Saudi Chemical subsidiary gets gas allocation letter from Energy Ministry

Saudi Chemical Holding Co.’s (SCHC) subsidiary Saudi Chemical Co. Ltd., in partnership with a local company, received a gas allocation letter from the Ministry of Energy to establish a facility for the production of nitric acid and ammonium nitrate, said the company.

The facility’s annual production capacity for nitric acid will be 440,000 tons, and for ammonium nitrate will be 300,000 tons, SCHC said in a statement to Tadawul.

The project is the first of its kind in the region. It provides the raw materials required for several downstream industries in local markets, mainly civil and military explosives, fuel of missiles and rockets propellants, smelting salts used in the production of solar panels, in addition to some pharmaceuticals.

The financial impact of this announcement cannot be determined at present, the statement noted, adding that any future developments will be announced.

We remind, the Ministry of Investment of Saudi Arabia has inked an agreement worth $1 bn with UPL Ltd to produce specialized agriculture chemicals within the Kingdom.

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Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY) reported fourth-quarter earnings of USD1.93 bn, said the company.

The Houston-based company said it had net income of USD1.74 per share. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring gains, came to USD1.61 per share.

The results did not meet Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of USD1.83 per share.

The oil and gas exploration and production company posted revenue of USD8.33 billion in the period, which also did not meet Street forecasts. Five analysts surveyed by Zacks expected USD8.67 bn.

For the year, the company reported profit of USD13.3 bn, or USD12.40 per share. Revenue was reported as USD37.1 bn.

We remind, Enterprise Product Partners and Occidental Petroleum plan to forge a carbon dioxide sequestration and transportation system that could sell carbon management services to emitters along the Texas Gulf Coast, they said in a statement. They plan to combine the pipeline company’s transportation network with carbon sequestration hubs under development by Oxy, an oil producer expanding into the carbon management business. The idea is to focus initially on capturing emissions along the industrial corridor from Houston to Beaumont and Port Arthur.

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South Korea’s Lotte Chemical Corp. said Tuesday it has signed a memorandum of understanding with U.S. ammonia producer CF Industries Holdings Inc. to explore opportunities for clean ammonia production in the U.S. and its potential introduction to Korea, said the company.

The two companies agreed to cooperate with clean ammonia production and investment in Louisiana, where CF Industries runs a complex.

Under the MOU, Lotte Chemical’s global infrastructure and CF Industries’ ammonia plant operation capabilities and distribution network will be leveraged to build local production facilities and to bring in clean ammonia into Korea, Lotte Chemical said in a release.

Their cooperation is in line with the U.S. government’s eco-friendly and energy support policies following the implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

The U.S. government is fostering the clean hydrogen and ammonia industry and helping build related infrastructures by offering tax credit and other incentives under the IRA. In view of this, the two companies are looking for opportunities to raise cost competitiveness and prepare for an increase in demand for clean hydrogen and ammonia in Korea.

To revitalize the hydrogen economy in Korea, the key is the supply of stable clean hydrogen and ammonia from overseas regions with abundant resources and less geopolitical risks, said Hwang Jin-koo, head of hydrogen energy business at Lotte Chemical.

Lotte Chemical, which is pushing for a green transition, plans to invest 6 trillion won ($4.56 billion) by 2030 with the goal of producing and selling some 1.2 million tons of clean hydrogen. Clean ammonia is a key feedstock for hydrogen production.

We remind, Lotte Chemical announced it has formed a clean ammonia global consultative body with RWE, a German energy company, and Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation, with a goal to cooperate and jointly develop a large-scale clean ammonia production and supply chain in Asia, Europe and US, said the company. As part of this move the three companies on 7 February signed a joint study agreement (JSA) which will see the entities engage in joint research for the production and export project of clean ammonia, both blue and green, at the Port of Corpus Christi in Texas, where the largest energy export terminal in the US is located.

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A fire broke out at a refinery in Bathinda early on Friday but was soon brought under control by the refinery’s firefighting department, said Indianexpress.

No casualties or injuries were reported. Villagers in nearby areas saw thick smoke coming out of HPCL Mittal Energy Limited (HMEL) Guru Gobind Singh refinery in the early hours.

According to a press statement issued by the refinery, “Friday early morning a fire incident had been reported near the Quench Oil Pump of the cracker unit at Guru Gobind Singh Refinery, Bathinda due to an oil leak. The HMEL Emergency Team immediately reached the spot and started to control the fire. District Administration and other concerned statutory authorities were informed immediately about the incident. No casualties were reported."

“The fire is localised and has been brought under control after concerted efforts. The spilled oil generated thick smoke. The unit was shut down and the maintenance team is working on the restoration work. There is no impact to other units,” the release added.

Meanwhile, the area around the refinery has been cordoned off as a precautionary measure. Though firefighting teams at the refinery controlled the fire, a fire response team from the Bathinda Municipal Corporation reached the spot along with fire tenders. Police force was also deployed in the area.

Phulokhari and Kanakwal are the nearest villages, while a few villages are also there on the Haryana side of the refinery located on the border of Punjab’s Bathinda district and Haryana’s Dabwali district. Villagers said they heard the sound of siren triggered by the refinery and got on top of their roofs on seeing the plumes of smoke.

As MRC reported earlier, HMEL took off-stream its PP plant in Bathinda for an unscheduled 10-12 turnaround on 11 February, 2022.

HPCL-Mittal Energy Limited (HMEL) is a joint venture between India's Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) and Singapore's Mittal Energy Investment Pte Ltd. Both partners each own 49% of the shares in the joint venture, the remaining 2% is held by financial institutions. HMEL operates a 9 mln tpa refinery at Guru Gobind Singh.

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Air Liquide posted a record high revenue growth of 28.3% at EUR 29.93 bn thanks to increasing energy costs that was passed on to buyers, said the company.

The hydrogen and industrial gases company additionally emphasized that it aimed to expedite its investment for 2023, with a 40% increase for projects related to the energy transition. The increase was mainly thanks to industrial merchants, especially sales of hydrogen or oxygen to the chemical and steel industries in North America and Europe, and electronics. The company has invested nearly EUR 500 M in 2022 at three additional very high purity industrial gas manufacturing lines for two of the globally biggest semiconductor producers in Taiwan.

Air Liquide has further commenced an investment of over EUR 300 M in four Japanese units, along with semiconductor producers. In the US, the company intends to develop a semiconductor manufacturing facility in Arizona, US, and has intended to spend EUR 40 M in India for a new air gas separation line.

The group, which has developed its biggest biomethane manufacturing line in the US, also intends to expedite its investments in the US in 2023. It commissioned a hydrogen liquefier in Nevada to serve the mobility market in the US west coast, and formed a joint venture with TotalEnergies to establish a hydrogen station network in Europe. Finally, Air Liquide entered a letter of intent to exit from its activities in Russia, which will be divested to its managers. The company has not consolidated its Russian businesses since 1 Sep 2022.

We remind, TotalEnergies plans to supply renewable energy to Sasol and Air Liquide at the Secunda chemical site in South Africa. The companies signed power purchase agreements for the supply of 260MW capacity of renewable electricity over 20 years. The French energy and petrochemicals major will develop a 120MW solar plant and a 140MW wind farm in the Western Cape province to supply around 850GWh of green electricity per year to the Sasol’s Secunda site, located 700km further northeast, where Air Liquide operates the world's biggest oxygen production site, it said. The two projects, expected to be operational in 2025, will provide renewable electricity to decarbonise Sasol and Air Liquide’s production.

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