Karbala oil refinery to start production before year end

Karbala oil refinery to start production before year end

Production at Iraq’s Karbala oil refinery south of Baghdad will begin by the end of the year, oil minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar said on Monday, as per Reuters.

The Karbala project has a production capacity of 140,000 barrels of oil per day, the minister added.

As per MRC, Technip was awarded by Oil Projects Company SCOP a significant contract for project management consultancy (PMC) services for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) phase of the Karbala refinery, Iraq. This award follows the front-end engineering design executed by Technip in 2010. The scope of work will cover two phases.
Phase 1: issue of enquiries for the EPC contract, bids clarification, evaluation and contracts finalisation with the EPC contractors.
Phase 2: overall management of the EPC contract execution.


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Corpus Christi polymers plant in Texas resumes construction

Corpus Christi polymers plant in Texas resumes construction

Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited (IVL), a global sustainable chemical company, announced that construction of an integrated PTA-PET plant in Corpus Christi, Texas, will resume in August this year, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Corpus Christi Polymers LLC (CCP), a partnership between three companies, is expected to begin production in 2025 and ensure continued cost-competitive production to support the growth of IVL’s global PET operations into the next decade.

CCP was formed in 2018 as a joint venture between Indorama Ventures Corpus Christi Holdings LLC, a subsidiary of Indorama Ventures; DAK Americas LLC, a subsidiary of Alpek; and APG Polytech USA Holdings, Inc, a subsidiary of Far Eastern New Century, following the purchase of a partially constructed facility of M&G Resins in Corpus Christi. Each partner will procure its own raw materials and receive one third of the PTA and PET produced at the facility to sell and distribute independently.

Construction of the state-of-the-art plant is resuming following a period of pandemic-related disruptions. Through the pandemic, the partners firmly resolved to continue planning amid continued robust demand for PET packaging and the need for shorter supply chains. As the impact of the pandemic eased in 2022, the management team was strengthened in preparation for the resumption in activities.

CCP is expected to be the largest vertically integrated PTA-PET production plant in the Americas, and IVL’s biggest greenfields project in the U.S. since the development of the AlphaPet production facility at Decatur, Alabama in 2009. The new Texas facility is a significant addition to IVL’s leading global footprint, and will expand its coverage to customers across the U.S. The plant’s vertical integration optimizes PTA-PET production and, together with the availability of raw materials Paraxylene and Mono Ethylene Glycol in the U.S., ensures long-term competitive-cost supply for IVL’s locally integrated polyester value chain.

The facility will have nominal annual capacities of 1.1 million metric tons of PET and 1.3 million metric tons of PTA, shared between the partners. It will employ three state-of-the-art technologies: PTA: IntegRex, PET melt: Invista, and PET solid state: Easy Up (HCIRR – Horizontal Continuous slightly Inclined Rotary Reactor).

As per MRC, Encina Development Group (Encina; The Woodlands, Texas) and Flint Hills Resources say they are exploring a collaboration to produce renewable chemicals and fuels from plastic waste. The two have signed a non-binding term sheet that proposes construction of a facility in Corpus Christi, Texas. Flint Hills would market the aromatic products produced at the Encina Corpus Christi facility and work with its affiliates to market renewable aromatic products from other Encina plants in the US.
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NRL selects Lummus Novolen technology

NRL selects Lummus Novolen technology

Lummus Technology, a global provider of process technologies and value-driven energy solutions, announced a recent contract award from Numaligarh Refinery Ltd. (NRL), said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The award is for a new 360 KTA polypropylene (PP) unit using Novolen technology at NRL's refinery in Golaghat, Assam, India. Lummus' scope includes the technology license, basic design engineering, training, technical services and catalyst supply.

"We are honored to continue supporting NRL's business and are grateful for their confidence in Lummus' technologies," said Leon de Bruyn, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lummus Technology. "Novolen is currently the industry's most-licensed polypropylene technology throughout the world, including in India. This leading position is the result of continuous innovation and our customer commitment to provide technologies and solutions that yield maximum profitability, performance, and product quality and flexibility."

In 2021, NRL licensed Indmax FCC technology from Lummus and LC-FINING technology from Chevron Lummus Global, a joint venture between Chevron and Lummus.

Lummus Novolen Technology GmbH licenses the industry leading Novolen PP technology and provides engineering, technical support and advisory services to the hydrocarbon processing industry. The Novolen portfolio includes NPM advanced process controls system, PPConnect digital data analysis platform and Lummus O3S operator training simulator. Novolen technology includes NEON low volatile extrusion equipment and components, and Novolen ComPPact process reactors, which can be used by implementing the proprietary VRC reactor system, allowing for maximum product range and capacity flexibility. Catalysts are available to licensees to produce high-performance and special PP grades and include Novolen CirPPlus recycled polymers, Novolen Enhance performance polymers, PPure polymers and Novocene metallocene catalysts.

As per MRC, Lummus Technology announced the launch of a major enhancement to its leading ethane feed steam cracker that is capable of achieving zero CO2 emissions from an ethylene plant. Lummus developed this next generation design as part of its comprehensive strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from all of its technology offerings.
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Gazprom tells Europe gas halt beyond its control

Gazprom tells Europe gas halt beyond its control

MSOCW (MRC) -- Russia's Gazprom has told customers in Europe it cannot guarantee gas supplies because of 'extraordinary' circumstances, according to a letter seen by Reuters, upping the ante in an economic tit-for-tat with the West over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

The July 14 letter from the Russian state gas monopoly said it was retroactively declaring force majeure on supplies dating from June 14. The news comes as Nord Stream 1, the key pipeline delivering Russian gas to Germany and beyond, is undergoing annual maintenance meant to conclude on Thursday. The letter added to Europe's fears that Moscow could keep the pipeline mothballed in retaliation for sanctions imposed on Russia over the war in Ukraine, heightening an energy crisis that risks tipping the region into recession.

Known as an 'act of God' clause, force majeure is standard in business contracts and spells out extreme circumstances that excuse a party from their legal obligations. Gazprom did not respond to a request for comment.

Russian gas supplies have been declining via major routes for some months, including via Ukraine and Belarus as well as through Nord Stream 1 under the Baltic Sea. A trading source, asking not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the force majeure concerned supplies through Nord Stream 1.

"This sounds like a first hint that the gas supplies via NS1 will possibly not resume after the 10-day maintenance has ended," said Hans van Cleef, senior energy economist at ABN Amro. “Depending on what ‘extraordinary’ circumstances have in mind in order to declare the force majeure, and whether these issues are technical or more political, it could mean the next step in escalation between Russia and Europe/Germany," he added.

Uniper, Germany's biggest importer of Russian gas, was among the customers who said they had received a letter, and that it had formally rejected the claim as unjustified. RWE, Germany's largest power producer and another importer of Russian gas, also said it has received a force majeure notice.

We remind, Austria is following through on a "use it or lose it" threat to eject Russia's Gazprom from its large Haidach gas storage facility for systematically failing to fill its portion of the capacity there. The country’s industry regulator, E-control, started the process for assuming control over the underground Haidach site using a law which entered into force this month that allows Austria to seize critical storage spaces if operators fail to fill them to at least 10% of capacity.
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17 European organizations form plastic recycling consortium

17 European organizations form plastic recycling consortium

The WhiteCycle project, coordinated by French manufacturing company Michelin, was launched July 1, said Recyclingtoday.

It aims to develop a circular economy to convert complex materials containing textiles made of plastic into products with high added value, according to Michelin. Co-financed by the Horizon Europe program of the European Commission, this public/private European partnership includes 17 organizations.

The WhiteCycle ambition by 2030 is to foster the annual recycling of more than 2 million tons of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Michelin says this project should make it possible to reduce CO2 emissions by approximately 2 million tons and to avoid the landfilling or incineration of more than 1.8 million tons of plastic each year.

Composite postindustrial materials containing polyester (PET) textiles and other components from tires, hoses and multilayer clothes at the end of the products’ life cycles soon could become recyclable, the company says. That material could go into producing new plastic for tires, hoses and clothes.

As per MRC, Nexus Circular and Braskem, the largest polyolefins producer in the Americas, as well as a market leader and pioneer producer of biopolymers on an industrial scale, announced that they have signed a detailed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to secure the production output from a new advanced recycling facility planned near Chicago, IL.
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