Sinopec completes first megaton scale CCUS project in China

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sinopec revealed it has completed the construction of China's first megaton CCUS project, the Qilu-Shengli Oilfield CCUS. The project will reduce carbon emissions by 1 MMtpy, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

As China's largest full industrial chain CCUS demonstration base and industry benchmark, the Project is estimated to increase the oil production by 2.965 MMt in the next 15 years. It's of great significance to China's scaled development of CCUS and building an "artificial carbon cycle" model to increase China's carbon emissions reduction capabilities as the country advances to achieve the "dual carbon" goals of reaching peak carbon emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060.

Construction of the project was initiated in July 2021 and is consisted of two parts – Sinopec Qilu's CO2 capture and Shengli Oilfield's CO2 displacement and storage. The CO2 captured by Sinopec Qilu will be transported to Shengli Oilfield for further displacement and storage via green transport mode, achieving an integrated application of carbon capture, displacement and storage to seal the CO2 underground and drive the oil out – turning the waste into treasure.

Sinopec Qilu has newly constructed a liquid CO2 recovery and utilization unit with a capacity of 1MMtpy, which includes compression unit, refrigeration unit, liquefaction refining unit and supporting facilities to recover CO2 from the tail gas of coal-to-hydrogen plant with a purification rate of over 99%.

Meanwhile, Shengli Oilfield is applying the principle of supercritical CO2's easy miscibility with crude oil to build 10 unattended gas injection stations in Zhenglizhuang Oilfield to inject CO2 into the 73 wells nearby to increase crude oil fluidity and improve oil recovery while adopting a closed pipeline transportation of oil and gas to further enhance CO2 sequestration rate.

Taking an early start of CCUS R&D and construction, Sinopec has developed its own CCUS technology system that has achieved good results in improving crude oil recovery and reducing carbon emissions, and some of the capture technologies is in leading position domestically and advanced level in the world.

Backed by systematic investigation of China's large-scale CO2 emission sources, Sinopec has researched and drafted the CCUS potential evaluation method and established the Sinopec source & sink database. To date, Sinopec has implemented 36 CO2 flooding projects.

Sinopec is looking to advance the constructions and realize the industrialized development of CCUS. Sinopec will build a CCUS R&D center to focus on the cutting-edge technological breakthroughs including the integration of CCUS with new energy, hydrogen energy and biomass energy. The company will advance the technology applications such as the CO2 production of high-value chemicals and CO2 mineralization and utilization to make breakthroughs in the core technologies and solving the equipment bottlenecks in carbon capture, transportation, utilization and storage.

Between 2021 and 2025, Sinopec will build another megaton CCUS demonstration project in partnership with Sinopec Nanjing Chemical Industries Co., Ltd. in its affiliated Sinopec East China oil and gas fields and Sinopec Jiangsu Oilfield to achieve the industrialized development of CCUS and widen the prospects as China advances to achieve carbon peak and carbon neutrality.

Sinopec has set up a separate company to work on projects in the field of alternative energy sources. The authorized capital of the company, which received the name Zhongshihua Xiongan Xinnenyuan (Zhongshihua Xiong'an Xinnengyuan), amounted to 100 million yuan (USD15.7 million). Li Yutian has been appointed as its legal representative.

Earlier it was reported that SIBUR, the largest petrochemical complex in Russia and Eastern Europe, and the Chinese petrochemical giant - Sinopec - raised project financing for the Amur Gas Chemical Complex (GCC) from a syndicate of international, Chinese and Russian banks for a total of USD9.1 bn.

Sinopec Corp. is one of the world's largest integrated energy and chemical companies. Business of Sinopec Corp. includes oil and gas exploration, production and transportation of oil and gas, oil refining, petrochemical production, production of mineral fertilizers and other chemical products. In terms of oil refining capacity, Sinopec Corp. ranks second in the world, and fourth in terms of ethylene capacity.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- INEOS has agreed a long-term Power Purchase Agreement for renewable offshore wind power in Belgium with sustainable energy producer Eneco, as per the company's press release.

Under the terms of the ten-year deal, which begins in 2022, INEOS will purchase 65,5-Megawatt (250 GWh per annum) of off-shore wind power from Eneco, produced at the SeaMade offshore wind park in the Belgian North Sea.

This significant deal will take ca. 13.5% of SeaMade’s renewable electricity. It will reduce the carbon footprint of INEOS by a further 940,000 tonnes of CO2 over the length of the contract, which is the equivalent of taking 70,000 cars off the road each year.

The renewable electricity from this agreement will be used to support INEOS Olefins and Polymers, INOVYN and Styrolution businesses, allowing the latter to switch its German assets to green power from January 2022 onwards.

This is the third renewable power deal agreed by INEOS as part of our road map to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from across its operations, as the company continues to supply essential products that people increasingly need across medical, food, transport and construction.

As MRC reported earlier, INEOS Styrolution (Frankfurt, Germany), a global leader in styrenics, has announced that two of its European production sites, namely Antwerp, Belgium and Ludwigshafen, Germany have received the ISCC PLUS certification from ISCC (International Sustainability & Carbon Certification). The certification announced paves the way for the audited production of recycling- and bio-attributed styrenics materials using a mass balance approach.

The ISCC PLUS certificate for Antwerp addresses bio-attributed and recycled-attributed ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene), SBC (styrene-butadiene copolymers) and polystyrene (PS). The respective certificate for Ludwigshafen addresses bio-attributed and recycled-attributed SMMA (styrene methyl methacrylate), SAN (styrene acrylonitrile copolymer) and ABS.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall estimated consumption of PS and styrene plastics was 518,560 tonnes in January-November 2021, up by 14% year on year. November estimated consumption of PS and styrene plastics rose by 7% year on year, totalling 48,620 tonnes.

INEOS Group Limited is a privately owned multinational chemicals company consisting of 15 standalone business units, headquartered in Rolle, Switzerland and with its registered office in Lyndhurst, United Kingdom. It is the fourth largest chemicals company in the world measured by revenues (after BASF, Dow Chemical and LyondellBasell) and the largest privately owned company in the United Kingdom.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- TechnipFMC has been awarded a large Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Installation (EPCI) contract by Petrobras, said the company.

The contract covers flexible and rigid pipe, umbilicals, pipeline end terminals, rigid jumpers, umbilical termination assemblies and a mooring system.

Jonathan Landes, President, Subsea at TechnipFMC, commented: "We are excited to announce this award, which demonstrates the continuing strength of the subsea market in Brazil and our collaborative relationship with Petrobras. We used our deep understanding of the client’s needs to arrive at technological solutions developed specifically for the Buzios 6 field."

The flexible pipe, umbilicals and subsea structures, as well as some of the rigid pipe, will be manufactured in Brazil using skills and competencies the Company has developed in-country, while minimizing the carbon footprint associated with transportation and installation. The project will also utilize our established and qualified Brazilian supply chain.

The company describes a large contract as one that is valued between USD500m and USD1bn.

The company plans to manufacture the flexible pipes, umbilicals, subsea structures, and some rigid pipes in Brazil. This will significantly reduce the carbon footprint associated with the transportation of the units.

As per MRC, TechnipFMC has announced the launch of the placement of 16 million Technip Energies shares, representing ca. 9% of Technip Energies’ issued and outstanding share capital, through a private placement by way of an accelerated bookbuild offering. Upon completion of the Placement, TechnipFMC would retain a direct stake of ca. 22% of Technip Energies’ issued and outstanding share capital.

We remind, SIBUR, the largest petrochemical complex in Russia and Eastern Europe, and Technip Energies, an international engineering company, have entered into an agreement on cooperation in the field of technology for the production of Hexen-1 comonomer used in the production of linear polyethylene (LDPE) and low-pressure polyethylene (HDPE). The HEXSIB technology is a proprietary development of NIOST specialists, one of the main research centers of SIBUR.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chemical producer LyondellBasell Industries said its Houston refinery would be a better fit with a larger oil processing company and that a sales effort continues, reported Reuters.

The company put its 263,776-bpd plant on the market for a second time last fall. The plant ran at 101% of capacity last quarter on the recovery of motor fuels demand, the company said in a statement accompanying its fourth-quarter earnings announcement.

Interim Chief Executive, Kenneth Lane said LyondellBasell hopes within a few months to reveal the outcome of its strategic review of the plant. The company took a USD264 MM impairment charge in the fourth quarter as part of the decision to exit refining.

"There's really not more that we can say at this time," Lane told Wall Street analysts on a conference call. "We're in the middle of that (strategic review) process as we speak. And with where we are right now, I hope to be able to provide more details of the outcome in the next few months."

When the process began in September, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters the company hoped for a quick sale of the plant on the Houston Ship Channel. But hopes for a fast exit from refining appear to be dwindling, with a number of other refineries also hitting the market.

LyondellBasell plans to operate its Houston refinery above 90% of its capacity during the first quarter of 2022, said Chief Financial Officer Michael McMurray.

As MRC wrote earlier, in July, 2021, Neste and LyondellBasell announced a long-term commercial agreement under which LyondellBasell will source Neste RE, a feedstock from Neste that has been produced from 100% renewable feedstock from bio-based sources, such as waste and residue oils and fats. This feedstock will be processed through the cracker at LyondellBasell’s Wesseling, Germany, plant into polymers and sold under the CirculenRenew brand name.

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.

Neste (Helsinki) creates solutions for combating climate change and accelerating a shift to a circular economy. The company refines waste, residues and innovative raw materials into renewable fuels and sustainable feedstock for plastics and other materials. The company is the world’s leading producer of renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel, developing chemical recycling to combat the plastic waste challenge. In 2020, Neste's revenue stood at EUR11.8 billion, with 94% of the company’s comparable operating profit coming from renewable products.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Yokogawa announces that it has been selected by ExxonMobil as the system integrator for the first field trial of an open process automation (OPA) system designed to operate an entire production facility, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The field trial will take place at an ExxonMobil manufacturing facility located on the U.S. Gulf Coast, replacing the existing distributed control system (DCS) and programmable logic controllers (PLC) with a single, integrated system that meets the open process automation standard (O-PAS). The project will incorporate enhanced control capabilities enabled through the implementation of OPA technologies and interfaces.

"ExxonMobil is excited to have reached this important milestone with Yokogawa and progress the first field trial of an OPA system at an existing ExxonMobil manufacturing plant,” stated Ryan Smeltzer, OPA program manager for ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company. “The project will take advantage of significant progress made testing OPA components and the O-PAS standards in close collaboration with Yokogawa. The OPA field trial is the next step in commercializing OPA and capturing additional value from our automation and control systems."

Most process industries are burdened with integrating multiple proprietary systems in almost every process plant and facility. These include manufacturing execution systems, DCSs, PLCs, and their respective human-machine interfaces and inputs/outputs (I/O). This can result in elevated capital costs on new projects and a high total cost of ownership, especially in the operation and maintenance of such systems. An OPA system is designed to remedy these challenges by supporting the integration of best-in-class components from different suppliers through configuration and application portability. This enables optimization of the total cost of automation systems.

The field trial is a major milestone in Yokogawa's continued support of ExxonMobil and OPA, and shifts OPA technology from concept to a viable alternative to traditional automation for process industries. The company has commenced work on the front-end engineering design phase of the project. The OPA field trial system, which involves over 2000 I/O, is expected to be commissioned in 2023.

For the past two years, ExxonMobil and Yokogawa have been developing, testing, and improving OPA technologies through the joint operation of an OPA test bed located near ExxonMobil’s Houston, Texas campus. This collaborative work has developed and qualified many of the core OPA functions in preparation for the field trial. In addition to the field trial, test bed engineers at the Houston-area development office will continue to implement and refine OPA technologies in-line with the latest version of the O-PAS standard.

As per MRC, ExxonMobil and Saudi Arabia's Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic), one of the world's largest petrochemicals manufacturers, received commercial production last week at a new joint petrochemical complex in San Patricio (San Patricio, near Corpus Christi, Texas, USA), thereby putting it into operation.

As MRC informed before, ExxonMobil shut down at its cracker in Singapore for maintenance last year. Thus, the company halted operations at the cracker on September 14, 2020. The cracker remained off-line till end-October, 2020. Located at Jurong Island, Singapore, the cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 1 million mt/year and a propylene production capacity of 450,000 mt/year.

MRC