7 minute read
World news
USA | Linde starts up new liquid hydrogen plant
Linde has announced that it has started up its fi fth liquid hydrogen plant in the US, reinforcing the company’s robust supply network of plants in California, Alabama, Indiana and New York.
The new plant in La Porte, Texas, will supply over 30 tpd of high-purity liquid hydrogen to meet growing demand from Linde’s customers. The liquefi er takes hydrogen from Linde’s approximately 600 km US Gulf Coast pipeline, which has over 15 independent hydrogen production sources, giving it a reliable feed supply.
Linde will purify and liquefy the hydrogen before supplying it to end markets including material handling, mobility, aerospace, manufacturing, metals, energy and electronics.
The new plant aims to boost the reliability of Linde’s existing network, as well as make the supply chain more effi cient and increase availability to serve the rising demand for both conventional and clean hydrogen.
France | TotalEnergies partners with Technip Energies to advance low-carbon solutions
TotalEnergies and Technip Energies have signed a technical cooperation agreement to jointly develop low-carbon solutions for LNG production and offshore facilities to accelerate the energy transition.
As part of this agreement, both parties will explore new concepts and technologies in order to reduce the carbon footprint of existing facilities and greenfi eld projects in key areas, such as: LNG production, cryogeny, production and use of hydrogen for power generation, or processes for carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS).
The qualifi cation of new architectures and equipment that will be developed in these areas is also part of the agreement.
This partnership is based on a common belief that cooperation across the industry is needed to achieve energy transition goals. By partnering, Technip Energies and TotalEnergies rely on complementary expertise to decarbonise LNG plants and offshore facilities.
Russia | McDermott awarded engineering and procurement contract for GCC project
McDermott International Ltd has announced that it has been awarded an engineering and procurement contract for a spent caustic treatment solution on the Gas Chemical Complex (GCC) project from Heat Transfer Technologies DMCC (HTT).
The GCC project is owned by Baltic Chemical Plant LLC, a subsidiary of RusGazDobycha. It is one of the largest polyethylene integration projects in the world and is located near Russia’s shores in the Gulf of Finland.
McDermott’s scope includes license technology rights, basic design engineering package (BDEP), module detailed engineering design and full procurement of main equipment. The modularised solution for the spent caustic treatment solution will be an integral part of the GCC project and enable the project’s production of up to 3 million tpy of polyethylene.
This award follows McDermott’s successful completion of front end engineering design (FEED) and ongoing early works on the GCC project.
Albania | Excelerate Energy, Snam and Albgaz ink MoU
Excelerate Energy L.P., Snam S.p.A, and Albgaz Sh.a have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Tirana, Albania, to explore potential cooperation for the construction of a natural gas pipeline from the Albanian Vlora terminal to other natural gas infrastructure opportunities in Albania.
Under this MoU, Excelerate, Snam, and Albgaz will explore joint solutions, which could potentially supply underground gas storage in Albania, providing crucial energy security to the region.
Snam and Albgaz’s Albanian Gas Service Co. Sh.A, who maintain the gas transmission network in Albania, could potentially operate and maintain the future pipeline.
The MoU was signed at the Palace of Congresses in Tirana by representatives from each entity. The planning is expected to begin immediately with representatives from each company forming a coordination team.
WORLD NEWS
DIARY DATES China | Technip announces ethylene plant performance success
21 - 23 September 2021
Gastech
Dubai, UAE gastechevent.com
21 - 23 September 2021
Global Energy Show
Calgary, Canada globalenergyshow.com
21 - 23 September 2021
LARTC
Online worldrefi ningassociation.com/lartc
26 - 29 September 2021
GPA Midstream Convention
San Antonio, Texas, USA www.gpamidstreamconvention.org
04 - 06 October 2021
ILTA
Houston, Texas, USA ilta2021.ilta.org
05 - 07 October 2021
AFPM Summit
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA afpm.org/events
12 - 15 October 2021
Downstream USA
Houston, Texas, USA www.reutersevents.com/events/downstream
13 - 14 October 2021
Valve World Americas
Houston, Texas, USA www.valveworldexpoamericas.com Technip Energies has announced that the Bora LyondellBasell Petrochemical Co. Ltd’s 1000 tpy ethylene plant has reached performance guarantees.
Technip Energies provided the proprietary technology and process design for the liquid ethylene plant in Panjin, Liaoning Province, China.
The Bora facility utilises Technip Energies’ Ultra Selective Conversion (USC®) U-coil and W-coil ethylene technology, which combined produce high energy effi ciency and high yields, resulting in reduced CO2 emissions.
The plant successfully started up in the middle of 2020 to reach its designed capacity shortly after the start-up and performance guarantee were met. By passing all performance guarantees, it is meeting the feed and raw material consumption, production rate and product specifi cations and the specifi c energy consumption intended.
USA | EIA: refinery closures decreased US capacity during 2020
As a result of several US refi nery closures in 2020, US operable atmospheric crude oil distillation capacity, the primary measure of refi nery capacity in the US, dropped 4.5% to a total of 18.1 million bbl per calendar day (bcd) at the start of 2021, reports the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).
The end-of-year 2020 total is 0.8 million bcd less than the 19 million bcd of refi ning capacity at the start of 2020. According to the data in the EIA’s annual ‘Refi nery Capacity Report’, the beginning of 2021 marks the lowest annual capacity fi gure to start the year since 2015. Based on information reported to the EIA in its recent update, US refi ning capacity will not expand signifi cantly during 2021.
At the beginning of 2021, 129 refi neries were either operating or idle in the US (excluding US territories), down from 135 operable refi neries listed at the beginning of 2020.
The additional refi nery closures in the 2021 ‘Refi nery Capacity Report’ largely refl ect the impact of responses to COVID-19 on the US refi ning sector.
01 - 04 November 2021
Sulphur + Sulphuric Acid 2021
Online www.sulphurconference.com
05 - 09 December 2021
23rd World Petroleum Congress
Houston, Texas, USA 23wpchouston.com
To keep up with all the latest news on key industry events in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, visit hydrocarbonengineering.com/events
Canada | Shell proposes large-scale CCS facility in Alberta
Shell has announced a proposal to build a large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) project at its Scotford complex near Edmonton. This would be a key step in transforming Scotford into one of fi ve energy and chemicals parks for Shell around the world, providing customers with lower-carbon fuels and products into the future, such as hydrogen.
The proposed Polaris CCS project, would capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from the Shell-owned Scotford refi nery and chemicals plant. The initial phase is expected to start operations around the middle of the decade, subject to a fi nal investment decision by Shell, expected in 2023. Polaris would have storage capacity of approximately 300 million t of CO2 over the life of the project.
