Petrobras begins production at Itapu pre-salt field offshore Brazil

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Brazil’s Petrobras has started output at the Itapu pre-salt field in the Santos basin via the P-71 floating production, storage and offloading vessel, said Upstreamonline.

The P-71 FPSO, which features a processing capacity of 150,000 barrels per day of oil and 6 million cubic metres per day of natural gas, was deployed in water depths of 2010 metres. “We were able to anticipate production of the P-71 platform, which was originally scheduled for 2023,” said Petrobras production development director Joao Henrique Rittershaussen.

“We will also be able to anticipate the ramp-up, which is excellent news not only for Petrobras but also for the country, which will receive royalties from this production earlier."

The P-71 is the last of six replica FPSOs ordered by Petrobras more than a decade ago to produce from its pre-salt assets.

The other were the P-66, P-67 and P-69 FPSOs producing in the Tupi field, the P-68 FPSO on stream in the Berbigao-Sururu field and the P-70 FPSO in operation at the Atapu field.

We remind, Petrobras’s chief executive will leave the Brazilian state-controlled oil and gas producer after only a short tenure, ahead of a possible shift in corporate strategy under president-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Petroleo Brasileiro, as the Rio de Janeiro-headquartered group is formally known, on Tuesday said Caio Mario Paes de Andrade would join the incoming administration of the newly elected governor of Sao Paulo state.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- French contractor Air Liquide has won a major contract to supply liquefaction equipment for Woodside Energy’s proposed H2OK hydrogen project in Ardmore, Oklahoma, in the US, said Upstreamonline.

Air Liquide will provide the engineering and fabrication of two 30 tonnes per day liquefaction units, which will liquefy hydrogen produced through electrolysis in preparation for storage, loading and transportation to customers.

Woodside chief executive Meg O’Neill said the contract award was a significant milestone for H2OK, for which front-end engineering and design activities are targeted to be completed this year. “We are aiming to develop our New Energy business in the United States. The signing of the contract for liquefaction equipment is another important step forward in advancing H2OK, which would be our first producing hydrogen facility globally,” she said.

Woodside is targeting the final investment decision for H2OK in 2023, subject to all necessary approvals and appropriate commercial arrangements being finalised. “Our customers are increasingly seeking out low-cost, lower-carbon sources of energy, such as hydrogen and ammonia. H2OK would produce hydrogen for use as a fuel for commercial and heavy transport, supporting customers’ chosen decarbonisation pathways,” added O’Neill.

Air Liquide has been developing expertise in the entire hydrogen chain — production, storage and distribution — for more than six decades and brings to the project its extensive experience in advancing hydrogen ecosystems and its leading liquefaction technologies that are reliable, efficient and specific to the needs of the project, noted Woodside.

The award of the liquefaction equipment contract follows the Australian operator’s selection of Nel Hydrogen Electrolyser to design and develop alkaline electrolyser equipment for H2OK. The proposed H2OK project site in Ardmore is strategically located near to national highways and the supply chain infrastructure of major transport companies, as well as being in an area well suited for hydrogen production with good availability of water and renewable energy.

Woodside intends to utilise these resources to produce liquid hydrogen for hydrogen fuel cell-powered commercial and heavy transport vehicles.

In addition to H2OK, Woodside is working on the proposed H2Perth and H2TAS hydrogen projects in Australia; while the company was recently named the preferred partner to progress to the development stage of the proposed Southern Green Hydrogen project in New Zealand.

We remind, Air Liquide has signed a long-term contract to supply Kumho Mitsui Chemical (KMCI) in South Korea with additional hydrogen and carbon monoxide (CO). Supply will be used to help KMCI with its 50% expansion of methyl diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) production in South Korea’s Yeosu National Industrial Complex, which is scheduled to come online in 2024.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Technip Energies has been awarded a contract for the supply of proprietary cracking furnaces for the 2,000,000 tpy ethane cracker for the Golden Triangle Polymers project, a joint venture between Chevron Phillips Chemical (CPChem) and QatarEnergy, along the Gulf Coast in Orange, Texas., said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

This latest award is in line with our early engagement strategy with CPChem and QatarEnergy, which resulted in the selection of our proprietary ethylene technology and includes the successful completion of the ethylene license and Process Design Package (PDP).

The modularized cracking furnaces will feature seven of the largest capacity furnaces that Technip Energies has ever designed. The cracker is designed using modern emissions reduction technology and processes that result in lower greenhouse gas emissions than similar facilities in the United States and Europe.

Bhaskar Patel, SVP Sustainable Fuels, Chemicals and Circularity of Technip Energies, commented: “We are very pleased that CPChem and QatarEnergy selected our cracker technology and design for this mega-cracker project. Utilizing our extensive experience with ethylene cracker design and our latest advancements to reduce emissions will contribute to their efforts to help enable a lower carbon future. We thank CPChem for its continued confidence in T.EN’s cracking technology, having previously incorporated the technology at other facilities."

We remind, Technip Energies has reached an agreement with INEOS Acetyls as their sole supplier of early engineering services in support of the deployment and application of INEOS Acetyls CATIVA technology. This agreement continues Technip Energies long lasting involvement in supporting the deployment of the world leading CATIVA® acetic acid technology, with its proven technology integration expertise and energy efficient processes.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Amcor, a global leader in responsible packaging solutions, on 15 Dec 2022 announced the opening of its new state-of-the-art manufacturing plant in Huizhou, China, said the company.

With an investment of almost USD100 mln, the 590,000-sq-ft plant is the largest flexible packaging plant by production capacity in China, further strengthening Amcor's ability to meet growing customer demand throughout Asia Pacific.

The new facility is expected to employ more than 550 people, who will produce flexible packaging solutions for food and personal-care products. The plant comes equipped with the first automated packaging production line in China. This, along with high-speed printing presses, laminators, and bag-making machines, can deliver double-digit reductions in manufacturing cycle times.

Amcor is also deploying the first smart production and operation system in the Chinese flexible packaging industry, which includes smart laser scanners, light curtains, high-standard machine guarding and multiple quality-control points. All key process equipment is also CE-certified to stringent European Union health, safety and environmental requirements. Other benefits of the new state-of-the-art facility are traceability throughout the production cycle, a climate-controlled production environment and low-carbon emission production.

We remind, Amcor, a global leader in developing and producing responsible packaging solutions, has announced a five-year deal with ExxonMobil to purchase certified-circular polyethylene material in support of its target to achieve 30% recycled material across its portfolio by 2030. The volume of material will increase incrementally each year and is expected to reach 100,000 metric tpy at the end of the 5-yr period.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- North American chemical rail traffic fell by 7.3% year on year to 44,458 railcar loadings for the week ended 17 December – marking a 13th consecutive decline, according to the latest freight rail data by the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

Declines in the US and Canada more than offset an increase in Mexico. The four-week average for North American chemical rail traffic was at 45,649 railcar loadings.

Despite the 13th decline in a row, for the first 50 weeks of 2022 ended 17 December North American chemical railcar traffic was still up 0.2% year on year to 2,282,455 railcar loadings.

Shipments of chemicals, coal, motor vehicles and parts, nonmetallic minerals, and oil and oil products rose for the first 50 weeks, while shipments in the remaining freight railcar categories fell.

In the US, chemical railcar loadings represent about 20% of chemical transportation by tonnage, with trucks, barges and pipelines carrying the rest. In Canada, producers rely on rail to ship more than 70% of their products, with some exclusively using rail.

We remind, North American chemical rail traffic fell by 13.0% year on year to 41,696 railcar loadings for the week ended 10 December – marking a 12th consecutive decline. Declines in the US and Canada more than offset an increase in Mexico.

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