India's Reliance to temporarily shut some Jamnagar units for maintenance

India's Reliance Industries said on Thursday that it plans to temporarily shut three units at its plant in Jamnagar in the western Indian state of Gujarat for planned maintenance and inspection activities, said Reuters.

The oil-to-telecom conglomerate owned by billionaire Mukesh Ambani is the operator of the world's biggest refining complex which houses two plants with a combined capacity of about 1.4 million barrels per day.

Reliance will temporarily shut a crude distillation unit and delayed coking in SEZ refinery, fluidized catalytic cracker in DTA refinery and a refinery off gas cracker, the company said in a statement to the stock exchanges. The maintenance of these units lasting between four-to-seven-weeks will begin from mid-September.

The company added that all other units of the Jamnagar facility will operate normally during the maintenance period.
Reuters had reported in August that the company planned to shut some units for maintenance in September-October at the Jamnagar complex citing sources.

While Reliance said that it does not expect any material impact on overall operations of Jamnagar complex, trade sources told Reuters last month that the shutdown of units would curtail the company's crude imports and may push up gasoline margins.

We remind, Reliance Industries Ltd has turned its sights on the domestic market, offering a high-performance diesel at a lower price than fuel sold by state-owned retailers. Jio-bp, the retail fuel joint venture of Reliance and bp will sell diesel mixed with detergents and dispersants at 1 rupee cheaper per liter than gasoil sold by the state-run companies, such as, Hindustan Petroleum Corp and Bharat Petroleum.

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Construction chemicals maker Sika said Chairman Paul Haelg will step down in 2024 after 12 years at the Swiss firm, adding that it is also making changes to its management, said Reuters.

The company said it will propose current board member Thierry Vanlancker as its new chairman at its AGM next year.

During Haelg’s time at Sika, the company grew enormously and also fended off Saint-Gobain in a bitter takeover battle involving the family of Sika’s founder.

Sika, whose products are used to reinforce and waterproof concrete used in building projects, additionally announced changes to its executive management team ahead of its investor day on Oct. 3, where the company will reveal its new strategy.

We remind, Sika has agreed to acquire a leading manufacturer of tile setting materials operating under the umbrella brand Chema in Peru. The acquisition strengthens Sika’s position in the fast-growing mortar market and provides major cross-selling opportunities through increased presence in the distribution channel. In addition, it significantly extends Sika’s manufacturing footprint. In 2022, the business to be acquired generated sales of CHF 50 million.

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OCI Global the world's biggest producer of green methanol, plans to double the production capacity at its Texas facility to 400,000 metric tons per year, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The Dutch green fuel-maker grows its capacity in response to a huge demand for green methanol from carbon emission-high industries like shipping, an industry responsible for around 3% of global emissions each year.

"We continue to see more and more realization that methanol is the transportation sector's most viable solution and the easiest way to transport and use renewable hydrogen today," Bashir Lebada, CEO of OCI Methanol/HyFuels said in a statement.

Green methanol is produced either from biomass or captured carbon and hydrogen from renewable power sources.
Demand for green methanol will exceed 6 million tons by 2028, OCI projects, due to the adoption of green methanol as a shipping fuel.

Sailing on green methanol can reduce carbon emissions from container vessels by 60% to 95% compared to conventional fossil fuels.

The number of methanol-fueled vessels is expected to exceed 200 by 2028, up from 30 this year, consultancy DNV forecasts as the shipping industry hopes to achieve a goal of net zero emissions by 2050.

OCI supplied green methanol for the maiden journey of the first-ever Maersk-owned green methanol-fueled container vessel sailing from South Korea to Denmark via the Suez Canal this summer.

We remind, Russia is shipping its first crude oil cargo to Brazil, as it seeks to diversify its list of buyers, which has been drastically limited by U.S. and EU sanctions. Russia has been heavily relying on India and China as main buyers of its crude after European embargo and price cap policies were imposed in December last year after Russia's action in Ukraine that Moscow calls a special military operation.

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Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday that Belarus has recently supplied 60,000 tons of diesel and 60,000 tons of petrol to Russia and is ready to further increase shipments, Reuters said.

Lukashenko is currently on a visit to Russia, parts of which are currently experiencing acute diesel shortages.

As translated by the news agency Reuters, the Belarusian leader said: "I would like to inform you about the...not exactly interruptions, but rather some difficulties with the fuel market. We have stabilised the situation, supplied as much (fuel) as the Russian Federation needed, as much as the government asked for."

"I think, 60,000 (tonnes) each of diesel and petrol. And we stabilised the situation in our common markets. If it becomes necessary to further reduce supplies to foreign markets and increase them for domestic consumption, this is not a problem. We resolve all these issues, both small and large," he added.

We remind, Russia's Sakhalin Energy, which produces liquefied natural gas and oil, has fully resumed production following maintenance. The company has said it planned maintenance in July without providing a timeframe. Sakhalin Energy's Sakhalin-2 operating company was transformed into a Russian entity via a presidential decree amid Western sanctions against Moscow over its actions in Ukraine.

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China's oil refinery throughput in August rose to a record, data showed on Friday, as processors in the world's second-largest crude consumer kept run rates high to meet summer travel demand and capitalize on strengthening export margins, said Reuters.

Total refinery throughput was a record 64.69 million metric tons last month, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed, up 19.6% from a year ago, the fastest annual growth since March 2021.

That is the equivalent of 15.23 million barrels per day (bpd), also a record on a daily basis and up from the 12.64 million bpd processed a year earlier when extensive refiners to cut runs. August throughput was also up from July's 14.87 million bpd. Year-to-date throughput gained 11.9% from a year earlier to 491.4 million tons, or 14.76 million bpd.

Domestic demand for gasoline and kerosene over the August vacation season was a key driver of domestic fuel consumption, with travel levels likely to be have been further boosted by "revenge travel" after the pandemic, analysts said ahead of the data.

China's aviation regulator said on Friday that air passenger numbers in August nearly doubled from a year earlier, reaching a historical high of 63.96 million.

Additionally, refiners have been incentivized by additional government fuel export quotas to maintain higher runs to ship fuel overseas and cash-in on stronger profit margins from processing crude amid tighter regional supplies of diesel fuel.

Data from China's customs administration last week showed overall refined fuel exports continued to grow last month, rising 11% from the previous month and 23.3% year-on-year to 5.89 million tons.

Regional refining margins improved last month, averaging $12.60 per barrel versus around $6.60 per barrel in July. The NBS data on Friday also showed China's domestic crude oil production in August gained 3.1% from a year earlier to 17.47 million metric tons, or 4.11 million bpd. The year-to-date volume rose 2.1% from a year earlier to 139.85 million tons, or 4.2 million bpd.

Natural gas production last month rose 6.3% from a year earlier to 18.1 billion cubic meters (bcm), the NBS said.

We remind, Russia is shipping its first crude oil cargo to Brazil, as it seeks to diversify its list of buyers, which has been drastically limited by U.S. and EU sanctions. Russia has been heavily relying on India and China as main buyers of its crude after European embargo and price cap policies were imposed in December last year after Russia's action in Ukraine that Moscow calls a special military operation.

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