PetroVietnam 2022 crude oil output flat at 10.84 MMt

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PetroVietnam reported crude oil output of 10.84 MMt in 2022, flat from a year earlier and 24% above its official target, Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade said, as per Reuters.

The state-owned oil firm's output includes 8.98 MMt from domestic fields and 1.86 MMt from foreign fields, the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday, adding that its gas output rose 8.3% to 8.08 B cubic meters.

PetroVietnam's revenue rose 48% last year to USD39.72 B, a record high, the ministry said, adding that pre-tax profit rose 59% to 82.2 T dong.

In 2023, PetroVietnam will seek to expand its exploration and production activities and speed up its Block B Gas Project and the project to upgrade and expand its Binh Son refinery , its chairman Hoang Quoc Vuong said in a statement.

Vuong, however, said the company will face challenges this year, including a low increase in proven oil reserves, a strong global energy transition trend boosted by the Russia-Ukraine conflict and hurdles in implementing its investment projects.

Projects to develop Block B Gas and Blue Whale Gas complexes and expand Binh Son refinery "are facing difficulties and delays and need support measures from the authorities," he said, without elaborating.

We remind, Vietnam's largest oil refinery will complete repairs needed to fix a technical problem at its residual fluid catalytic cracking (RFCC) unit by Jan. 15. The 200,000-barrel-per-day Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical had a leak at the RFCC unit, the government said on Friday, adding the problem would reduce the refinery's output by 20%-25%. Nghi Son, which provides more a third of Vietnam's petroleum needs, is one of only two oil refineries in the country.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Trafigura has sold its 24.5% stake in Russia-backed Indian refiner Nayara Energy to a Rome-based energy investment group, following on from a deal on Monday where a group of firms backed by the commodity trading company agreed to buy Lukoil's Italian refinery, said Reuters.

Trafigura said it had completed the sale of its "indirect minority interest" in Nayara Energy to Hara Capital Sarl, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mareterra Group Holding formerly known as Genera Group Holding. Reuters reported in 2021 that the global commodity trader was looking to sell its stake in the Indian oil refining joint venture with Russia's Rosneft to an Italian group Genera.

It is unclear how much Trafigura's stake in Nayara, formerly known as Essar Oil, is worth now. Rosneft owns a 49.13% stake in Nayara. A similar-sized holding was split between Trafigura and Cyprus-based Russian investment group United Capital Partners (UCP).

Trafigura and UCP had 49.84% stake each in Singapore-based Tendril Ventures Pte Ltd, whose Cyprus-registered parent company owns a 49.13% stake in Nayara Energy. Trafigura's equity investment in Tendril was worth about USD166 million, according to its 2022 annual report.

"UCP remains committed to its investment in Nayara Energy and believes in its future growth opportunities," Trafigura's statement cited Irina Lanina, Managing Director of UCP Investment Group as saying. Nayara operates a 400,000 barrels per day Vadinar refinery in western Gujarat state and 6,000 retail fuel stations. It is also building a 450,000 tonnes-a-year polypropylene plant.

Mareterra Group, an investment firm that focuses on energy and carbon efficiency infrastructure, is active in France, Italy, Luxembourg and Spain and wants to expand beyond Europe, the statement said.

"As a new shareholder in Nayara Energy, it will bring its strong experience in reducing the carbon footprint of fuel stations, installing electric charging stations, and improving energy efficiency at industrial assets," it said.

As MRC informed earlier, Trafigura is preparing to sell its 24.5% indirect stake in an Indian oil refining joint venture with Russia's Rosneft to an Italian group. Trafigura holds the stake in Nayara Energy, which owns India's third largest refinery, a port and a network of more than 6,000 fuel stations across India, indirectly through a 49.84% holding in Singapore-based Tendril Ventures Pte Ltd.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Specialty chemicals company LANXESS and French energy group TotalEnergies have entered into a cooperation on the supply of biocircular styrene. Unlike conventional styrene, the raw material used by TotalEnergies is based on tall oil, which is derived from a tree resin and is a by-product of pulp production, said the company.

LANXESS uses the styrene to produce sustainable ion exchange resins. These products are applied primarily in the treatment of wastewater and chemical process flows as well as in the food industry.

The sustainable origin of the styrene is certified in accordance with the mass balance approach of the ISCC PLUS standard (“International Sustainability and Carbon Certification”). Under mass balance approach, the certified and non-certified materials are mixed physically, but kept separately on a book keeping basis. This method allows companies to document and track the sustainable materials through the complex production process and ensures the full tracibility through the entire supply chain. The ISCC PLUS certification of the styrene is an important requirement, as LANXESS offers its products in accordance with this certification standard as well and therefore relies on the same transparency for its raw materials.

“Our customers are increasingly asking for sustainable solutions, and raw materials with a low carbon footprint are a key lever here. By partnering with TotalEnergies, we can further expand the respective offering for our customers,” says Marcel Beermann, Head of Global Procurement & Logistics at LANXESS.

“We are pleased to form this partnership with LANXESS, which demonstrates TotalEnergies’ ability to offer sustainable products to its customers, helping them reduce their carbon footprint. This is a perfect illustration of the orientation taken by the Refining and Chemicals branch of TotalEnergies to develop lower carbon intensity products, in line with TotalEnergies’ Climate Ambition to get to Net Zero emissions by 2050, together with society,” declares Jean-Francois Renglet, Vice President Marketing Base Chemicals Division at Total Refining and Chemicals.

In addition to styrene, the specialty chemicals company already sources many other sustainable equivalents of fossil raw materials. Biocircular acrylonitrile is used for another type of ion exchange resins. The preservative Preventol is also available with various fatty acid mixtures based on sunflower oil. Prepolymers under the Adiprene Green brand contain starch-based polyether polyols. The intermediate Trimethylpropane Scopeblue consists of about half sustainable N-butylaldehyde. The composite Tepex Scopeblue is based on flax and polylactic acid. And the high-performance plastic Durethan Scopeblue uses biocircular cyclohexane and waste glass.

We remind, on 31st May 2022, Advent and LANXESS announced the joint, Advent controlled, acquisition of DSM Engineering Materials, alongside its combination with LANXESS High-Performance Materials (subject to competition clearance), to establish a leading global engineering materials company with sales of around EUR 3 bn.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Equinor and RWE have agreed to work together to develop large-scale value chains for low carbon hydrogen, said the company.

The partners aim to replace coal fired power plants with hydrogen-ready gas fired power plants in Germany, and to build production of low carbon and renewable hydrogen in Norway that will be exported through pipeline to Germany.

On 5 January, the two companies signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to jointly develop large-scale energy value chains, building on the partnership between Norway and Germany and the long-term relationship between Equinor and RWE. The cooperation has these main building blocks:

Construction of new gas power plants (CCGTs), contributing to Germany’s phase-out roadmap for coal. Equinor and RWE will jointly own the CCGTs which initially will be fueled with natural gas and then gradually use hydrogen as fuel with the ambition of fully to be run on hydrogen when volumes and technology are available.

Building production facilities in Norway to produce low carbon hydrogen from natural gas with CCS. More than 95 percent of the CO2 will be captured and stored safely and permanently under the seabed offshore Norway.

Export of hydrogen by pipeline from Norway to Germany. Joint development of offshore wind farms that will enable production of renewable hydrogen as fuel for power and other industrial customers in the future.

“Through this collaboration we will strengthen the long-term energy security for Europe’s leading industrial country while at the same time offer a viable route to a necessary energy transition for hard to abate industries. The collaboration has the potential to develop Norway into a key supplier of hydrogen to Germany and Europe. This is a unique opportunity to build a hydrogen industry in Norway where hydrogen also can be used as feedstock to domestic industries,” says Anders Opedal, Equinor’s CEO and president.

We remind, Equinor is inspecting damage at a reformer at its 226,000 barrel per day (bpd) Mongstad refinery after a fire on Sunday and it is too soon to say when the unit will be operational. The fire at the oil refinery on Norway's west coast was extinguished early on Sunday, with the main part of the refinery still in operation. "It was in a reformer," an Equinor spokesman told Reuters by email, adding that there was no estimate yet on when the unit could be restarted.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Braskem the largest polyolefins producer in the Americas, as well as a market leader and pioneer producer of biopolymers on an industrial scale, announced the acquisition of taulman3D, said the company.

The acquisition of taulman3D is a perfect complement to Braskem's existing portfolio of next-generation filaments (Polyethylene (PE), Polypropylene (PP), Carbon Fiber, Glass Fiber & Recycled Polymers), pellets, and powders designed specifically for 3D printing applications.

Founded in 2012, taulman3D is trusted by thousands of professionals around the world and offers a wide portfolio of filaments and polymers designed to address specific and varying customer applications. taulman3D products are available worldwide, through a variety of exceptional distributors on 6 continents. taulman3D's headquarters, research, and development as well as production and distribution facilities are in Linton, Indiana.

Jason Vagnozzi, Global Commercial Director of Additive Manufacturing, Braskem commented, "Braskem's acquisition of taulman3D brings a high-quality 3D filament producer with a globally diversified client list and a highly complementary product portfolio. With projections for the 3D printing industry expected to grow from USD15 billion today to USD78 billion by 2030 - growing at an estimated 20% CAGR - we see enhanced opportunities to serve this rapidly growing demand. Today's acquisition doubles Braskem's market share in the additive manufacturing market and further accelerates our growth strategy."

We remind, Braskem, the market leader and pioneer in bioproducts production on an industrial scale, and Sojitz, a Japan-oriented global trading company, have announced the launch of Sustainea, which will produce and market bioMEG (monoethylene glycol) and bioMPG (monopropylene glycol). The market launch of the brand follows the approval of the joint venture (the process began in March 2022) by antitrust authorities.

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