Lummus Novolen Technology selected for polypropylene plant in China

Lummus Technology, a global provider of process technologies and value-driven energy solutions, announced that Lihuayi Weiyuan Chemical Co., Ltd. selected its Novolen PP technology for a new unit in Shandong Province, China, said the company.

Lummus' scope includes the technology license for the PP unit as well as basic design engineering, training and services.

'We are grateful for Lihuayi Weiyuan's selection of Novolen, and proud to support our customer across the full value stream, from propane feedstock to high-value polypropylene product," said Leon de Bruyn, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lummus Technology. "Our technology has proven to yield our customers significant CAPEX and OPEX advantages, coupled with the ability to produce a comprehensive range of high-performance polymers."

In addition to PP technology, Lummus also licensed its CATOFIN® technology to Lihuayi Weiyuan. In 2021, Lihuayi Weiyuan selected Lummus as the licensor for its CATOFIN propane dehydrogenation technology for a 600 KTA unit in China.

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

As per MRC, Lummus Technology, a global provider of process technologies and value-driven energy solutions, announced major advancements to the Lummus External Air Preheater (LEAP) technology. The latest innovations can significantly reduce CO2 emissions from cracking heaters at ethylene plants as well as other fired heaters.

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India's state-run Bharat Petroleum Corp said it had signed a preliminary agreement with Brazil's national oil company Petrobras to help it diversify its crude oil sourcing, said Hydrocarbonprocesing.

Indian state refiners rarely buy Brazilian oil. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by BPCL Chairman Arun Kumar Singh and Petrobras CEO Caio Paes de Andrade, BPCL said in a statement on Saturday.

The MoU will help the company to explore sourcing of crude oil through long term contracts "especially considering the current geopolitical situations," it added.

India recently allowed BPCL to invest USD1.6 B for developing an ultra-deep water hydrocarbon block in Brazil. The block is majority owned and operated by Petrobras.

Singh said: "Strengthening India's foothold in Brazil will further open business avenues in neighboring Latin American countries."

BPCL said the field development plan and final investment decision for the BM-SEAL-11 block is expected to be declared soon. Oil production from the block is expected from 2026/27.

BPCL is the second largest fuel retailer in India and operates three refineries in the country with a combined capacity of 706,000 bpd.

We remind, Indian Oil Refining and Marketing Company Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) plans to invest 1.4 trillion rupees (USD17.65 billion) in petrochemicals, city gas and clean energy businesses in the next five years, a new agency Press Trust of India (PTI). The investment is part of the firm’s efforts to develop its non-fuel business.
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Unions representing thousands of striking oil workers in Argentina demanded talks with business leaders over job safety on Friday, a day after a walkout to protest an explosion at a refinery that killed three people, a union leader said, as per Reuters.

"From 2018 to date, 15 colleagues have died. This is a job, not a war to go and die in," said Marcelo Rucci, secretary general of the Private Oil and Gas Union of Rio Negro, Neuquen and La Pampa, the country's largest oil union.

"We can't continue to lose lives to satisfy disproportionate production targets," added Rucci, whose union represents some 25,000 workers, including some employed in the prized Vaca Muerta shale oil fields in the western province of Neuquen.

The workers downed their tools on Thursday after a fire in a storage tank led to an explosion at the New American Oil (NAO) refinery in the town of Plaza Huincul in Neuquen.

Argentina's government is investing in infrastructure projects it views as key to helping the South American country reverse a deep energy deficit that is costing it billions of dollars.

Vaca Muerta, home to the world's second-largest unconventional gas reserve and fourth-largest oil reserve, is expected to bring in USD2 B in revenue from oil exports this year, five times more than last year.

As per MRC, Argentina's largest oil union said it launched an indefinite strike on Thursday after an explosion at a refinery in the western province of Neuquen killed three. The Neuquen government said a fire broke out at dawn in a storage tank at the New American Oil (NAO) refinery in the town of Plaza Huincul, in the center of the province. The cause of the fire is still being investigated.
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Poland will only help supply oil to Germany's PCK Schwedt refinery if Russia's Rosneft is completely removed as a shareholder, Poland's climate ministry said, raising pressure on Germany to completely nationalize the refiner, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Germany took control of the Schwedt refinery, which was majority owned by Rosneft Deutschland, last Friday as Berlin strives to shore up energy supplies. It put Rosneft Deutschland under a trusteeship of the German industry regulator but Rosneft still holds 54% of the company's shares.

The German economy ministry is in talks with potential buyers, including a Polish company, two government sources in Berlin said. Reuters reported last week that Poland's top refiner PKN Orlen is interested in buying a controlling stake in Schwedt, which supplies 90% of Berlin's fuel.

Berlin is aiming to meet its European Union commitment to eliminate Russian oil imports by the end of the year, a move triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The Schwedt refinery previously received most of its crude from Russia and Berlin is now looking to other countries to supply Schwedt. "In Polish-German technical talks on additional oil supplies for Germany that are underway, the Polish side is declaring that potential help is possible under condition that Rosneft Deutschland is removed from the list of shareholders of PCK Schwedt," Polish climate ministry said in response to Reuters questions.

Germany's economy minister Robert Habeck said last week that talks with Poland on supplying oil for Schwedt were very advanced. Talks with Poland continue, his ministry said on Thursday. "Our Polish friends have welcomed the decision to put Rosneft Deutschland under trusteeship. This gives us new opportunities for cooperation and we are happy to continue our talks," a spokeswoman at the economy ministry said.

Rosneft has said it could go to court to challenge Berlin's decision to take the firm's German subsidiary under trusteeship.

We remind, the German government is looking at bringing the PCK Schwedt refinery, partially owned by Russian energy firm Rosneft, under state control. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Economy Minister Robert Habeck are expected to hold a news conference on Friday presenting details of the plans, Spiegel reported, citing government sources.
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Cameroon's national oil refining company, SONARA, has reached a deal with oil trader Vitol to restructure its commercial debt towards the Dutch energy and commodity trading company, said Reuters.

The deal could be a step towards improving liquidity and guarantee supply of refined products to Cameroon, which like other countries in the region, has faced shortages due to the Ukraine crisis.

Cameroon's problems have been compounded by its heavily indebted and inactive 42,000-barrel-per-day-capacity refinery, which has been offline since May 2019 after a storage tank exploded, sparking a fire and bringing down four production units.

SONARA, which operates the country's lone refinery and is also responsible for imports of refined products, owes it trading partners around USD391.80 MM out of a total debt of USD1.5 B as at Dec. 31, 2019. The deal signed on Thursday will restructure and reschedule payment of SONARA's debt towards Vitol, its biggest creditor and lead supplier of crude oil and refined products.

SONARA's two debts to Vitol stand at around USD279 MM. Under the agreement, SONARA will repay the debt over a 10-year period at an interest rate of 5.5%, according to the deal document seen by Reuters.

Cameroon's finance minister, Louis Paul Motaze, said during the signing ceremony that the arrangement will help ease the company from distress. "The insolvency of SONARA posed a risk to the country's supply of petroleum products, as well as a threat of breakdown of the national banking system with regards to the volume of commitments at stake," Motaze said.

The deal is the first phase of SONARA's debt repayment towards creditors. Similar conventions will be signed with other oil traders, Motaze said. Pierre Barbe, Vitol's director for Africa, said the deal was welcomed by the financial community.

"The putting in place of a repayment mechanism is well perceived by us and the financial community. This will contribute much to the confidence among foreign investors," Barbe said after the signing of the agreement. The Cameroon government said last week it will launch a tender soon in search of partners to build a new refinery that will include a new hydrocracking unit.

We remind, Vitol has entered into a strategic partnership with Danish company WPU, which recycles waste plastic into plastic oils. Vitol will offtake and market the recycled plastic oils generated by WPU’s new pyrolysis plant in Faarevejle in Odsherred Municipality north of Copenhagen, which is expected to open in early 2023, with an additional two plants to be opened by Q3 2023. The combined capacity of these plants will be 160,000 metric tpy of waste plastic.
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