Saudi Aramco and Chevron Lummus Global to co-develop Aramco HOPI+ technology

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chevron Lummus Global LLC (CLG) and Saudi Aramco announced that they have signed a joint collaboration and license agreement to co-develop and license Saudi Aramco's Heavy Oil Processing Initiative (HOPI+) technology, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

HOPI+ aims to achieve relatively higher conversion of vacuum residue and other available heavy feeds, including incremental crude, using CLG's LC-FINING platform (jointly referred to as LC-HOPI+). The LC-HOPI+ innovative process is expected to help minimize both CAPEX and OPEX and significantly improve margins for bottom-of-the-barrel upgrading.

In 2019, Saudi Aramco joined CLG at its research and development facility in Richmond, California, to create and develop the initial concept pilot testing. Success there led to further HOPI+ evaluations against different process schemes, which further helped quantify the technology's added value.

"HOPI+, combined with CLG's LC-FINING platform, is an innovative concept that simultaneously increases crude throughput and converts residue to valuable transportation fuels and petrochemical feedstock while minimizing capital and energy," said Ujjal Mukherjee, Managing Director, CLG. "The initiative further strengthens the relationship between Saudi Aramco and CLG as we develop, pursue and commercialize new and innovative technology."

Chevron Lummus Global and Saudi Aramco now intend to co-develop LC-HOPI+ technology before global commercialization by CLG.

As MRC informed before, in June 2020, Aramco finalized its USD69 billion acquisition of a 70% stake in Saudi Basic Industries Corp., the Middle East's biggest petrochemical maker. SABIC reported more than a fivefold year-on-year increase in its Q3 net profit to USD1.49 billion thanks to higher average sales prices.

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 2,047,100 tonnes in the first ten months of 2021, up by 17% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,226,530 tonnes in January-October 2021, up by 26% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymers (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding stat-copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) decreased significantly.

Saudi Aramco, officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, is a Saudi Arabian national oil and natural gas company based in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Aramco's value has been estimated at up to USD10 trillion in the Financial Times, making it the world"s most valuable company. Saudi Aramco has both the largest proven crude oil reserves, at more than 260 billion barrels, and largest daily oil production.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS) and Petroleum Sarawak Berhad (PETROS) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on a staggered increase of natural gas supply to Sarawak for the implementation of projects under the Sarawak Gas Roadmap, said the company.

The signing of the MOU took place at a hotel here, in the presence of Sarawak Chief Minister, Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri (Dr) Abang Haji Abdul Rahman Johari Tun Openg and PETRONAS Chairman, Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Mohd Bakke Salleh.

Signing on behalf of PETRONAS was Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of Upstream, Adif Zulkifli while PETROS was represented by its Group Chief Executive Officer, Datuk Sauu Kakok. It was witnessed by Senior Vice President of Malaysia Petroleum Management, Mohamed Firouz Asnan, PETROS' Chairman of the Board, Tan Sri Datuk Amar (Dr) Hamid Bugo and Director of Economic Planning Unit Sarawak, Datu Dr Mohammad Abdullah Zaidel.

Speaking at the ceremony, Tan Sri Mohd Bakke said, “The staggered increase envisaged under the MOU which would ultimately bring the total domestic gas allocation to 1.2 billion standard cubic feet per day would not only support the State’s aspirations to attract investments from new, higher value-adding industries into Sarawak but would also provide the necessary impetus for further upstream exploration that would strengthen the State’s hydrocarbon resource base."

As per MRC, Petroliam Nasional Berhad, or Petronas, said it aims to become a net zero emitter of greenhouse gases by 2050 and also plans to increase its investments in renewable energy. Burning of oil and gas accounts for the vast majority of the world’s carbon emissions, and many investors have pushed global oil majors to do more to combat climate change.

As MRC wrote earlier, in June 2019, Malaysian state oil company Petroliam Nasional Bhd, or Petronas, and Saudi Aramco started operations at their new 1.2-million-tonnes-per-year naphtha cracker. The cracker is part of the USD2.7 billion joint-venture oil refinery and petrochemical project known as RAPID - or Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development - located in Pengerang in the state of Johor, at the southern tip of peninsular Malaysia.

PETRONAS currently has existing agreements to supply natural gas to the power and non-power sectors in Sarawak and is actively encouraging sustained upstream investments in exploring more gas resources and further developing discovered gas resources, particularly in Sarawak.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- W. R. Grace & Co., the leading independent supplier of polyolefin catalyst technology, polypropylene (PP) process technology, has announced the successful start-up of two 400 KTA UNIPOL PP process technology lines at Oriental Energy in Ningbo, China, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

This brings the total UNIPOL PP operating capacity in China to more than 6.3 MM tpy in the last twelve years making homopolymer, random and impact copolymers to serve the growing market for high performance plastics in China. As of today, Grace expects another 2 MM tpy to come on stream in the next few years from UNIPOL PP process technology in China.

“The safe and successful start-up of the two UNIPOL PP lines at the Ningbo facility is an exciting moment for Oriental Energy. It comes at a critical time as the global economy bounces back from the pandemic and customer demand in the region rises. We are committed to our Chinese customers and look forward to supporting Oriental Energy for years to come to ensure their continued success,” said David Hartill, Vice President of Global Licensing and Services.

Mr. Wu, Yinlong, General Manager of Oriental Energy, remarked, “We appreciate the technical support that Grace provided during design, construction, and commissioning of these important PP assets. These lines are critical to our corporate vision and success in polyolefins, and we look forward to working with Grace to further optimize their performance.”

Oriental Energy currently has the largest UNIPOL PP process technology operating capacity in China, and there are plans to build additional PP lines at their sites in Ningbo and Maoming in the coming years. They anticipate producing several grades of homopolymers, random and impact copolymers with these newest lines to meet the expanding resin requirements of their customers in the region.

As MRC reported previously, earlier this month, W. R. Grace & Co. licensed its UNIPOL PP process technology to Oriental Energy for its Maoming, China, plant. This is Oriental Energy’s fifth PP line, and its fourth using Grace’s UNIPOL PP process technology with a production capacity of 400 KTA.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,226,530 tonnes in the first ten months of 2021, up by 26% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymers (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding stat-copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) decreased significantly.

Oriental Energy operates two subsidiaries, Oriental Energy-Ningbo and Oriental Energy-Zhangjiagang, each of which, in turn, operates a plant with a capacity of 400 ktpa PP and a propane dehydrogenation unit with a capacity of 600 ktpa. These companies were renamed in April 2017 as follows: Ningbo Fuji Petrochemical was renamed Oriental Energy-Ningbo and Zhangjiagang Yangzijiang Petrochemical was renamed Oriental Energy-Zhangjiagang.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - The Neo-Pak company (Novosibirsk) has installed another technological line for the production of polymer packaging, which consists of a three-layer extrusion blow molding line, a Soma Optima2 flexo printing machine, a Lamiflex laminator and a slitter rewinder, the Novosibirsk government said in a statement.

It is expected that the implementation of the project will increase the market share for flexible packaging in the Siberian Federal District, the Urals and neighboring countries (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, etc.), for packages - throughout the Russian Federation and the CIS, create additional jobs (46 units) and to increase the plant's capacity by 40%.

The Neo-pack company in October 2020 received the approval of a loan for 250 million rubles. within the framework of the Industrial Development Fund (IDF) "Development Projects" program. It was planned to double the production of flexible polymer packaging and bags, including for the distribution of goods from online stores.

The first stage of production with investments of 251.2 million rubles and a capacity of 6 thousand tons of flexible packaging per year was launched in the second quarter of 2019, reaching full capacity by 2026.

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.

The Neo-Pak company was founded in 2009 in Novosibirsk. Today, the production capacity of Neo-Pak is 18 thousand km of printing per month and 700 tonnes of film per month. The number of employees of the company is about 200 people, the occupied area is 12,000 m. Neo-Pak produces a wide range of flexible packaging materials for various industries (food, chemical, etc.), as well as custom, serial and courier packages. The company provides a full cycle of packaging manufacturing services: blowing films, prepress, printing and post-processing, quality control and delivery to the end consumer.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Russian gas giant Gazprom, said on Monday the government has cleared Rb30 B (USD409 MM) in loans from Sberbank and Gazprombank for a green project in oil refining, reported Reuters.

Gazprom Neft said both banks will provide Rb15 B each for the ecological modernization of its Omsk refinery in western Siberia as part of a state-sponsored green program.

The company embarked on the refinery modernization in 2008 and has managed to cut its environmental impact by 40%. It will be further reduced by 25% by 2025, Gazprom Neft said.

As MRC informed before, earlier this month, Lummus Technology announced it had been awarded a contract from the Gazprom Neft Moscow refinery for two fired heaters. The heaters will be installed at the refinery in Moscow, and are part of the plant’s modernization to improve operational efficiency and environmental performance.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,226,530 tonnes in the first ten months of 2021, up by 26% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymers (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding stat-copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) decreased significantly.

Gazprom Neft (headquartered in St. Petersburg, part of Gazprom, which owns 95.68% of its shares) is one of the largest Russian oil companies. In 2015, Gazprom Neft remained one of the leaders in the oil industry in terms of key performance indicators - the level of operating profit and return on invested capital. In 2015, Gazprom Neft produced 79.7 mln tonnes of hydrocarbons, increasing production by more than 20% compared to 2014 and thus achieving the highest production growth in the Russian oil industry.

Gazpromneft - Moscow Oil Refinery is a subsidiary of Gazprom Neft. The plant's production capacity is 12.15 mln tonnes/year of hydrocarbons. The company produces motor gasolines, diesel, marine and aviation fuel, fuel oil, high-octane additives to motor gasoline, bitumen and gases for various purposes, as well as polypropylene (PP). And in 2010, Moscow Oil Refinery and SIBUR created a joint venture for PP production - NPP Neftekhimiya LLC.
MRC