Tranter to deliver heat exchangers for one of the largest petrochemical projects in Europe

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Tranter received an order from a European based EPC company for a petrochemical project in Europe, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The project is one of the largest petrochemical investments in Europe in the last two decades.

Tranter's scope of delivery to the project is a total of 37 large heat exchangers, including four jumbo-sized shell-and-plate heat exchangers that will be used in close temperature approach heat recovery services. These shell-and-plate heat exchangers each hold around 1100 plates, which corresponds to 1060 m2 of heat transfer surface.

In addition, Tranter’s scope includes another five shell-and-plate heat exchangers handling heat transfer between flammable liquids, four NovusBloc heat exchangers in 254SMO for high fouling and high temperature services, and 24 large and medium sized gasketed plate heat exchangers in low temperature/non-flammable services.

"The latest addition to our product portfolio, our NovusBloc welded plate heat exchanger, enabled us to offer the most efficient and suitable plate heat exchangers for each of the many heat transfer services required for this plant, thus giving us competitive advantage towards our customer’s key decision criteria," said Thomas Cassirer, Sales Manager, Global Accounts.

This plant is one of the first of its kind in Europe in many years and is built to produce important chemical raw materials for other plants, which produce plastics, fibers, detergents and other downstream chemicals.

We remind that, as MRC informed before, Kraton Corporation has recently announced its CirKular+ performance enhancement series C2000 and C3000 have been approved as fully compatible with recycling of polypropylene (PP) containers in Europe according to RecyClass. Pellets containing 5 wt.% of either CirKular+ C2000 or C3000 resin blended in an injection molding PP grade matrix were tested according to the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) critical guidance for PP rigid containers.

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Canadian midstream energy company Pembina Pipeline expects to decide by the end of March on whether to proceed with a planned expansion of its Prince Rupert propane export terminal in British Columbia province, said the company.

The terminal, with a capacity of 25,000 bbl/day, was commissioned early last year and began loading propane onto vessels in April. It exports propane of petrochemical quality, the officials said.

Engineering of the expansion is "essentially complete", with a final decision on whether to proceed being dependent on “market dynamics”, such as customer demand, shipping costs, and North American and international pricing, the officials said.

They did not comment on the expansion project's costs or capacities. The propane for the terminal is extracted off-site from natural gas supply in northern British and Alberta, and is transported from Pembina's Redwater fractionation complex northeast of Edmonton, Alberta, to Prince Rupert by rail.

As per MRC, Pembina Pipeline and Inter Pipeline (IPL) are mulling the prospects of dehydrogenation/polypropylene (PDH/PP) production in Alberta province. On May 31, 2021, Pembina and Inter Pipeline entered into an agreement (the "Strategic Combination") to create one of the largest and best positioned energy infrastructure companies in Canada. Together the companies' diversified and integrated asset base can support and grow an extensive value chain for natural gas, natural gas liquids and crude oil, from wellhead to end user, that far exceeds anything either company can do separately.

Pembina Pipeline has been a gas supplier to the North American power system for over 60 years. Pembina owns and operates pipelines that transport a variety of hydrocarbon fluids, including conventional and synthetic crude oil and others, produced in Western Canada and North Dakota.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia's invasion of Ukraine will disrupt the global movement of energy commodities, even if Western powers don't impose sanctions on exports from Russia, reported Reuters on February 25.

So far none of the retaliatory measures against Moscow have been targeted at exports of crude oil, coal or natural gas, the latter either by pipeline or by ships as liquefied natural gas (LNG).

That's perhaps tacit acknowledgment of Russia's importance to the global supply of these commodities, and especially with regard to natural gas, with Russia meeting about 40% of Europe's annual demand.

But even if the US, Europe and other allied nations such as Japan and South Korea decide not to impose measures against Russia's energy exports, it's likely that private companies will effectively do it for them.

The risks of doing business with Russia will become too much for many companies to bear, even without sanctions.

A clear illustration of this was reports that a coal bulk vessel chartered by commodity trading house Cargill was struck by a shell in the Black Sea in Ukrainian waters on Thursday, just hours after Russia launched a widespread attack on its neighbor.

Very few trading, shipping and insurance companies will be prepared to take the risk of dealing with cargoes from Russia, fearing either physical attack, payment issues because of financial sanctions, the risk of non-delivery if further measures are enacted against Russia and even public and investor backlash for continuing to do business with a country now largely viewed as conducting an illegal war.

As MRC wrote before, earlier this month, Samsung Engineering, one of the world’s leading engineering, procurement, construction and project management (EPC&PM) companies, announced that it had signed a contract for the design of a plant for the Baltic Chemical Complex in Russia. Baltic Chemical Complex LLC. (BCC), the original owner of the contract, previously signed an EPC contract with CC7 in 2019. The project is located at the Gulf of Finland near the seaport of Ust-Luga, Leningrad Oblast, 110 km southwest of St. Petersburg, Russia.

Samsung Engineering’s work of scope includes an Ethane Cracker Unit with a total design capacity of 2.8 million T/y (Ethylene 1.4 million t/y 2 Trains) and procurement for the project. The Ethane Cracker Unit is the core process element of the plant. The Baltic Ethane Cracker Project produces ethylene from separated C2 out of natural gas.

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A fire at Marathon Petroleum Corp's 578,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) crude oil refinery in Garyville, Louisiana, the third-largest US refinery by processing capacity, has been extinguished, reported Reuters with reference to a company spokesperson's statement.

Thus, the fire at this refinery was put out on Monday afternoon.

"All employees and contract workers have been accounted for," said Marathon spokesperson Jamal Kheiry. "Five contract workers sustained injuries, four of which were treated on-site, and one is currently being evaluated at a local healthcare facility as a precaution."

Two sources said an explosion occurred on Monday morning in the 110,000-bpd gas oil hydrocracker, which makes diesel. Marathon was overhauling multiple units at the refinery at the time of the fire. It was unclear if work was being done on the hydrocracker.

Local media reports said the fire began after an explosion felt for miles around the plant. A nearby highway was closed for about an hour afterwards, according to law enforcement officials.

The fire broke out at 9:30 a.m. CST (1530 GMT), Kheiry said. Emergency officials in St. John the Baptist Parish said the explosion was heard at about 9 a.m. CST.

The Garyville refinery, which completed a major expansion in 2009, can process a variety of crude oils into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and distillates. The refinery also produces asphalt, petroleum coke and feedstocks to make plastics.

As MRC informed earlier, in May, 2021, US refiner Marathon Petroleum Corp said its board had approved the conversion of the Martinez refinery in California to a renewable diesel plant. Besides, the company made a final investment decision regarding this project. Martinez, once complete, will be one of the largest renewables facilities in the country.

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.

Marathon Petroleum Corporation (MPC) is a leading, integrated, downstream energy company headquartered in Findlay, Ohio. The company operates the nation's largest refining system. MPC's marketing system includes branded locations across the United States, including Marathon brand retail outlets.
MRC

Dear readers!

MRC company works with clients from 80 countries of the world, including through offices in Russia and Ukraine.

We cannot be silent and stand aside when peaceful people are dying!

We are categorically against the hostilities unleashed by Russia.

No war!

Sincerely yours, MRC team.

mrcplast.com