LyondellBasell announces renewable energy power purchase agreements

LyondellBasell has signed its first two U.S. power purchase agreements (PPA) supporting the company's climate goal to procure a minimum of 50 percent of electricity from renewable sources by 2030, said the company.

The combined agreements represent 216 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy, which is estimated to generate approximately 628,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) of clean power annually. Approximately 15 percent of LyondellBasell's total scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions come from its electricity consumption. These agreements will enable the company to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 225,000 metric tons annually.

Construction is currently underway at ENGIE’s Limestone wind project, including initial delivery of some of the 264 individual blades that will make up the 88 turbines, each capable of producing 3.4 MW of output.

"Creating a better future for the next generation is important to us, which is one reason we are focused on delivering on our climate goal to achieve net zero emissions from our global operations," said Peter Vanacker, LyondellBasell CEO. "Renewable energy is an important component for how we will get there, and power purchase agreements are our preferred approach to decarbonizing our electricity supply. These strategic projects propel us forward in greenhouse gas emissions reduction, but they also provide scalability and support investment in new renewable energy capability."

LyondellBasell signed a PPA with ENGIE North America (ENGIE) for 100 MW of renewable electricity sourced from ENGIE's new Limestone wind project in Texas' Navarro and Limestone counties. The project is expected to commence operations late in 2022. The 12-year agreement is estimated to generate approximately 377,000 MWh of clean power annually, equivalent to around 135,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide or the yearly electricity consumption of more than 35,000 average American homes.

"This agreement demonstrates a collaboration to create a path forward that helps address the collective global challenge of climate change," said ENGIE Chief Renewables Officer David Carroll. "We are particularly honored to work with LyondellBasell on their first PPA agreement which will deliver steady economic and environmental value in the long run for both parties."

As pre MRC, LyondellBasell announced its board of directors has declared a special dividend of USD5.20 per share and a quarterly dividend of USD1.19 per share. The quarterly dividend represents a 5 percent increase over the company's first quarter 2022 dividend. The special and quarterly dividends will both be paid on June 13, 2022 to shareholders of record as of June 6, 2022, with an ex-dividend date of June 3, 2022.

As per 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. 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.
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German oil refiner Bayernoil GmbH plans to halt deliveries of diesel and heating oil to customers for several days from Thursday after a lightning strike, said Reuters.

Bayernoil is the largest oil refiner in Germany's southern state of Bavaria and the incident adds to two other outages in the same region as Europe's diesel market suffers from the loss of imports from Russia.

In early June, a mechanical incident during a routine check-up damaged a crude oil distillation unit at the Austrian oil and gas group OMV's Schwechat refinery, and the company also plans maintenance at its Burghausen refinery this summer.

Due to these outages, trucks have had to wait in long queues for fuel at Bayernoil in recent days, Bloomberg cited a source as saying. The two plants affected by the incident can process just over 200,000 barrels of crude a day, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

This is roughly equivalent to the capacity of OMV's Schwechat oil refinery, while the one in Burghausen can process about 76,000 barrels per day.

As per MRC, Italian oil and gas company Eni said on Friday it was not using oil of Russian origin in operations related to its 20% share in the Bayernoil refinery in the Germany state of Bavaria. Swiss firm Varo Energy, another shareholder in the Bayernoil refinery, said it had not entered into new deals to buy Russian oil since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and did not plan to. It said previous contracts had expired. The West has imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia over the invasion. The US has banned Russian oil imports, while the European Union, which is more reliant on Russian fuel, has banned investments in Russia's energy sector.
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TotalEnergies Marine Fuels and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) have successfully completed the first biofuel bunker operation for a vehicle carrier in Singapore, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The local operation was made possible with support from the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore. The MOL-operated car and truck carrier, Heroic Ace, was refueled by TotalEnergies-supplied biofuel on 11th June 2022 via ship-to-ship transfer, while the carrier performed cargo operations simultaneously. The biofuel has been consumed during the carrier’s voyage to Jebel Ali, in the United Arab Emirates.

The biofuel blend used in this trial composed of VLSFO (Very Low Sulfur Fuel Oil) blended with 20% second-generation, waste-based and ISCC-certified UCOME (Used Cooking Oil Methyl Ester). From a well-to-wake assessment, the biofuel will reduce approximately 17% of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions compared with conventional fuel oil.

MOL’s initial analysis of the vehicle carrier’s engine and machinery performance have demonstrated a high compatibility and safe use of the biofuel onboard the vessel.

Laura Ong, General Manager of Trading and Operations for Asia Pacific, TotalEnergies Marine Fuels, based in Singapore, said: “We are delighted to work with frontrunners in green shipping, such as MOL, on the use of sustainable biofuels to reduce their vessels’ carbon footprint. For TotalEnergies Marine Fuels, we want to develop a sustainable, cost-efficient and low-carbon biofuel solutions for customers across different shipping segments. This partnership with MOL has allowed us to build on our amassed biofuels supply chain capabilities and operational success, to deliver this lower-carbon fuel to a new vessel type."

Koichi Hirata, General Manager, Car Carrier Division of MOL, said: “MOL Car Carrier Division has been working on trial usage of biofuel during navigation in the European short haul trade for more than a year. Today we are very pleased to announce that we have expanded our actions to the long haul trades and successfully conducted a milestone voyage together with our valued partner, TotalEnergies. Along with various partnerships we have with TotalEnergies in many fields, this collaboration in the biofuel field means an important step for MOL. We will continue to accelerate efforts towards a low- and de-carbonized vehicle transportation sector and to develop services required by our customers."

TotalEnergies and MOL believe biofuels provide an immediate and sustainable solution to decarbonize shipping today, as they can be blended or dropped into existing conventional fuels with little or no technological developments required on vessels.

As part of TotalEnergies’ strategy to produce a new generation of biofuels for use in transport, TotalEnergies is investing in biofuels projects based on animal fat or used oils, thereby sourcing from the circular economy and limiting the competition for and impact on arable land.

These initiatives reinforce TotalEnergies’ climate ambition to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 together with society. In parallel, TotalEnergies Marine Fuels is committed to drive the decarbonization of shipping through the provision of clean and low-carbon marine fuel solutions across the short and long-term.

Biofuel is positioned as an effective alternative to fossil fuels in 'MOL Group Environmental Vision 2.1', which includes the achievement of net zero emissions by 2050. MOL Group continually takes a proactive stance in promoting adoption of clean alternative fuels with the aim of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in ocean transport.

TotalEnergies and MOL will continue to build on their successful collaborations to explore new joint initiatives that promote the introduction of clean, low-carbon alternative fuels. Both companies have co-developed bunker vessels, the Gas Agility and the Gas Vitality, for the supply of marine Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) in the Northwestern Europe and Mediterranean regions. They are also part of a consortium that seeks to establish an ammonia fuel supply chain in Singapore.

As per MRC, TotalEnergies has taken logistics measures to make sure its network of petrol stations and its clients will be sufficiently supplied throughout the weekend despite a strike hitting its French oil refineries on Friday. The CGT union, which wants an immediate increase in wages to compensate for rising inflation, has called for the 24-hour strike after talks with CEO Patrick Pouyanne fell through.
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Maire Tecnimont announced that its subsidiaries Tecnimont and Stamicarbon have been awarded several new contracts and order variations for licensing, engineering services and EPC activities for an overall value of approximately USD96 MM, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

These contracts have been granted by international clients in Nigeria, as well in Europe, the Middle East and the Far East. In particular, Tecnimont has been granted a FEED contract by African Refineries Port Harcourt Limited for a 100,000 bpd refining plant, which is due to be operational in 2025.

It will be built inside the existing Port Harcourt Refinery complex, where Tecnimont is already executing an EPC contract related to its Rehabilitation works. The contract also includes a feasibility study for an independent section of the plant for the production of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF, also known as Biojet), which will be based on NextChem’s portfolio of green initiatives, using biowaste as feedstock.

Alessandro Bernini, Chief Executive Officer of Maire Tecnimont Group and NextChem, commented: “We are really honored to support Nigeria both in unlocking greater value by processing its natural resources and in developing circular economy for the first time ever in the Country, as BioJet is one of the most effective solutions to reduce the carbon footprint of the global aviation industry. Moreover, these new contracts confirm the strong geographical diversification of our backlog and the reliability of our technology-driven value proposition.

As per MRC, Maire Tecnimont S.p.A. announces that its main subsidiaries Tecnimont S.p.A. and Tecnimont USA has been awarded a new urea diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) project in the US, by the same leading global chemicals producer that recently awarded to Tecnimont a blue ammonia project. The contract value is approximately $185 MM. The urea DEF plant, which will be based on Stamicarbon’s proprietary technology (part of Maire Tecnimont Group), entails a 1,500 tpd urea production unit plus the necessary utilities and facilities, including a CO2 purification plant.
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Saudi Arabian Oil Company (“Aramco”) inaugurated the Aramco Research Center at KAUST (ARC KAUST), which aims to accelerate the development of low-carbon solutions for the energy industry using advanced analytics, said the company.

Strategically located within the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), the newly established research hub deploys artificial intelligence and machine learning to develop innovative ways to advance low-carbon solutions and enable a Circular Carbon Economy.

The inauguration ceremony was attended by Aramco Senior Vice President Upstream, Nasir K. Al-Naimi, KAUST Vice President of Innovation and Economic Development, Dr. Kevin Cullen and senior executives from SABIC, Dow and PetroRabigh.

Ahmad Al-Khowaiter, Aramco Chief Technology Officer, said: “The Aramco Research Center at KAUST offers a unique opportunity to strengthen our collaboration with KAUST and accelerate the development of cutting-edge technologies that will contribute to a low-carbon future. Today energy companies face the dual challenge of delivering sustainability and reliability. The critical research undertaken at this new facility will help us meet our obligations to customers and energy consumers worldwide, while also supporting our ambition of reaching operational net-zero emissions by 2050."

ARC KAUST researchers, engineers and scientists intend to develop new technologies in carbon capture, low-carbon hydrogen/ammonia, non-metallics, e-fuels, liquids-to-chemicals, and advanced transport technologies. The opening of the center represents an important milestone in the growth of Aramco, offering unique collaboration opportunities to leverage KAUST’s capabilities in such areas as super-computing and data analytics.

As per MRC, Aramco is exploring further collaboration with Thailand’s national oil company PTT, as it expands its downstream presence in Asia. The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding at a ceremony in Bangkok on May 11. The companies aim to strengthen cooperation across crude oil sourcing and the marketing of refining and petrochemical products and LNG. Other potential areas of activity include blue and green hydrogen and various clean energy initiatives.

Saudi Aramco, officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, is a Saudi Arabian national oil and natural gas company based in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Aramco's value has been estimated at up to USD10 trillion in the Financial Times, making it the world"s most valuable company. Saudi Aramco has both the largest proven crude oil reserves, at more than 260 billion barrels, and largest daily oil production.
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