Najaf appointed acting president of SOCAR

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev has appointed first deputy minister of the economy Rovshan Najaf as acting president of state-owned oil, gas and petrochemicals group SOCAR, said Azeridaily.

Najaf, 39, takes over from Rovnag Abdullayev, who led SOCAR as president for 16 years but, according to a decree issued by Aliyev on Thursday, will move to the economy ministry, where, like Najaf, he will serve as a deputy minister.

Najaf has a master’s degree in economic policy management and international energy management and policy from Columbia University.

Rovshan Najaf has been relieved of the post of First Deputy Economy Minister of Azerbaijan. Also, R. Najaf was removed from the Supervisory Board of the State Oil Company by order of the President of Azerbaijan.

By order of the President of the country dated August 28, 2019, he was appointed Chairman of the Board of the Financial Monitoring Service, by order dated February 11, 2020 - Deputy Minister of Economy.

Earlier it was reported that in April 2021, SOCAR Polymer introduced two new grades of polypropylene block copolymer, the first in the company's portfolio that use Milliken Chemical's Hyperform HPN additive for polypropylene (PP). Over the past year, the two companies have been jointly developing these materials. SOCAR, located in Azerbaijan, offers them to customers in Russia, Turkey and other countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

SOCAR Polymer was established in 2013 and operates two polymer production facilities with all the necessary infrastructure: a polypropylene production workshop with a capacity of 184,000 tons per year using Spheripol technology (LyondellBasell license) and a HDPE production workshop with a design capacity of 120,000 tons per year using technology Innovene S (INEOS license). After the first export of products in October 2018, SOCAR Polymer continues to expand the geography of its sales, supplying goods to the markets of Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Poland, Uzbekistan, China, Turkmenistan, Georgia, Austria and Romania.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Lotte Chemical basic materials division president Hwang Jin-koo, KAIST president Lee Kwang Hyung, and others attended the ‘Lotte Chemical-KAIST Carbon Neutral Research Center’ opening ceremony held at the KAIST Energy Environment Research Center, according to SpecialChem.

The Lotte Chemical-KAIST Carbon Neutral Research Center selects technological development and economic feasibility analysis projects to conduct research in fields such as production of clean hydrogen through pyrolysis and electrolysis of waste plastics, eco-friendly naphtha production technologies, liquid organic hydrogen storage and vehicle technologies, optimization of clean hydrogen production price and reduction of carbon emissions through LCA (life-cycle assessment), etc.

Lotte Chemical will invest a total of 2 billion KRW for research expenses over the next three years until 2024 for research and development, and KAIST in Daejeon will construct an exclusive research area and install experimentation equipment, etc. for technological development.

Professor Lee Jae-woo of the KAIST department of chemical and biomolecular engineering was appointed as the director of the Carbon Neutral Research Center, and it will be joined by five professors and 23 master’s and doctorate’s level personnel. In addition, senior researchers and researchers of Lotte Chemical will also participate as members.

Lotte Chemical basic materials division president Hwang Jin-koo stated, “It is difficult for a company to solve the formidable challenge of realizing carbon neutrality alone,” adding, “We will create the two solutions of procuring future technologies and finding talented human resources through R&D on key eco-friendly technologies together with KAIST that is made up of the nation’s best researchers.”

Meanwhile, Lotte Chemical plans to speed up the pursuit of commercialization by quickly procuring future business capacities such as hydrogen, carbon neutrality, batteries, bio, etc., in addition to its existing petrochemical business unit by reinforcing open innovation research activities with the best domestic and foreign universities, research institutes, and companies in each sector including this research investment with KAIST.

As MRC reported before, Lotte Chemical plans to take off-stream its naphtha cracker in Yeosu for a scheduled maintenance this year. The company is expected to put its Yeosu naphtha cracker under scheduled maintenance around May or June, 2022. Lotte's Yeosu naphtha cracker can produce 1.2 million tonnes per year (tpy) of ethylene.

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.

Lotte Chemical runs two naphtha crackers in South Korea. One cracker is located in Daesan county in Seosan which can produce 1.1 million tonnes per year of ethylene with the other 1.2 million tonnes per year cracker in the southwestern city of Yeosu.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Technip Energies has been awarded a engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCC) contract by PETRONAS Chemicals Fertiliser Kedah (PC FK), a wholly-owned subsidiary of PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad for a new melamine plant to be integrated into their existing complex in Gurun, Kedah, Malaysia, said the company.

This EPCC contract follows the successful completion of the FEED by Technip Energies. The project includes a 60,000 tpy greenfield melamine plant, utilizing CASALE low energy melamine technology, and associated interconnections with the existing urea plant where the CO2 generated in the melamine production process will be recycled. This serves to minimize the CO2 footprint of this new asset.

Technip Energies is responsible for overall project management, engineering, procurement and commissioning, whereas Dialog E&C is in charge of construction and pre-commissioning.

Marco Villa, COO of Technip Energies, said: "We are honored to be entrusted by PCG to build their first melamine plant, participating in the diversification of their product portfolio. Technip Energies is committed to deliver a high performing, energy efficient and low carbon emission asset making this project another key milestone in our longstanding and successful history in Malaysia and with PETRONAS."

As per MRC, TechnipFMC has been awarded a large Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Installation (EPCI) contract by Petrobras. The contract covers flexible and rigid pipe, umbilicals, pipeline end terminals, rigid jumpers, umbilical termination assemblies and a mooring system.

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) -- Air Liquide, BASF and Shell are joining Calpine, Chevron, Dow, ExxonMobil, INEOS, Linde, LyondellBasell, Marathon Petroleum, NRG Energy, Phillips 66 and Valero to collectively evaluate and advance emissions reduction efforts in and around the Houston industrial area, according to SpecialChem.

Three additional companies have announced their support for exploring the implementation of large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology in and around the Houston industrial area.

The 14 companies are evaluating how to use safe, proven CCS technology at Houston-area facilities that provide energy and products for modern life, including advanced manufacturing for plastics, packaging, motor fuels and power generation.

Together, these companies and others in the region could capture and safely store up to 50 million metric tons of CO2 per year by 2030 and about 100 million metric tons per year by 2040, helping to significantly reduce emissions in the Houston region. In December 2021, the companies held a series of workshops at the University of Houston to discuss collaboration and activation of this important, large-scale emissions-reduction effort. These efforts have already gained broad support in the Houston region, including from Houston mayor Sylvester Turner, the Harris County commissioners’ court, the greater Houston partnership and the center for Houston’s future.

“Large-scale carbon capture and storage in the Houston region will be a cornerstone for the world’s energy transition, and these companies’ efforts are crucial toward advancing CCS development to achieve broad scale commercial impact,” said Charles McConnell, director of University of Houston’s center for carbon management in energy and former assistant secretary in the U.S. department of energy. “As the energy capital of the world, Houston has the expertise and leadership - including industry, academia and policymakers - to realize a low carbon, reliable and affordable energy future. I look forward to working alongside these 14 companies to make Houston the global leader in CCS.”

ToWide-scale, affordable deployment of CCS in the Houston area will require the support of industry, communities and government. If appropriate policies and regulations are put in place, CCS could help the United States and Houston reach net-zero goals while generating new jobs and protecting existing jobs that are important to Houston’s economy. CCS could also promote long-term economic growth in Southeast Texas and beyond.

As MRC wrote previously, in September 2021, eleven companies expressed interest in supporting the large-scale deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology in Houston. Calpine, Chevron, Dow, ExxonMobil, INEOS, Linde, LyondellBasell, Marathon Petroleum, NRG Energy, Phillips 66 and Valero have agreed to begin discussing plans that could lead to capturing and safely storing up to 50 million metric tons of CO2 per year by 2030 and about 100 million metric tons by 2040.

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) -- Hyosung Vina Chemicals Co Ltd, part of South Korean Hyosung Corporation, has taken off-stream its new 600,000 tons/year propane dehydrogenation (PDH) unit in Southern Vietnam for maintenance turnaround, according to CommoPlast.

Thus, this PDH unit was shut on 4 February, 2021, for equipment repair and is expected to resume operations in early March, 2021.

As MRC informed before, the company started up its new PDH unit in Southern Vietnam in August, 2021. The start-up of this unit enabled the launch of the company's second polypropylene (PP) plant with a capacity of 300,000 tons/year at the same site.

The company already operates No. 1 PP plant in Southern Vietnam with the same production capacity, using external sources of propylene. It was shut down on 9 July, 2021, due to an unspecified technical issue and remained off-line between three to four weeks.

We remind that following the start-up at the newly constructed PP plant in Vietnam on 12 February 2020, it was reported that Hyosung reached on-spec cargoes approximately in mid-February. The first prime grade parcels were homo-PP yarn grade F501N with a melt index of 3.7.

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.

Hyosung Corporation is a Korean industrial conglomerate, founded in 1957. It operates in various fields, including the chemical industry, industrial machinery, IT, trade, and construction.
MRC