Bashneft reduced carbon emissions from furnaces at the Ufa refining complex

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Bashneft has reduced its carbon monoxide (CO) emissions from furnaces at the Ufa refining complex, by five times at the selective oil treatment unit and by 17 times at the hydrotreatment unit, said the company.

Such a multiple reduction in the impact on atmospheric air was achieved through a set of measures implemented on the furnaces during the overhaul. Furthermore, fuel costs will drop by 16.5 million roubles a year.

Environment protection is an integral part of the Rosneft 2022 Strategy. The Company aims to achieve leadership positions in minimizing the environmental impact and ensuring the eco-friendliness of its production.

The overhaul included improved thermal insulation and optimised adjustment of the fuel supply process controls. Following tests and optimisation of the combustion regime at the Bashneft-Novoil selective oil treatment facility, furnace efficiency increased by more than 11% on average, with fuel gas savings of up to 6%. The planned annual savings will be nearly 1,200 tonnes of fuel equivalent.

As MRC reported earlier, Bashneft ended 2020 with a loss of Rb11.1 billion under IFRS against a profit of Rb76.59 billion a year earlier. The company linked the loss to a decrease in world oil prices and demand for crude oil on the back of a worsening economic situation around the world due to the pandemic.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, 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.

Bashneft (a subsidiary of Rosneft) has oil reserves and a resource base in the Volga-Ural province, Timan-Pechora and Western Siberia. More than 180 fields are in commercial operation of the company. Production of hydrocarbons is over 21 million tons of oil per year.
MRC

1. Vietnam plans to cut environment tax on jet fuel by 50% due to coronavirus pandemic

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Vietnam plans to further cut environment tax on jet fuel to help the airline industry, which is struggling from the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, said Reuters citing finance ministry. The ministry is seeking government approval to lower the jet fuel tax by 50% for the whole of 2022, compared with the current 30% cut, which is due to expire at the end of this year. "It's necessary to continue cutting environment tax in 2022 to help local airlines weather the impact of the coronavirus pandemic," it said in a statement. "Jet fuel tax will be at 1,500 dong (USD0.0662) per liter after the cut."



MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Crude oil futures posted sharp losses in London trading Nov. 30 as the World Health Organization said the new omicron variant poses a high global risk, and a major pharmaceuticals company said currently available COVID-19 vaccines are less effective against it, reported S&P Global.

At 1200 GMT Nov. 30, ICE January Brent crude futures was down USD2.36/b from the previous settlement at USD71.08/b while the NYMEX January WTI futures contract was down USD1.91/b at USD68.04/b.

Oil prices posted losses once again and almost completely eliminated the partial gains of the previous day, bringing current levels close to the Nov. 26 close. The main trigger for the more bearish sentiment was comments made by Moderna's chief regarding current vaccines' efficacy being limited against the omicron variant, adding that development and production of a more effective version could take months.

All financial and physical markets, particularly in Europe, reacted strongly to the comments, with sharp losses observed across asset classes once again.

The FTSE 100 was observed trading at GBP7,024 during the late morning session, down 1.20% from the previous close, while the Stoxx 600 index was at Eur460.76, down 1.39% day on day.

At the same time, all eyes were on the OPEC+ meeting Dec. 2, which could decide not to increase further crude supply temporarily according to the previously decided levels.

The market had already showed concerns over the previous weeks regarding a potential oversupply in 2022, while demand forecasts could have been too bullish, contributing as well to the recent pressure for oil prices.

We remind that, as MRC informed before, earlier this month, TotalEnergies and Daimler Truck AG signed an agreement on their joint commitment to the decarbonization of the road freight in the European Union. The partners will collaborate in the development of ecosystems for heavy-duty trucks running on hydrogen, with the intent to demonstrate the attractiveness and effectiveness of trucking powered by clean hydrogen and the ambition to play a lead role in kickstarting the rollout of hydrogen infrastructure for transportation.

We also remind that TotalEnergies has recently inaugurated the extension of Synova in Normandy, the French leader in recycled polypropylene (PP) production. TotalEnergies is therefore doubling its mechanical recycling production capacity for recycled polymers, to meet growing demand for sustainable polymers from customers, such as Automotive Manufacturer (Auto OEM) and the construction industry.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, 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) -- Petrobras plans to invest USD2.5bn expanding a refinery in northern Brazil and completing a base-oils project in Rio de Janeiro state, the state-controlled energy producer said.

Under the base-oils project, Petrobras will invest USD1.5bn integrating the Duque de Caxias refinery (REDUC) with the GasLub Itaborai project. GasLub should produce 12,000 bbbl/day of Group II base oils and 93,000 bbl/day of S-10 diesel and jet fuel, Petrobras said.

For the expansion project, Petrobras plans to invest USD1bn to complete the second train of its Abreu e Lima refinery (RNEST) in Pernambuco state. The second train will add 145,000 bbl/day of crude-processing capacity, increasing the refinery's throughput rate to 260,000 bbl/day from 115,000 bbbl/day.

Petrobras plans to complete the refinery expansion in 2027, it said. RNEST is one of the refineries that Petrobras plans to sell. Petrobras could spend USD600m on projects that would allow it to co-process soybean oil in its existing refinery units and to produce renewable diesel and jet fuel at new units.

REPAR is another refinery that Pertrobras plans to sell. Another project would allow the co-processing of soybean oil at the Paulinia (REPLAN) and Presidente Bernardes (RPBC) refineries in Sao Paulo state. These projects would allow the refineries to produce diesel with 5-7% renewable content. Petrobras plans to keep these two refineries.

We remind that in August 2021, Petrobras hired JPMorgan Chase & Co as an advisor to sell its stake in the petrochemical company Braskem SA.

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 1,868,160 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 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.

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Privately-controlled Zhejiang Petrochemical Corp (ZPC), China's single-largest refiner and petrochemical producer, is exploring new technologies such as direct processing of crude into olefins to cut carbon emissions, reported Reuters with reference to a company executive's statement.

Refining and petrochemical manufacturing contributes about 5% of China's total carbon emissions, or about 400-500 MM tons, told Liu Minghui, ZPC's vice president, at a live-streamed oil seminar hosted by Zhejiang provincial government in Zhoushan.

ZPC is working with China's Tsinghua University to develop crude-to-olefin know-how that is expected to reduce carbon footprint by nearly half compared to the traditional process of obtaining feedstock for petrochemicals during the crude refining process, Liu said.

There are no plants in China, as yet, with the technologies needed for production on a commercial scale.

Meantime, the Zhoushan-based company is also advancing plans to capture and utilize CO2, with annual usable volume of around 5.2 MM tons, for the production of synthetic gas and acetic acid, the latter used for making paints.

Citing a report from state refiner Sinopec Corp, Liu said downstream consumption of refined oil products including diesel, gasoline, kerosene and fuel oil emits 1 B tons of CO2 each year. China, the world's largest green-house gases emitter, last month laid out an action plan aiming to bring its carbon emissions to a peak before 2030, including putting a cap on oil refining capacity and promoting renewables.

Liu said ZPC, with a refining capacity of 800,000 bbl per day, has the lowest yield of refined fuel products such as diesel and gasoline among its domestic peers, as it has chosen to maximize production of high-end chemicals such as polycarbonate (PC) plastic used for packaging and ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) used to make sports wear.

ZPC also operates over 20 MM tons per year hydrocracking facilities, also the largest in China, allowing the firm to make premium quality diesel and gasoline that meet the highest National 6 standards, Liu added.

As MRC informed earlier, in April 2021, ZPC started up its No. 2 cracker in Zhoushan, China, which is part of the company's phase 2 petrochemical project in the cournty. Thus, the cracker with an annual capacity of 1.4 million tons/year of ethylene and 700,000 tons/year of propylene began trial runs in the first week of April. The commercial production at this facility was received later that month.

We remind that ZPC started operations at its No. 1 cracker in the first half of November 2019, whereas the commercial procution at this cracker was received in late December 2019.

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