AGC expanding production capacity of chlor-alkali business in Thailand

AGC has decided to invest over 100-billion to increase production capacity of its chlor-alkali business in Thailand through an expansion of two manufacturing sites, said Apic-online.

The company will boost the production capacity of AGC Vinythai Public Co. Ltd., a new company being established in July 2022 to integrate AGC's chlor-alkali business in the Indochina Peninsula (PCN, 22 Mar 2021, p 1).

Last year, AGC announced plans to integrate and reorganize its three consolidated subsidiaries and form a new company. The subsidiaries involved include Vinythai Public Co. Ltd. (VNT), AGC Chemicals (Thailand) Co. (ACTH) and AGC Chemicals Vietnam Co.

The expansion project will increase caustic soda capacity to 1.64-million t/y from 1.42-million t/y, vinyl chloride monomer capacity to 1.7-million t/y from 1.3-million t/y, and polyvinyl chloride capacity to 1.6-million t/y from 1.2-million t/y at the current VNT and ACTH sites. Operations are scheduled to start in the first quarter of 2025.

AGC has been studying this expansion and has obtained approval for the environmental impact assessment by the Thai environmental regulatory authority and has now decided to make the investment, AGC noted.

In addition, this capacity expansion will introduce the latest technologies that will improve energy efficiency and production efficiency to reduce environmental impact, the company added.

As per MRC, AGC has begun evaluating an expansion of production capacity at its chlor-alkali subsidiary, Vinythai, as part of its initiative to expand its chlor-alkali business in Thailand. The project would involve increasing the production capacity of polyvinyl chloride to 860,000 t/y from 300,000 t/y, vinyl chloride monomer to 830,000 t/y from 400,000 t/y and caustic soda to 590,000 t/y from 370,000 t/y. A final decision will be made based on the findings of the environmental and health impact assessments.

As MRC wrote before, in December 2016, CMC Biologics, a global leader in clinical and commercial manufacturing of monoclonal antibodies, coagulation factors and other therapeutic proteins and AGC Asahi Glass (AGC), a world-leading manufacturer of glass, chemicals and high-tech materials, announced that they had entered into a definitive agreement with CMC Biologics' shareholders including Monitor Clipper Partners, European Equity Partners and Innoven Partenaires, by which AGC will acquire 100% of CMC Biologics' shares.

Asahi Glass Co., Ltd., more commonly known as AGC, is a global glass manufacturing company, headquartered in Tokyo. It is one of the core Mitsubishi companies.

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Neste and United Airlines announced that they have signed a new purchase agreement that provides United the right to buy up to 160,000 mtons (52.5 MM gallons) of Neste MY SAF over the next three years to fuel United flights at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, and potentially other airports, as well, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

With this agreement, United became the first U.S. airline to make an international purchase agreement for SAF.

“Reducing carbon emissions from fuel use is the fastest way United will reach 100% green goal by 2050. As the leading U.S. airline globally, it makes sense to accelerate our use of SAF and expand our network of partners internationally with a leading company like Neste,” said Lauren Riley, United’s Chief Sustainability Officer. “The demand from our customers to limit their emissions from flying is growing exponentially, and this agreement means that United customers flying from Amsterdam will be partners in our sustainability efforts.”

Neste will provide United with 7,500 mtons (2.5 MM gallons) of SAF in Amsterdam in the first year. United will also have the right to purchase up to 60,000 mtons (20 MM gallons) in the second year, and up to 90,000 mtons (30 MM gallons) in the third year, at Amsterdam or other locations that Neste can supply throughout the globe, as Neste increases its SAF production globally.

This supply agreement is enabled by Neste’s ambitious growth strategy, which will see the company producing 1.5 mtons (515 MM gallons) of SAF per annum by the end of 2023. Neste has been producing and delivering SAF since 2011 and has a proven track record of supplying SAF to customers in Europe, Asia and the Americas.

As MRC reported earlier, Neste has a target to process annually over 1 MM tons of waste plastic from 2030 onwards. The company plans to use liquefied plastic waste as a raw material at its fossil oil refinery to upgrade it into high-quality drop-in feedstock for the production of new plastics.

We remind that in March 2020, Borealis started to produce polypropylene (PP) based on Neste-produced renewable feedstock in its production facilities in Kallo and Beringen, Belgium. This marked the first time that Borealis has replaced fossil fuel-based feedstock in its large-scale commercial production of PP. The Belgian plants were recently awarded by the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) organization with ISCC Plus certification for its renewable PP.
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Venezuela has begun importing Iranian heavy crude to feed its domestic refineries, documents from the state-run oil company PDVSA showed, a deal that widens a swap agreement signed last year by the U.S. sanctioned countries, reported Reuters.

The two nations last year initially agreed to a swap deal, with PDVSA importing Iranian condensate to dilute and process its extra heavy oil for export. In return, Venezuelan crude is being shipped via the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC).

Iran's heavy crude, which is similar in quality to Venezuela's Mesa 30 crude, is set to augment domestic oil fed to PDVSA's refineries, according to the documents.

As part of the cooperation pacts, Venezuela in recent years has received Iranian equipment to revamp its refineries. The 146,000-bpd El Palito refinery is restarting a crude distillation unit this week after extensive repairs and upgrading that relied on equipment imported from Iran.

PDVSA did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

At least 200,000 barrels of Iranian heavy crude were delivered in mid-April to the 310,000-bpd Cardon refinery, Venezuela's second largest. Another 400,000-barrels of Iranian oil, which arrived on the very large crude carrier Dino I, is discharging this week at the country's Jose port, the documents showed.

The Dino I is scheduled to set sail later this month carrying Venezuela fuel oil for NIOC unit Naftiran Intertrade Co, according to one of the documents.

As MRC informed earlier, in November 2021, Venezuelan petrochemicals produced by joint ventures between state-run chemical firm Pequiven and foreign partners have arrived in the United States, despite Washington's efforts to limit trade with the OPEC oil and gas producer. At least two cargoes of methanol, a widely used industrial product whose prices have soared this year, have discharged at Houston area ports since October amid a rapid expansion of the South American country's global sales of petrochemicals and oil byproducts, according to tanker tracking and US customs data.

We remind that from January to October, 2021, PDVSA and Pequiven exported about 1.75 MM tons of petrochemicals and byproducts, putting the trade on track this year to double the 1.03 MM tons exported for the whole of 2020. Shipments of methanol this year ranged between 20,000 and 60,000 metric t per month, mostly bound for the Netherlands, Spain, Japan and China, according to the data and the three people.
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Poland's Grupa Lotos said it is not processing oil for TotalEnergies' Leuna refinery in Germany, referring to a statement by the Polish climate minister that this was the case as a "slip of the tongue", reported Reuters.

Poland's Climate Minister Anna Moskwa said on Friday the Gdansk refinery owned by Lotos was processing oil for the Leuna refinery.

"The statement that the Gdansk refinery is processing oil for TotalEnergies Leuna refinery in Germany should be treated as a slip of the tongue," a Lotos spokesperson said in an emailed statement. "The words spoken at the press conference of Poland's climate minister Anna Moskwa on May 6, 2022, concerned Naftoport, an oil and fuel terminal owned by the PERN Group."

Naftoport, Poland's oil terminal in Gdansk on the Baltic Sea, is linked to a pipeline system that allows the shipping of crude via Poland to Germany.

It has a capacity of 36 MMtpy of oil, above the needs of Polish refiners that process some 27 MMtpy.

As MRC informed before, in late February, 2022, TotalEnergies condemned what it called Moscow's military aggression in Ukraine but stopped short of joining rivals Shell and BP in planning to exit positions in resource-rich Russia. The French oil major, which holds a 19.4% stake in Novatek, Russia's largest producer of liquefied natural gas, said it "will no longer provide capital for new projects in Russia".

We remind that Total Petrochemicals and Refining USA, the US petrochemical major and part of TotalEnergies, restarted all of its three polypropylene (PP) units in La Porte as of 17 June 2021. At the same time, the force majeure (FM) at this plant with an annual capacity of 1.15 million tons/year remains in place as the company attempts to stabilize operating rates and build inventories ahead of the hurricane season. Previously, Total Petrochemical declared FM on its PP output after an abrupt loss of electricity supply during a severe weather condition on 18 May, 2021.

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.
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ConocoPhillips submitted on Monday a plan to develop an oil discovery in the Norwegian North Sea for 10.5 B Norwegian crowns (USD1.10 B), the first of an expected rush of new petroleum projects to be launched in Norway this year, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Known as Eldfisk North, the development is part of the wider Ekofisk area, where ConocoPhillips has pumped hydrocarbons for more than 50 years. The U.S. operator said the new reserves are expected to come on stream in 2024. The Eldfisk North reservoir contains mostly oil and some gas and is estimated to hold between 50 MM and 90 MM barrels of oil equivalent, ConocoPhillips said.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Norway introduced tax incentives for fields covered by development plans introduced by the end of 2022, part of the country's bid to extend the life of its oil and gas industry for decades. As a result, the country expects to receive "a large number" of development plans in 2022, Minister of Petroleum and Energy Terje Aasland told Reuters on the sidelines of an energy conference. "This is an exciting year, and shows that the oil tax package is yielding results," he said.

Among plans likely to be presented this year is Equinor's Wisting discovery in the Arctic Barents Sea, which is set to become the world's northernmost oilfield. "I've spoken to them and they are optimistic with regards to the progression of the plans," Aasland said of Equinor. An Equinor spokesperson confirmed the company remains on track to submit a development plan in 2022. The company said late last year that Wisting could cost some 75 B Norwegian crowns to develop.

The Eldfisk North plan is meanwhile subject to customary approvals from Norwegian authorities. "We are going to process the development plan as fast as possible," Aasland said. Ekofisk is operated by ConocoPhillips, which holds a 35.1% stake, while TotalEnergies owns 39.9%, Vaar Energi 12.4%, Equinor 7.6% and Petoro 5%. Norway is western Europe's largest oil and gas producer, pumping around 4 MM barrels of oil equivalent per day, but some of its major fields face depletion in the coming decade.

As per MRC, ConocoPhillips has posted a quarterly profit that trounced market expectations as supply bottlenecks and a global economic recovery helped drive a rebound in crude prices. Oil prices have gained nearly 63% since the start of 2021, with global crude benchmark Brent rising above USD86 a bbl to its highest level in about three yr after the pandemic depressed fuel demand in 2020.
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