Refinery and petrochemicals news: 15 July 2015

China

Tianjin Port Holdings has reportedly found no evidence of an alleged fraud that was reported to have involved petrochemicals by the media earlier this month. The fraud was originally reported by Reuters and involved mixed aromatics. The port has said that checks have been made on the companies allegedly involved and no evidence has been found.

Nigeria

The Niger Delta Joint Task Force (JTF) has announced the destruction of 110 illegal refineries over the last seven months due to operations in the Rivers State. It has been reported that the illegal refineries were discovered and dismantled in Soku, Akuku-Toru local government Area of Rivers State. The success has been attributed to Swamp Buggies which crush metal storage tanks and leave them completely useless for future illegal sites.

Oman

ORPIC has awarded five licensor contracts which are reportedly worth US$ 80 million for the US$ 3.6 billion Liwa Plastic Project. The contracts are for a selection of LPP units, including, NGL Extraction, PyGas Hydrogenation, MTBE, polypropylene and polyethylene. The LPP is a steam cracker project that will process light ends produced in ORPIC’s Sohar refinery and the aromatics plant as well as NGLS from currently available natural gas supplies.

Philippines

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), manufacturing employees who work in the refined petroleum products industry received the highest average pay in 2012. The PSA has said that companies in the industry paid employees P 1.9 million /y on average. The figures are based on the preliminary results of the 2012 Census of Philippine Business and Industry.

UK

Bosses at the Essar Oil owned Stanlow refinery have announced that the voluntary redundancy packages are open to all of the 1000 employees at the facility. It has been reported that the package being offered is £ 30 000 but this has not been confirmed, but the official figure is confirmed to be a fixed, non-negotiable, sum.

USA

Regulators in North Dakota have approved a US$ 7.9 million pipeline to secure crude for a diesel refinery that is being built near Dickinson. The pipeline was unanimously approved and will pass through three counties before it reaches the refinery. Construction is expected to cost US$ 300 million.

It has been reported that a badly damaged heater is the cause of an unexpected shutdown at the Motiva Enterprises owned Port Arthur refinery, Texas. The heater is part of the 600 000 bpd facility’s newly commissioned 325 000 bpd crude distillation unit. The new, joint venture, unit was started in April and is part of a five year, US$ 10 billion project to make the refinery the biggest in the US.

Edited from various sources by Claira Lloyd

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/gas-processing/15072014/oil_petchem_15_july_news/