LyondellBasell announces organizational changes

LyondellBasell announced a number of organisational changes and the creation of a circular and low carbon solutions business unit, said the company.

Effective 1 October, the company's business unit executive officers will be as follows:

Kimberly Foley, executive vice president, refining, intermediates and derivatives;
Kenneth Lane, executive vice president, olefins and polyolefins (O&P);
Torkel Rhenman, executive vice president, advanced polymer solutions;
James Seward, executive vice president and chief innovation officer;
Yvonne van der Laan, executive vice president, circular and low carbon solutions

To align business strategy with execution, LyondellBasell's business units will now have global responsibility for manufacturing operations.

Creating a new circular and low carbon solutions business unit will provide clear accountability and enable LyondellBasell to have a differentiated operating model, the company said.

The business unit will focus on growth of LyondellBasell's Circulen renewable and circular solutions, and it will accelerate the development of scalable sustainable and circular technologies, it said.

We remind, LyondellBasell announced that Polski Koncern Naftowy ORLEN S.A. (PKN ORLEN) will be using the LyondellBasell Lupotech T high-pressure polyethylene technology. The Lupotech T process technology will be used for a 250 kiloton per year (KTA) low density polyethylene (LDPE) line. The new line will be located at their existing complex in Plock, Poland.

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thyssenkrupp Uhde has won an order from Nippon Coke & Engineering Co., Ltd. (NCE) to build and supply a new low-emission, top-charge coke oven battery in Japan, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The new battery will be installed at the Kitakyushu works as a replacement for the existing battery 2A. The design will include thyssenkrupp Uhde’s proprietary EnviBAT system to reduce emissions during the coking process.

“With this state-of-the-art, low-emission plant, NCE and thyssenkrupp Uhde are delivering an important contribution to making the Japanese coke plant industry more environmentally friendly,” says Michael Petzinna, Executive Director of the Coke Plant & Inorganic Acids operating unit. “We look forward to continuing our collaboration and are proud to be contributing our decades of plant engineering and process know-how to the project."

The project is part of the modernization of NCE’s coke plants, which involves four coke oven batteries built in the 1970’s being shut down and replaced by new, state-of-the-art, low-emission systems.

Worth an amount in the double-digit million-euro range, the contract includes the provision of the technology and engineering, equipment procurement, supervision of construction and commissioning of the new plant.

“In thyssenkrupp we have selected a reliable partner for the EP pad-up project. The company combines extensive plant engineering experience with efficient technologies that meet and exceed the most exacting environmental standards,” said Mr. Hiroaki Matsuoka, Representative Director & President of Nippon Coke & Engineering at the contract signing.

We remind, thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions’ subsidiary Uhde Inventa-Fischer signed a contract to build a new world-scale polymer plant for Yurek Polimer A.S.in Bursa, Turkey. The plant is planned to produce 300 metric tons per day (108,000 tons per year) of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) for low viscosity applications. The PET melt produced by thyssenkrupp technology will then be converted into PET Chips, as well as pre-oriented yarn.
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TotalEnergies' 119,000 bpd Feyzin oil refinery in southern France is likely to remain offline until mid-October at the earliest, a CGT union delegate said on Monday, as per Reuters.

Feyzin was completely shut except for an alkylation unit on Sept. 16 after a leak at the fluid catalytic cracking unit and it is likely to remain closed for 4-6 weeks from that date, CGT union delegate Thierry Defresne said.

The outage means around 40% of France's refinery capacity is offline at a time where Europe is looking to ease its dependence on Russian refined products.

TotalEnergies did not respond to a request for comment.

ExxonMobil's 235,000 bpd Fos-Sur-Mer refinery and 240,000 bpd Port Jerome-Gravenchon oil refinery have been shut down since last week as a result of strike action.

We remind, TotalEnergies, along with its partners, has signed an Exploration and Production Sharing Agreement (EPSA) with the Ministry of Energy and Minerals (MEM) of the Sultanate of Oman in the onshore Block 11. The first stage of the EPSA activities will see seismic acquisition in late 2022, with a first exploration well planned to be drilled in 2023. TotalEnergies will hold a 22.5% interest in the block, OQ 10% and Shell with 67.5% will be the operator. Block 11 contains undeveloped discoveries and exploration potential.
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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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