Iraq reopens North Refinery in Baiji closed for a decade

On Friday, Iraq reopened its North Refinery in Baiji that was shut for a decade during the violence and chaos that followed the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, which made it nearly impossible to run one of the country's most vital energy complexes, said Reuters.

The fall of Saddam Hussein was meant to bring stability and prosperity to major OPEC oil producer Iraq after years of economic mismanagement and military misadventures brought the country to its knees.

Instead, Iraqis suffered from an insurgency, a sectarian civil war and then the advent of Al Qaeda and later Islamic state that killed tens of thousands of people. The Baiji refinery complex was a high-profile victim of the chaos, a focal point for fighting between security forces and militants for months on end.

Al Qaeda had enough control over the Baiji area that it was able to intimidate refinery workers and hijack its refined products. It sold the products to neighboring countries and used the profits to finance its insurgency. The refinery was shut in 2014 when Islamic State fighters seized it after taking over one third of the country's territory. Islamic State stole oil and petroleum products from areas it controlled in an effort to create a self-sustaining Islamic empire.

It has a refining capacity of 150,000 bpd after reopening, which would bring the total capacity of the Baiji refining complex to 290,000 bpd. Iraq aims to reach self-sufficiency in oil derivatives by mid-next year, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said in the reopening ceremony.

We remind, Oil major Shell has withdrawn from talks on building a petrochemicals plant in the southern oil hub of Basra. Shell in a separate statement confirmed it was leaving the project. A statement from Iraq's oil ministry said Shell would not continue discussions with the Ministry of Industry and Minerals and the Ministry of Oil regarding its role as "a major investor" in the Nebras Petrochemical Project, although it affirmed its continued support for the project through its partnership with Basra Gas Company.

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INEOS Automotive and BASF’s Coatings division have signed an agreement on a global automotive refinish body and paint development, said the company.

The partners will commit to a long-term strategic collaboration that enables them to exceed the industry standard in vehicle body repair and paint refinish. The partnership includes the supply of sustainable refinish solutions, expertise and latest digital color-matching solutions and training.

“We are very happy to partner with BASF to develop a world-class sustainable paint program in the next few years which follows the highest quality standards in paint-work repairs for premium vehicles,” said Steve Graham, Global Head of Aftersales, INEOS Automotive. “With BASF’s technical support and management experience in the latest body shop standards, the INEOS Automotive network can now rely on a partner that shares our commitment to excellence in customer service.”

BASF will ensure that the most sustainable and efficient refinish practices are maintained at the highest level to the INEOS body shop network in Europe, North America, and Asia Pacific.

We remind, BASF Group reported sales of €68.9 billion in the 2023 business year, compared with €87.3 billion in the previous year. This sales development was mainly driven by considerably lower prices and volumes.

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TotalEnergies' 238,000-bpd refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, is operating at minimal production as it contends with multiple upsets on Wednesday, people familiar with plant operations said Reuters.

The refinery has been struggling to complete a restart following a Jan. 16 plant-wide power outage after temperatures fell below 20°F (–6°C).

On Wednesday, the company reported multiple upsets in heaters for the refinery's 150,000-bpd ACU-1 and 40,000-bpd ACU-2 crude distillation units (CDUs) along with the 51,000-bpd and 60,000-bpd vacuum distillation units (VDUs), as well as the 60,000-bpd DCU-2 coker, were affected by the Wednesday malfunction, according to the TCEQ filing.

CDUs break down crude oil into feedstocks for all other units, while VDUs further refine gunky residual crude oil from CDUs into feedstocks for other units. The coker finishes the refining of crude oil by converting residual crude from the VDU into motor fuel feedstocks or petroleum coke.

The refinery's 76,000-bpd fluidic catalytic cracker-2 was also in operation, according to the sources.

We remind, TotalEnergies and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) have signed a cooperation agreement to carry out methane emissions detection and measurement campaigns using TotalEnergies' pioneer AUSEA (Airborne Ultralight Spectrometer for Environmental Applications) technology.

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Axens’ designed 3.2-MMtpy ebullated-bed residue hydrocracking (H-Oil®) unit, 3.5-MMtpy distillates hydrocracking (HyKTM) unit and naphtha hydrotreating (NHT) unit were successfully started at Shenghong Refining & Chemical (Lianyungang) Co. Ltd’s crude to paraxylene complex in China’s province of Jiangsu, said Hydrocrbonprocessing.

These single train units aim at maximizing naphtha production as well as improve the coker’s feed quality while processing steam cracker pyoil, diesel, vacuum gas oil, coker gas oil and vacuum residue as feedstocks within this integrated complex.

In 2019, Shenghong selected Axens to provide the residue hydrocracking/HCK/NHT solutions for boosting naphtha production from their integrated refinery and petrochemical complex at Lianyungang City. As part of these solutions, Axens delivered the complete process design package, high-performance catalysts, proprietary reactor internals, specialized design of spiral tube heat exchangers (ZPJE), and full technical services from plant personnel training to plant start-up.

"We are very pleased with the smooth and successful startup of the H-Oil®, HyKTM and, NHT units at Shenghong integrated complex. We are extremely grateful to Shenghong for their collaborative approach and exceptional support provided during the design, commissioning and startup phases. This is a perfect demonstration of synergy between SRCC’s good operating practices, Axens’ energy efficient technologies and advanced catalyst solutions," said Jacques Rault, Executive Vice President, Technology and Technical Support, Axens.

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Lummus Technology, a global provider of process technologies and value-driven energy solutions, announced a contract award from Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co. Ltd. to provide eight proprietary Short Residence Time (SRT®) ethylene cracking heaters at SATORP's Amiral petrochemical complex in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

"Licensing multiple technologies and supplying the cracking heaters for the Amiral project underscores Lummus' ability to integrate technology, proprietary equipment and lifecycle services during customers' capital investment and operation cycles," said Rutger Theunissen, Chief Business Officer of Services and Supplies, Lummus Technology. "Our heaters deliver high reliability, long run lengths and high on-stream factors. These factors — combined with Lummus' best-in-class technologies — will enhance and optimize SATORP's operations well into the future."

The Amiral integrated refinery and petrochemical complex is operated by SATORP, a joint venture between Saudi Aramco and TotalEnergies. SATORP has licensed multiple Lummus technologies at this complex including its ethylene, refinery off-gas recovery and treating, pygas hydrotreating, methyl tertiary butyl ether, isobutylene, butene and butadiene extraction technologies.

For more than 75 years, the Lummus Heat Transfer business has supplied heat transfer equipment and systems to the process and power industries. Specializing in heat transfer solutions and systems for critical process environments, Lummus has produced industry-leading technology for fired heaters including the SRT® pyrolysis furnace, and heat exchangers including the Helixchanger™ heat exchanger, LABLEX™ and Polaris™ advanced breech-lock exchanger.

We remind, Lummus Technology, a global provider of process technologies and value-driven energy solutions, announced an integrated technology award from BAYEGAN. BAYEGAN will license Lummus' CATOFIN technology for a new 450 KTA propane dehydrogenation unit and Lummus' Novolen technology for a new 450 KTA polypropylene unit. The units will be located at BAYEGAN's complex in the Hatay Province of Turkiye and will be Lummus' first integrated PDH and PP complex in the country.

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