Heartwell Renewables awards engineering contract to Worley for new plant

Worley has been awarded a contract by Heartwell Renewables LLC, a joint venture between The Love’s Family of Companies and Cargill, for a greenfield renewable fuels plant in Hastings, Nebraska, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The new plant will produce an estimated 80 MMgal/yr [around 303 MMl/yr (millions of liters/yr)] of renewable diesel per year from feedstocks such as vegetable oils and tallow. This renewable diesel has the potential to reduce at least 50% of greenhouse gas emissions compared to traditional petroleum-based diesel. It can also be used as a drop-in fuel in diesel-powered vehicles without any engine modifications.

Under the contract, Worley will provide detailed and field engineering services. Worley’s services will be executed in Houston, Texas with support from its Global Integrated Delivery (GID) team in India. The team will use a full suite of digital tools during project delivery.

As per MRC, Worley has announced that its strategic partnership with Avantium Renewable Polymers is now progressing to the next phase. Worley previously announced the partnership on 29 January 2021. Following the recent positive final investment decision (FID), Worley and Avantium have signed a technology cooperation agreement and Worley will now deliver engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services to develop the Avantium flagship facility in Delfzijl, the Netherlands.

As per MRC, Worley has bagged a front-end engineering and design (FEED) services contract from Trinseo for its first-of-a-kind chemical recycling plant in Belgium. Trinseo is a global materials company and manufacturer of plastics and latex binders. The plant will use gasification technology to depolymerise post-consumer polystyrene waste into pure styrene. It’s a first-of-its-kind project on an industrial scale.
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Chevron Corp Chief Executive Michael Wirth on Wednesday told shareholders the U.S. oil producer plans to focus on lowering the carbon intensity of its operations, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

"We aim to lead in lower carbon intensity oil, products, and natural gas, and to advance new products and solutions that reduce the carbon emissions of major industries," Wirth said in a statement.

He added that Chevron is doing its part to grow domestic supply, with U.S. oil and gas production up 10% over the first quarter of last year.

As per MRC, Chevron and ExxonMobil have signed separate agreements with state energy company PT Pertamina to explore lower carbon business opportunities in Indonesia. Chevron signed an MoU through its subsidiary, Chevron New Ventures Pte. Ltd, and is looking at potential businesses in new geothermal technology, carbon offsets through nature-based solutions, carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS), Pertamina said.

We remind that Chevron Phillips Chemical, 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.
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Shell Overseas Investments B.V. and B.V. Dordtsche Petroleum Maatschappij, subsidiaries of Shell plc, have completed the sale of Shell Neft LLC, Shell’s retail stations and lubricants business in Russia, to PJSC LUKOIL, said the company.

This follows the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals. The sale agreement was announced on May 12, 2022. All people currently working for Shell Neft, more than 350 in total, will remain employed by Shell Neft, which is now owned by LUKOIL.

The transaction is part of Shell’s wider withdrawal from all Russian hydrocarbons which is being conducted in a phased manner, in line with its announcement in early March. The sale has been carried out in full compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.

As per MRC, Shell withdrew from the authorized capital of the Gydan Energy joint venture with Gazprom Neft on the Gydan Peninsula. How specified in the document, on May 19, Gazprom Neft became the only participant in Gydan Energy with a 100% share. Previously, the partners each owned 50% in the authorized capital of the enterprise. Shell and Gazprom Neft set up a joint venture in November 2021 in the Yenisei project on the Gydan, which includes two license blocks, Leskinsky and Pukhutsyakhsky.

In addition, Shell in its reporting for the first quarter of 2022 recognized the cost of leaving Russian assets at USD 3.9 billion after taxes. Earlier, she informed that the losses could amount to USD 4-5 billion.

Shell is a British-Dutch oil and gas concern engaged in the extraction, processing and marketing of hydrocarbons in more than 70 countries.
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ExxonMobil Corp shareholders on Wednesday backed the energy company's energy transition strategy, voting against most proposals related to accelerating carbon emission cuts, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Major oil producers in the U.S. and Europe faced less hostile investor votes tied to climate change this year compared to a year ago as energy security and rising fuel prices overshadowed environmental concerns.

In a preliminary voting session with more than 80% of Exxon's investors, shareholders voted against a resolution filed by activist group Follow This, urging faster action to battle climate change.

Only 28% of the participants backed the proposal for setting and publishing medium and long-term targets to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from Exxon's operations and products as well as reducing hydrocarbon sales.

A proposal calling for a report on low carbon business planning was not approved, with only 10.5% votes in favor. Investors also gave a no vote for a report on plastic production, with 37% voting for it. Shareholders approved a proposal for the company to create a report on scenario analysis for climate change.

We remind that in February, 2022, ExxonMobil and SABIC successful started up Gulf Coast Growth Ventures world-scale manufacturing facility in San Patricio County, Texas. The new facility will produce materials used in packaging, agricultural film, construction materials, clothing, and automotive coolants. The operation includes a 1.8 MM metric tpy ethane steam cracker, two polyethylene (PE) units capable of producing up to 1.3 MM metric tpy, and a monoethylene glycol (MEG) unit with a capacity of 1.1 MM metric tpy.

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.

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.
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Evonik Industries AG (Essen, Germany) is selling the TAeTTOOz materials technology for printable rechargeable batteries to the InnovationLab GmbH, said the company.

The InnovationLab specializes in the development of printed and organic electronics and offers individual overall solutions from the first concept draft to the industrial production. Creavis, as the strategic innovation unit and business incubator of Evonik, has developed the TAeTTOOz technology. In the future, however, Creavis will focus stronger on concepts for resource-conserving and sustainable production, as well as high-growth solutions that enable industries to become independent of fossil raw materials.

Redox polymers form the basis of the printable rechargeable batteries. The new materials can be processed into very thin, flexible battery cells using common printing processes. In the process, they allow developers a high degree of design freedom. In addition, battery cells manufactured with TAeTTOOz® technology do not contain liquid electrolytes and therefore cannot leak.

The company has previously cooperated with InnovationLab to develop new applications for materials technology. Dr. Michael Kroger, Managing Director at InnovationLab, is very pleased with the development: “The technology enables more efficient supply chains and innovative wearable devices for medical diagnostics. We are very confident that we will successfully commercialize the technology independently at the InnovationLab. “Dr. Michael Korell, responsible for the development of TAeTTOOz at Evonik, said: “The technology has great potential that can be utilized in the best possible way under the leadership of InnovationLab, which focuses on printed and organic electronics."

As per MRC, Evonik, one the world's petrochemical majors, is embarking on the next phase of its strategic transformation. Sustainability is being integrated fully and systematically into all elements of the strategy: portfolio management, innovation, corporate culture.

We remind that in February, 2020, Dow and Evonik entered into an exclusive technology partnership. Together, they plan to bring a unique method for directly synthesizing propylene glycol (PG) from propylene and hydrogen peroxide to market maturity.

Evonik is one of the world leaders in specialty chemicals. The company is active in more than 100 countries around the world and generated sales of EUR12.2 billion and an operating profit (adjusted EBITDA) of EUR1.91 billion in 2020. Evonik goes far beyond chemistry to create innovative, profitable and sustainable solutions for customers. About 33,000 employees work together for a common purpose: to improve life today and tomorrow.
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