Unipar to build chlorine plant at Camacari Petrochemical Complex

Unipar is to build a new facility at its Camacari Petrochemical Complex, in the state of Bahia, for production of chlorine and derivatives, said the company.

Unipar (UNIP3) announced plans to implement a production unit at the Camacari Petrochemical Complex, in Bahiawhich will require investments of around 140 million reais.

The expectation is that the work will be completed within two years from the start of construction, scheduled to begin in the second half of this year, Unipar said in a statement to the market on Sunday.

The annual production capacity of the new plant will be up to 10 thousand tons of chlorine, 12 thousand tons of caustic soda, 25 thousand tons of hydrochloric acid and 20 thousand tons of sodium hypochlorite.

Unipar currently has factories in Cubatao (SP) and Saint Andrew (SP), in addition to a unit in Bahia Blanca, in Argentina.

The company’s installed production capacity at the end of the first quarter was up to 680,000 tonnes of liquid chlorine per year, 766,000 tonnes of liquid caustic soda and flakes, 667,000 tonnes of hydrochloric acid and 472,000 tonnes of sodium hypochlorite.

As per MRC, Brazilian company Unipar Indupa plans to expand chlorine and caustic soda production at its Santo Andre plant (Santo Andre, Sao Paulo, Brazil). The company plans to increase the production of chlorine by 29,000 tonnes, caustic soda by 32,000 tonnes per year. The project includes the construction of a hydrochloric acid furnace with a capacity of 91,000 tonnes per year. The construction and furnace will cost approximately USD 17.9 mln, with commissioning expected in the second half of 2023.
mrchub.com

McDermott International has been awarded a Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) contract by North Oil Company (NOC) for the Ruya Development, previously referred to as Al-Shaheen Phase 3-Batch 1, located offshore Qatar, said the company.

This award is one the largest FEED projects undertaken in McDermott's history and follows the successful completion of the pre-FEED contract. "This is a strategic contract for our offshore business in Qatar and a game-changer for McDermott as it represents the largest offshore FEED we have ever received in the Middle East," said Tareq Kawash, McDermott's Senior Vice President, Offshore Middle East. "As was the case for the Pre-FEED with NOC, work will be led from our highly skilled Doha operating center and will be supported by our Chennai engineering office."

"The award strengthens our successful collaboration with NOC and demonstrates the continuity of our business relationship with them," said Neil Gunnion, McDermott Qatar Country Manager and Vice President Operations. "Utilizing our comprehensive experience and in-depth knowledge of the offshore sector in Qatar, we look forward to continuing to work closely with NOC to contribute to the development of Shaheen, which is Qatar's largest offshore oil field."

The scope of the contract comprises developing FEED studies and deliverables suitable for an engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning (EPCIC) project. This includes creating technical output data (FEED data), providing EPCIC schedule and cost estimates, and developing an early work plan for the brownfield scope with necessary site surveys. The scope also ensures that new greenfield facilities design and brownfield modifications comply with applicable rules and regulations.

McDermott has decades of experience delivering projects in Qatar, a historically strategic market, and is significantly increasing localization efforts with the Tawteen In-Country Value (ICV) program. The Ruya Project will be managed from the McDermott Doha office with support from Chennai.

As per MRC, McDermott’s storage business unit, CB&I, and Korea Gas Corporation (KOGAS) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to explore the development of large-scale liquid hydrogen storage to support Korea’s hydrogen economy roadmap. Last year, South Korea announced plans to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 by replacing coal-fired power generation with renewable sources and internal combustion engine vehicles with hydrogen-powered and battery-based electric vehicles, McDermott wrote in a statement.
mrchub.com

Oil prices were largely unchanged after choppy trade on Monday, buoyed by Saudi Arabia raising its July crude prices but amid doubts a higher output target for OPEC+ oil producers would ease tight supply, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Brent crude was up four cents to USD119.76 a barrel at 12:22 p.m. EDT (1622 GMT) after touching an intraday high of USD121.95. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 8 cents, or 0.1%, to USD118.95 a barrel after hitting a three-month high of USD120.99. The benchmark fell by USD1 earlier in the session.

Saudi Arabia raised the July official selling price (OSP) for its flagship Arab light crude to Asia by $2.10 from June to a $6.50 premium over Oman/Dubai quotes, just off an all-time-high recorded in May when prices hit highs due to worries of disruptions in supplies from Russia.

The price increase followed a decision last week by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, together called OPEC+, to boost output for July and August by 648,000 bpd, or 50% more than previously planned, though constraint in global refining capacity has kept prices elevated.

"Crude inputs into the U.S. refineries have been reduced by about 6% from 4-years ago at this time with this reduction associating with a need for less crude cover while contributing to a severe tightness in the gasoline and diesel markets," said Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates in Galena, Illinois.

The increased target was spread across all OPEC+ members, however, many of which have little room to increase output and which include Russia, which faces Western sanctions. "With only a handful of... OPEC+ participants with spare capacity, we expect the increase in OPEC+ output to be about 160,000 bpd in July and 170,000 bpd in August," JP Morgan analysts said in a note.

On Monday, Citibank and Barclays raised their price forecasts for 2022 and 2023, saying they expected Russian output and exports to fall by around 1 million to 1.5 MMbpd by end-2022. Separately, Italy's Eni and Spain's Repsol could begin shipping small volumes of Venezuelan oil to Europe as soon as next month, five people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

As per MRC, Slovakia said on Friday it would be hardest hit by European Union sanctions on Russian oil and it expected solidarity from Brussels to mitigate the impact. The economy ministry said Slovakia had sought a three-year derogation on trade in piped Russian oil and oil products, but was unsuccessful as tough sanctions were approved with the aim of hitting Russian revenues following its invasion of Ukraine.
mrchub.com

ExxonMobil Corp has safely contained a fire at one of the units at its 270,000 bpd Fawley oil refinery in Britain, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

"We may continue to use our flare in order to safely manage ongoing operations," Exxon said, without specifying the unit involved.

As per MRC, ExxonMobil has made three new discoveries offshore Guyana and increased its estimate of the recoverable resource for the Stabroek Block to nearly 11 billion oil-equivalent barrels. The three discoveries are southeast of the Liza and Payara developments and bring to five the discoveries made by ExxonMobil in Guyana in 2022.

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.
mrchub.com

A succession of accidents and disasters led US-based butadiene (BD) producer TPC Group to file for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11, said Reuters.

Under Chapter 11, TPC Group will be protected from creditor lawsuits while it negotiates with creditors to restructure its debt. A key bloc of creditors has already entered a restructuring support agreement with TPC Group.

This group of creditors hold the following: 88% of TPC's USD205.5m outstanding 10.875% secured notes due 2024.
78% of TPC's $930m outstanding 10.5% secured notes due 2024. The restructuring support agreement establishes a framework for TPC to restructure its debt and liabilities, the company said.

Based on the agreement, TPC expects to eliminate more than USD950m of its USD1.3bn secured debt. In addition to the notes, TPC's secured debt includes an asset-based revolving loan worth USD105.5m.

The agreement should also resolve all of TPC's tort liabilities that arose from the explosion at its BD processing plant at Port Neches, Texas, in 2019. The company is negotiating a possible settlement that would address the Port Neches claims and get the support of the claimants for a reorganisation plan. That plan would allow TPC to emerge from bankruptcy protection.

It also could provide some recovery for those that hold general unsecured claims against TPC. Recovery could include USD5m in cash plus another $5m based on TPC's earnings projection for 2024. TPC does not have the support of all of its creditors.

In February, TPC announced that it had entered into a forbearance agreement with its lenders after failing to make interest payments.

As per MRC, The Polyolefins Company (TPC) has decided not to shut its low density polyethylene (LDPE) plant in Jurong Island, Singapore in mid-July 2021 for maintenance. The turnaround at this plant with a capacity of 260,000 mt/year of LDPE was initially expected to last for 45 days. TPC last conducted maintenance at its LDPE plant in Jurong Island in July 2018.
mrchub.com