Idemitsu sees cleaner fuels making profit contribution by 2030

Idemitsu Kosan Co Ltd , Japan's No. 2 oil refiner, expects cleaner fuels such as ammonia, green pellets and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to contribute to its profits by 2030, its president said, as per Reuters.

Like global energy giants, Idemitsu is changing its portfolio by scaling down fossil fuel assets while investing in greener energy and battery metals. "Since it's not clear when and how demand for new energy will occur, we'll try social implementation of various low-carbon fuels and then narrow down the targets through repeated screening," Idemitsu President Shunichi Kito told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday.

"But we expect blue ammonia, green pellets and SAF will contribute to our profits in 2030 as part of new businesses that are targeted to generate 70 B yen ($512 MM) profit in the year," he said. Ammonia and pellets are used at thermal power plants with coal to help reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

In November, Idemitsu raised its annual profit forecast on soaring prices of thermal coal and the yen's plunge. "Despite the recent spike in coal prices, our plan to divest coal assets remains unchanged," Kito said, adding it is in the process of selling its 85% stake in the Ensham coal mine in Australia.

Its annual coal production will fall to 5.7 MMt in the fiscal year from April 2023 against 9.17 MM this year after divesting the Ensham stake and ending operations at the Muswellbrook mine in Australia by end-March, leaving only the Boggabri mine in its coal portfolio.

Idemitsu instead plans to invest in mines producing critical minerals used in batteries, such as vanadium, to retain its coal mining employees. In September, the Japanese company said it will join a vanadium exploration project in Australia. "We also aim to boost output of natural gas, possibly offshore Vietnam, as demand is expected to grow in Asia," Kito said.

At the company's Nghi Son refinery in Vietnam, a disagreement between shareholders about financing for crude oil had cut production to 80% of capacity early this year. Kito said the problem had been resolved, and that the refinery is operating at full capacity.

"The refinery's margin is higher than the planned figure in the project finance," he said, but warned it will need to deal with rising interest rates and a planned shutdown for maintenance in May-June next year.

We remind, Neste, Idemitsu Kosan, CHIMEI and Mitsubishi Corporation have agreed to build a renewable plastics supply chain utilizing bio-based hydrocarbons (Neste RE) for the production of styrene monomer (i.e. bio-SM), and its mass balanced renewable plastics derivatives including acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (i.e. bio-ABS). The bio-SM production in Japan and the renewable plastics production in Taiwan will mark the first of such production in each country, and they are planned to take place in the first half of 2023.

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The Polish energy firm ORLEN is not going to present two additional liquefied natural gas (LNG) ships to its fleet at the start of the upcoming year, said Menafn.

In a company announcement, it stated that a naming ceremony was hosted in Ulsan, South Korea, for both LNG vessels ordered, which is going to bring the figure of LNG tankers in the fleet to eight within the next three years (2025).

ORLEN, which has its own LNG ship fleet, will be able to efficiently manage shipments to Poland and strengthen its position in the global LNG market,” the announcement mentioned.

The additional services are part of a constantly functional LNG import plan to deliver oil and natural gas provisions in the nation, where 100 percent of its gas is shipped from outside Russia.

“The shipments currently meet about 30 percent of our country's demand. LNG supply is secured not only through contracts but also by developing our own fleet. These ships, built for our private use, ensure the stability of transportation and strengthen the company's position in the global LNG market,” according to Daniel Obajtek, ORLEN's chief executive.

We remind, 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.
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Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Co. (Petro Rabigh) has signed three memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with investors to set up manufacturing plants in the Rabigh PlusTech Park, said Zawya.

The first MoU was inked with Pure Life Industries Middle East Co. to manufacture 80,000 water filters and flat ceramic membranes a year, the company said in a statement published on the Saudi stock exchange.

The second MoU was signed with Saudi Top Co. to produce 50,000 tonnes of recycled polymer compounds per annum.

The third agreement was concluded with Green Community Co. to produce 100,000 tonnes per annum of recycled plastic resin for food applications.

No details were shared on the total investment. The statement said that the new facilities will contribute to achieving Vision 2030 goals and maximise the added value of hydrocarbons.

We remind, Petro Rabigh's net profit surged by 93.2% year on year in the second quarter on the back of higher refining margins. The operational profit amounted to SR 1.5 billion in the second quarter, compared to SR 1.01 billion in the same quarter of the last year, up 52.5%. The net profit before zakat in the current period amounted to SR2.10 billion, compared to SR1.4 billion in the same period last year, an increase of 54.4%. Profits per share in the current period reached SR 2.41, compared to SR1.56 in the same period last year.
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Saudi Aramco and TotalEnergies have made a final investment decision (FID) about the construction of a petrochemicals complex in Saudi Arabia which will include a 1.65m tonne/year ethylene cracker, said Reuters.

The complex will comprise a mixed feed cracker as well as two polyethylene (PE) units and a butadiene (BD) extraction unit, plus “other associated derivatives” units. TotalEnergies said capital expenditure (capex) for the project was around USD11bn.

The complex, to be named Amiral, will be owned, operated and integrated with the existing Aramco-Total joint venture (JV) refinery SATORP, located in Jubail on Saudi Arabia’s east coast.

Construction is expected to begin in Q1 2023, with commercial operations due to start up in 2027. The investment decision is subject to customary closing conditions and approvals. The project was first announced in 2019.

We remind, TotalEnergies and ENEOS hasve announced a collaboration to jointly conduct a feasibility study to assess the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in ENEOS' Negishi refinery in Yokohama city, Japan. The companies have already started to conduct the study for feedstock procurement and production of SAF related to this project. The proposed unit, which capacity would be 300,000 tpy of SAF, would process waste or residue sourced notably from the circular economy, mainly used cooking oil and animal fat. The two companies are considering establishing a new JV to produce SAF.

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Thyssenkrupp Uhde has been selected as technology provider for a new “Blue Ammonia” plant in the United States by Mitsui & Co., Ltd. (Mitsui), one of the leading ammonia marketers in the world, and CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (CF), the world’s largest producer of ammonia, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The new greenfield facility will produce blue ammonia by leveraging carbon capture and sequestration processes to reduce carbon emissions by more than 60% compared to conventional ammonia. As a first step, thyssenkrupp Uhde will conduct a front-end engineering and design (FEED) study for the proposed joint venture of CF and Mitsui.

The aim is to construct an export-oriented greenfield blue ammonia facility in Ascension Parish, Louisiana, USA. Demand for blue ammonia is expected to grow significantly as a decarbonized energy source, both for its hydrogen content and as a fuel or feedstock itself. CF and Mitsui had previously signed a joint development agreement that provides the framework for the FEED study.

In addition, CF Industries acquired land during the third quarter of 2022 on the west bank of Ascension Parish, Louisiana, on which the proposed facility would be constructed should the companies agree to move forward.

CF Industries and Mitsui expect to make a final investment decision on the proposed facility in the second half of 2023. Construction and commissioning of a new world-scale capacity ammonia plant typically takes approximately 4 years.

Dr. Cord Landsmann, CEO thyssenkrupp Uhde: “We are proud to be chosen once more by our long-term customer to take another big step towards more environmental friendliness. The market clearly moves towards clean ammonia, for energy as well as for fertilizers. Reducing emissions wherever possible is the need of the hour, and we have the solutions and the cross-industry integration competencies."

thyssenkrupp Uhde has realized several projects for CF, and both parties can look back on decades of successful cooperation. In 2016, major ammonia and urea/UAN production units in Donaldsonville, Louisiana, were completed, and new ammonia and urea units in Port Neal, Iowa.

For both fertilizer complexes thyssenkrupp Uhde was responsible for the basic engineering, detail engineering, procurement and supply services, as well as providing services during construction and commissioning.

Climate protection made simple: emission reduction at large scale thyssenkrupp Uhde has over 100 years of experience in engineering and building of chemical plants, more than 2,500 in total. As a global technology plus EPC provider, integrating various technologies and building complete chemical complexes is part of their track record.

Among the 130 ammonia plants built are some of the largest plants worldwide, frequently setting new industry standards such as the uhde dual pressure technology. Besides the fertilizer industry, thyssenkrupp Uhde is also targeting the clean energy market with its clean ammonia technologies and is also completing the value chain by offering ammonia storage and ammonia cracking solutions being relevant for the transition towards clean energy.

We remind, 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. 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.
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