ExxonMobil advancing Singapore Resid upgrade project towards 2025 startup

ExxonMobil expects to add approximately 20,000 bpd of light, heavy and extra-heavy lubricant base stocks when upgrades at its Singapore integrated refining and petrochemical complex are complete in 2025, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

"ExxonMobil is introducing a unique high-viscosity Group II clear and bright base stock at a large scale,” said Todd Sepulveda, vice president of Basestocks & Waxes at ExxonMobil. “We will produce EHC 340 MAX using proprietary technologies that allow us to manufacture a product with performance attributes that differentiate it from other high-viscosity base stocks."

The Singapore Resid Upgrade Project will expand large-scale production of ExxonMobil’s global EHC Group II slate to meet growing demand for high-performance lubricants in the Asia-Pacific region. This project will bring additional supplies of EHC 50 and EHC 120 grades to the market, and up to 6,000 barrels per day of extra-heavy base stocks, including the new Group II base stock, EHC 340 MAX.

EHC 340 MAX complements the viscosity range of the existing EHC slate with a base stock that is comparable in viscosity to Group I bright stock but allows customers to blend a wide range of high viscosity finished lubricants where traditional Group I base stocks use is limited. The new product is suitable for lubricants that require extra high viscosity, low temperature performance, high oxidation stability, high viscosity index, and a high flashpoint, which is critical for high temperature applications. Intended applications include gas engine oils, marine lubricants, greases, engine oils, industrial oils and gear oils.

"We are committed to deliver quality fuels and base stocks for high-performing finished lubricants as demand for these products in the Asia-Pacific region continues to grow,” said Sepulveda. “We also recently expanded production of EHC base stocks at our Rotterdam refinery by 5,000 barrels per day. Both of these expansions broaden our ability to provide Group II base stocks to formulators looking for more reliable product supply tailored to their specific needs."

The Singapore Resid Upgrade Project will also enable the refinery to increase production of cleaner fuels, including high-quality marine fuels for customers to meet the International Maritime Organization’s 0.50 percent sulfur requirement. These include ultra-low sulfur diesel and products that can be further blended to meet shipping emission control area requirements.
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Neptune Energy, Exxon Mobil subsidiary XTO Netherlands, Rosewood Exploration Ltd. and EBN Capital have agreed to collaborate on the L10 offshore carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in the Dutch North Sea, said Offshore.

They aim to reach the concept select stage later this year and to have the project FEED-ready by year-end 2022, followed by submission of a storage license application. Discussions continue with industrial emitters from various sectors, ahead of the upcoming round for applications for SDE++ funding from the Dutch authorities.

Lex de Groot, Neptune’s managing director in the Netherlands, said the project “supports our strategy to go beyond net zero and store more carbon than is emitted from our operations, Scope 1, and sold products, Scope 3, by 2030.”

This will be one of the largest CCS facilities in the North Sea, he added. “The reuse of our existing infrastructure means that, together, we can help achieve the climate goals, but also ensure this part of the energy transition becomes cleaner, cheaper and faster," he said.

According to Neptune, this stage of the L10 CCS project could lead to annual subsurface storage for industrial customers of 4 MM metric tons to 5 MM metric tons of CO2 in depleted gas fields around the Neptune-operated L10-A, B and E areas.

EBN’s program manager CCUS, Berte Simons, added, “With our subsurface knowledge and experience on storage, we’ll be able to contribute extensively to the development of this project." Dan Ammann, president of ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions, said, “Carbon capture and storage is a proven, ready-to-deploy technology that can help reduce emissions in some of the highest-emitting sectors and advance society’s net-zero goals."

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.
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Eni SpA became the second foreign firm to win a stake in a USD29 billion project that will expand Qatar’s production of liquefied natural gas as the energy crisis in Europe escalates and prices climb, said Worldoil.

The Italian company will take a 3.1% holding in the project, Qatar Energy Chief Executive Officer Saad Al-Kaabi said in Doha on Sunday. It will include four new liquefaction units, or trains, that will raise Qatar’s annual LNG production capacity to 110 million tons by 2026 from 77 million.

Demand for LNG has surged as European nations race to wean themselves off Russian gas supplies in the wake of Moscow’s war in Ukraine. Prices climbed to a 14-week high on Thursday after Gazprom PJSC reduced supplies via its biggest pipeline link to the continent, making gas rationing a real possibility in Europe. At the signing ceremony, Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi said Europe needs to diversify its energy sources, both in terms of its suppliers and the types it uses.

Qatar Energy is scheduled to announce another investor in the project on Monday, having last week named TotalEnergies SE as a 6.25% stakeholder in the facility known as North Field East. China’s Sinopec and China National Petroleum Corp. are expected to invest along with Exxon Mobil Corp. and ConocoPhillips. Shell Plc also bid to be part of the expansion.

Al-Kaabi previously said Qatar Energy aimed to find investors for around 30% of the expansion project. The state-run company holds stakes in all of Qatar’s previous LNG developments -- ranging in size from 63% to 70% -- with international oil majors and key LNG buyers owning the rest.

While Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips, TotalEnergies and Shell have all previously invested in Qatar’s gas and LNG projects, Eni’s participation is the Italian firm’s first in Qatari oil and gas production.

Qatar intends to announce partners for a separate expansion, known as North Field South, early next year and it will increase capacity to 126 million tons a year, said Al-Kaabi on Sunday. He previously said Qatar Energy would select partners by the end of 2022. The company is also considering further expansions due to global demand growth for LNG, Bloomberg has reported.

Having dominated the global LNG market for several years, Qatar lost ground to Australia and then to the US, which is poised to become the world’s biggest producer this year. Despite the addition of North Field East, Qatar will remain the second-largest LNG exporter in 2028 behind the US.

As per MRC, QatarEnergy has chosen Italy’s Eni, US major ConocoPhillips, and supermajor ExxonMobil as its newest strategic partners in the North Field East Expansion (NFE), joining France’s TotalEnergies on a growing roster of international players that will develop the LNG industry’s largest project to date. For Eni, NFE will be the its first foray into Qatar’s upstream sector, while ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, and TotalEnergies share long histories in the country's LNG industry.
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QatarEnergy has chosen Italy’s Eni, US major ConocoPhillips, and supermajor ExxonMobil as its newest strategic partners in the North Field East Expansion (NFE), joining France’s TotalEnergies on a growing roster of international players that will develop the LNG industry’s largest project to date, said JPT.

For Eni, NFE will be the its first foray into Qatar’s upstream sector, while ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, and TotalEnergies share long histories in the country's LNG industry.

ExxonMobil is by far Qatar's most experienced long-time partner, participating in 12 of the 14 LNG trains producing for the RasGas and Qatargas joint ventures (JVs) and reaching down the value stream into shipping, receiving terminals, and Qatar’s largest condensate refinery.

ExxonMobil is also the only foreign participant in Qatar’s domestic gas projects Al Khaleej Gas and Barzan Gas, according to ExxonMobil’s website.

ConocoPhillips holds 30% of the Qatargas 3 JV, a project with facilities integrated with Qatargas 4 (30% Shell) to produce natural gas, petroleum gas, and gas condensate from the North Field. The project includes a 7.8 gross mpta LNG facility which shipped its first product in 2010, according to ConocoPhillips.

Announcements of QatarEnergy’s NFE partner picks and CEO-level signing ceremonies in Doha have come in rapid-fire succession in the week since Qatar revealed TotalEnergies as its first partner on 12 June. Its choice of Eni followed on 19 June, ConocoPhillips on 20 June, and the latest, ExxonMobil, on 21 June.

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.
MRC

LyondellBasell announced that Levima Green (Shandong) Advanced Materials Co., Ltd. will use LyondellBasell’s Lupotech T high-pressure polyethylene technology at a new site, said the company.

The Lupotech T process technology will be used for a 200 kiloton per year (KTA) vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA) line. The new line will be located in the Zaozhuang City, Shandong Province, P.R. of China.

"Being able to offer advanced process technology, combined with decades of resin experience, are key enablers which allow LyondellBasell to serve a rapidly growing market fueled by the green energy transition,” said Neil Nadalin, Director Global Licensing and Services at LyondellBasell. Nadalin added, “For significant scale production of both EVA and LDPE resins the Lupotech T process remains the benchmark for a cost effective investment for our customers around the world."

Mr. Lao Daodan, Vice General Manager of Levima Green (Shandong) Advanced Materials Co., Ltd. stated, “Producing superior grades by using referenced, safe and reliable Lupotech T high pressure process technology is a tremendous benefit when competing in a rapid growing market. Despite global challenges, the teams concluded an accelerated technology implementation schedule designed for achieving the best possible time to market for such a complex project implementation."

Decades of experience in high-pressure application design makes the Lupotech T process the preferred technology for LDPE/EVA plant operators. High conversion rates, demonstrated high plant availability and effective process heat integration are key attributes of the Lupotech T process, designed to ensure this technology’s energy efficiency.

More than 14 million KTA of the Lupotech T process for LDPE/EVA production capacity has been licensed by LyondellBasell in over 70 lines around the world.

As per MRC, LyondellBasell announced that Jiangsu Hongjing New Material Co. Ltd. will use its Lupotech T high-pressure polyethylene technology at a new facility. The process technology will be used for two 200 kiloton per year (KTA) vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA) lines. The facility will be located in the Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, P.R. of China.
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