Korean companies ink CCS MoU with Petronas

Six South Korean companies and Malaysian state-owned energy company Petronas have agreed to work together to look at the feasibility of a cross border carbon capture and storage project in what's been called Asia’s first CCS hub project, said Oedigital.

Under a memorandum of understanding (MOU), Korean companies Samsung Engineering, Samsung Heavy Industries, SK Earthon, SK Energy, GS Energy Corporation and Lotte Chemical will work with Petronas across the full carbon capture and storage cycle chain.

The so-called Shepherd CCS Project will capture CO2 emitted from industrial complex sources in Korea and then transport the captured CO2 to Malaysia to store it in the Southeast Asian country. This would be Asia’s first CCS hub project with a goal of developing the entire value chain at once. The MoU will involve the search for and evaluation of potential CO2 storage sites in Malaysia and exploration of other areas across the CCS value chain, including the strengthening of cross-border CO2 transportation.

"Due to the lack of adequate space for CO2 storage within South Korea, it is imperative to secure storage sites outside its territory, and Malaysia stands out as the best option for its global storage capacity and its geographical accessibility with South Korea," says SK. "In this project, Samsung Engineering will manage the business development as well as the hub. Meanwhile, Lotte Chemical, GS Energy, and SK Energy will handle the CO2 capturing and the hub. Transportation shall be entrusted to Samsung Heavy Industry, while SK Earthon and Petronas will oversee the exploration, selection, and operation of the storage."

Hong Jeong-eui, Head of Net Zero Office, SK Energy, said, “CCS is becoming the requisite measure for achieving carbon neutrality across the globe. Moreover, the method of capturing the CO2 from various sources and storing together (Hub & Cluster Method) is in the limelight, especially in Europe. The geographical difference in capturing location and storage is expected to vitalize international shipping and overseas storage. In line with this, we will make sure that the cross-border cooperation achieves success in every process of the value chain."

Han Young-ju, Head of E&P Tech. Center, SK Earthon, shared, “The feasibility study will be conducted in the area near the SK427 block, of which we recently acquired the operatorship. This project marks the first for SK Earthon to link our Upstream strategy and CCS project and create a synergy effect. The acquirement of the storage is significant to the completion of the overall value chain. Thus, we will do our best to secure the storage by utilizing our over 40 years of experience and technological capabilities."

Emry Hisham, Head of Carbon Management, Petronas, said that this cooperation enabled a close collaboration with South Korean companies in order to develop its action plan for Net-Zero. “The feasibility studies undertaken through this collaboration will identify suitable technologies for the CCS and transportation value chain, bringing Petronas closer towards establishing Malaysia as a leading regional CCS solutions hub,” he added.

As per MRC, BASF and Malaysia's Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd announced on Monday that they will build a major new production plant for 2-Ethylhexanoic Acid (2-EHAcid). The new facility will be located at the site of their existing joint venture, BASF Petronas Chemicals, in Kuantan, Malaysia. Construction is anticipated to start in the second quarter of 2015. Financial details of the investment were not disclosed.
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Shanghai Honeywell announced that China Tianying (CNTY) has selected the Honeywell UpCycle process technology to use in a new advanced plastics recycling plant to be built in Jiangsu Province, China, said Apic-online.

The facility, which will be the first commercialized waste plastics recycling facility using the UpCycle process in China, will convert mixed waste plastics into polymer feedstock. A schedule for the project was not given.

Honeywell UOP will supply related engineering work and technical services for the project up to its start-up and commissioning, and provide technical support services for the plant's operations.

CNTY intends to use the UpCycle process in future recycling plant. The two parties will also explore potential collaboration in various fields, including waste plastics pre-treatment and pyrolysis equipment manufacturing.

As per MRC, Honeywell launched communications systems and bi-directional amplifiers (BDA) that cover the entire Public Safety spectrum, providing scalable solutions to support first responder emergency radio connectivity even in challenging environments.
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U.S. oil producer Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) is in the process of transitioning its 30% stake in a Russian oil development "to another party," according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, said Reuters.

“The corporation complies with all established laws and sanctions and is currently engaged in the transfer of the Sakhalin-1 project to another party,” the document says.

The name of the “other party” to which ExxonMobil is going to transfer its stake in the project has not been disclosed.

As a result of withdrawing from the project, the company will no longer account for 150 million barrels of oil equivalent in its proven reserves. This is less than 1% of Exxon’s total proved reserves of 18.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent at the end of 2021.

Exxon Mobil announced in March its withdrawal from the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project due to the situation around Ukraine. In the same month, the company announced the recall of its American employees employed in oil and gas projects in Russia.
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Dangote Industries Limited has completed more than half of a planned USD720.82 MM bond issue to fund its mega-refinery on the outskirts of Lagos, spokesman Anthony Chiejina told Reuters.

Chiejina said the company had raised 187.5 B naira in the series one issuance, completed last month, and would announce a date for a second series as soon as possible. Proceeds will go toward the USD1.1 B that the company needed as of January for the project, which many view as the solution to years of sclerotic fuel supply in Africa's most populous nation.

Nigeria's Central Bank last month raised rates for the second time to tackle inflation, but low bond yields have spurred corporates in Nigeria to raise debt. This transaction comprised of a 7-year Tranche-A bond issued at 12.75% and a 10-year Tranche-B bond issued at 13.50%, the company said in a statement.

The planned 650,000 bpd oil refinery will transform Nigeria into a fuel exporter. Despite being Africa's largest crude oil exporter, Nigeria must buy nearly all of its fuel from abroad, straining government finances and sapping availability of foreign exchange.

The refinery cost grew to USD19 B after initial estimates of USD12-USD14 B and years of delays. State oil company NNPC, which last year acquired a 20% stake in the refinery for USD2.76 B , said that it expects the refinery to start in the first quarter of 2023. Fitch said in May that completion of the refinery project by 2023 was a key driver of their AA rating for the company.

As per MRC, Dangote's 650,000-bpd oil refinery being built in Nigeria is due to begin production by the 4Q of 2022.
The refinery, being built at a cost of USD19 B in Lagos, has 4.74 B liters storage capacity, Edwin said. He added that 75% of products will be moved by sea within Nigeria.
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Vietnam’s Binh Son refinery will undergo major maintenance next year, its owner Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical said, as per Reuters.

The 130,000-barrel-per-day refinery has been in operation for 13 years and its equipment is facing risks of aging and erosion, the company said in a statement. It did not give an estimate for how long the maintenance might take.

We remind, Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical will this year roll out a USD1.2 B plan to upgrade and expand its Dung Quat refinery, raising its processing capacity to 7.6 MMt of crude oil a year from 6.5 MMt. The upgrade and expansion work is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2025, the company said in a statement, adding that 60% of the funds needed for the plan will come from loans.

We remind that NSRP resumed operations at its new polypropylene (PP) plant in Vietnam on 17 October, 2021, after an unscheduled maintenance. The 400,000 mt year of PP plant was unexpectedly shut on 7 October, 2021, due to a technical glitch.
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