MOSCOW (MRC) -- Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s storm-idled 230,611 barrel-per-day (bpd) Norco, Louisiana refinery plans to begin restarting the crude distillation unit (CDU), gasoline- and diesel-producing units as early as last weekend, reported Reuters with reference to sources familiar with plant operations.
The restarts of the 240,000-bpd DU-5 CDU, 112,000-bpd gasoline-producing residual catalytic cracking unit (RCCU) and 40,000-bpd diesel-producing hydrocracker will continue into this week, the sources said.
A Shell spokesperson did not reply to a request for comment.
The Norco refinery’s 25,000-bpd coker and 40,000-bpd reformer will also be restarting in this week, according to the sources.
The refinery was damaged on Aug. 29 by Hurricane Ida, which crossed over Norco, located 21 miles (34 km) west of New Orleans. The refinery was shut the day before the hurricane struck.
The refinery has completed restarting the 55,000-bpd diesel hydrotreater and two sulfur recovery units.
The adjoining Shell Norco chemical plant has restarted Gas Olefins-1 unit and plants to restart the Gas Olefins-5 unit during next week, the sources said.
As MRC informed earlier, Royal Dutch Shell plans to reduce its refining and chemicals portfolio by more than half, it said in July 2020 without giving a precise timeframe. The move is part of the Anglo-Dutch company's plan to shrink its oil and gas business and expand its renewables and power division to reduce greenhouse gas emissions sharply by 2050.
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 1,638,370 tonnes in the first eight months of 2021, up by 10% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 989,570 tonnes in the first eight months of 2021, up by 30% year on year. Deliveries of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas shipments of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.
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.
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