Group of companies Titan appointed a new head

Group of companies Titan appointed a new head

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Olga Tarasenko has been appointed General Director of the Titan group of companies, and she took up her duties on 10 January, the company said.

Previously, Tarasenko held the position of Deputy General Director for Economics and Finance. On January 10, Olga Tarasenko assumed the duties of General Director of Titan Group JSC. Since 2020, she has been in charge of the financial and economic unit of Titan Group of Companies under the leadership of Farkhad Samedov, who initiated the transition of Olga Tarasenko to the management company.

Farhad Samedov headed JSC "GK "Titan" for two years. "Today, the Titan Group of Companies is faced with the task of implementing several major investment projects - further modernization of the Omsk Rubber plant, the implementation of the Titan-Polymer project. In addition, the project for the production of auto chemical goods of the Titan-SM company will enter the active phase" - said Olga Tarasenko.

Earlier it was reported that the Titan-Polymer Plant (Pskov, part of the Titan Group, Omsk) assembled almost 80% of the equipment for the BOPET film production under construction.

In February 2020, Titan-Polymer began the construction of production facilities for the first stage of the project - the production of BOPET films. At the site of the plant, construction and installation work began on concreting the bases of columns, foundations of buildings, structures, the main production building of BOPET.

The Titan group of companies, founded in 1989, is one of the largest petrochemical enterprises in Siberia. The Corporation is implementing the Titan-Polymer project in the Moglino Special Economic Zone (Pskov Region). The new facility is designed to produce 72,000 tons of BOPET film and 210,000 tons of PET pellets per year. Products will be supplied to the markets of Russia, Eastern and Western Europe.
MRC

BASF signed agreement with China BlueChemical for use of CO2 rich marine gas

BASF signed agreement with China BlueChemical for use of CO2 rich marine gas

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF signed a joint development agreement with China BlueChemical Limited Company (China BlueChemical), a leading natural gas producer, and the chemical engineering company Wuhuan Engineering Co., Ltd. (Wuhuan Engineering) to promote low-carbon development and utilization of marine gas resources, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

In the Dongfang Industrial Park of Hainan Province, China BlueChemical extracts large quantities of such offshore natural gas (marine gas) from gas fields in the South China Sea.

Marine gas, unlike the commercial natural gas, contains high concentrations of CO2. The gas needs CO2 removal to be usable for downstream large-scale applications. The process of separating CO2 from natural gas not only increases energy consumption, but also contributes to yield loss and direct carbon emissions. These issues limit the systematic development and utilization of natural gas with high CO2 content.

BASF will leverage its extensive expertise in catalyst development and will collaborate with the two companies to solve these challenges. Through technical innovation in reforming catalysts, special reactor design and related process technology development, BASF’s solution will improve process energy efficiency and carbon efficiency beyond existing commercial catalyst and process technology. The partnerships will promote lower-carbon development and utilization of marine gas resources, and ultimately achieve an economically competitive and environmentally friendly commercial process.

As per MRC, BASF, the world's petrochemical major, is strengthening its global catalyst development and helping customers to bring new products faster to the market. As part of this strategy, BASF is building a new pilot plant center at its Ludwigshafen site.

As MRC wrote before, BASF will build a battery recycling prototype plant in Schwarzheide, Germany, at the site of its cathode active materials (CAM) plant.

BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries.
MRC

ExxonMobil acquires stake in Norwegian biofuels company in a move to expand its interests in biofuels

ExxonMobil acquires stake in Norwegian biofuels company in a move to expand its interests in biofuels

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil is expanding its interests in biofuels that can help reduce GHG emissions in the transportation sector, acquiring a 49.9% stake in Biojet AS, a Norwegian biofuels company that plans to convert forestry and wood-based construction waste into lower-emissions biofuels and biofuel components, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Biojet AS plans to develop up to five facilities to produce the biofuels and biofuel components. The company anticipates commercial production to begin in 2025 at a manufacturing plant to be built in Follum, Norway. The agreement enables ExxonMobil to purchase as much as 3 MM bbl of the products per year, based on the potential capacity of five facilities.

“The agreement with Biojet AS advances ExxonMobil’s efforts to provide lower-emissions products for the transportation sector,” said Ian Carr, president of ExxonMobil Fuels and Lubricants Company. “Using our access at the Slagen terminal, we can efficiently distribute biofuels in Norway and to countries throughout northwest Europe.”

The investment in Biojet AS builds on ExxonMobil’s continuing efforts to develop and deploy lower-emission energy solutions. ExxonMobil established a Low Carbon Solutions business in 2021 and is currently evaluating biofuels, CCS, and hydrogen projects around the world.

ExxonMobil’s majority-owned affiliate, Imperial Oil Ltd., is moving forward with plans to produce renewable diesel at a new complex at its Strathcona refinery, and ExxonMobil expanded its agreement to annually purchase up to 5 MM bbl of renewable diesel from Global Clean Energy’s biorefinery in California. Chemically similar to petroleum-based diesel, renewable diesel and other biofuels can be readily blended for use in engines on the market today.

Since 2000, ExxonMobil has invested more than USD10 B to research, develop and deploy lower-emission energy solutions.

As MRC informed before, ExxonMobil said on Dec. 27, its Baytown, Texas, refinery continued to operate at reduced rates following a fire on Dec. 23, and that the unit involved remained shut down. The company has not yet determined the cause of the fire, but said it was continuing to empty the unit so it could safely enter the facility and assess what impact it would have on production. A filing with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said the fire occurred at the facility's hydro desulfurization unit 1.

Exxon's Baytown facility is home to a chemical plant, an olefins plant and the country's fourth-biggest oil refinery, with capacity to process 560,500 bpd of crude.

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 2,265,290 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2021, up by 14% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,363,850 tonnes in January-November, 2021, up by 25% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.

ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world's oil and about 2% of the world's energy.
MRC

thyssenkrupp Uhde Thailand awarded oleochemicals contract

thyssenkrupp Uhde Thailand awarded oleochemicals contract

MOSCOW (MRC) -- thyssenkrupp Uhde Thailand has been awarded a contract by a leading oleo and specialty chemicals producer in Asia for engineering services and proprietary equipment supply for an esterification plant, according to Hydrocarbonprocssing.

The plant will employ thyssenkrupp Uhde’s proprietary jet reactor technology and is designed for a batch size of 15 m3.

Completion is planned within 2022. The main products are medium chain triglycerides used in the food and personal care industry.

“We are very proud that our client has again decided to select thyssenkrupp Uhde as technology provider based on our Jet Reactor technology and expert know-how”, says Brian Cameron, CEO thyssenkrupp Uhde Thailand.

As MRC reported earlier, thyssenkrupp Uhde Chlorine Engineers has just signed a supply contract with Shell for the large-scale project ‘Hydrogen Holland I’ in the port of Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Under the contract, thyssenkrupp Uhde Chlorine Engineers will engineer, procure and fabricate a 200 MW electrolysis plant based on their large-scale 20 MW alkaline water electrolysis module. First construction work for the electrolysers will likely begin in spring 2022. Shell’s final investment decision to build the ‘Holland Hydrogen I’ is expected in 2022, after which the intended start of production will be in 2024. The hydrogen can be transported through a pipeline with a length of about 40 kilometers that will run from the plant to Shell’s Energy and Chemicals Park Rotterdam.

We remind that Royal Dutch Shell plc. said in November, 2021, that its petrochemical complex of several billion dollars in Western Pennsylvania is about 70% complete and in the process to enter service in the early 2020s. The plant's costs are estimated to be USD6-USD10 billion, where ethane will be transformed into plastic feedstock. The facility is equipped to produce 1.5 million metric tons per year (mmty) of ethylene and 1.6 mmty of polyethylene (PE), two important constituents of 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 2,265,290 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2021, up by 14% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,363,850 tonnes in January-November, 2021, up by 25% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.

Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.

thyssenkrupp Uhde Chlorine Engineers offers world-leading technologies for high-efficiency electrolysis plants. The company, a Joint Venture with Industrie De Nora, has extensive in-depth knowledge in the engineering, procurement, and construction of electrochemical plants and a strong track record of more than 600 projects with a total rating of over 10 gigawatts already successfully installed. With its water electrolysis technology to produce green hydrogen, the company offers an innovative solution on an industrial scale for green value chains and an industry fueled by clean energy – a major step towards a climate-neutrality.
MRC

North American weekly chem railcar traffic decreased by 6.7%

North American weekly chem railcar traffic decreased by 6.7%

MOSCOW (MRC) -- North American chemical railcar traffic for the week ended 8 January fell by 6.7% year on year to 45,325 loadings, with decreases in all three countries - the US, Canada and Mexico, according to the latest data from the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

In the US, chemical railcar loadings represent about 20% of chemical transportation by tonnage, with trucks, barges and pipelines carrying the rest. In Canada, producers rely on rail to ship more than 70% of their products, with some exclusively using rail.

Total North American freight rail traffic for the week was down by 17.4% year on year, with shipments in all major commodity categories declining.

As per MRC, oil rose to nearly USD84 a barrel on Tuesday, supported by tight supply and expectations that rising coronavirus cases and the spread of the Omicron variant will not derail a global demand recovery. A lack of capacity in some countries has meant that supply additions by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) are running below the increase permitted under a pact with its allies.

We also remind that US crude oil production is expected to fall by 160,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2021 to 11.12 million bpd, EIA said in a monthly report earlier last year, a smaller decline than its previous forecast for a drop of 210,000 bpd.
MRC