CPChem, QatarEnergy finalize financing on Ras Laffan, Qatar, petrochemicals project

Ras Laffan Petrochemicals, a joint venture company owned 30% by Chevron Phillips Chemical and 70% by QatarEnergy, announced that it has secured USD4.4 billion to finance an integrated polymers facility to be located in Ras Laffan Industrial City, Qatar, said the company.

The project financing comprises commercial and Islamic lenders and a group of export credit agencies. “CPChem very much appreciates the support of the export credit agencies and financial institutions that are participating in the financing of this project,” said Darren Ercolani, CPChem Senior Vice President, Finance, and Chief Financial Officer. “This financing helps support CPChem’s growth strategy and our productive collaboration with QatarEnergy.”

Finalizing the financing is a key milestone in the development of the 435-acre petrochemical project, which will include the largest ethane cracker in the Middle East and one of the largest in the world. The facility will have a capacity of 2.1 million metric tons per year of ethylene and will also include two high-density polyethylene derivative units with a total annual capacity of 1.7 million metric tons.

The polyethylene units will use CPChem’s MarTech™ loop slurry process to produce high-density polyethylene for durable goods like pipe for natural gas and water delivery and packaging applications to protect and preserve food and keep medical supplies sterile.

CPChem and QatarEnergy reached positive final investment decision for the Ras Laffan Petrochemicals project in January 2023, and startup of the facility is expected in late 2026.

The two companies also are constructing a joint venture integrated polymers facility on the Texas Gulf Coast, which is expected to be operational in 2026.

We remind, Chevron Phillips Chemical, Technip Energies and LyondellBasell are collaborating on the design, construction and operation of a demonstration unit for Technip Energies’ electric steam cracking furnace technology, designed to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the olefins production process.

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On 1 October 2023, England took a significant step in its fight against plastic pollution with the introduction of new regulations banning several single-use plastic items, said Packaging-gateway.

In a bid to address the escalating problem of plastic pollution and litter, the UK government has implemented a series of bans and restrictions on single-use plastic items, taking effect on Sunday 1 October 2023.

These measures, announced in January, will prohibit the sale of single-use plastic cutlery, balloon sticks, polystyrene cups and food containers across various sectors, including retailers, takeaways, food vendors and the hospitality industry.

Restrictions will also be placed on the supply of single-use plastic plates, trays and bowls.

We remind, Repsol and Signode have developed a ready-to-use strap for high tenacity applications made of a polypropylene (PP) compound with 30% recycled content. The Spanish petrochemical and the U.S.-based transit-packaging provider claim the solution is a market first.

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MRC -- The Southeast Asia chapter of Prevented Ocean Plastic has inaugurated a new collection centre in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, said Sustainableplastics.

The new site has a processing capacity of up to 110 tons of plastic waste per month and will employ around 30 people.

The Prevented Ocean Plastic programme is a global recycling initiative which sees discarded plastic bottles being picked up by plastic collectors from areas at risk of ocean plastic pollution, who take them to local collection centres for payment. At these centres, the bottles are sorted and pressed for transport to plastic recycling factories, where the plastic is washed, sanitised, and processed into raw material flakes or pellets, all according to European and North American quality standards.

The facility in North Jakarta was financed by Singapore-based investment management firm Circulate Capital. “We have been addressing the problem of ocean plastic pollution for a long time,” said Daniel Lawrence, director of the Southeast Asia chapter of Prevented Ocean Plastics. “Our continued partnership with Circulate Capital allows us to scale that further by building more collection centres in the areas that need it. As a result of their investment, we have been able to expand our areas of coverage, provide more income opportunities for collectors, and increase the amount of recycled material available for businesses to bring into their supply chain.”

To date, the Prevented Ocean Plastic programme has diverted almost two billion bottles from reaching the ocean. It has grown into an award-winning initiative that works in partnership with global brands ranging from Lidl to Patagonia. The project collaborates with several plastics manufacturing partners including Groupe Guillin, Spectra Packaging, and Berry Global.

This June, Bantam Materials UK, the supplier of Prevented Ocean Plastic in Europe, announced plans to open 25 new plastic waste collection centres around the world by 2025. The centres will be opened in regions that have historically lacked recycling infrastructure to deal with their plastic waste, including Southeast Asia, South America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Mediterranean. Twenty centres will be high-capacity collection centres capable of processing 100 tonnes of discarded plastic waste per month, and five will be bigger ‘aggregation centres’ able to process up to 500 tonnes per month. By 2025, Prevented Ocean Plastic expects to be collecting 54,000 tonnes of plastic waste per year across the 25 new centres.

We remind, Borouge, a leading petrochemical company that provides innovative and differentiated polyolefin solutions and Tadweer signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore opportunities in the management and adoption of best practices in waste management, sorting and mechanical recycling of polymers.

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Repsol and Signode have developed a ready-to-use strap for high tenacity applications made of a polypropylene (PP) compound with 30% recycled content, said Sustainableplastics.

The Spanish petrochemical and the U.S.-based transit-packaging provider claim the solution is a market first.

The compound is part of Repsol’s Reciclex portfolio. It is manufactured using mechanically recycled post-consumer domestic plastic waste, reportedly improving the product’s carbon footprint by 9%. Earlier this year, Repsol invested €26 million in the installation of a new Reciclex production line at its Puertollano Industrial Complex in Spain.

“Incorporating recycled material into this polypropylene formulation to manufacture strapping has posed a challenge for both companies due to the high consistency and toughness required for the final application,” Repsol said in a statement. Nevertheless, the partners claim that new high tenacity strap has properties similar to those made with virgin raw materials.

The strap is used in logistics and industrial packaging to unite the load and guarantee its safety and integrity during transport. Signode hopes the replacement of virgin with recycled content will help its clients fulfil their sustainability goals.

The new product, alongside Repsol’s Reciclex portfolio, is in line with recent European and Spanish regulations, which are aimed at achieving a recycled content target of 30% for plastic packaging by 2030.

We remind, Repsol has licensed Honeywell Ecofining technology to produce renewable fuels from feedstocks such as used cooking oil and waste animal fat at Repsol’s facility in Puertollano, Spain. Repsol is designing this plant to convert approximately 240 thousand metric tons per annum (KMTA) of waste feeds/feedstocks to renewable diesel and other products.

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Fluor Corporation announced that it has been awarded a contract for front-end engineering and design (FEED) and procurement services by Cormorant Clean Energy, LLC -- a subsidiary of 8 Rivers Capital, LLC -- for the construction of a low-carbon blue ammonia production facility, said the company.

The contract will be recognized in the third quarter of 2023. Once constructed, the facility will be the first commercial-scale application of 8 Rivers' 8RH2 ultra-low-carbon hydrogen production technology. The hydrogen produced will be converted into ammonia that can be easily stored and transported until it is 'cracked' back into hydrogen after reaching its end user. The facility's ammonia will be considered 'blue' because more than 99% of the carbon dioxide generated will be captured as part of the process.

"Breakthrough hydrogen technologies are critical to addressing the global demand for ultra-low-carbon hydrogen and the production of hydrogen derivatives such as ammonia, methanol and sustainable aviation fuels," said Jim Breuer, group president of Fluor's Energy Solutions business segment. "We thank 8 Rivers and Cormorant Clean Energy for trusting Fluor to help reach their decarbonization goals."

Fluor will be responsible for FEED services of the entire facility including process units; utilities and offsites; buildings and roads. The project includes multiple licensed technology units which Fluor will develop deliverables for using process design packages from the licensors.

We remind, Fluor Corporation announced that its Advanced Technologies & Life Sciences business was selected by Agilent Technologies, Inc., to expand its oligonucleotide therapeutics manufacturing facility in Frederick, Colorado, just north of Denver. Fluor is supporting engineering and procurement as part of the project. The total project value is USD725 million.

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