Advanced Petrochemical announces the financial close of SAR 6.1bn for PDH and PP Plant

MOSCOW (MRC) -- 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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MOSCOW (MRC) -- A joint-venture (JV) between Total and Sonatrach is expected to begin construction of its Algerian polypropylene (PP) plant in July 2023, said the company.

There is very little domestic PP production in North Africa compared to demand, and the region mostly relies on exports from Europe and the Middle East. The STEP PP plant will have a nameplate capacity of 550,000 tonnes/year of homopolymer.

Well-documented and commonplace shipping problems connected with Algeria are not expected to impact the plant as upstream material will be provided by the Erg Issouane gas field.

The JV will initially concentrate on Algeria and its neighbouring countries, such as Morocco and Tunisia. A 50% share will also be reserved for export, with Europe the main focus.

We remind, Eni CEO, Claudio Descalzi, and the CEO of Sonatrach, Toufik Hakkar, signed in Algiers two agreements which outline future joint projects on energy supply, energy transition and decarbonisation. The agreements were signed in the presence of the Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, and the President of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, Abdelmadjid Tebboune.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shell Petroleum has completed the acquisition of renewable natural gas (RNG) producer Nature Energy Biogas (Nature Energy), said the company.

By purchasing all shares in Nature Energy, Shell says it has bought the largest producer of renewable natural gas (RNG) in Europe, its portfolio of operating plants, associated feedstock supply and infrastructure, pipeline of growth projects and in-house expertise in the design, construction, and operation of innovative and differentiated RNG plant technology. Shell announced the deal on November 28 last year.

This acquisition supports Shell’s ambitions to build an integrated RNG value chain at global scale and profitably grow its low-carbon offerings to customers across multiple sectors. Nature Energy will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Shell, initially under its existing brand.

Founded in 1979 as a natural gas distributor, the company established its first biogas plant in Denmark in 2015 and now has 14 operating plants with associated infrastructure, feedstock arrangements, and 2022 production of around 6.5MMBtu/yr (3,000 boe/d).

Last month Nature Energy’s 13th biogas plant in Denmark was inaugurated by Lars Aagaard, Minister for Climate, Energy and Utilities. The company also has a pipeline of around 30 new plant projects in Europe and North America. More than a third of these projects are in medium to late development stage in Denmark, the Netherlands and France and could deliver up to 9.2 mln MMBtu/yr (4,400 boe/d) by 2030, subject to future final investment decisions and relevant regulatory approvals.

In the coming years, around DKK 7bn will be invested in building up to 10 biomethane plants in Quebec together with Energir, Quebec’s leading gas supply company, marking Nature Energy’s largest international investment to date. Nature Energy and Energir will jointly develop, build, and operate biomethane plants that together can supply 200m m3 of biogas per year, corresponding to one third of Quebec’s target for CO2 reduction by 2030.

RNG, also known as biomethane, is chemically identical to conventional natural gas and can be used in existing transmission and distribution infrastructure.

This makes it a competitive option to help decarbonise multiple hard to abate sectors including commercial road transport, marine, heating and heavy industry. The sustainability benefits are amplified by the processing and use of methane that could otherwise be released to the atmosphere from the decomposition of organic by?products and waste.

Shell has an existing RNG production business in North America, with one operational site and three under construction. Shell also has an existing RNG trading portfolio in Europe, to which this acquisition will add new volumes and support Shell’s efforts to transition its growing European LNG customer base to BioLNG, with supply intended to span road, marine and other customers.

Shell has a target to be a Net Zero emissions energy business by 2050. It aims to reduce the carbon intensity of its products by 6-8% this year, 9-12% in 2024, 20% by 2030, 45% by 2035, and 100% by 2050.

We remind, Shell Chemical Appalachia LLC announced it has commenced operations of its Pennsylvania Chemical project, Shell Polymers Monaca (SPM). The Pennsylvania facility is the first major polyethylene manufacturing complex in the Northeastern United States and has a designed output of 1.6 MMt annually.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Cepsa and ACE Terminal have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) by which the Spanish energy company will supply green ammonia to the planned import terminal in the port of Rotterdam, for end use applications in the industry after conversion of the ammonia back into hydrogen, or for direct end use in the shipping and other industries in Northwest Europe, said the company.

Cepsa is developing 2GW of green hydrogen at its two Energy Parks in Andalusia, southern Spain, as part of its 2030 Positive Motion strategy to become a leader in sustainable mobility and the production of renewable hydrogen and advanced biofuels and a benchmark in the energy transition. The two hydrogen plants, with a 3 billion euro investment, will form part of the Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley, the largest green hydrogen hub in Europe, for which Cepsa has recently signed a number of partnership agreements across the hydrogen value chain.

On the import side, Gasunie, HES International and Vopak have partnered to develop ACE Terminal as an entry point to the Netherlands for ammonia as a carrier for green hydrogen as well as a sustainable feedstock. The open access terminal will be located in the port of Rotterdam, a very important port for Northwest Europe from an energy point of view. With the planned reuse of assets and infrastructure, ACE Terminal is a project with a short time to market. The MoU with Cepsa is the first of agreements aimed between additional clients and the ACE open access hub terminal for green hydrogen and ammonia imports.

The MoU between Cepsa and ACE Terminal entails a cooperation intended to lead to a binding commercial agreement to facilitate the oversea transport of green ammonia, to redistribute the green ammonia to end markets in the hinterland, and to process the green ammonia into green hydrogen ready for use by end customers in Northwest Europe. The location of ACE Terminal in the port of Rotterdam offers direct connection to Rotterdam's industry and the planned national hydrogen network, and has an excellent connection to the infrastructure into Northwest Europe.

We remind, Cepsa has signed a deal with the Dutch port of Rotterdam to ship green hydrogen from southern Spain to northern Europe. The hydrogen will be produced at Cepsa’s San Roque Energy Park near the Bay of Algeciras, and will be exported through hydrogen carriers such as ammonia or methanol to the Port of Rotterdam.

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