NSRP shuts its PP plant in Vietnam after fire

NSRP shuts its PP plant in Vietnam after fire

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A fire broke out at a steam turbine generator (STG) belongings to Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical (NSRP) in Vietnam on 21 February 2022, that forced the producer to take its 370,000 tons/year polypropylene (PP) unit offline, according to CommoPlast.

The plant has been operating at 50% capacity since the beginning of February and was initially scheduled to ramp up the run rate at the beginning of March.

Sources close to the producer informed that the PP line would remain off-line for about 10 days following the fire.

As MRC reported earlier, NSRP shut its new PP plant in Vietnam for maintenance on 24 August, 2021, instead of the initially scheduled date of 17 August, for approximately three weeks. The company decided to postpone the maintenance shutdown at this plant by one week from the previous schedule due to the COVID-19 related lockdown. Thus, the new PP plant came back on-line in mid-September, 2021.

We remind that Vietnam’s Nghi Son oil refinery officially began commercial production from 14 November 2018, following months of tests. The USD9 billion refinery is 35.1% owned by Japan’s Idemitsu Kosan Co, 35.1% - by Kuwait Petroleum, 25.1% - by PetroVietnam and 4.7% - by Mitsui Chemicals Inc.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 1,494.280 tonnes in 2021, up by 21% year on year. Deliveries of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whreas.shipments of PP random copolymers decreased significantly.
MRC

Global Energy Storage closes deal to acquire part of Stargate Terminal in Port of Rotterdam

Global Energy Storage closes deal to acquire part of Stargate Terminal in Port of Rotterdam

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Global Energy Storage (GES) has successfully closed the transaction to acquire part of the Stargate Terminal from Gunvor Group in Europoort, Port of Rotterdam, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

GES now owns four Class 1 product tanks totaling over 212,000 m3 with long-term off-take from Gunvor. In addition, GES has acquired the rights to develop approximately 20 hectares of vacant land. Furthermore, it is pursuing expansion projects to support the energy transition, such as import facilities for ammonia, storage for biofuels and feedstock, chemicals, gases, and waste to fuel production.

Peter Vucins, CEO of GES said, “This is an important milestone for GES. The location of this first investment in the heart of the Port of Rotterdam positions us perfectly to significantly contribute to our client’s needs to develop the new storage and logistics infrastructure to facilitate the energy transition, which is upon us and accelerating. Our partnership with Gunvor Group and Port of Rotterdam is vital to our strategy to realize these expansions, as are other strategic partnerships we currently are in discussions with. We hope to revert with some further positive news relatively soon.”

As MRC wrote before, 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. 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.

We remind that 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 2,487,450 tonnes in 2021, up by 13% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 1,494.280 tonnes, up by 21% year on year. Deliveries of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whreas.shipments of PP random copolymers decreased significantly.
MRC

Chevron and Bunge create JV for renewable feedstock development

Chevron and Bunge create JV for renewable feedstock development

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chevron and Bunge North America announced the signing of definitive transaction agreements to create their previously announced JV. The new venture will create renewable feedstocks leveraging Bunge’s experience in oilseed processing and farmer relationships and Chevron’s experience in fuels manufacturing and marketing, according to Hydrocarbonprcessing.

The agreements are subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval.

Bunge’s soybean processing plants in Destrehan, Louisiana and Cairo, Illinois will be contributed to the JV with Chevron contributing approximately $600 MM. Plans include approximately doubling the combined capacity of these facilities from 7,000 tpd by the end of 2024. The JV may also explore opportunities in other renewable feedstocks, as well as in feedstock pretreatment.

“Partnering with Chevron, a global leader in energy, is a significant step forward in building the capability to make changes at scale to help reduce carbon in our own and our customers’ value chains,” said Greg Heckman, Bunge CEO. “I am confident that our shared networks, global footprint and expertise is the right partnership to build a successful long-term and low-cost enterprise that will help meet the demand for next generation, renewable fuels.”

Under the agreements, Bunge will operate the facilities; Chevron will have purchase rights for the oil to use as a renewable feedstock to manufacture transportation fuels with lower lifecycle carbon intensity.

As MRC reported earlier, Chevron Phillips Chemical (CP Chem), a joint venture of Phillips 66 and Chevron, will make a final investment decision on a new cracker in far southeast Texas in 2022, followed by an FID in 2023 on an USD8 billion joint venture petrochemical complex along the US Gulf Coast in 2023, said Phillips 66 CEO Greg Garland in early August, 2021.

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 2,487,450 tonnes in 2021, up by 13% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 1,494.280 tonnes, up by 21% year on year. Deliveries of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whreas.shipments of PP random copolymers decreased significantly.

Headquartered in San Ramon, California, Chevron Corporation is the the second-largest integrated energy company in the United States and among the largest corporations in the world. Chevron is involved in upstream activities including exploration and production, downstream activities including refining, marketing and transportation, and advanced energy technology. Chevron is also invested in power generation and gasification processes.
MRC

Kiyanly Polymer Plant resumed export PP purchases

Kiyanly Polymer Plant resumed export PP purchases
MOSCOW (MRC) -- Kiyanly Polymer Plant resumed export polypropylene (PP) trades at the State Commodity and Raw Materials Exchange of Turkmenistan after an almost two-year break, on 18 February, according to the ICIS-MRC Price Report.

According to market participants, PP raffia produced by the Kiyanlynsky Plant was put up for export to the CIS countries with a volume of 5,000 tonnes at the beginning of February, at the State Commodity and Raw Materials Exchange of Turkmenistan. But active purchases began on 18 February, in one day of trading the all PP volumes were sold out.

There were 5 deals were recorded with a total volume of 5,000 tonnes. The deals were concluded according to the formula with a discount of USD490/tonne, on FOB/FCA terms for shipments to the markets of the CIS countries within 5 months.

MRC

ExxonMobil made first commercial sale of certified circular polymers

ExxonMobil made first commercial sale of certified circular polymers

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil has completed its first commercial sale of certified circular polymers, using its Exxtend technology for advanced recycling of plastic waste, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The purchaser is Berry Global, which will use the circular polymers to manufacture containers for high-performance food-grade packaging on a mass balance approach.

"We are scaling up our advanced recycling capabilities around the world to manufacture more circular products for our customers,” said Karen McKee, president of ExxonMobil Chemical Company. “Our Exxtend technology helps us meet the growing demand for certified circular polymers, particularly in food contact applications where plastic products provide key sustainability benefits." Exxtend technology helps expand the range of plastic materials that society recycles, while maintaining the performance of products over multiple recycling loops. Product quality and performance of the certified circular polymers are identical to polymers produced from virgin raw materials, increasing the variety and number of customer applications.

“We have ambitious sustainable packaging goals that include achieving 30% circular content across our fast-moving consumer goods packaging by 2030,” said Tarun Manroa, chief strategy officer of Berry Global. “Advanced recycling can help our customers meet their sustainability goals and accelerate the move to a more circular economy. Collaboration across the value chain is critical to achieving this." The initial sale of certified circular polymers is based on plastic waste processed at ExxonMobil’s advanced recycling facility at its site in Baytown, Texas. The facility began operations in 2021 and has already processed more than 4-MM pounds of plastic waste.

The operation in Baytown will be among North America’s largest advanced plastic waste recycling facilities with a capacity to recycle 30,000 metric tpy of plastic waste when its expansion is complete later this year. Leveraging ExxonMobil’s existing assets, the company’s advanced recycling capabilities can be rapidly scaled to process a wide range of plastic waste. To help meet the growing market demand for certified circular plastics, ExxonMobil plans to increase its annual advanced recycling capacity to 500,000 metric t, or approximately 1 B pounds, by year-end 2026 across multiple sites globally.

The company has obtained certifications through the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification Plus (ISCC PLUS) process for several of its facilities including Baytown. ISCC PLUS is widely recognized by industry as an effective system to certify the circularity of products based on advanced recycling using mass balance attribution of plastic waste.

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.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 1,494.280 tonnes in 2021, up by 21% year on year. Deliveries of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whreas.shipments of 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