Global refining and petrochemicals news: 8 January 2015

Brazil

Output from the Petrobras owned REPAR refinery has been heavily slashed following a malfunction that has forced the catalytic cracking unit offline for two weeks. The unit was shut on 21 December 2014 but came back on line on 3 January 2015. The shutdown is expected to have, in total, cut processing capacity by as much as half and gasoline output has been cut by a third.

China

GTC Technology and Shandong Sincier Chemical Group have signed an agreement. Under it, GTC will provide GT-TolAlk technology to the toluene alkylation unit that is being built at the new Dongying, Shandgong Province refinery. This will be the first unit of its kind in the world and will play a central role in the construction of the 5 million tpy facility.

India

Reports have said that Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd. is going to reopen its facility after lenders agreed to push fresh funds into the company, despite its past losses. The financial investment from institutions follows the decision by Purnendu Chatterjee, Chariman of Then Chatterjee Group to invest Rs100 crore in to the facility.

Iran

Exports of petrochemicals from Iran to Europe have reported to have resumed. A shipment of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) has been sent to Belgium after the trade sanctions on Iran were lifted. JAM Petrochemical Company, based in Tehran have made the shipment of 2000 t.

Kazakhstan

It has been reported that the Development Bank of Kazakhstan is going to finance the modernisation of the Pavlodar oil refinery. The turnkey contract is expected to cost over US$1.2 billion and will be majority financed by club deal loans from banks in Japan. DBK will provide approximately 25% of the total cost in the form of credit for a 10 year period.

USA

In the next year HollyFrontier is expecting to conclude over US$500 million in gasoline centric upgrades at three of its refineries. The company has said that in the second half of this year work will be concluded at its Tulsa, Oklahoma refinery and Woods Cross refinery in Utah. Work on the fractionation unit at the El Dorado refinery in Kansas is expected to end in the spring. The work will increase gasoline yield and quality for HollyFrontier as a whole.

Tesoro Corp is planning on closing a gasoline producing FCC unit when it merges its two Los Angeles refineries in early 2017. The refineries in Wilmington and Caron are currently operated as separate entities. The 36 000 bpd cat cracker at the Wilmington facility is most likely to be closed.

US Virgin Islands

It has been reported that following the US Virgin Islands’ government decision to not sell the HOVENSA refinery due to fear of exposure to litigation, the plant’s owners are now seeking to sue the government for US$236 million in compensation. A subsidiary of PDVSA and a subsidiary of Hess Corporation jointly own the facility.

Sources: Argus, HP, The Times of Central Asia, Reuters, The BVI Beacon, European Plastics News, Business Standard.

Edited from various sources by Claira Lloyd

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