Pembina looks for ethane opportunity from Dow project in Alberta

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Canadian midstream energy firm Pembina Pipeline welcomes Dow’s recent announcement of plans for new petrochemicals production in Alberta province, said the company.

Dow plans a net-zero carbon emissions ethylene and derivates complex at its site in Fort Saskatchewan, northeast of Edmonton. A first phase of the project could start up as early as 2027, with capacities for 1.8m tonnes/year of ethylene and 1.65m tonnes/year of polyethylene (PE).

Pembina, which ranks as the leading shipper of ethane in Alberta, estimates that the Dow project will require more than 100,000 bbl/day of ethane feedstock, it said. The project “should have positive implications” for Pembina and other midstream energy firms as new infrastructure will be required for ethane extraction and transportation, it added.

As MRC wrote previously, Canadian midstream energy companies Pembina Pipeline and Inter Pipeline (IPL) are mulling the prospects of dehydrogenation/polypropylene (PDH/PP) production in Alberta province. On May 31, 2021, Pembina and Inter Pipeline entered into an agreement to create one of the largest and best positioned energy infrastructure companies in Canada. Together the companies' diversified and integrated asset base can support and grow an extensive value chain for natural gas, natural gas liquids and crude oil, from wellhead to end user, that far exceeds anything either company can do separately.

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.

Pembina Pipeline has been a gas supplier to the North American power system for over 60 years. Pembina owns and operates pipelines that transport a variety of hydrocarbon fluids, including conventional and synthetic crude oil and others, produced in Western Canada and North Dakota.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The EU Innovation Fund has given a positive grant decision of EUR88 million funding to Neste’s green hydrogen and CO2 capture and storage project, which aims to quickly and efficiently reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the Porvoo refinery in Finland, according to Hydrocarbon Engineering.

The project introduces carbon capture and storage (CCS) and electrolysis solutions that allow decarbonisation of production at the refinery. It is currently in the feasibility phase.

The project will strongly contribute to the reaching of both Finland’s and the EU’s climate targets and has a significant role in Neste’s target of carbon neutral production by 2035.

With this transformation project, a reduction of more than 4 million t of CO2 emissions can be achieved at the Porvoo refinery in the first 10 years of operation.

The company also aims to gather a network of leading European technology suppliers and R&D institutes, laying the foundation for a world-class European hub for renewable hydrogen and CO2 utilisation.

As MRC reported earlier, in July, 2021, Neste and LyondellBasell announced a long-term commercial agreement under which LyondellBasell will source Neste RE, a feedstock from Neste that has been produced from 100% renewable feedstock from bio-based sources, such as waste and residue oils and fats. This feedstock will be processed through the cracker at LyondellBasell’s Wesseling, Germany, plant into polymers and sold under the CirculenRenew brand name.

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.

Neste (Helsinki) creates solutions for combating climate change and accelerating a shift to a circular economy. The company refines waste, residues and innovative raw materials into renewable fuels and sustainable feedstock for plastics and other materials. The company is the world’s leading producer of renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel, developing chemical recycling to combat the plastic waste challenge. In 2020, Neste's revenue stood at EUR11.8 billion, with 94% of the company’s comparable operating profit coming from renewable products.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Honeywell has announced the expansion of its facility in Baton Rouge, La. to double the capacity of its Solstice ze (1234ze), an ultra-low-global-warming-potential (GWP) solution, according to CISION.

Solstice ze is used in foam insulation, as a propellant in personal and household care products, and in refrigeration and air conditioning applications.

Honeywell will invest significant capital in the facility for the growth of Solstice ze, which is part of the company's Solstice line of products based on hydrofluoroolefin (HFO) technology that helps customers lower their carbon footprint without sacrificing end-product performance.

The demand for low-GWP solutions continues to grow, and this new capacity will help meet the needs. Multiple global regulations stemming from the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol require the phasedown of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), driving the demand for sustainable solutions. Honeywell has already invested over one billion dollars in research, development and new capacity for its Solstice technology, having anticipated the need for lower-GWP solutions to combat climate change more than a decade ago.

About half of Honeywell's investment in new product introduction research and development is directed towards products that improve environmental and social outcomes for customers, such as Solstice. This aligns with the company's commitment to become carbon neutral in its facilities and operations by 2035, building on a track record to sharply reduce its greenhouse gas intensity as well as its decades-long history of innovation to help its customers meet their environmental and social goals. Worldwide adoption of Solstice products has avoided potential release of more than 250 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, equal to eliminating the potential emissions from more than 52 million cars per year.

Honeywell is a Fortune 100 technology company that delivers industry-specific solutions that include aerospace products and services; control technologies for buildings and industry; and performance materials globally. Its technologies help aircraft, buildings, manufacturing plants, supply chains, and workers become more connected to make our world smarter, safer, and more sustainable.

As MRC reported previously, Honeywell has recently announced the commercialization of a revolutionary process that expands the types of plastics that can be recycled and can produce feedstock used to make recycled plastics with a lower carbon footprint. The new technology can reduce the need for fossil fuels in the creation of virgin plastics while enabling hundreds of cycles of recycling, with the goal of enabling a circular economy for plastics. Honeywell's UpCycle Process Technology utilizes industry-leading molecular conversion, pyrolysis, and contaminants management technology to convert waste plastic back to Honeywell Recycled Polymer Feedstock, which is then used to create new plastics.

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) -- Brenntag’s third-quarter profits rose year on year on the back of strong demand at its commodity and specialty chemical divisions, although the CEO of the Germany-headquartered distributor warned that market disruption would last “well into” 2022, said the company.

Base chemical division Brenntag Essentials saw a 29% annual increase in operating earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) on demand growth in Europe and the Americas. COVID-19 restrictions and environmental policy in China hit its Asia-Pacific performance.

Specialties division earnings rose 42% year during the quarter, with profits growing across all divisions, driven in particular by demand from the Americas. Site closures, redundancies and the shift from geographic divisions to commodity and specialty arms contributed EUR70m to operating EBITDA for the year so far.

Known as Project Brenntag, the process has seen the firm close 68 of 100 planned sites and made 740 out of a planned 1,300 redundant. The company confirmed full-year operating EBITDA guidance of EUR1.26-1.32bn, despite no expectation of an end to “exceptional and challenging” market conditions.

As per MRC, Brenntag, the market leader in chemical and ingredients distribution, has completed the process of changing from a German Aktiengesellschaft (AG), or stock corporation, to a European company, or Societas Europaea (SE). The company says it is now doing business as Brenntag SE. The conversion, which was announced by the company's management and supervisory boards in 2019 and approved at its 2020 annual shareholders' meeting, came into force when it was entered into the commercial register on 1 February 2021.

As MRC informed earlier, in April 2020, Brenntag say it had acquired the operating assets of Suffolk Solutions’ (Suffolk, Virginia) caustic soda distribution business. Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (Sinopec) has signed a 20-year contract to purchase 4m tonnes/year of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from US LNG producer and exporter Venture Global LNG, said Reuters.

The deal is the largest LNG long-term contract signed between Chinese and U.S. companies, Venture Global said in a statement. The LNG will be supplied from its plant in Plaquemines, Louisiana.

Ma Yongsheng, president of Sinopec, said the LNG purchase contract reflects a "high consensus on supporting the global energy transformation and realising the ‘dual carbon’ goals of reaching peak carbon and achieving carbon neutrality." "Sinopec has been vigorously promoting the high-quality development of the natural gas business and improving clean energy supply guarantee capabilities to continuously build a better life," Ma said.

In addition to the Plaquemines deal, a Sinopec subsidiary, China International United Petroleum & Chemicals (UNIPEC), “will purchase LNG resources totaling 3.8m tonnes” from Venture Global's Calcasieu Pass project in Louisiana, Sinopec added. Financial terms were not disclosed.

As MRC informed before, in August, 2021, Sinopec, the world's petrochemical major, launched the first phase of the Gulei refining complex in Zhangzhou city in China’s southeastern Fujian province. The refining complex, a 50:50 joint venture between Sinopec’s Fujian Petrochemical Company Ltd and Taiwan Xuteng Investment Company Ltd, invested 27.8 billion yuan (USD4.28 billion) in the first phase. That will result in an 800,000 tonnes per annum ethylene plant, a 600,000 tonnes per annum styrene unit and seven other downstream petrochemical units, Sinopec said.

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