Sinopec Q1 net income jumps 25% on high oil prices

China’s biggest refiner posted a net profit increase of 24.3% in the first quarter, as higher prices of its major products boosted revenue, said Reuters.

Strong crude spurred up its exploration business, which generated yuan (CNY) 11.46bn ($1.74bn) earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) in the first quarter, up by 273% on year. Total oil and gas outputs increased 3.7% to 121m barrels of oil equivalent.

Crude throughput stood at 64.2m tonnes, gaining by 2.7% on year. Ethylene production increased 6.7% to 3.6m tonnes.

EBIT for chemical segment decreased 79.5% to CNY1.89bn. The company said that chemical business faces intensive competitions and shrinking margins. In response, the company better leveraged its outputs and sales, increased exports, and adjusted maintenance schedules. It also raised productions of products with higher profitability, such as ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA), butadiene rubber and 1,4 butanediol (BDO). Capital expenditures stood at CNY25.4bn.

As MRC informed before, Sinopec Maoming Petrochemical Company delayed the turnaround at its No. 2 low density polyethylene (LDPE) unit in Guangdong, China until 24 March, 2021. Initially the company intended to take off-stream its 250,000 tons/year No. 2 LDPE unit on 15 March, 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.

Sinopec corp. is one of the world's largest integrated energy and chemical companies. Business 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 refining capacity, Sinopec Corp. ranks second in the world, in terms of ethylene capacity - fourth.
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GIDARA Energy and the Port of Rotterdam have announced GIDARA’s next advanced biofuels facility in the Netherlands: Advanced Methanol Rotterdam (AMR), according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Located in the Port of Rotterdam, the plant will convert non-recyclable waste into advanced methanol. The facility is scheduled to start detail engineering and construction in the first half of 2023, when a permit is received, and start production of renewable methanol in 2025.

The advanced methanol achieves CO2 emission reductions outlined in the Renewable Energy Directive II (RED II) and Fit-for-55 frameworks. The renewable fuel will replace fossil fuels, creating significant carbon savings. The Port of Rotterdam Authority has provided a unique site location in the port for this facility.

Last year, GIDARA Energy announced Advanced Methanol Amsterdam, a state-of-the-art renewable fuels facility that will serve as a blueprint for AMR. The two facilities will be identical, utilizing GIDARA’s patented High-Temperature Winkler (HTW) technology, which converts non-recyclable waste to renewable fuels. This technology has been used commercially in four other waste to clean syngas production facilities.

Advanced Methanol Rotterdam will achieve a reduction of 350,000 tons of CO2eq of GHG emissions per year, producing approximately 90,000 tons of renewable methanol yearly by converting 180,000 tons of local non-recyclable waste that is currently being incinerated.

All side streams of the conversion process at the AMR facility will be put to use so that the CO2 will be captured and led to local greenhouses; bottom product residue will be used for cement production; and other streams like ammonia and salts will be sold and put to use as feed stock for other industries and road salt respectively, creating a circular concept.

As MRC wrote before, in February 2022, Global Energy Storage (GES) successfully closed the transaction to acquire part of the Stargate Terminal from Gunvor Group in Europoort, Port of Rotterdam.

We remind that 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 also 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

Air Liquide has signed a new long-term supply agreement with Ezz Steel, said the company.

The industrial gases producer will invest USD80m in building an air separation unit (ASU) at Ezz’s new plant in Ain Sokhna, east of Cairo, in Egypt.

The unit will have 770 tonnes/day of oxygen production capacity to supply Ezz and other customers in the basin, which is a key site for heavy industries in the Suez Canal Economic Zone.

Air Liquide will also expand its existing pipeline network in Ain Sokhna to connect the new plant to Air Liquide’s four other ASUs in operation, increasing the reliability of supply.

The project includes a carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction roadmap based on renewable power sourcing, in line with Air Liquide’s sustainability goal to become carbon neutral by 2050.

As per MRC, Air Liquide and Sogestran have signed an agreement to form a joint venture, said the company.
It will provide large-scale liquid CO2 shipping and barging solutions tailored to the needs of future Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) projects in Europe. This joint venture will strengthen Air Liquide’s offering on the carbon management value chain, including capture, aggregation, processing, and transport to permanent storage locations.

As MRC wrote earlier, 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. 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.

A world leader in gases, technologies and services for Industry and Health, Air Liquide is present in 75 countries with approximately 66,400 employees and serves more than 3.8 million customers and patients. Oxygen, nitrogen and
hydrogen are essential small molecules for life, matter and energy. They embody Air Liquide’s scientific territory and have been at the core of the company’s activities since its creation in 1902.
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Lummus Technology announced a partnership with Braskem, the largest biopolymer producer in the world, to license green ethylene technology, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Lummus and Braskem will license worldwide technology to produce green ethylene and accelerate the use of bioethanol for chemicals and plastics, supporting the industry's efforts towards a carbon neutral circular economy.
"We are truly excited with this partnership, which helps the world diversify the feedstock sources for chemicals and plastics with biomass. Leveraging the combined experience and expertise of Lummus and Braskem to produce green ethylene thus reduces carbon footprint and plays a promising role in the energy transition," said Leon de Bruyn, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lummus Technology.

"Braskem has already been operating the technology successfully at large scale, and together we are going to expand the world's production of low carbon chemicals and polymers from renewable feedstocks, helping our customers decarbonize their assets and produce greener products."

Lummus, a recognized leader in ethylene production technologies, has licensed approximately 40 % of global ethylene capacity, giving the company the technical capability and licensing expertise to further develop and market the technology behind green ethylene. This partnership enables the license of the technology globally with the first two projects being developed in the U.S. and Thailand; the later still under evaluation and subject to the approvals of the respective governance bodies.

"Lummus brings licensing experience and process knowledge into this partnership to extend the reach of Braskem's proven green ethylene technology worldwide," said Walmir Soller, VP Olefins/Polyolefins Braskem Europe & Asia and CEO Braskem Netherlands BV. "With this initiative, we believe we are also contributing with an alternative for the industry to move towards a carbon neutral circular economy."

This partnership reflects Lummus' strategic business direction, through its subsidiary Green Circle, as a leader in commercializing and developing breakthrough solutions to address the key pillars of the energy transition, including end-of-life waste plastics recycling, production of bio-derived sustainable chemicals and decarbonization strategies for existing and new assets. Together, Lummus and Braskem are ensuring the growth of green ethylene production worldwide and meeting the demand for green ethylene.

As MRC wrote earlier, in late 2020, Braskem announced its latest sustainability ambitions to significantly expand its efforts to eliminate plastic waste in the environment by 2030 and to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

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.

Braskem S.A. produces petrochemicals and generates electricity. The Company produces ethylene, propylene, benzene, toluene, xylenes, butadiene, butene, isoprene, dicyclopentediene, MTBE, caprolactam, ammonium sulfate, cyclohexene, polyethylene theraphtalat, polyethylene, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
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Producer of virgin polyethylene terephthalate (PET) PT Bumi Indus Padma Jaya is on track to launch its recycled polyethylene terephthalate (R-PET) facility in Indonesia by the second quarter of the year, said Reuters.

The new facility will produce approximately 15,000-18,000 tonnes/year of bottle-to-bottle R-PET pellets, mainly for exports outside Asia. It will target mainly downstream converters in both Europe and the US as most demand is coming from those markets, said a company source.

Currently, with high freight costs, shipping to Europe is more economical as longer distance exports bound to the US will incur significantly higher freight rates. Acknowledging the continuous entry of major players into the R-PET space, the company remains upbeat on the R-PET market as global demand continues to outstrip existing production capacity.

Other recyclers, including Bumi Indus, believe however that the feedstock price increases will be in tandem with R-PET pellet price increases.

According to ICIS-MRC Price report, the shortage of free PET quantities are expected to remain in Russia in April, whereas prices will continue to rise. PET prices for contract clients will also increase next month. Market participants said last week's deals for small lots of PET chips were done at Rb240,000-260,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT.
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