Refining, Petrochemicals, Gas Processing, Biofuels
ExxonMobil planning hydrogen production, carbon capture and storage at Baytown complex
ExxonMobil said today it is planning a hydrogen production plant and one of the world’s largest carbon capture and storage projects at its integrated refining and petrochemical site at Baytown, Texas, supporting efforts to reduce emissions from company operations and local industry.
Shell intends to exit equity partnerships held with Gazprom entities
The Board of Shell plc (“Shell”) today announced its intention to exit its joint ventures with Gazprom and related entities, including its 27.5 percent stake in the Sakhalin-II liquefied natural gas facility, its 50 percent stake in the Salym Petroleum Development and the Gydan energy venture. Shell also intends to end its involvement in the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project.
Borouge Successfully Starts Up its Fifth Polyproplyene Unit in Ruwais, Boosting Annual Polyolefin Capacity to Meet Growing Global Demand
Borouge, a joint venture between ADNOC and Borealis that provides innovative, value creating polyolefin solutions, has announced the successful start-up of its new fifth polypropylene unit (PP5) in Ruwais. The new unit will contribute to boosting the UAE’s production of polypropylene to meet the growing global demand for manufactured products in the recyclable advanced packaging, infrastructure and other industrial sectors.
Lummus Technology to Add CDAlky Technology to Large Complex in China
Lummus Technology of Texas recently announced that it has been contracted by the Shandong Yulong Petrochemical Co., Ltd, a subsidiary of China’s Nanshan Group, for the provision of their proprietary CDAlky technology in an upcoming alkylation unit. This 400 KTA alkylation unit will be part of the significant Shandong Yulong Refining and Petrochemical integrated Complex under development in the Shandong Province of China.
USA BioEnergy to Construct Biorefinery in Texas
USA BioEnergy of Arizona recently announced that its subsidiary, Texas Renewable Fuels, is indeed developing a new biorefinery to located in the unincorporated area of Bon Weir, Texas. This announcement was made with Texas Governor Greg Abbott for this project.
Technip Energies Wins EPCC Contract with Petronas
Technip Energies has recently been awarded an engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCC) contract by PETRONAS Chemicals Fertilizer Kedah (PC FK), a subsidiary of PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad for the company’s upcoming melamine plant to be integrated into their existing complex in Gurun, Kedah, Malaysia. Dialog E&C of Malaysia is also part of this contract with Technip Energies.
Samsung Engineering Signs on for EP Duties at the Baltic Chemical Complex
Samsung Engineering of South Korea recently announced that it had signed a I billion Euro contract with China National Chemical Engineering & Construction Corporation Seven (CC7) for the engineering and procurement needs at a developing ethane cracker in Ust-Luga. This cracker project is part of the significant Baltic Chemical Complex at the Gulf of Finland near the Ust-Luga seaport.
BPCL Cancels Polyols Project in Kochi
The Bharat Petroleum Corporation of India (BPCL) recently decided to cease the development of its polyols petrochemical project in Kochi, India and instead focus on a new development of polypropylene production at the site. Cost overruns for the polyols project were cited as reasons for the change in direction.
Maire Tecnimont Wins EPC Contract for Rosneft VGO Project
Maire Tecnimont recently announced that its subsidiaries Tecnimont S.p.A and MT Russia LLC have signed onto an EPC contract for the upcoming Vacuum Gas Oil (VGO) Hydrocracking Complex at the Rosneft owned Ryazan Refining Company site in Russia. This €1.1 billion contract follows the prior agreement signed by Maire Tecnimont and Rosneft and announced in October 2021.
Large Nigerian Refinery Due Online by End of 2022
The 650,000 barrel per day Dangote refinery in Nigeria is currently going through test runs for a full startup in the second half of 2022, according to Dangote company officials. Precommissioning for some production units began late last year.
Gulf Coast Growth Ventures Petrochemical Project in Texas Starts Up
ExxonMobil and SABIC have jointly announced that their Gulf Coast Growth Ventures (GCGV) project in San Patricio County, Texas has begun its operations. The ownership interests in this petrochemical complex are evenly divided between the two companies, with ExxonMobil serving as site operator.
LyondellBasell Wins Licensing Agreement for Indonesian Petrochemical Plant
LyondellBasell of the Netherlands recently announced that it will provide its Spheripol processing technology for PT Polytama Propindo’s upcoming expansion of polypropylene production at their existing site in Indonesia.
Haldor Topsoe to support Indaba Renewable Fuels’ production of SAF
Indaba Renewable Fuels (Indaba) will build two greenfield refineries in California and Missouri to produce Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) utilizing Topsoe’s HydroFlex technology. The facilities are expected to begin production of SAF in 2024 and will have a capacity of 6,500 bpd at each location.
PT Pertamina’s Balikpapan RDMP Continues Strong Progress
PT Pertamina of Indonesia recently updated the status of its upcoming Balikpapan Refinery Development Master Plan (RDMP) in Balikpapan, Indonesia as being on track to begin operations in 2024.
Indonesia’s LINE Project Assigns EPC Duties
LOTTE Chemical recently announced that its subsidiary, PT LOTTE Chemical Indonesia that it will be assigning engineering, procurement, and construction contracts for the company’s upcoming $3.95 billion dollar Lotte Chemical Indonesia New Ethylene (“LINE”) petrochemical project in Merak, Cilegon, Banten Province, Indonesia.
Irkutsk Petrochemical Projects in Siberia to be Financed by JBIC
In late December 2021, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) announced a buyer’s credit agreement worth approximately $522 million USD, which was co-financed by the Japanese arms of Deutsche Bank, Société Générale and Goldman Sachs Realty, which brought total funding for two upcoming petrochemical projects spearheaded by Irkutsk Oil up to $871 million dollars.
DL E&C of Korea Signs on for Work at Ust-Luga Gas Chemical Complex
According to a recent regulatory filing, DL E&C has been contracted by RusGazDobycha for the purpose of providing design and equipment procurement services for the upcoming Baltic Gas Chemical Complex portion of the massive gas processing, liquefaction, and chemical production complex under development in Russia’s Ust-Luga area.
Hyundai Engineering Signs on for FEED duties at Indonesian Petrochemical Project
Hyundai Engineering of South Korea announced recently that it has won a contract with PT Pertamina to provide front end engineering design (FEED) services for the state-run company’s TPPI Olefin project in Tuban, Indonesia.
Chevron Phillips Chemical Plans New Propylene Unit in Texas
Chevron Phillips Chemical has announced that it will expand upon its propylene business in the Gulf Coast with the addition of a new C3 splitter unit. This new unit will be located in Baytown, Texas at the company’s existing Cedar Bayou complex.
Refinery Developments Rebound in 2021
2021 brought an anticipated rebound in oil demand as driving activity increased throughout the year and lockdowns from the pandemic eased, along with the seasonal demands for heating as things returned to some level of normalcy in many ways. The resiliency of the industry was tested early this past February when the state of Texas encountered a series of winter storms that put a third of U.S. refining capacity offline for a short time. This event could have been viewed as a harbinger of continuing difficulties for the industry, following the events of 2020 that had already seen approximately 2.3 million barrels per day of refining capacity shut in. Despite this, countries around the world pushed projects forward in different ways and in varying sizes in the face of the emerging energy transition and from potential overcapacity in some regions.
Oriental Energy Starts Up Twin PP Lines in Ningbo, China
Oriental Energy of China has begun operations of two 400,000 tons per year polypropylene (PP) lines at its site in Ningbo, China. W.R. Grace & Co. provided its proprietary UNIPOL technology for these two production lines.
Amur Gas Chemical Complex Secures $9.1 billion to Push Project Forward
Sibur of Russia announced recently that it has secured $9.1 billion USD in loans for the upcoming Amur Gas Chemical Complex under development in Russia. Sibur is co-owner of the plant with Sinopec of China. International banks will provide $2.6 billion of the $9.1 billion figure, while Russian and Chinese banks will issue the remaining $6.5 billion.
ADNOC and RIL Partner on Ruwais Petrochemical Facility
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) recently announced that through its investment platform with ADQ named TA’ZIZ, it has signed an agreement with Reliance Industries Limited of India for a new world-scale chlor-alkali, ethylene dichloride and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) production facility at the TA’ZIZ Industrial Zone in Ruwais, Abu Dhabi. Reliance has stated that this facility will require an investment of $2 billion USD.
Oriental Energy Chooses Grace for UNIPOL Polypropylene Technology
W.R. Grace of Maryland recently announced that it has licensed its UNIPOL polypropylene process technology to Oriental Energy of China for an upcoming polypropylene plant. This would be the fourth polypropylene plant in recent years that Oriental Energy has utilized Grace’s proprietary UNIPOL technology for its output.
Borouge 4 plant adds Maire Tecnimont and Technip Energies for EPC duties
The upcoming Borouge 4 project in Ruwais has signed separate engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts with Maire Tecnimont of Italy and Technip Energies of France in early December 2021. The $6.2 billion dollar Borouge 4 expansion phase at the Ruwais polyolefins complex in Ruwais, UAE is currently due to be completed by 2025.
St. Croix Energy Wins Bid for Troubled Limetree Bay Refinery
St. Croix Energy LLP announced that it won the recent auction for the shuttered Limetree Bay refinery in the U.S. Virgin Islands for a reported $20 million. The company hopes to restart operations at the long-troubled refinery.
Come By Chance Refinery to Convert to Biofuel Refining by mid-2022
The long running Come by Chance refinery in Newfoundland will indeed be converting over to biofuel operations by the middle part of next year, according to Cresta Fund Management. This U.S. based private equity firm purchased a majority share of the refinery in mid-2021 for this purpose.
SOCAR Makes FID Push for Petrochemical Plant in Turkey
The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) is working towards a final decision around the construction of the Mercury petrochemical complex in the Aliaga district of Izmir, Turkey. This expectation comes as many projects that had been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic effect are seeing new movement, and this previously delayed project is having new urgency attached to it.
Air Liquide and BASF welcome support from European Innovation Fund for joint CCS project
Air Liquide and BASF are planning to develop the world’s largest cross-border Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) value chain. The goal is to significantly reduce CO2 emissions at the industrial cluster in the port of Antwerp. The joint project “Kairos@C” has been selected for funding by the European Commission through its Innovation Fund, as one of the seven large-scale projects out of more than 300 applications.
Arbor Renewable Gas Picks Beaumont for Renewable Plant Location
Arbor Renewable Gas of Houston, Texas recently announced that it has decided upon a 53-acre site in Beaumont, Texas to be the location of the company’s initial renewable gasoline plant.
