Atlas Copco to supply CO2 compressor to Shell biofuels plant in Rotterdam

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Supporting its goal of driving the decarbonization of hydrocarbon processes and the road to net zero emissions, Atlas Copco Gas and Process will be supplying CO2 compression equipment to one of Europe’s most ambitious renewable biofuels plant projects, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Thus, the equipment will be used in an 820,000 tpy biofuels facility, located at the Shell Energy and Chemicals Park Rotterdam, the Netherlands (formerly known as the Pernis refinery). Shell announced plans for the facility earlier last fall.

Once completed, the facility will be among Europe’s largest for the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), renewable diesel and renewable naptha made from biowaste. A facility of this size could produce enough renewable diesel to avoid 2.8 MM tons of CO2 emissions a year. That’s the equivalent of taking more than 1 MM European cars off the roads.

In addition to the fuel production, an essential building block of Shell’s endeavor is the carbon capture and pipeline transport of CO2: A by-product from different plant processes, including blue hydrogen, the CO2 will be compressed to a pressure of 42.5 bar by the Atlas Copco Gas and Process’ five-stage turbocompressor. The machine is designed to compress 43.5 t/h.

Expected to start production in 2024, the new facility will help both the Netherlands and the rest of Europe in meeting internationally binding emissions reduction targets. It will produce low-carbon fuels such as renewable diesel from waste in the form of used cooking oil, waste animal fat and other industrial and agricultural residual products, using advanced technology developed by Shell. As part of its strategy, Shell is currently transforming its more than a dozen refineries into five energy and chemicals parks. Following the launch of the Energy and Chemicals Park Rheinland, in Germany, the new Energy and Chemicals Park Rotterdam is the second such park to be announced.

As MRC informed earlier, 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 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.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- U.S. Gulf Coast refineries from south Texas to central Louisiana were preparing for severe cold weather as early as Thursday night, said sources familiar with preparations at the plants, nearly a year after a winter storm crippled the country's top refining hub, said Hydrocarbonprocessiing.

The nation’s largest refiner, Marathon Petroleum Corp , whose two largest plants, one each in Louisiana and Texas, have a combined crude oil processing capacity of 1.2 MMbpd, also said it was bracing for the cold. "The safety of our employees, contractors, and the community is our top priority, and we have comprehensive plans and procedures in place in the event of inclement weather," said Marathon spokesman Jamal Kheiry.

Kheiry declined to discuss the specific steps the refineries are taking to prepare for temperatures below freezing. Workers were wrapping exposed instruments needed to monitor equipment and water pipes, the sources said. Some equipment protection was done earlier in the year.

The combined capacity of the refineries in Texas and Louisiana that will face freezing temperatures is nearly 7 MMbpd or 38% of national capacity. In mid-February 2021, Winter Storm Uri knocked out production at Texas refineries by cutting electrical power and natural gas supplies.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas has said the electric grid is prepared for the this year’s cold weather, but outages may occur as ice from freezing rain knocks down power lines.

Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.

According to MR''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) -- Reliance Industries Ltd, the nation's biggest company by market value, has reported its best-ever quarterly performance in October-December 2021, helped by an uptick in two 'Rs' -- refining and retail, a recent tariff hike accelerating growth at Jio and a one-off gain from the sale of US shale gas business, according to The News Minute.

The oil-to-retail-to-telecom conglomerate's consolidated net profit rose 35.6% sequentially and 41.5% over the year-ago period to Rs 18,549 crore in the quarter ended December 31, 2021, the firm said in a statement.

Consolidated revenue of the nation's biggest company by market value rose 9.5% over the previous three months and 52.2% year-on-year to record Rs 209,823 crore. EBITDA or earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation climbed 30% to a record Rs 33,886 crore. Three-fourths of this came from its traditional oil business as higher prices and demand returning from the bouncing economy helped earnings.

But the company, which during the pandemic declared itself net debt-free, saw its borrowings exceed cash in the third quarter of the current fiscal. Refinancing liabilities towards telecom spectrum saw its gross debt of Rs 244,708 crore exceeding cash balance of Rs 241,846 crore.

Festive demand helped retail scale to near pre-COVID levels of earnings. While retail delivered an all-time high revenue and EBITDA, digital services (which includes telecom) saw revenues crossing Rs 25,000 crore and operating profits crossing Rs 10,000 crore. Consumer businesses contributed Rs 75,000 crore of revenue.

An increase in crude oil prices and higher volumes saw oil-to-chemical (O2C) revenues rise and stabilising of gas production from newer fields in the eastern offshore KG-D6 block returned the oil and gas business segment to profitability.

Reliance's capital expenditure for the quarter ended December 31, 2021, was Rs 27,582 crore.

Reliance operates four business verticals - O2C business includes its oil refineries, petrochemical plants, and fuel retailing business; retail business that houses brick-and-mortar stores and e-commerce; digital services that cover telecom arm Jio; and new energy business.

O2C segment's operating profit rose sequentially for the sixth straight quarter, aided by improved refining margins and prices. EBITDA at Rs 13,530 crore was up 6.3% quarter-on-quarter and 38.7% year-on-year.

Inventory gains and recovery in petrol, diesel and jet fuel spreads aided refining margin in the third quarter. Gas production provided a tailwind to earnings despite hiccups in chemicals.

Reliance's oil and gas segment posted a near 500% YoY spurt in revenues to Rs 2,559 crore, with segment EBITDA of Rs 2,033 crore. This was on the back of production from newer fields in the KG-D6 block stabilising, taking the overall production to 18 million standard cubic metres per day.

As MRC informed before, in November 2021, Reliance Industries and Saudi Aramco decided to re-evaluate their agreement for the Middle Eastern producer to buy a stake in the refining and petrochemical business of India"s biggest private refiner, and both companies would look at broader areas of cooperation due to the changing energy scenario.

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.

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Clariant has recently announced that its StyroMax UL3 catalyst is demonstrating successful results at Risun’s new styrene monomer (MS) plant located in Tangshan, China, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.
After a smooth and stable catalyst start-up in October 2020, the plant is reporting very profitable operation with excellent production output. The project is a cooperation between Clariant Catalysts and engineering company Changzhou Ruihua Chemical Engineering Technology Co. Ltd. Through Ruihua’s technology and Clariant’s catalyst, the Risun plant has been able to achieve productivity rates exceeding 120% of the new plant’s nominal design capacity - which is also the highest among all Ruihua process plants in China.

Stefan Heuser, Senior Vice President & General Manager at Clariant Catalysts, commented, “We are delighted by the results of our cooperation with Ruihua in this project. As one of China’s leading private chemicals groups, Tangshan Risun is a highly valuable reference for our StyroMax UL3 styrene catalyst, which has more than demonstrated its excellence for profitable SM production.”

Based on current catalyst performance, the plant is expected to maintain increased yields with productivity of 120% or more. At the same time, it is able to operate at an extremely low steam-tooil ratio of 1.1 wt/wt, which is the lowest among all Ruihua process plants in operation. Consequently, the Risun plant is reporting exceptional energy efficiency. Such benefits are possible for plants operating adiabatic units with low steam-to-oil ratios, since the catalyst is specially designed for these conditions.

The latest generation of the series, the StyroMax UL3 catalyst, is designed to promote dehydrogenation from ethylbenzene to styrene at ultra-low steam-to-oil ratios. While previous catalysts could provide either high activity or high selectivity at such conditions, StyroMax UL3 is the first catalyst to support both, thereby improving yield and significantly reducing process expenses for styrene producers.

As MRC reported earlier, in October 2020, Clariant announced the construction of a new state-of-the-art catalyst production site in China. This project represents a significant investment which further strengthens Clariant’s position in China and enhances its ability to support its customers in the country’s thriving petrochemicals industry.

The new facility will be primarily responsible for producing the Catofin catalyst for propane dehydrogenation, which is used in the production of olefins such as propylene. Thanks to its excellent reliability and productivity, Catofin delivers superior annual production output compared to alternative technologies, resulting in increased overall profitability for propylene producers, says the company. Construction at the Dushan Port Economic Development Zone in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province was scheduled to commence in Q3 2020, and Clariant expects to be at full production capacity by 2022.

Ruihua Technology is China’s largest process technology licensor for ethylbenzene to styrene monomer, focused on processes with low energy and material consumption using various ethylene feedstock, such as polymer grade ethylene or high ethylene gas content. Over the past decade, the company has been awarded 22 references in China.

Clariant AG is a Swiss chemical company and a world leader in the production of specialty chemicals for the textile, printing, mining and metallurgical industries. It is engaged in processing crude oil products in pigments, plastics and paints.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Rosneft Oil Company and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) signed the Memo on Cooperation in the field of low carbon development, said the company.

Within the visit of the delegation headed by the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin to Beijing (PRC), PJSC Rosneft Oil Company and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) signed the Memo on Cooperation in the field of low carbon development.

Signatures under the document were affixed by Igor Sechin, the Chief Executive Officer of Rosneft, and Dai Houliang, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of CNPC.

In accordance with the Agreement of Rosneft and CNPC there are prospects of interaction worked out concerning a set of areas of low carbon development, particularly in reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, including methane, technologies of energy efficiency as well as CO2 capture and storage (CCS). Parties also consider other areas of potential cooperation in the field of low carbon development as well. Low carbon technologies developed by the companies, including “smart” and digital solutions, in the future may be applied within the large-scale joint petroleum projects in Russia and China.

Rosneft and CNPC are organizers of Russian-Chinese Energy Business Forum established by the instruction of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and the President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping. The objective of this Forum is a development of the energy dialogue between Russia and China, increase in bidirectional commodity circulation, extension of the portfolio of joint projects, attraction of investments and funding of projects.

In May 2017 during the official visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to China, Rosneft and CNPC signed the Agreement on the establishment of the Joint Coordinating Committee (JCC). The Committee was established for development of the cooperation of the companies in a number of strategic areas, including interaction in the exploration and development of oil and gas fields, oil refining and petrochemicals, trade in oil and oil products, scientific and technical research, training of personnel, as well as the implementation of promising projects in the field of supply and oil services. In November 2021 there was the fourth meeting of the JCC.

Rosneft is a member of the United Nations Global Compact thus confirming its commitment to the highest principles of the sustainable development. Rosneft annually publishes a detailed information about its ESG activities in its sustainable development reports.

Rosneft is the world's largest public oil company. The company accounts for about 5% of global oil production, and its proven reserves in the international category will exceed 5 billion tons of oil equivalent. The structure of Rosneft includes the Angarsk Polymer Plant and Ufaorgsintez (part of the structure of Bashneft) after the closing of the deal to purchase Bashneft on October 12, 2016. The main shareholder of Rosneft is the state-controlled Rosneftegaz (50% plus one share), and the British BP owns another 19.75%.
MRC