U.S. imposes additional sanctions on Iranian petrochemicals

The United States imposed sanctions on companies it accused of playing a critical role in the production, sale and shipment of Iranian petrochemicals and petroleum to buyers in Asia, as Washington increases pressure on Tehran, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The U.S. Treasury Department in a statement said it imposed sanctions on six Iran-based petrochemical manufacturers or their subsidiaries and three firms in Malaysia and Singapore over the production, sale and shipment of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Iranian petrochemicals and petroleum.

The latest U.S. move against Iranian oil smuggling comes as efforts to revive Iran's 2015 nuclear deal have stalled and ties between the Islamic Republic and the West are increasingly strained as Iranians keep up anti-government protests.

"Iran is increasingly turning to buyers in East Asia to sell its petrochemical and petroleum products, in violation of U.S. sanctions," Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in the statement. "The United States remains focused on targeting Tehran’s sources of illicit revenue, and will continue to enforce its sanctions against those who wittingly facilitate this trade," Nelson said.

Iran's mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Thursday's move targeted firms the Treasury accused of being involved in facilitating the sale and shipment of petroleum and petrochemicals on behalf of Triliance Petrochemical Co. Ltd., which was hit with sanctions by Washington in 2020.

Among the Iranian companies targeted were petrochemical producer Amir Kabir Petrochemical Co. (AKPC), its subsidiary Simorgh Petrochemical Co. and four subsidiaries of previously sanctioned Marun Petrochemical Co. Treasury said Triliance has purchased millions of dollars worth of low-density polyethylene produced by AKPC for shipment to buyers in China.

Treasury accused Singapore-based Asia Fuel PTE. Ltd., which was also targeted, of facilitating the shipment of petroleum products worth millions of dollars to customers in East Asia. Sense Shipping and Trading SDN. BHD. in Malaysia and Singapore-based Unicious Energy PTE. Ltd. were also hit with sanctions.

The action freezes any U.S. assets of those hit with sanctions and generally bars Americans from dealing with them. Those that engage in certain transactions with the companies also risk being hit with sanctions.

We remind, the U.S. imposed sanctions on companies it accused of playing a critical role in the production, sale and shipment of Iranian petrochemicals and petroleum to buyers in Asia, as Washington increases pressure on Tehran.
The U.S. Treasury Department in a statement said it imposed sanctions on six Iran-based petrochemical manufacturers or their subsidiaries and three firms in Malaysia and Singapore over the production, sale and shipment of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Iranian petrochemicals and petroleum.

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The U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA's) February Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) forecasts that U.S. refinery utilization will remain above 90% over the next two years, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The industry is returning to more typical rates after low refinery utilization in 2020 and 2021. The EIA forecast U.S. refinery utilization will average 90.8% in 2023 and then decrease slightly to 90.3% in 2024.

Refinery utilization is the amount of crude oil and other oils used as input at a refinery divided by the total capacity at that refinery. In 2020, average refinery utilization dropped to 78.8%, the lowest annual rate since the EIA began collecting this data in 1997, but by 2022, utilization rates averaged closer to pre-pandemic levels at more than 91%. On an annual average basis, fleet-wide refinery utilization rarely climbs much higher than 95% because of maintenance periods and seasonal periods of less demand.

In the February 2023 STEO, the EIA forecasts prices and volumes of petroleum refining in the United States through 2024. Global refined product prices and crack spreads, which represent an estimate of refinery margins, increased substantially in the U.S. in 2022, increasing refinery utilization. The EIA calculates the 3-2-1 crack spread by subtracting the price of a gallon of crude oil (the input) from the combined price of two-thirds of a gallon of gasoline and one-third of a gallon of diesel (the output).

The EIA expects petroleum product prices for gasoline and diesel will be lower in 2023 than in 2022. Nevertheless, petroleum product prices in 2023 will remain high compared with pre-pandemic prices, especially as refiners undergo maintenance in the spring. Low spring utilization will limit production before the summer and encourage refineries to maintain high utilization during the summer and when not undergoing maintenance.

The EIA expects slower economic growth in 2023 and 2024, which would reduce gasoline and diesel consumption compared with 2022, leading to a gradual decrease in petroleum product prices. The organization also forecasts that increased production of finished petroleum products as a result of high refinery utilization rates will contribute to lower prices. The ban on imports of refined petroleum products from Russia into the EU, which began earlier this month, poses a risk of additional disruptions and brings significant uncertainty to the EIA's forecast.

We remind, U.S. environmental regulators conditionally approved plans for the owners of an idled refinery in the U.S. Virgin Islands to remove chemicals that the watchdog argued present serious health consequences if accidentally released. The idled St. Croix refinery, formerly the largest in the Western Hemisphere, was expected to boost overall supply in the Caribbean, a key transit point for petroleum shipments, but the EPA shut it after a few months of operation in May 2021 after chemical releases sickened neighboring residents.

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Toray Industries, Inc., and Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd. have agreed to build a supply chain for plastics made from biomass naphtha. They would manufacture biomass styrene monomer derived from biomass naphtha and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) resin made from that monomer, said Chemindigest.

Idemitsu will leverage the mass balance method to manufacture biomass styrene monomer. Toray’s Chiba plant will use that polymerize to become the first in Japan to produce biomass ABS resin, starting in October this year. It has become vital in recent years to combat global warming, which has resulted from rising carbon dioxide emissions. Idemitsu and Toray recognize that striving to achieve a carbon-neutral economy by 2050 is a key business challenge. They both explored establishing a biomass plastics supply chain by deploying eco-friendly biomass raw materials.

Because of its plant-derived raw materials, biomass naphtha’s carbon dioxide emissions are lower than those of petroleum-derived naphtha. Idemitsu and Toray seek to lower emissions from the plastics sector through their joint efforts. Idemitsu aims to achieve net zero carbon dioxide emissions from its own operations by 2050. It will do so by maintaining stable supplies of energy and materials that are essential for industry and daily living while tapping the technologies, expertise, and infrastructure that it has amassed over years of handling fossil fuels. It will also help cut customers’ emissions by delivering energy and materials that make it possible to attain a carbon-neutral, circular economy.

Toray seeks to lower greenhouse gas emissions by expanding Green Innovation businesses that help resolve environmental, resources, and energy issues. It also aims to develop technologies and products that help absorb these emissions, thus helping to reach carbon neutrality by 2050 internally and for the economy as a whole. The two companies will leverage a robust partnership in driving a materials transition to a carbon-neutral, circular economy by building a biomass plastics supply chain.

We remind, Idemitsu Kosan Co, restarted the 100,000 bpd No.2 crude distillation unit (CDU) at its Yokkaichi refinery in central Japan on Dec. 3. The unit was shut on Sept. 26 for scheduled maintenance. Separately, a fire broke out at a catalytic reformer at its Hokkaido refinery in northern Japan on the night of Dec. 20, but was extinguished within a few hours, the spokesperson said. The 150,000-bpd CDU at the refinery continues to operate, she said, but declined to comment on the current run rate and the impact on other equipment.

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NextChem has been awarded a feasibility study by Foresight Group for a sustainable fuel plant in Puglia, Italy, said the company.

The study for a carbon capture and sustainable methanol synthesis plant for the Ener-gie Tecnologie Ambiente (ETA) Manfredonia waste-to-energy plant will aim to save 200,000 tonnes/year of CO2 emissions.

On completing the feasibility study, final investment decision, finalising the permitting process and execution of the engineering and construction phases will be made by other Maire Tecnimont subsidiaries.

NextChem will be responsible for identifying the best decarbonisation proposal for the plant, and emissions reductions will be combined with green hydrogen production for sustainable fuel.

Foresight Group is a EUR13bn sustainability-led alternative assets fund manager investing in several assets globally including waste-to-energy plants.

We remind, Maire Tecnimont S.p.A. announces that its subsidiary NextChem S.p.A. has signed an agreement with Biorenova S.p.A. to acquire, scale up and industrialize the proprietary CatC technology, a continuous chemical recycling process to recover monomers with ultra-high levels of purity from sorted plastic waste, particularly Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA).

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Neste enables its customers to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by offering renewable and circular solutions to replace fossil products, said the company.

In 2022, Neste’s renewable solutions helped customers reduce their GHG emissions globally by 11.1 million tons altogether. This amount equals the annual carbon footprint of 1.8 million average EU citizens (source: World Bank) or the removal of four million passenger cars from the roads for a full year.

“We are on track towards reaching our commitment of helping our customers to reduce their GHG emissions by at least 20 million tons of CO2e annually by 2030. Our ongoing strategic projects will expand our renewables production capacity in the coming years, which supports our efforts to increase our carbon handprint,” says Matti Lehmus, President and CEO of Neste.

Neste’s current global production capacity of renewable products is 3.3 million tons annually. Neste’s ongoing Singapore refinery expansion project and the joint operation with Marathon Petroleum in Martinez, California will increase the total production capacity of renewable products to 5.5 million tons by the end of 2023, and make Neste the only global provider of renewable fuels and renewable feedstock for polymers and chemicals with a production footprint on three continents. When completed, the Rotterdam refinery expansion project will further increase the company’s total production capacity of renewable products to 6.8 million tons by the end of 2026. Furthermore, Neste has started a study on transitioning its refinery in Porvoo, Finland into a globally leading renewable and circular solutions site.

We remind, Neste posted strong revenue and profit growth in its renewable fuels business even as its Chief Executive flagged the long-term need for new raw materials amid growing European demand for sustainable jet fuel.
The company has bet heavily on renewable fuels but is competing in a crowded space as fossil fuel majors enter the green fuel market, pushing up costs for used cooking oil and discarded animal fat. Neste estimates that the maximum available global capacity for waste and residue materials would be around 40 MMtpy.
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