Chevron Phillips Chemical and QatarEnergy to construct integrated polymers facility

Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC and QatarEnergy announced that they are proceeding with the construction of an USD8.5 B integrated polymers facility in Orange, Texas, expected to create more than 500 full-time jobs and approximately 4,500 construction jobs and generate an estimated USD50 B for the community in residual economic impacts, said Hydracarbonprocessing.

The companies have made a positive final investment decision on the project and created a joint venture company, Golden Triangle Polymers Company LLC, named for the Golden Triangle region of Texas that includes the city of Orange. Chevron Phillips Chemical owns a 51% equity share in the joint venture and QatarEnergy owns 49%.

“Chevron Phillips Chemical and QatarEnergy have collaborated for over 20 years on the assets we operate together in Qatar. We have a great relationship and a proven track record of operating these facilities safely and reliably,” said Chevron Phillips Chemical President and CEO Bruce Chinn. “Our products help make life better for billions of people every day, and they are part of a lower carbon future. This facility will help meet the growing demand for our products and improve the quality of life for the world’s growing global population.”

His Excellency Mr. Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the President and CEO of QatarEnergy said: “We are excited to announce taking the FID on our largest petrochemical investment ever, highlighting QatarEnergy’s integrated position as a major player in the LNG and international exploration sectors, as well as being a global petrochemicals producer. This important project will complement QatarEnergy’s growing portfolio, both internationally as well as in the United States, and will help meet growing global demand for polymers. It builds on our long-term and successful partnership with Chevron Phillips Chemical, and we look forward to further collaborations in the future.”

Once operational, the plant will produce Marlex polyethylene. Polyethylene is used in the production of durable goods like pipe for natural gas and water delivery and recreational products such as kayaks and coolers. It is also used in essential packaging applications to protect and preserve food, helping prevent it from going to landfills, and keep medical supplies sterile.

The plant, expected to begin operations in 2026, will include a 2,080,000 tpy ethane cracker and two 1,000,000 tpy high-density polyethylene units. The project is targeting to have approximately 25% lower greenhouse gas emissions than similar facilities in the United States and Europe, supporting the company’s efforts to help enable a lower carbon future. Chevron Phillips Chemical will manage engineering, procurement and construction for the project and operate the facility after start-up.

Construction of the Golden Triangle Polymers plant will begin immediately near Chevron Phillips Chemical’s existing facility in Orange, located 113 miles east of Houston. Chevron Phillips Chemical and its predecessors have had a presence in the Orange community since 1955.

We remind, Chevron Corporation and Japan's Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL), Ltd. (MOL) have signed an agreement to study the feasibility of transporting liquefied carbon dioxide from Singapore to permanent storage locations offshore Australia. Under the JSA, Chevron and MOL will explore the technical and commercial feasibility of initially transporting up to 2.5 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of liquified CO2 by 2030.

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The Chemours Company, and Honeywell, announced the launch of a new pilot program to enable qualified companies to recycle and reclaim R-448A, also known as Honeywell Solstice® N40, and R-449A, also known as Opteon™ XP40, patented HFO refrigerant blends in the European Union and the United Kingdom, said the company.

In recent years, global regulatory drivers and the increasing need for a circular economy have spurred interest in activities such as recycling and reclamation of refrigerants. Chemours and Honeywell are uniquely positioned to support these activities and license qualified companies to recycle and reclaim patented fluorochemical refrigerants. The old refrigerant is cleaned, returned to specification and used for service of refrigeration systems that need it. To ensure the integrity of these operations and the safety and quality of the resulting R-448A and R-449A, important criteria have been established for potential program participants including audit requirements and strict record-keeping.

We remind, The Chemours Company (Wilmington, Del.) announced that it will be expanding its Chemours Opteon YF (HFO-1234yf) capacity to help meet customer needs as they continue transitioning to lower GWP refrigerants. The Opteon YF and YF blends refrigerants are now used in millions of vehicles and thousands of retail stores around the world, with zero ozone depletion potential (ODP) and global warming potential (GWP) that is significantly lower than the legacy refrigerants.

Chemours is committed to leadership in responsible manufacturing, and this capacity investment will contribute to its goal of shifting the company’s product portfolio to offerings that contribute to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). Chemours is evaluating potential locations in the United States and Europe for the investment in accordance with applicable regulatory frameworks and is particularly interested in supporting the local communities where they operate.
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A coalition of countries will mobilize USD20 B of public and private finance to help Indonesia shut coal power plants and bring forward the sector's peak emissions date by seven years to 2030, the United States, Japan and partners said, as per Reuters.

The Indonesia Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP), more than a year in the making, "is probably the single largest climate finance transaction or partnership ever", a U.S. Treasury official told reporters.

The Indonesia JETP is based on last year's $8.5 B initiative to help South Africa more quickly decarbonize its power sector that was launched at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow by the United States, Britain and European Union.

To access the program's USD20 billion worth of grants and concessional loans over a three- to five-year period, Indonesia has committed to capping power sector emissions at 290 MMt by 2030, with a peak that year. The public and private sectors have pledged about half of the funds each.

Indonesia has also set a goal to reach net-zero emissions in its power sector by 2050, a decade before its current target in its national climate plan, and to double the pace of renewable energy deployment so that it accounts for at least 34% of all power generation by 2030.

"We've built a platform for cooperation that can truly transform Indonesia's power sector from coal to renewables and support significant economic growth," U.S. Special Envoy on Climate Change John Kerry said.

We remind, Japan's chemical exports rose by 4.8% year on year to Yen (Y) 957.3bn in September, supporting the overall rise in shipments abroad. Exports of organic chemicals fell by 1.7% year on year to Y170.9bn in September while shipments of plastic materials were up by 0.3% at Y251.7bn. On a volume basis, exports of plastic materials fell by 18% year on year to 412,012 tonnes in September.

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Oil production at the Kashagan field, which was suspended after an accident, has been fully restored, KazMunayGas head Magzum Mirzagaliyev said on Tuesday at the SPE Annual Caspian Technical Conference in Astana, said Interfax.

"We had experienced problems with Kashagan regarding a decline in oil and gas production. However, the good news is that a couple of weeks ago, Kashagan output returned to normal, and daily volumes are now at record levels," Mirzagaliev said at the conference.

Production operations halted at the Kashagan field on August 3 following a gas leak at the Bolashak oil and gas processing facilities.

North Caspian Operating Company, which operates the Kashagan field, announced in the early hours of August 10 that "gradual resumption in production" had been suspended since August 3 owing to a gas leak at the Bolashak facilities. At that time, oil output partially resumed at around 100,000 barrels per day, and to 210,000 bpd on September30.

Kazakh Energy Minister Bolat Akchulakov said earlier that production at the Kashagan field would resume by the end of October.

The ministry also said that production at the Kashagan field had returned to the previous volumes as of November 6.

Kashagan is considered one of the largest fields discovered in recent decades. Its recoverable reserves range from nine billion to 13 billion barrels of oil. Commercial production at Kashagan began in the autumn of 2016.

We remind, KazMunayGas has started construction works on a new butadiene and synthetic rubber plant. The plant, estimated to cost $964m, is to be built by 2025. It would produce 66,000 tonnes/year of butadiene, 83,000 tonnes/year of synthetic rubber and 130,000 tonnes/year of isobutane. Butadiene LLP is discussing possible license agreements with Lummus, Versalis (Eni) and ETIC, according to KazMunayGas.
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Polish oil refiner PKN Orlen has submitted an application to the Russian oil pipeline monopoly Transneft for the supply of 3 MMt of oil to Poland through the Druzhba pipeline system in 2023 under continuing long-term contracts, said Reuters.

Transneft confirmed to Kommersant that it had received requests from consumers in Poland for the next year, but did not specify who submitted the application or the volume.

The European Union will impose an embargo on the import of Russian oil from Dec. 5, but the ban formally applies only to supplies by sea and deliveries through Druzhba are not subject to it. However, Poland and Germany, both receiving oil via the northern branch of the Druzhba pipeline, have previously stated that they will stop oil imports from Russia by the end of 2022.

"PKN Orlen has consistently diversified its oil supplies. Currently 70% of oil to all the company's refineries in Poland, the Czech Republic and Lithuania comes from alternative directions to Russian (sic) ... The company is currently continuing only the long-term contracts for deliveries to Poland from this direction (Russia)," PKN Orlen's press office told Reuters in response to a request for comment. It added that it had stopped all Russian oil imports via sea.

PKN Orlen has oil supply contracts with Rosneft and Tatneft . The contract with Rosneft is expected to expire by year's end, while the agreement with Tatneft is valid until December 2023, according to traders. Tatneft supplies about 200,000 tonnes of crude oil per month to Poland under the agreement. Both contracts were signed prior to February 2022.

"In the absence of direct restrictions, the purchase of Urals under old contract terms is very beneficial for PKN Orlen next year: prices are based on the cost of seaborne Urals, which remains at historical lows," a trader in the Russian oil market said.

We remind, We remind, Poland’s ORLEN Group has finalised its merger with Grupa LOTOS, strengthening its leading role in the fuel and energy industry in Central and Eastern Europe. The final step in the process that has been successfully completed was the registration of the merger by the District Court of Lodz. The merger paves the way for unlocking synergies inherent in leveraging the potential of the two companies. As an immediate effect, the merger of PKN ORLEN and Grupa LOTOS will help increase capital expenditure, step up the execution of the most profitable projects, increase the country’s energy independence and ensure stable fuel supplies for all customers.
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