in 1994 and since 2004 has been part of PKN Orlen, which owns 94.05% of the shares in the company.
MRC

COVID-19 - News digest as of 08.10.2021

1. Shell Q3 earnings to be hit by Hurricane Ida

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Royal Dutch Shell warned of a USD400 million hit to third-quarter earnings from the damage caused by August’s Hurricane Ida, said Hydrocarbonprocessing. However, in an update ahead of quarterly results this month, the oil major also flagged a boost to cashflows from soaring natural gas and electricity prices. Gas and power prices have been surging as tight gas supplies have collided with strong demand in economies recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. Shell is the world’s top seller of liquefied natural gas (LNG), accounting for about 20% of global demand, though its sales have declined in recent months because of production problems.

MRC