SK Energy and Hyundai Oilbank to take off-stream crude units in March, April 2022

MOSCOW (MRC) -- South Korean refiner SK Energy plans to shut its 60,000 bpd crude unit in Ulsan between March and April for a month of routine maintenance, an official of SK Innovation Co Ltd told Reuters on Tuesday.

SK Innovation Co Ltd is the owner of South Korea's top refiner SK Energy.

Separately, Hyundai Oilbank, the refinery unit of Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings, also plans to shut its 160,000 bpd unit in Seosan between April and May, a source with knowledge of the matter said.

Hyundai Oilbank did not comment.

SK Energy has five crude distillation units (CDUs) at its refinery in the southeastern city of Ulsan, with a total refining capacity of 840,000 bpd, while Hyundai Oilbank has an overall refining capacity of 690,000 bpd.

As MRC informed earlier, in March 2021, SK Innovation announced its intention to build a plant in Wojewodztwo Slaskie, Poland that will manufacture Lithium-Ion Battery Separators (LiBS) and Ceramic Coated Separators (CCS).

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.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Versalis, Eni's chemical company, and BTS Biogas, an Italian company in the building and managing sector of biogas plants, have agreed to develop and commercialise an innovative technology for the production of biogas and biomethane from residual lignocellulosic biomass, according to Eni's press release.

This technology will integrate Versalis' proprietary technology for the thermomechanical processing of biomass with BTS Biogas' technology for the fermentation production of biogas and biomethane.

BTS Biogas has expertise in the production of biogas and biomethane from various biomass sources and the research and development infrastructure to evaluate their processing capacity and yields on an experimental basis.

Versalis, as part of Eni's broader decarbonization strategy, has launched a transformation plan that aims to diversify its activities and products, and increase its contribution to technological development for increasingly sustainable industrial solutions.

The partnership will enable the production of biogas and advanced biomethane with high yields from residual lignocellulosic biomass, thereby contributing to the large-scale development of advanced biomethane production with reduced greenhouse gas emissions and no agronomic impact.

As MRC reported earlier, in October 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 have recently joined the consortium.

Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and 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.

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.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Lummus Technology's Green Circle and Chevron Lummus Global (CLG) have announced the integration of multiple technologies from their portfolios for application in the circular economy, said Hydrocarbonpocessing.

The partners will use a combination of the Lummus New Hope Energy plastic pyrolysis technology, CLG's ISOCONVERSION technology and Lummus' steam cracking technology to provide operators the ability to produce steam cracker products in large quantities from hydroprocessed mixed-waste plastic pyrolysis oil. The combined solution offers major owners and operators the ability to license the entire plastics recycling process.

The Lummus New Hope Energy plastic pyrolysis technology recycles end-of-life plastics into petrochemical feedstock. Through a robust thermal pyrolysis process, the technology produces high-quality pyrolysis oil that is proven, scalable and economic for operators that want to replace or supplement oil-derived feedstocks.

Lummus' steam ethylene cracking technology produces polymer grade ethylene, polymer grade propylene and butadiene. The process is recognized for its performance, including high product yield and energy efficiency, low investment cost and operating reliability.

CLG's ISOCONVERSION technology uses state-of-the-art hydroprocessing technologies to process biomass and waste plastic pyrolysis oils to renewable fuels or petrochemical feedstocks.

A subsidiary of Lummus, Green Circle is a leader in commercializing and developing breakthrough solutions to address the key pillars of the energy transition, including end-of-life waste plastics recycling, production of bio-derived sustainable chemicals and decarbonization strategies for existing and new assets.

As per MRC, Lummus Technology will supply 14 cracking furnaces for a Gas Chemical Complex that is part of the Ethane-rich Gas Processing Complex (GCC EGPC) located near Ust-Luga, Leningrad Oblast, Russia, on the Gulf of Finland.

Lummus Technology has been awarded a contract by Enter Engineering Pte. Ltd. for the Shurtan Gas Chemical Complex in Uzbekistan. Lummus’ scope includes the design and supply of four proprietary Short Residence Time (SRT) VI and VII type cracking furnaces, which will more than double the production of ethylene at Shurtan’s facility.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Teijin Limited announced that its board of directors has elected Akimoto Uchikawa, currently Executive Officer, Member of the Board, as its next President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), said the company.

Uchikawa will assume his new role on April 1, 2022.

Jun Suzuki, the current President and CEO of the company, will assume the post of Chairman of Teijin Limited, on the same day.

Uchikawa has concurrently served as President, Material Business of Teijin Group.

The executive appointments were recommended by Teijin’s Advisory Board. The Advisory Board, which includes Independent Outside Directors and Advisors both from Japan and overseas, was established in July 1999 to strengthen group-wide corporate governance. The Nomination Committee, reporting to the Advisory Board and chaired by an Independent Outside Director, is responsible for evaluating business performance of CEO and selecting its best candidate to succeed. The decision of selecting the new President and CEO was also discussed and agreed by the Nomination Committee.

As per MRC, Teijin says that its subsidiary Teijin Carbon Europe (Heinsberg, Germany) has increased the production capacity of chopped carbon fiber by 40%. The company says that it is responding to the growing demand from European electronics manufacturers in recent years, as well as the current increase in demand for compounds for medical devices.

As MRC reported before, Teijin Ltd. is expanding its footprint in Europe with Teijin Automotive Center Europe GmbH, a new base in Wuppertal, Germany, that will house technical functions for the company’s automotive composites business.

Teijin is a technology-driven global group offering advanced solutions in the areas of sustainable transportation, information and electronics, safety and protection, environment and energy, and healthcare. Its main fields of operation are high-performance fibers such as aramid, carbon fibers & composites, healthcare, films, resin & plastic processing, polyester fibers, products converting and IT. The group has some 150 companies and around 17,000 employees spread out over 20 countries worldwide.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia's largest oil producer Rosneft said on Tuesday that its board has approved new strategy through to 2030 with the aim of achieving net zero emissions by 2050, earlier than President Vladimir Putin's deadline, reported Reuters.

Climate scientists have said the balance between the greenhouse gases we emit and those removed from the atmosphere must be zero by 2050 to prevent catastrophic levels of global warming.

Russia, the world's no. 4 GHG emitter, however, has said it targets carbon neutrality by no earlier than 2060.

Rosneft, in which BP holds an almost 20% stake, said the company will reach its emission targets "through a number of actions," including low-carbon power generation, eliminating routine flaring of gas and energy-saving and CCS technologies.

As part of efforts to reach that goal, the share of natural gas in total hydrocarbon production will grow to 25% by 2025.

Achieving a set of strategic targets is expected to contribute to a more than doubling of the company's free cash flow by 2030, said Rosneft, which is managed by Igor Sechin, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin.

The "Rosneft-2030" strategy also targets hydrocarbon production of 330 MM tons of oil equivalent per year, it said.

As MRC wrote previously, in November 2021, Russian oil firm Rosneft agreed to acquire a 37.5% stake in German refinery PCK Schwedt from Shell. The firm has exercised an option to buy the stake, increasing its shareholding in the refinery to 91.67%. The remaining 8.33% interest in the refinery is held by Eni. The transaction is contingent on government and regulatory approvals.

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.
MRC