Versalis to license technology to Supreme Petrochem ABS unit in India

Versalis to license technology to Supreme Petrochem ABS unit in India

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Versalis, Eni’s chemical company, has agreed to license the continuous mass technology for a 70 KTY ABS unit to Supreme Petrochem Ltd. a leading Indian polystyrene (PS) and expandable polystyrene (EPS) producer, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The unit will be built in the Amdoshi - Wangani, District Raigad, in Maharashtra state, India.

This state-of-the-art technology will produce styrenic polymers with a low carbon footprint owing to reduced emissions and energy consumption. Market applications of the technology include the automotive industry, household appliances, the electronics sector, medical appliances and furniture.

The license agreement confirms the primary role of Versalis in styrenics and strengthens its position in the Asian market, an area which is undergoing a strong expansion in the petrochemical field and is increasingly focused on selecting more sustainable technologies with a low environmental impact.

Versalis will be supported by Eurotecnica Contractors and Engineers SpA, with which the company has recently signed a cooperation agreement within the styrenics business. Eurotecnica, which will support Versalis in supplying the basic engineering design package, is an Italian company founded in 1962 and part of the Proman Group. The company specializes in providing engineering services relevant to proprietary technologies with established leadership in the Asian market, in melamine technology.

As MRC informed earlier, in September 2021, the “Cracker of the Future” consortium announced two new members and accelerating the development of a game-changing technology for the electrification of the steam cracking process. This enables a revolutionary decrease in greenhouse gas emissions. The consortium announced two new member companies: Repsol and Versalis (Eni) have recently joined the consortium. Together with founding members Borealis (member of the OMV Group), BP, and TotalEnergies SE, the consortium covers ~1/3 of the European Union’s steam cracking capacity with units in Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, ABS imports into Russia rose in the first ten months of 2021 by 15% year on year to 33,500 tonnes from 29,100 tonnes a year earlier.

Versalis is a technology leader in the chemical industry and one of the largest producers of polymers in Europe. It has a wide portfolio of proprietary technologies and consolidated experience as a licensor leveraging its extensive R&D, lab & pilot plant testing capabilities and full-scale plant operations experience.

Eni is an Italian multinational oil and gas company headquartered in Rome. It has operations in in 79 countries, and is currently Italy's largest industrial company. The Italian government owns a 30.3% golden share in the company, 3.93% held through the state Treasury and 26.37% held through the Cassa depositi e prestiti. Another 39.40% of the shares are held by BNP Paribas.
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COVID-19 - News digest as of 06.12.2021

1. U.S. administration plans to propose in days the amount of biofuels oil refiners must blend into their fuel mix

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The U.S. administration plans to propose in days the amount of biofuels oil refiners must blend into their fuel mix this year and next year, as it reaches out to lawmakers to discuss the move, said Hydrocarbonprocessing. President Joe Biden's administration has delayed decisions on 2021 blending obligations by more than a year, and it missed a deadline to finalize 2022 obligations this week. The delays came as the COVID-19 pandemic hammered fuel demand and Democratic lawmakers focused on other legislation. Officials for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which administers the mandates, declined to comment on the timing. The oil and biofuel industries have called for the EPA to announce the proposals, saying delays have created uncertainty for the market.


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Alfa Laval and the Energy Storage Council released report

Alfa Laval and the Energy Storage Council released report

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Long Duration Energy Storage (LDES) Council releases a major report on how energy storage technologies can enable net-zero power grids by 2040, said the company.
The report, produced in collaboration with McKinsey & Company, details the application of LDES technologies, the flexibility requirements needed in future high-renewables power grids, and an analysis of the investment actions required.

To achieve decarbonization, significant effort must be made to reduce emissions across all sectors. The power sector, which accounts for roughly one-third of global carbon emissions, is central to global decarbonization. Long duration energy storage can cost-effectively store electricity from wind, solar and other renewable sources and then make it available when needed.

The report concludes that 85-140 TWh of long duration energy storage (>8 hours) can be deployed globally to enable power grids to become carbon net-zero. This will eliminate between 1.5 to 2.3 Gt of CO2 currently produced annually through allowing grid energy imbalances to be met by renewable sources opposed to fossil fuels, equivalent to 10-15 percent of total emissions in today’s power sector.

As per MRC, Alfa Laval, a leading global provider of specialized products and engineering solutions based on its key technologies of heat transfer, separation and fluid handling, has strengthened its operations in the United States with three new facilities, expanding its commitment to serving its customers in the United States.

As MRC reported earlier, Alfa Laval has recently won an order to supply compact heat exchangers to a refinery and petrochemical plant in China. The order has a value of approximately SEK 100 million and is booked in the Welded Heat Exchangers unit of the Energy Division. Deliveries are scheduled for 2020.

The LDES Council is a global, CEO-led body comprising technology providers, equipment providers, renewable energy companies, utilities, grid operators, investors, and end-consumers. It strives to accelerate decarbonization of the energy system at lowest cost to society by driving innovation, commercialization and deployment of long duration energy storage. The LDES Council provides fact-based guidance and information to governments, industry and broader society, drawing from the experience of its members which include leading energy companies, technology providers, investors and end-users.
MRC

Capital Power and Enbridge join forces on carbon capture project in Canada

Capital Power and Enbridge join forces on carbon capture project in Canada

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Capital Power Corp and Enbridge Inc agreed to partner on a CCS project, the companies said that would aim to capture up to 3 MM tons of CO2 emissions annually, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The proposed project would serve Capital Power's Genesee Generating Station near Warburg, Alberta, which currently provides over 1,200 megawatts of baseload electricity generation to Albertans.

Alberta, home to Canada's oil sands, is aiming to become a hub for carbon storage and hydrogen production as the world moves away from fossil fuel consumption and tries to cut climate-warming carbon emissions.

Enbridge would be the transportation and storage service provider, while Capital Power would be the CO2 provider on the project, which could be in service as early as 2026.

The captured CO2 emissions from the re-powered units would be transported and stored through Enbridge's open access carbon hub that could also serve several other local industrial companies.

Enbridge is applying to develop an open access carbon hub in the Wabamun area through the government of Alberta's request for full project proposals process, which is expected to start as early as December 2021.

Companies including TC Energy, Suncor Energy, Royal Dutch Shell also plan to build new CCS storage facilities.

As MRC wrote before, in September 2021, Mitsubishi Corp and Shell Canada Products, by its managing partner, Shell Canada Limited (Shell Canada) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) relating to the production of low-carbon hydrogen through the use of carbon capture and storage (CCS) near Edmonton, Canada.

Mitsubishi Corp said it aims to build and start-up the low-carbon hydrogen facility near the Shell Energy and Chemicals Park Scotford towards the latter half of this decade, and Shell would provide CO2 storage via the proposed Polaris CCS project. The low-carbon hydrogen, commonly called blue hydrogen, would be produced via a natural gas feedstock and exported mainly to the Japanese market to produce clean energy.

We remind that 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 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

ConocoPhillips profit powered by crude price rally driven by global economic recovery

ConocoPhillips profit powered by crude price rally driven by global economic recovery

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ConocoPhillips has posted a quarterly profit that trounced market expectations as supply bottlenecks and a global economic recovery helped drive a rebound in crude prices, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Oil prices have gained nearly 63% since the start of 2021, with global crude benchmark Brent rising above USD86 a bbl to its highest level in about three yr after the pandemic depressed fuel demand in 2020.

This year's strong demand offers "some pretty constructive tailwinds for the industry," Chief Executive Ryan Lance said on a conference call.

ConocoPhillips said it was still evaluating production targets for next yr. It plans to keep the number of shale drilling rigs "steady" until the close of its USD9.5 B purchase of Royal Dutch Shell's Permian assets, expected in the current quarter.

The company forecast fourth-quarter production between 1.53 MMbpd and 1.57 MMbpd, excluding Libya and any impact from the Shell deal. Its production, excluding Libya, rose 41.36% to 1.51 MMbpd in the third quarter, while the total average realized price surged nearly 84%. Adjusted earnings of USD1.77 per share beat expectations of USD1.51 per share, according to Refinitiv data.

Senior Vice President Dominic Macklon said ConocoPhillips does not believe in setting emissions reduction targets that include the use of the company's fuels, as they do not address consumer demand and would shift supply to less accountable producers and jurisdictions.

Unlike their European counterparts, few US producers have set so-called Scope 3 targets that include emissions from customers using the fuel they have purchased. ConocoPhillips has, however, outlined net-zero 2050 goals for Scope 1 emissions that include its own operations and Scope 2 emissions, which account for the power generation to run its facilities.

As MRC informed before, last month, Libya's Government of National Unity approved the sale of US oil company Hess Corporation's stake in the giant Waha oil concessions to both TotalEnergies and ConocoPhillips.

We remind that TotalEnergies has recently inaugurated the extension of Synova in Normandy, the French leader in recycled polypropylene 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 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