World news

Canada | Air Products unveils plan for hydrogen complex

Air Products and its subsidiary Air Products Canada Ltd, in conjunction with the Government of Canada and the Province of Alberta, have announced a plan to build a landmark new net-zero hydrogen energy complex in Edmonton, Alberta.

Air Products began work in 2018 on the core of this world-scale energy complex, which will begin with a transformative CA$1.3 billion net-zero hydrogen production and liquefaction facility expected onstream in 2024.

The new facility will capture over 95% of the carbon dioxide (CO2) from the feedstock natural gas and store it safely back underground. Hydrogen-fuelled electricity will offset the remaining 5% of emissions.

The clean energy complex will help refi ning and petrochemical customers served by the Air Products Heartland Hydrogen Pipeline to reduce their carbon intensity. The complex also marks a fi rst in the wider use of hydrogen in Alberta, enabling the production of liquid hydrogen to be an emissions-free fuel in the transportation sector, and to generate clean electricity.

Poland | PKN ORLEN to invest in olefins complex expansion

PKN ORLEN is investing in the expansion of the olefi ns complex at the Plock Production Plant in Poland.

It is the key project in the strategic Petrochemical Development Programme and the largest petrochemical investment project in Europe in the last 20 years. The Olefi ns III Complex will be built using state-of-the-art technology to ensure greater energy effi ciency, including a 30% reduction in CO2 emissions per t of product.

The project is scheduled for completion in 1Q24, and production is set to launch in early 2025. The olefi ns complex will cover an area of almost 100 ha.

The expansion is part of the ORLEN2030 strategy, which assumes that PKN ORLEN will achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. The company aims to reduce carbon emissions from its existing refi nery and petrochemical assets by 20% and cut down carbon emissions per megawatt-hour of electricity by 33% by 2030.

China | Vopak awarded contract for industrial terminal

Huizhou QuanMei Petrochemical Terminal Co. Ltd has awarded Vopak a contract for storage and services of a liquid products terminal in China.

The planned terminal would be constructed and operated as part of ExxonMobil’s proposed Huizhou chemical complex project.

The contract award is subject to customary conditions, including closing of the transaction and obtaining regulatory approvals, whereby Vopak obtains an ownership interest in the terminal.

This greenfi eld industrial terminal, located in Guangdong province, will serve a world-scale fl exible feed steam cracker project to be constructed and operated by ExxonMobil (Huizhou) Chemical Co. Ltd (EMHCC). The project, which remains subject to fi nal investment decision, is situated in Dayawan Petrochemical Industrial Park, which is one of the seven national petrochemical bases in China.

Vopak will have ownership of 30% of the 560 000 m3 terminal, including the pipelines to connect the terminal to the jetty and EMHCC plant. Vopak will also provide services for the terminal and jetty through a separate wholly-owned Vopak entity.

France | Axens and Sulzer Chemtech deliver advanced FCC naphtha processing solution

Axens and Sulzer Chemtech (GTC Technology) have announced that they have formed an alliance to license an advanced process for fl uid catalytic cracking (FCC) naphtha processing.

The companies have said that the combined offering is based on Axens’ Prime-G+® hydrodesulfurisation technology and Sulzer Chemtech’s GT-BTX PluS® extraction technology.

The combined solution can reduce octane loss to a very low level for the gasoline pool. The technology is especially important in countries that are upgrading fuel specifi cations to meet environmental requirements, and it can be applied in new, or retrofi ts of existing units in operation to maximise profi t.

It also provides refi ners the option of converting FCC gasoline into petrochemical products – BTX and additional propylene – and obtaining additional margin in regions where gasoline demand is not suffi cient.

WORLD NEWS

DIARY DATES Canada | Worley wins services contract at Burnaby refinery

31 August - 2 September 2021

23rd Annual Aboveground Storage Tank Conference & Trade Show

Orlando, Florida, USA www.NISTM.org

21 - 23 September 2021

Gastech

Dubai, UAE gastechevent.com

21 - 23 September 2021

Global Energy Show

Calgary, Alberta, Canada globalenergyshow.com

26 - 29 September 2021

GPA Midstream Convention

San Antonio, Texas, USA www.gpamidstreamconvention.org

04 - 06 October 2021

ILTA International Operating Conference & Trade Show

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 Worley has secured a services contract with Parkland Refi ning (B.C.) Ltd for its strategic projects at the Burnaby refi nery in British Columbia, Canada.

Under the contract, Worley will provide consulting, engineering, procurement, construction management and commissioning services to support the strategic projects at the Burnaby refi nery. This is in addition to the existing relationship supporting sustaining capital work at the facility.

The services will be led by Worley’s Calgary offi ce with support from Advisian, Comprimo®, Worley’s North American offi ces and Worley’s Global Integrated Delivery team.

The term of the contract is fi ve years.

USA | EIA: growing global production limits crude oil price increases

In its June ‘Short-Term Energy Outlook’ (STEO), the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts that rising global production of petroleum and other liquid fuels (driven by OPEC, Russia, and the US) will limit price increases for global crude oil benchmarks Brent and West Texas Intermediate (WTI).

The EIA forecasts production will increase more rapidly than consumption, ending the large global stock draws seen in the fi rst two quarters of 2021 and limiting upward crude oil price movement.

Higher crude oil prices and planned OPEC+ production increases contribute to the forecast that global petroleum supply will increase over the next several months, resulting in an essentially balanced market in 2H21. The EIA expects petroleum inventories to build in 2022 as production outpaces consumption.

Based on this global supply and demand forecast, the EIA expects the Brent crude oil price will average US$68/bbl in 3Q21. The price is then expected to fall to US$64/bbl in 4Q21 and decline further to average US$60/bbl in 2022.

India | McDermott wins EPCC contracts

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

McDermott International Ltd has received two separate engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCC) contract awards from Indian Oil Corp. Ltd (IOCL) for the Haldia Refi nery and the Barauni Refi nery.

The fi rst award is an EPCC contract for a new diesel hydrotreating unit and associated facilities for the Barauni Refi nery Expansion Project in Bihar. The second award is an EPCC contract for the catalytic dewaxing unit and associated facilities at the Haldia Refi nery in West Bengal.

The catalytic dewaxing unit will help produce base oil, which can be utilised in fi nished lubricants.

India is the world’s third-largest user of fi nished lubricants but is also, with a defi cit of base oil, one of the world’s largest importers of base oil.

Both projects contribute to greater independence for India’s domestic energy needs.