Saudi Aramco signs 10 agreements with South Korean companies to advance co-operation

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Aramco signed 10 agreements with South Korean firms to advance its downstream strategy and support the development of low-carbon energy solutions, while creating new financing options for the company, said Argaam.

The agreements include memorandum of understanding (MoU) agreements with Korean energy companies KEPCO, S-Oil, POSCO, Hyundai Oilbank, H2Korea and Lotte Chemical to explore potential collaboration in the supply, transportation, utilisation and certification of hydrogen and ammonia.

The companies also plan to study the feasibility of converting exported ammonia into hydrogen - a process known as ammonia back-cracking. This represents a first step towards a potential large-scale production facility for hydrogen and ammonia in Saudi Arabia, which would also include a carbon capture and storage (CCS) facility.

Furthermore, Aramco signed an agreement with Korea’s Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction and the Saudi Arabian Industrial Investments Co (Dussur) to establish a casting and forging facility in Saudi Arabia. The facility could supply the Kingdom’s manufacturers with industrial and process equipment such as valves, pumps, compressors, wellheads, flanges, heat exchangers, and gas and wind turbines. The signings took place at the Saudi-Korean Investment Forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

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 2,265,290 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.

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) -- China's diesel exports in December sank to their lowest monthly level since March 2015, bringing the 2021 total to the lowest since 2016 at 17.21 MM tons, reported Reuters with reference to released data on Tuesday.

December exports of diesel slumped to 330,000 tons, down 78% from a year earlier, amid diminishing export quotas and as refiners curbed runs in response to a slowdown in domestic demand, data from the General Administration of Customs showed.

Total refined fuel, including diesel, gasoline, aviation fuel and low-sulfur fuel oil, fell 45% from a year earlier to 3.23 MM tons last month, the lowest monthly level since July 2020.

A diesel crunch triggered by power rationing in the third quarter proved short-lived and the domestic market flipped back into a surplus, analysts said, as reflected in national refinery output, which fell last month by nearly 5% from November and 2% from a year earlier.

Gasoline exports were 940,000 tons, rising from November's 810,000 tons but down 35% from the same period last year. Annual exports fell 9% to 14.54 MM tons, a three-year low. December jet fuel exports were 590,000 tons, down from November's 940,000 tons.

Rigid border controls and expanding lockdowns in parts of the country to contain a resurgence of coronavirus infections and fend off the highly contagious Omicron variant dampened demand for gasoline and jet fuel.

China's annual refined fuel exports dropped 2.4% over 2020 to 60.31 MM tons, as the government tightened export quotas to discourage excessive domestic refinery production.

Tuesday's data showed imports of LNG at 7.63 MM tons in December, versus 6.9 MM tons in November but up just 1.6% versus the year-earlier level as stubbornly high Asian spot prices hurt import appetite.

An all-time monthly record high was set in Jan 2021 at 8.49 MM tons. Imports for the whole year totaled a record 78.93 MM tons, up 18.3% from 2020, making the country the world's largest buyer of the super-chilled fuel.

Piped gas imports last month also set a record at 4.02 MM tons, up nearly 11% over a year earlier, data showed, as Russian supplies ramped up.

As MRC wrote previously, China's refinery output hit a fresh high in 2021, up 4.3% from a year earlier on robust fuel demand especially in the first half of the year, and as refiners ramped up processing to fill a supply gap after a hefty new tax closed loopholes in blending fuel imports. Total refinery throughput last year reached 703.55 MM tons, or 14.07 MMbpd, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Monday, roughly 620,000 bpd above the 2020 level.

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.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- SABIC plans to build a petrochemicals plant in the city of Jubail on the gulf coast in the Eastern Province, after a similar plant in South Korea starts production by year-end, reported Reuters with reference to CEO Yousef Abdullah al-Benyan's statement on Asharq TV on Tuesday.

Al-Benyan added that the company views the Korean market as an opportunity to expand in Asia.

As MRC informed before, earlier this month, SABIC started up its new polypropylene (PP) compounding line in Genk, Belgium. The new line is an addition to the company’s existing production capacity for SABIC PP compounds at the Genk site, and will use raw materials from SABIC’s PP plants at Gelsenkirchen, Germany, and Geleen, The Netherlands.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, 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.

SABIC is a diversified company manufacturing chemicals, industrial polymers, fertilizers and metals. It is the largest state-owned company in Saudi Arabia. Sabic is currently the world's second largest ethylene glycol producer, the third largest polyethylene producer, and the fourth largest polypropylene producer. Sabic cut its 2015 net profit by 7% to SR23.43 billion (Saudi reais), equivalent to USD6.24 billion, amid lower average selling prices and increased sales.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil announced its ambition to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions for operated assets by 2050, backed by a comprehensive approach to develop detailed emission-reduction roadmaps for major facilities and assets, said the company.

Scope 1 refers to emissions produced during production, Scope 2 to emissions from the consumption of energy. The 2050 net zero ambition, which is contained in the company’s Advancing Climate Solutions - 2022 Progress Report, builds on its ongoing emission reduction plans.

Those plans include net-zero emission for Permian basin operations and ongoing investments in lower-emission solutions in which ExxonMobil has extensive experience, including carbon capture and storage, hydrogen and biofuels.

ExxonMobil’s emissions reduction actions already underway prioritise energy efficiency measures, methane mitigation, equipment upgrades and the elimination of venting and routine flaring. Further high-impact reduction opportunities include power and steam co-generation and electrification of operations, using renewable or lower-emission power.

The company expects to finalise detailed roadmaps that address about 90% of operations-related greenhouse gas emissions by the end of this year, and the remainder will be completed in 2023, it said. The cost of the initial actions to achieve net zero by 2050 are included in the company’s plans to invest more than USD15bn by 2027 on lower-emission initiatives.

As per MRC, ExxonMobil affiliate Esso Petroleum Company Limited, SGN and Macquarie’s Green Investment Group (GIG) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore the use of hydrogen and carbon capture for a hydrogen hub project in the Southampton industrial cluster.

As MRC informed previously, ExxonMobil and SABIC have announced that their joint venture, Gulf Coast Growth Ventures located near Corpus Christi, Texas, has reached mechanical completion of a monoethylene glycol (MEG) unit and two polyethylene (PE) units. Project startup is expected to begin ahead of schedule, likely in the fourth quarter of 2021.

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- India’s petrochemical major Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) plans to invest Indian rupees (Rs) 5.95tr (USD80bn) in green energy and other projects in western Gujarat state as it aims to achieve its net zero carbon emissions target by 2035, said Indiatimes.

This investment would involve the setting up of a 100-gigawatt (GW) renewable energy power plant over the next 10-15 years at a cost of Rs5tr, RIL said in a statement on 13 January. “RIL has started the process of scouting land for the power project in Kutch, Banaskantha and Dholera. The company has requested for land in Kutch,” it said.

The company will also set up plants to manufacture solar photovoltaic (PV) modules, energy-storage batteries and fuel cells at a cost of around Rs600bn. RIL will invest a further Rs250bn in existing projects and new ventures over the next five years, it said.

In June 2021, RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani had announced that the company would aim for net zero carbon emissions by 2035.

As per MRC, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), the Indian energy and petrochemicals giant, plans to close its No. 2 Purified Terephthalic Acid (PTA) line in Kuantan, Malaysia, in early March for repairs. The line with a capacity of 610,000 tonnes of PTA per year will be closed for three weeks for scheduled maintenance.

Reliance Industries is one of the world's largest producers of polymers. The company produces polypropylene, polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride and other petrochemical products.
MRC