Chinese refining utilization dropped in 2022

In 2022, refiners in China processed less crude oil than they did in 2021, which was the first year-over-year decrease in processing according to data going back to 2000. Reduced refinery activity in China resulted from numerous factors, including mobility restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic and low petroleum product export quotas, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

According to China’s General Administration of Customs, refiners in China processed an average of 13.5 MMbpd of crude oil last year, a 4% decrease from 2021's record high of 14 MMbpd. The 2022 reduction in crude oil processing was greatest from April through August, when refiners in China processed an average of only 12.5 MMbpd.

In 2022, refiners in China processed more crude oil early in the year and late in the year. In July, refiners processed the least crude oil (11.3 MMbpd) since January 2018. Refining in China reached its monthly record high of 15.1 million b/d in September 2022 before declining slightly and then rising to more than 14 MMbpd in November and December.

Less domestic demand for crude oil reduced refining activities in China last year. Demand for petroleum products in China declined in response to COVID-19 outbreaks and related mobility restrictions in major cities, including Shanghai. These restrictions significantly slowed China’s economic activity.

We remind, PetroChina completed trial runs at a 1.2 million tonne-per-year ethylene facility in its newly launched refinery complex in south China on Sunday. PetroChina Guangdong PC announced that the ethylene plant, a 10-million-ton refining and chemical integration project, produced on-spec products and entered the stage of comprehensive trial production on Feb 12. PetroChina Guangdong Petrochemical Refining and Chemical Integration Project, located in Jieyang, Guangdong Province, covers an area of 920 hectares, with crude oil refining production capacity of 20 million mt/year aromatics capacity 2.6 million tons/year and ethylene capacity 1.2 million tons/year.

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India's Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL) plans to start its 9-MMtpy Barmer refinery and petrochemical project in Rajasthan state by January 2024, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

India, the third biggest oil importer, is expanding refining capacity to meet rising demand for fuel and petrochemical to power economic expansion. India's per capita petrochemical consumption is about a third of the global average.

Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said the project, which covers 4,800 acres, would produce 2.4 MMtpy of petrochemicals and cut the annual petrochemical import bill by 260 B rupees (USD3.14 B). India's annual imports of petrochemicals were worth about 950 billion rupees, he said.

Most Indian refiners are linking petrochemical plants with refineries as demand for plastics and specialty chemicals rises. Integrating petrochemical plants would also help refiners hedge against slowing demand for conventional fuel in the longer term.

The Barmer refinery and petrochemical project will produce gasoline and gasoil for retail sales and will use naphtha, liquefied petroleum gas and kerosene as feedstock to make petrochemicals. HPCL's head of refineries, S Bharathan, said his company would look at importing oil from the Middle East to start the project, which will also process 1.5 MMtpy of locally produced oil.

The project, in which HPCL has a 74% stake and the Rajasthan government holds the rest, was due to be completed by December 2022 but shutdowns due to the pandemic delayed the plans. The project cost has risen to 720 B rupees from the 430 B rupees estimated in 2018, the minister said. The Barmer complex, executed by HPCL Rajasthan Refinery Ltd, could double capacity to 18 million tonnes a year, he added.

We remind, HPCL commenced its Cowdung to Compressed Biogas Project at Sanchore, Rajasthan. This will be HPCL’s first project under Waste to Energy portfolio. The plant is proposed to utilize 100 Tons per day of dung to produce biogas, which can be utilized as automotive fuel. The project is proposed to be commissioned in a year’s time.

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Bangladesh's private power producers will need USD1 B in foreign currency to import fuel oil and avert an energy crisis this summer, their industry association said in a letter to the central bank seen by Reuters.

Analysts expect power cuts in Bangladesh to worsen this year, as a rapid decline in the value of its currency and foreign exchange reserves have limited its ability to import power generation fuels, whose prices have surged following Western sanctions on major energy exporter Russia.

Outages have already hampered commercial operations in Bangladesh, hitting lucrative garment industry supplies to clients such as Walmart, Gap Inc, H&M and Inditex's Zara. The Bangladesh Independent Power Producers' Association (BIPPA) flagged a shortage of U.S. dollars to pay for crucial energy imports, and said private generators would need over USD250 million a month until June to pay for fuel shipments.

"We humbly urge Bangladesh Bank to enable local commercial banks to establish letter of credit for critical imports such as fuel oil... by providing U.S. dollars to local commercial banks," BIPPA told the central bank in a letter on Monday. Private power producers, including small private producers and public/private partnerships and led by Summit Power International, provide more than half of the country's electricity.

Mezbaul Haque, a spokesperson for the central bank, said the bank would "look into the matter," without elaborating. "Measures have been taken to ease the dollar crisis and the trend is stable now," Haque said, adding that dollar holdings at commercial banks were on the rise. Bangladesh imports the bulk of the fuel it needs for electricity.

BIPPA said irrigation during the annual harvest season, festivities during the holy month of Ramadan and hot weather would drive a sharp rise in electricity demand this summer, adding that lack of support from the central bank could force utilities to resort to widespread power cuts. Temperatures typically start increasing from the end of March, and BIPPA estimates power producers to require 2.12 MMt of fuel oil in the four months to June 2023.

Dwindling local gas reserves and a lack of sufficient coal-fired capacity have forced the country to depend on liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports and polluting fuels such as fuel oil for power generation over the years. High global prices forced Bangladesh to slash its imports in 2022 despite a rise in power demand, resulting in a fuel shortage that forced millions of citizens into hours of darkness every week during the second half of last year.

We remind, Sumitomo Corporation has commenced sales of the industrial park developed in a special economic zone in Narayanganj District, Dhaka Division, Bangladesh together with Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority. Bangladesh borders India on the north, east and west, and Myanmar on the southeast, placing at a geographically important location connecting South and Southeast Asia.

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Advanced Petrochemical Company, Saudi Arabia announces the financial close for the financing of SR 6.1 bn Shari’ah Compliant Islamic Facilities by Advanced Polyolefins Industry Company (Advanced Polyolefins), a subsidiary company, to finance the construction of Propane Dehydrogenation, Polypropylene and Isopropanol plants in Jubail Industrial City, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, said Saudigulfprojects.

This follows the signing of various Islamic Facility Agreements with a consortium of financial institutions announced on July 6, 2022.

Financial Close for these Islamic facilities was achieved on December 04, 2022 after satisfying all requirements and conditions precedent for availability of financing under these senior debt facilities arranged on a non-recourse basis concluded between Advanced Polyolefins and a consortium of financial institutions comprising Alinma Bank, Al Rajhi Banking and Investment Corporation, Arab National Bank, Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation, Bank Albilad, Banque Saudi Fransi, Riyad Bank, The Saudi British Bank and The Saudi National Bank.

It is worthwhile to note that Advanced Polyolefins is a joint venture between Advanced Global Investment Company (a 100% owned subsidiary of ADVANCED) and SK Gas Petrochemical Pte. Ltd. (a subsidiary of SK Gas Co., Ltd.) to produce 843,000 tons per annum Propylene, 800,000 tons per annum Polypropylene and 70,000 tons per annum Isopropanol.

Achieving the financial close constitutes a major milestone for the success of the Project which has already completed more than 45% of engineering, procurement and construction activities as of end of November 2022 and is scheduled to commence commercial operations in the 2nd half of 2024.

We remind, Advanced Petrochemical Company, based in Saudi Arabia, said that one of its subsidiary, Advanced Polyolefins Industry Company has signed several agreements worth USD1.6 B to fund the construction of plants at Jubail Industrial City II. The project includes a development of a propane dehydrogenation plant with a total annual capacity of 843,000 tons in addition to a polypropylene (800,000 tons) and a isopropanol facility (70,000 tons)

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Celanese Corporation, a global specialty materials and chemical company, announced the completion of an ultra-low capital project to repurpose existing manufacturing and infrastructure assets to unlock additional ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) capacity at its Edmonton, Alberta facility, said the company.

The expansion supports significant growth in the Acetyl Chain’s downstream vinyls portfolio. “The rapidly increasing demand for sustainable energy sources throughout the world, such as solar and wind power, continues to play an important role in global demand growth for EVA,” said Richard Jacobs, senior director, EVA polymers. “Demand for EVA in solar applications is anticipated to grow at a double-digit compounded annual rate through 2028, making the EVA industry one of the fastest growing products in our Acetyl Chain portfolio.”

The expansion provides approximately 35 percent incremental EVA capacity starting in the first quarter of 2023. The project is expected to deliver approximately USD10 million per year in additional operating EBITDA across the integrated acetyl value chain with the earnings contributions ramping across the second quarter.

The Acetyl Chain’s reactor capabilities and unique footprint allow for a more customized approach to product manufacturing with the flexibility to produce a full range of EVA products to serve demand in growing solar applications, wire and cables, food packaging, medical devices and drug delivery solutions. Celanese EVA products are sold under the product names including Ateva® EVA and Ateva G Medical Grade.

We remind, Celanese is launching a line of acetyl products that include mass balance bio-content. The products available are to be known as ECO-B products and will be offered in such products as acetic acid, vinyl acetate monomer (VAM), amines, acetate esters, anhydrides and ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA). The expanded list of products portfolio provides an opportunity to take an additional step with an offering that is chemically identical to the standard products.

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