Shell to shut crude refining at Wesseling in Germany

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Royal Dutch Shell said it plans to shift its Shell Rheinland refinery at Wesseling in Germany away from crude oil and towards low or zero carbon products from 2025, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Shell has set a goal of net zero emissions by 2050 and is under increased pressure after a Dutch court ruled it must drastically deepen planned greenhouse gas cuts. Under its transformation plans, the complex will become Shell Energy and Chemicals Park Rheinland, a venture focused on renewable energy-derived hydrogen, sustainable aviation fuels and renewable liquefied biogas (bio-LNG).

Wesseling is one of two sites that make up the Shell Rheinland refinery complex and out of a total 340,000 bpd capacity, it accounts for 150,000 bpd. Godorf, the other site, will continue to distill crude oil into mineral oil products under the plans, which have not yet received a final investment decision (FID), Shell's German business said in a statement.

The plants employ a total 3,000 people, of which half are with Shell and the rest with contractor firms and Shell said it would try and avoid redundancies as workers could be switched to other jobs, retrained, or retired. In July, Shell launched Europe's biggest hydrogen electrolysis plant of 10 megawatts (MW) called Refhyne at Wesseling to produce green fuels.

A FID for scaling up the 10 MW size to 100 MW has not yet been received but European Union funding has been approved. A power-to-liquid plant for synthetic aviation fuel and naptha from renewables and biomass at Wesseling is also awaiting an FID, while a bio-LNG plant at Godorf has received one already.

Marco Richrath, General Manager of the Shell Energy and Chemicals Park Rheinland, said on a call with reporters that he intended to maintain the refinery's important role with a completely new portfolio.

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 1,868,160 tonnes in the first nine months of 2021, up by 18% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,138,510 tonnes in January-September 2021, up by 30% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) decreased significantly.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A more than doubling of refining margins and a fresh batch of crude quota allocations spurred China's independent refiners to raise crude throughput to a four-month high in October, pulling down feedstock inventories at ports from record highs, reported S&P Global.

Throughput was expected to continue rising until year end if margins remain elevated as refiners would not want to miss the opportunity after two years of constrained profits, analysts and industry sources said.

"(The higher throughput in October was) mostly driven by a tight gasoil market, given these players often have higher yields and a general edge selling into the wholesale market," said Grace Lee, Senior Analyst with S&P Global Analytics.

State-owned oil refiners have also raised their gasoil output in the recent months, she added, which was mostly done to help fill domestic shortages, as instructed by Beijing. There has been a structural reduction in their gasoil-gasoline output ratio, and around half their gasoil sales are sold directly through the wholesale market.

Feedstock consumption at China's independent refineries in eastern Shandong province rose 6.5% month on month to a four-month high of 10.12 million mt in October from 9.5 million mt in September, data from local information provider JLC showed Nov. 12.

It was the first month since July that throughput at Shandong's independent refineries was higher than 10 million mt.

As MRC informed previously, PetroChina, Asia's largest oil and gas producer, aims to have oil, gas and green energies to each account for a third of its portfolio by 2035, as the Chinese oil major shifts toward a lower-carbon future.

We remind that in August, 2021, PetroChina Liaoyang Petrochemical Co Ltd , part of the Chinese petrochemical major - PetroChina,successfully started up its new polypropylene (PP) plant last week. Based in Liaoning City, Liaoyang Province, China, the new PP plant has a production capacity of 300,000 tons/year.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,138,510 tonnes in the first nine months of 2021, up by 30% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- IGL, is a leading company in the production of sustainable intermediate chemicals like green Ethylene Oxide (EO), Mono-Ethylene Glycol (MEG) and a wide range of speciality chemical products, produced from bio-based ethanol, Hydrocarbonprocessing.

SC&T has supported IGL on its journey of profitable growth in sustainable chemicals, by providing new generation catalysts needed to produce EO. SC&T has formulated EO catalysts that provide exceptional performance of high selectivity and stability under IGL specific operating conditions, which can be challenging due to the bio ethylene feed derived from ethanol.

A high EO catalyst selectivity results in direct variable costs savings as less feedstock (i.e., ethylene) is consumed to manufacture products. Through being a serial early-adopter of new EO catalysts from SC&T, IGL’s production unit has been able to continuously improve its product yield and lower overall production variable costs.

The most recent charge of Shell High Selectivity EO Catalyst S-889 started up in July 2020 and achieved 92% selectivity combined with excellent stability that has enabled the unit to extend its production cycle. This is the fifth charge of S-889 catalyst, which shows the trust that IGL places in the exceptional performance of SC&T catalysts which have a strong track record of performance under all operating conditions. This superior catalyst performance has allowed the unit to maximize production during favorable market conditions whilst maintaining a high average selectivity and low impurities generation.

As Jagdish Rao, SC&T Technical Services Manager has observed: “IGL’s agile work culture with a clear focus on adopting new technologies for continuous improvement is a key differentiator and has helped IGL to be a pioneer in the production of sustainable chemicals. SC&T’s partnership with IGL demonstrates our customer centric approach in developing customized catalyst and technology solutions."

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 1,868,160 tonnes in the first nine months of 2021, up by 18% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,138,510 tonnes in January-September 2021, up by 30% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) decreased significantly.

IGL, is a leading company in the production of sustainable intermediate chemicals like green Ethylene Oxide (EO), Mono-Ethylene Glycol (MEG) and a wide range of speciality chemical products, produced from bio-based ethanol.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sri Lanka has temporarily shut its only oil refinery as part of efforts to manage dwindling foreign exchange reserves, the energy minister said on Tuesday, triggering long queues at petrol stations, reported Reuters.

The 51-year-old Sapugaskanda Oil Refinery, which has a capacity of 50,000 bpd, was closed on Monday, the minister, Udaya Gammanpila, said at the weekly Cabinet briefing.

"The refinery will be closed for about 50 days. Sri Lanka has very limited foreign exchange reserves at the moment and we need it more for essentials like food and medicine," he said.

Gammanpila said fuel imports would resume once the government was able to raise sufficient dollars but did not give details of a timeline.

Faced with rising inflation and dwindling reserves, the government is discussing a bailout for its economy, cabinet spokesman and Media Minister Dullas Allahaperuma told reporters.

Sri Lanka is also attempting to negotiate a USD500 MM credit line with India to buy fuel and boost reserves, which dropped to USD2.27 B at the end of October. During the first nine mos of 2021, Sri Lanka spent USD692 MM on fuel imports, its highest import expenditure.

As MRC informed before, Indian refiners' crude oil throughput in September edged higher from the previous month, government data showed, as refineries boosted output to meet surging demand. Refiners processed 4.45 MM barrels per day (bpd) (18.21 MM tons) of crude oil last month, up from the 4.36 MMbpd in August, which was the lowest in 10 mos.

We remind that the Indian company Nayara Energy, 49.13% of which is owned by Russia's largest state oil company - Rosneft, has launched a USD750 million petrochemical development program. Nayara Energy has the second largest refinery in India with a capacity of 20 million tons per year. The Indian company has already launched a refinery development program: within the first stage, it is planned to build units for the production of polypropylene (PP) with a capacity of up to 450,000 tonnes per 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 1,638,370 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.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Canada's Trans Mountain oil pipeline has been shut down temporarily because of rainstorms pounding parts of the province of British Columbia, reported Reuters with reference to the operating company's statement on Monday.

The Canadian government-owned pipeline ships 300,000 barrels a day of crude and refined products from Alberta to the Pacific Coast. Work on a major expansion project on the pipeline has also been halted, Trans Mountain Corp said.

"As a precaution, Trans Mountain has shut down the Trans Mountain Pipeline due to widespread flooding and debris flows in the area around Hope, BC," a company spokeswoman said in an email. She did not give any information on when the pipeline is expected to restart.

Heavy rains and flooding are causing widespread disruption across Canada's westernmost province. Landslides have trapped people in vehicles on highways and the entire town of Merritt, with a population of 7,000 people, has been ordered to evacuate.

Trans Mountain is a key oil export route and nearly two-thirds of its volumes in the first half of 2021 were light oil deliveries heading to US refineries, said IHS Market Vice President Kevin Birn, citing Canada Energy Regulator data.

Cenovus Energy Inc (CVE.TO), one of the oil producers that uses the pipeline to transport crude, said it was monitoring the situation.

Refiners in Washington state, including Phillips 66 and BP, have other options to acquire oil, as they have access to the Pacific Ocean.

As MRC wrote previously, Phillips 66, a diversified energy manufacturing and logistics company, has announced it plans to convert its Alliance Refinery in Belle Chasse, La., to a terminal facility. The conversion is expected to take place in 2022.

We remind that US-based Phillips 66 remains open to developing another ethane cracker for its Chevron Phillips Chemical (CP Chem) joint venture, the refiner's CEO said in March 2018.

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 1,868,160 tonnes in the first nine months of 2021, up by 18% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,138,510 tonnes in January-September 2021, up by 30% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) decreased significantly.
MRC