Refineries in Asia-Pacific have been ramping up their run rates as demand in the region picks up.
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Indian Oil Corp, the country’s biggest state-owned refiner, has been running its nine refineries at an average run rate of around 90% in October, company officials said Oct. 26. In September, IOC recorded an 82% average run rate for its nine refineries compared with 83% a year ago month.
They said the higher runs were on account of an improvement in demand for transportation fuels, mainly gasoline and diesel, as the threat of a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic waned in Asia’s third-largest economy.
Separately, India’s average refinery run rate rebounded to 89% in September from a year-to-date low of 87% in August and 86% a year earlier, the oil ministry’s latest monthly survey showed, which analysts attributed to rising demand for transport fuels as pandemic movement restrictions eased.
Domestic demand for oil products rose 5.2% year on year to 15.92 million mt, or 4.2 million b/d, in September as India emerged from its second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, but edged up only 0.1% from August as unseasonal rain across many parts of the country hampered transportation, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas data showed.
The run rate of state-run refineries averaged 83% in September, stable from a year earlier and up from 82% in August.
IOC operated at an average of 82% across its nine stand-alone refineries in September, compared with 81% a year earlier and 83% in August, with one of its major refineries at Paradip undergoing maintenance.
India’s No. 2 refiner, Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd., operated at 102% in September, compared with 84% a year earlier and 102% in August, and No. 3 Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd. was at 74%, compared with 108% a year earlier and 58% in August, amid a maintenance shutdown at its Mumbai refinery.
Privately owned refineries operated at an average of 95% in September, up from 89% a year earlier and 91% in August.
Reliance’s domestic unit operated at 105% in September, up from 102% a year earlier and 102.5% in August, while its export-focused refinery ran at 82%, up from 77% a year earlier and 75% in August. Its combined run rate was 93%, up from 89% a year earlier and 88% in August.
Rosneft-owned Nayara Energy operated at 93% in September, compared with 89% a year earlier and 101% in August.
Meanwhile, Vietnam’s Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical, or BSR, has increased the capacity of its 130,000 b/d refinery at Dung Quat to 100% from 85% earlier, with demand expected to rise following the easing of lockdowns across the country, a source from BSR said Oct. 20. The capacity has been raised to 100% since early October.
Domestic demand is expected to surge in accordance with the reopening of economic activities in several localities, the source said.
Vietnam’s Ministry of Transport on Oct. 20 announced that air carriers are allowed to increase their domestic flights on a number of major routes during Oct. 12-Nov. 30, following the pilot resumption of 38 flights over Oct. 10-20.
Pakistan’s refinery production and utilization rates are increasing amid “recovery” in fuel oil production, known as furnace oil in the country, as demand for power generation is increasing due to rising LNG and coal prices, Karachi-based brokerage firm Sherman Securities wrote in a note.
Furnace oil can be used as a source of power generation, and its use is rising globally due to the recent spike of natural gas prices.
Fuel oil consumption in the three months ended Sept. 30 was up 38% to 1.28 million mt, compared with 920,000 mt in the year-ago period, according to data compiled by Oil Companies Advisory Council.
Furthermore, the relaxation in COVID-19 restrictions has helped boost demand for oil products, resulting in higher spreads, which in turn has pushed up the local gross refining margins, Sherman Securities said.
The October margin of $6/b is “almost double last month’s average” of $3/b and “far better” compared with the $2/b “ever since COVID started in early 2020,” Sherman Securities said, using data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
South Korea’s third-biggest refiner, S-Oil Corp., lifted its crude run rate at Onsan to average 99.2% in the third quarter, higher than pre-pandemic levels, a company official said Oct. 28, adding that it will keep crude throughput high in the fourth quarter amid strong margins in the wake of the global energy crunch.
The Q3 crude run was higher than 90.7% a year earlier, and 98.8% in the second quarter this year.
Its crude run rate averaged 96.1% for the full 2020 year, up from 95.4% in 2019, despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
The refiner also raised the operating rate of RFCC/hydrocracker to 103.8% in Q3, from 83.3% a year earlier, but slightly lower than 103.9% in Q2.
“The recent steep hike in gas prices would additionally boost refined oil products’ demand as its alternative,” the official said said.
S-Oil can maintain facilities’ throughput up to maximum capacity and maximize profitability on the back of the newly-built residue upgrading complex to produce gasoline and propylene, the official said.
The refiner started commercial production in November 2018 at a residue upgrading complex and olefin downstream complex, producing 21,000 b/d of gasoline, 405,000 mt/year of polypropylene and 300,000 mt/year of propylene oxide.
S-Oil recently upgraded its No. 1 residue hydro-desulfurization unit to expand its capacity to 40,000 b/d, from 34,000 b/d previously, with its total RHDS capacity at 166,000 b/d.
S-Oil runs two more RHDS units — the 57,000 b/d No. 2 RHDS and 69,000 b/d No. 3 RHDS — in its Onsan complex. The RHDS units will help produce more light oil products such as naphtha and ultra-low sulfur diesel.
South Korea’s top refiner SK Innovation raised its crude throughput at Ulsan and Incheon to meet stronger cracking margins, but it will not push for a sharper increase due to the lingering uncertainties in the global oil market, a company official said Oct. 29.
The refiner increased its crude throughput to 68% in the third quarter, from 66% in the second quarter, 63% in the first quarter and 61% in the fourth quarter of 2020.
Its Q3 crude run rate was still under the 72% recorded in the same quarter a year earlier, despite the restart of its 240,000 b/d crude distillation unit at the Ulsan complex, according to the official.
The refiner restarted its No. 4 CDU in April. It was shut for a month-long maintenance.
Its 64,000 b/d No. 1 RFCC (residue fluid catalytic cracker) and 90,000 b/d No. 2 RFCC ran at 90% in Q3, compared with 67% and 86% a year earlier, respectively, and 79% and 102% in Q2.
The refiner kept its run rate for heavy oil upgrader, or HOU, with a capacity 45,000 b/d, at 81% in Q3, compared with 84% a year earlier, and 69% in Q2.
The crude run rate at SK Innovation’s main Ulsan complex, run by SK Energy, on the country’s southeast coast averaged 68% in Q3, up from 64% in Q2, but down 76% from a year earlier. SK Energy runs five CDUs with a combined capacity of 840,000 b/d in the Ulsan complex.
SK Innovation’s other complex in Incheon on the west coast averaged at 69% in Q3, compared with 69% in Q2 and 60% a year earlier. SK Incheon Petroleum runs two CDUs with 275,000 b/d, and a 100,000 b/d condensate splitter.
Meanwhile, refinery closures remain in the spotlight in the Asia-Pacific region.
** New Zealand’s Refining NZ said it was working to finalize Terminal Services Agreements with customers in October to enable the conversion of its Marsden Point refinery into an import terminal in the first half of 2022. In August, it reached an in-principle agreement with ExxonMobil, the last of its three refinery customers, about the conversion of Marsden Point into an import terminal. In February, NZ Refining reached an in-principle agreement with BP and in May with Z Energy. The company said it was close to completing the detailed planning to be ready for a final investment decision.
** BP Australia is undertaking a feasibility study unto the production of green hydrogen at the site of the Kwinana refinery. It will work on the project in partnership with Macquarie Capital and with funding from the Western Australian government. The company plans to repurpose the site as a clean energy hub, “which will include the production of renewable fuels,” it said in a statement. BP also said that it is “already underway with plans to develop a renewable fuels plant at the site, producing sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel.” BP announced its plan to shut the refinery in October 2020 and wind down refining activities over the following six months. Refining activities were completed by the end of March 2021.
** Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. said it had inaugurated “its world-class import terminal” in Tabangao, Philippines, after transforming the closed Tabangao refinery into a terminal. The refinery has been shut since May 2020, having been idled due to weak domestic product demand, and was permanently shut in August 2020.
** ExxonMobil Australia plans to shut its Altona refinery in Melbourne and convert it into a fuel import terminal. The refinery will remain in operation while transition work is undertaken.
** Australia’s Viva Energy welcomed the federal government’s announcement of a Fuel Security Package and, as part of the package, would make a six-year commitment to maintain refining operations at Geelong through to June 2027 with a further three-year option to extend until June 2030. The company decided to avoid the closure of Geelong after taking up a payment lifeline extended by the government, which lasted from January-July. Refineries that took part in the grant had to agree to maintain operations at least during the tenure of the program. The Fuel Security Service Payment started July 1 and will run until June 2027 by providing support at lower margins.
** Ampol, formally Caltex Australia, will continue refining operations at its Lytton refinery “subject to the government’s refining support package being successfully legislated as proposed.” However, Ampol also said it could convert the refinery to an import terminal “should the package not be successfully legislated or, in future, in the case of persistently low refinery margins or other adverse events.”
** Singapore Refining Company has experienced an unscheduled shutdown at its refinery on Jurong Island, several market sources said Oct. 28-29. The current run rates at the refinery are unclear. SRC could not be reached for comment, and email and phone requests for comment were not answered by the Asian close on Oct. 29. But market sources said Oct. 28-29 that the refinery was heard to be down. “It’s unplanned… I heard that they were looking to cover some cargo in the market,” a regional trader said. Another source said the outage was heard to have been a short one, but this could not be confirmed. “I think there was not much impact on the market, heard it was a short outage and it might be back already, but that is uncertain,” the source said.
NEW AND ONGOING MAINTENANCE
Refinery
Capacity b/d
Country
Owner
Unit
Duration
Geelong
120,000
Australia
Viva
Part
2021
Mailiao
540,000
Taiwan
Formosa
Fire
Jul
Kochi
310,000
India
BPCL
Part
2022
Daesan
650,000
South Korea
Hyundai Oilbank
Part
Sep
Ulsan
840,000
South Korea
SK Energy
Part
Sep
Bina
156,000
India
BPCL
Full
2022
National Refinery
70,000
Pakistan
National Ref Ltd
Part
Dec
Haldia
160,000
India
IOC
Part
Dec
Paradip
300,000
India
IOC
Part
Back
UPGRADES
Vizag
166,000
India
HPCL
Expansion
2024
Mathura
160,000
India
IOC
Upgrade
N/A
Paradip
300,000
India
IOC
Upgrade
N/A
Panipat
500,000
India
IOC
Expansion
2024
Gujarat
275,000
India
IOC
Expansion
2021
Vadinar
400,000
India
Nayara
Expansion
NA
Jamnagar
1,360,000
India
Reliance
Expansion
NA
Numaligarh
60,000
India
BPCL
Expansion
2025
Kochi
310,000
India
BPCL
Expansion
2025
Haldia
150,000
India
IOC
Upgrade
2023
Port Dickson
88,000
Malaysia
Petron
Expansion
2021
Bataan
180,000
Malaysia
Petron
Expansion
2021
Sriracha
275,000
Thailand
Thai Oil
Expansion
2023
Barauni
120,000
India
IOC
Expansion
2021
Balikpapan
260,000
Indonesia
Pertamina
Expansion
2024
Balongan
125,000
Indonesia
Pertamina
Upgrade
2026
Tuban
100,000
Indonesia
TPPI
Upgrade
2024
Byco
155,000
Pakistan
Byco Group
Upgrade
NA
Cilacap
348,000
Indonesia
Pertamina
Upgrade
2023
Plaju
133,700
Indonesia
Pertamina
Upgrade
Pakistan Ref
50,000
Pakistan
Pakistan Ref
Upgrade
NA
Hengyi
160,000
Brunei
Hengyi Ind
Expansion
2024
Dung Quat
130,000
Vietnam
Binh Son
Expansion
NA
Attock
53,400
Pakistan
Attock
Upgrade
NA
National Refinery
70,000
Pakistan
National Ref Ltd
Part
Dec
Dumai
170,000
Indonesia
Pertamina
Expansion
NA
Bongaigaon
54,000
India
IOC
Expansion
NA
Pulau Muara Besar
160,000
Brunei
Hengyi
Upgrade
NA
Nagapattinam
180,000
India
Chennai
Launch
NA
LAUNCHES
Barmer
180,000
India
HPCL
Launch
2023
Maharashtra
1,200,000
India
Joint
Launch
2022-23
Tuban
300,000
Indonesia
Joint
Launch
2024
Dornogovi
30,000
Mongolia
Government
Launch
2026
Mumbai
1,200,000
India
Ratnagiri
Launch
2025
Gwadar
300,000
Pakistan
Joint
Launch
NA
Balasore
NA
India
Haldia
Launch
NA
Hambantota
NA
Sri Lanka
Joint
Launch
NA
Tanjung Bin
30,000
Malaysia
Vitol
Launch
NA
RAPID
300,000
Malaysia
Joint
Launch
Started
Bontang
300,000
Indonesia
Pertamina
Launch
NA
PARCO
250,000
Pakistan
PARCO
Launch
2025
Nagapattinam
180,000
India
Chennai
Launch
NA
Ratnagiri
1,200,000
India
Joint
Launch
2025
Trans Asia Refinery
120,000
Pakistan
Joint
Launch
NA
New and ongoing maintenance
New and revised entries
India
** Indian Oil Corp. plans to shut its 80,000 b/d crude distillation unit and some secondary units at its Haldia refinery on the east coast of India in December for maintenance, company officials said. “The maintenance shutdown has been planned [in December] to avoid the ongoing festival season,” an official said. An earlier plan for the shutdown was rescheduled to avoid any shortage during the peak festival season of October and November, he added. The refinery has two crude distillation units. The plan also includes the shutdown of a vacuum distillation unit for 40 days, a fluid catalytic cracker for 50 days, and a diesel hydrodesulfurizer for 25 days.
** India’s Paradip refinery is running normally after a minor gas leak incident and maintenance shutdown, company officials said Oct. 25. The turnaround, due every three years, took place in the July-August period. “All our operations are on stream with no abnormality,” said a company official. The minor gas leak incident took place after the maintenance shutdown was over. The incident was instantly fixed for normal operation. Paradip’s run rate stood at 68% in September compared with 80.5% in the year-ago month. Its run rate stood at 52% in August and 83% in July. For April-September, the run rate was 79% compared with 69% in the same period last year.
** India’s Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd expects Mumbai refinery to run at full capacity in December, company officials said Oct. 25. The revamp of the Mumbai refinery resulted in the enhancement of the capacity of a Crude Distillation Unit. The revamped program was completed in September. The revamp program had added 2 million mt/year (400,000 b/d) capacity, raising the total processing of the refinery on the west coast to 190,000 b/d. The three-month-long maintenance and revamp programs were carried out in two phases with the first phase of the turnaround for a unit of 3.5 million/year capacity requiring 45 days. The second phase involved revamping of the CDU with a 4 million/year capacity. Currently, the Mumbai refinery runs at 85%.
Existing entries
India
** India’s Kochi refinery has no plans to carry out any maintenance shutdown program in fiscal year 2021-22 (April-March), company officials said Sept. 30. The next maintenance shutdown will be for 30 days to carry out an annual turnaround due every four years. The annual turnaround would be in the second half of the FY 2022-23.
** India’s state-run Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd-owned Bina refinery in central India will have a planned shutdown in 2022. The shutdown will be for regular maintenance and comes after four years. “The duration and magnitude of the shutdown are still being worked out,” said a senior official at the refinery.
Asia-Pacific
** Pakistan’s National Refinery Ltd is planning turnaround in December 2021.
** Taiwan’s Formosa Petrochemical has begun maintenance work on a crude distillation unit and a residue desulfurization unit at its Mailiao refinery, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said Oct. 7. The refinery has a total of three CDUs, each with a capacity of 180,000 b/d, and two RDS units.
** Viva Energy, Australia’s second-largest refiner, has delayed planned maintenance at its hydrofluoric acid alkylation unit at Geelong to 2021 from late 2020.
** South Korea’s Hyundai Oilbank will undertake staggered maintenance at the two trains that make up the 90,000 b/d residue desulfurization unit at its Daesan refinery from September. The first train will undergo 15-days’ maintenance in September and the second 15 days’ maintenance in October, the source said.
** South Korea’s SK Energy will shut the 90,000 b/d residue desulfurization unit at its Ulsan refinery for maintenance starting October for approximately two weeks. Meanwhile, the second RDS unit, together with the company’s two vacuum residue desulfurization units, will continue to operate over the turnaround period.
Upgrades
New and revised entries
** Indonesia’s Pertamina started upgrade work at its Balongan refinery as part of Indonesia’s Refinery Development Master Plan. The first phase has started with upgrade work at the facility’s crude distillation unit, aimed at increasing the flexibility of the refinery’s crude slate and raising the plant’s refining capacity. The project is expected to be completed in 2026. Pertamina will build the project in three phases. The first phase is to increase refining capacity from to 150,000 b/d by 2022 from 125,000 b/d currently. The second and third phase will increase the product yield from the refinery, including from the new petrochemical plant. The RDMP project is also being carried out at other refineries across Indonesia, such as Pertamina’s Cilacap, Balikpapan, Dumai and Plaju refineries. Pertamina has completed more than 42% of its physical upgrade plans at its 260,000 b/d Balikpapan refinery, with several refinery units having been delivered and milestones reached. Three boiler units and an alkylation reactor were delivered in the first quarter, while several steam generator units were delivered in Q2, one industry source said. Local media reported that the latest addition to the refinery project was a propylene splitter unit — a column which separates propylene from propane — which was installed on Oct. 25. In the first phase of the refinery upgrade works, scheduled to be completed in 2024, the facility would see its total refining capacity increase from 260,000 b/d to 360,000 b/d. The refinery would also be able to produce higher quality gasoline that meets Euro 5 standards, Platts reported earlier. In the second phase of the refinery upgrade works, the refinery would have increased flexibility in its crude oil supply, enabling the refinery to process sour crude with sulfur content of as much as 2%, the company had said on its website previously. The second phase of upgrades at the Balikpapan refinery is scheduled for completion in 2026. Separately, Pertamina will go ahead and revamp its Cilacap refinery without Saudi Aramco, raising capacity from 348,000 b/d to 370,000 b/d. In May 2020, Pertamina and South Korean Consortium DH Global Holdings Co signed a memorandum of understanding for the upgrade of the Dumai refinery complex, with plans to increase the refinery’s operating capacity.
Existing entries
** Pakistan’s National Refinery Ltd. is continuing to study the possibility of a Hydrocracker / Bottom of Barrel upgrade, aimed to upgrade fuel oil commonly known as furnace Oil to value added products, as well as a CCR (Continuous Catalyst Regeneration) Platforming Unit aimed to increase gasoline production.
** Pakistan’s Attock Refinery is planning upgrades including a new continuous catalyst regeneration unit (CCR) to produce Euro 5 compliant gasoline and diesel as well as 92 RON gasoline and an upgrade to the diesel desulfurization unit (DHDS). The refinery is also considering a bottom-of-barrel conversion unit to convert fuel oil to gasoline. The management estimated it could take about two years to finalize an EPC contractor for the projects and another 3-5 years for construction.
** Byco Petroleum Ltd., Pakistan’s biggest refiner, plans to convert the bulk of its fuel oil output capacity into producing gasoline and diesel meeting international Euro 5 standards, Chairman Mohammad Wasi Khan told S&P Global Platts in Sep. 2021. Byco Petroleum typically produces 30-40% fuel oil from each barrel of crude oil they refine. The product is mainly used by utilities for power generation. But furnace oil demand weakened after utilities started using liquefied natural gas, which is a cleaner alternative, said Wasi Khan. “Byco started development work to modernize its refinery by launching the Upgrade-I project at the start of this year which would be completed by 2025,” the chairman said, with civil work on the site and the arrival of equipment and machinery underway and the company getting ready to install additional units. “Byco seeks to install altogether 14 plants, including fluid catalytic cracking and diesel hydro desulfurization units,” Wasi Khan said. By the time it finishes, the company will have a total of 19 plants at its oil refining complex. This equipment will help convert the bulk of the Byco’s furnace oil output into Euro 5 compliant gasoline and diesel and produce other high-quality fuels like jet fuel and kerosene. Meanwhile, Axens has been selected by Byco to support its upgrading projects Phases I, II and III. The scope of Axens’ work includes “the supply of process design package for integration of three existing units into FCC gasoline hydrotreating configuration” as well as catalysts and adsorbents for the sulfur recovery unit and distillate hydrotreaters 2 and 3, and distillate hydrotreater 3 reactor internals. The start-up date of the complete Phases I, II and III is expected in Q2, 2024. Currently Pakistan’s Byco refinery is rebranding under the name of Cnergyico Pk Ltd, S&P Global Platts has previously reported. The company is waiting for some final approvals from regulators before the rebranding is completed.
** Pakistan Refinery Limited is considering two options to upgrade its refinery: either to acquire a pre-owned refinery or build a new refinery. The company had been in talks with the government about refinery policy, which will support upgrade projects and was expected to be announced soon. The company believes the new refinery policy will make the sector financially sustainable and the upgrades more economical. The company has to make commitments to the government by December for its upgrade plans and which option it will select. According to the company both options are possible, however acquiring a pre-owned refinery will be a cheaper option as it will cost 50% less than the cost of a new refinery.
** Rosneft-owned Nayara Energy has struck a $543 million deal with a consortium of banks, led by State Bank of India, to fund its petrochemical business, company officials said Aug. 2021. Nayara Energy runs India’s second-biggest single-site refinery. It aims to set up a 450,000 mt/year polypropylene plant at Vadinar, with the first phase expected to be completed by 2023. Initially, Essar Oil had plans to more than double the refining capacity at Vadinar in 2025, after regulatory approvals. The final deadline to complete the expansion along with the petrochemical project was fixed at 2030, subject to delays in the regulatory approvals and market conditions.
** India’s HPCL has postponed its target of raising its existing capacity of 8.3 million mt at its Vizag refinery to 15 million mt by December 2022. In 2020, the refiner had set the target for capacity upgradation by 2023-24 (April-March). The latest revised completion deadline for the expansion project brought forward the target by two years. The initial deadline for the completion of the project along with a bottom-upgradation program was March 2020. The expansion project involves the installation of primary processing units such as a CDU — replacing one of the three existing CDUs — a hydrocracker, and a naphtha isomerization unit.
** Indian Oil Corp. is delaying a plan to expand capacity at its Panipat refinery in northern India from 300,000 b/d to 500,000 b/d until 2024. It had planned to carry out the expansion over 2020-21 but now expects to complete it by September 2024, amid the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
** Reliance Industries Ltd. has no investment commitment for any refinery capacity expansion plan at its Jamnagar integrated complex, company officials have said. Reliance has two refineries at the world’s biggest refinery complex in Gujarat on India’s west coast with a combined capacity of 68.2 million mt. “The board has not committed any funds for any refinery capacity expansion plan so far,” one official said in June. Reliance has received environmental clearance for a capacity expansion proposal at its export-focused refinery from 35.2 million mt to 41 million mt. Reliance also applied for regulatory clearance for a capacity expansion proposal at its domestically focused refinery from a capacity of 33 million mt/y to 40.5 million mt. However, it aborted the proposal after marketing conditions changed.
** State-run Indian Oil Corp. has awarded an engineering, procurement, construction, and commissioning (EPCC) contract to Paris-based Technip for its expansion project at the Barauni refinery in the eastern state of Bihar. The contract involves the installation of a 1 million mt/y “once-through” hydrocracker unit (OHCU), a fuel gas treatment unit (FGTU) and associated facilities. The expansion project will increase its capacity by 50% to 180,000 b/d and add petrochemicals such as polypropylene to the product portfolio. The initial plan for the completion of the capacity project was scheduled for 2021. But the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic may result in this being rescheduled.
** India’s Numaligarh Refinery Ltd., or NRL, will use global technology process supplier Honeywell’s UOP technology to produce clean-burning diesel fuel in compliance with India’s Euro 6 emissions standards and increase crude oil conversion. The refinery, located in the eastern state of Assam, is executing an expansion project to raise the processing capacity to 9 million mt by 2024.
Numaligarh Refinery Ltd. has also Axens to provide technical support and licensed technology for its planned expansion. Axens will provide technical support and license a naphtha hydrotreating unit, continuous catalytic reforming unit, isomerization, and fluid catalytic cracker. The company was aiming to complete the expansion project by 2025.
** Petron Malaysia has been considering a plan to more than double capacity at its 88,000 b/d Port Dickson refinery in Malaysia to 178,000 b/d.
** Hengyi Industries has selected a flexicoking technology for a second time as part of its expansion project in Pulau Muara Besar. The Brunei refinery already started up a 1.1 million mt/y flexicoking unit at the end of 2019. Hengyi Industries has selected the technology for its new Phase II expansion project. The flexicoking unit, due for start-up in June 2024, will upgrade 2.1 million mt/y of vacuum residue, FCC slurry oil and steam cracker pyoil into valuable distillates and flexigas.
** Hengyi Industries will use “advanced reforming and aromatics technologies” from Honeywell UOP for the integrated petrochemical complex in Puala Muara Besar, Brunei. The Brunei complex will include aromatics block consisting of CCR Platformer to convert naphtha into aromatics, as well as aromatics complex to recover high-purity paraxylene from mixed xylenes. The latter will produce up to 2.3 million mt/y of paraxylene. The complex will also include naphtha hydrotreater and Olefin Removal Process unit amid others. In addition, UOP is providing VGO Unicracking unit and Diesel Unicracking unit targeting maximum naphtha production. When the project is completed, Hengyi Industries will have the capacity to produce more 3.8 million mt/y of paraxylene. The first phase of the Pulau Muara Besar refinery envisages crude processing capacity of 8 million mt/y while in the second phase, the refinery will add 14 million mt/y of crude processing capacity, bringing overall capacity to 22 million mt/y.
** A $4-billion clean fuel project is being undertaken at Thailand’s Sriracha refinery. The upgrade is slated to be completed in 2023 and will increase the refinery’s capacity from 275,000 b/d to 400,000 b/d, boosting the yield of cleaner products.
** Pertamina will start producing biodiesel at its Cilacap Refinery Unit IV in December. It will begin to produce around 3,000 b/d of D-100 bbm, with an increased production of an additional 6,000 b/d of combined D-100 bbm and B30 biodiesel blend set to come on stream from December 2022. Units are also being built at Plaju refinery for an additional 20,000 b/d in biofuel production. Pertamina will use Honeywell UOP technologies to produce advanced biofuels at Plaju and Cilacap.
** Indonesia’s TPPI has laid out the next steps of its upgrading works at its Tuban refinery, setting 2024 as the target for the completion of its new Olefin Project. In addition, the Olefin project, TPPI will also continue its Aromatic Revamping project. The Olefin Project is slated for completion by 2024 while the Aromatic Revamping project will complete by 2022.
** Two separate consortiums have submitted bids for the engineering, procurement, and construction contract to build, upgrade and expand project of Dung Quat refinery in central Vietnam. The upgrade will raise the capacity of Dung Quat to 8.5 million mt/y from current 6.5 million mt/y.
** IOC-owned Bongaigaon refinery has plans to raise its annual capacity to 4.5 million mt.
** IOC’s Haldia refinery will launch a second catalytic dew axing unit (CIDWU) with 270,000 mt/y capacity in 2023. The unit will produce advanced Group III Lubes Oil Base Stock (LOBS). The unit is expected to be commissioned in January 2023.
** IOC-owned Gujarat refinery’s capacity expansion project is set to be over by Sept. 30, 2024, a delay of one-and-a-half years from the previous deadline. The delay is primarily a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The initial deadline was contemplated for 2020. The existing smaller capacity atmospheric unit and vacuum units will be replaced by a large atmospheric vacuum unit (AVU). The project also involves a revamp of the existing hydrogen generation unit, a new n-butanol processing unit and a revamp of the linear alkylbenzenes (LAB) unit. IOC plans to raise the capacity of the Gujarat refinery to 360,000 b/d by March 2023 from the current 275,000 b/d.
** IOC-owned Paradip refinery will install the first stage of a Grassroot Needle Coker Unit by using its own in-house technology. The proposed unit will have a Calcined Needle Coke, or CNC, production capacity of 56 kilotons/y. The company does not plan any expansion for its Paradip refinery, whose overall capacity is 15 million mt/y.
** IOC has signed up energy technology and infrastructure solutions provider CB&I for a residue upgrading unit at its Mathura refinery in north India.
** French company Axens has been selected to provide technological support to Chennai Petroleum’s 9 million mt/y Cauvery Basin Refinery project at Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu. IOC approved a proposal for a grassroots refinery project of its subsidiary Chennai Petroleum Corp. Ltd., or CPCL, at Cauvery basin, known as the Cauvery Basin Refinery, or CBR. CPCL initially set up a refinery at the Cauvery basin in south India with a capacity of 500,000 mt/y in 1993, and later expanded the capacity to 1 million mt/y in 2002. Now, CPCL is expanding the capacity of CBR and as part of that, Axens will provide technologies for a Naphtha Hydrotreating Unit, Reforming unit (OctanizingTM), C5-C6 isomerization unit, and VGO (Vacuum Gasoil) Hydrotreater incorporating ZPJE spiraled tube heat exchangers technology.
** Saudi Aramco and S-Oil signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on a $6 billion steam cracker and olefin downstream project at Onsan due for completion in 2024.
** ExxonMobil announced a final investment decision at its Singapore complex. The project includes an expansion aimed at converting “fuel oil and other bottom-of-the-barrel crude products into higher-value lube base stocks and distillates.” Startup is set for 2023.
** Petron plans to expand and upgrade its Bataan refinery in Limay. There was no timeline for when the expansion will take place. The refinery’s capacity will be increased by 100,000 b/d of condensates and light crude oils, from current capacity of 180,000 b/d.
Launches
Existing entries
** Mongolia is aiming to complete the construction of its maiden refinery project in 2025, according to a statement on the Parliament’s website. Engineering work at the refinery in Dornogovi (Dornogobi) in the south-east of the country has been completed despite the disruptions caused by COVID-19. When the feasibility study was approved in Dec. 2018, completion was expected for 2024, the statement said. It will have 1.5 million mt/yr annual capacity and produce 1.33 million mt of oil production. 66% of the output will be diesel, with the rest 95 RON, LPG and jet fuel. The plant will cover 80% of the domestic demand for diesel and gasoline. Construction started in 2018 and is financed by India.
** Petronas said it aims for a “safe and successful start-up” of the Malaysia’s Pengerang Refining and Petrochemical integrated complex, also known as PRefChem, “towards the end of the year”, Petronas said in its second quarter report Aug. 25. “The new capacities, mainly the petrochemical facilities within the Pengerang Integrated Complex, are not expected to make material contribution to our bottom line this year,” the company also said. Petronas has previously said it aimed for a second half full start-up. The refinery, also known as RAPID refinery, had delayed its restart several times, following a fire that broke out at the diesel unit in March 2020. The plant, part of the Pengerang Integrated Petroleum Complex at Johor in the south of the Malay peninsula, was launched in late 2019.
** Global trader Vitol’s refinery in southern Malaysia’s Johor state is in the final stage of construction. The refinery, whose construction started in 2019, is likely to be operational in Q4 2021.
** Flow Petroleum Ltd. (FPPL), a Pakistan-based oil marketing company, has signed an agreement with Al Ghurair Investments, a large investment group in UAE for the 100% ownership of a 120,000 b/day of refinery named Trans Asia Refinery. It will be set up on 200 acres of land leased from Port Qasim Authority, Karachi, Pakistan.
** India’s proposed new 1.2 million b/d Ratnagiri refinery on the west coast is still facing delay due to “local issues”. Construction at the site was expected to start in 2020 but there have been issues relating to land acquisition which had stalled the project. The location of the project has already moved once, from Ratnagiri district to Raigad district. The refinery is now expected to be commissioned in 2025, according to industry sources.
** Pak-Arab Oil Refinery Limited will start physical works on its coastal refinery in 2021, after almost 13 years of delays to the project. Following the start of the works, the refinery is expected to come online in 2025-2026.
** Indonesia’s Pertamina decided to postpone the construction of a proposed 300,000 b/d Bontang refinery in East Kalimantan.
** A Rosneft and Pertamina joint venture has signed a contract with Spanish Tecnicas Reunidas to design the construction of an oil refinery and petrochemical complex in Tuban, Indonesia. Primary processing design capacity is planned at up to 15 million mt/y, planned capacity at the petrochemical complex includes more than 1 million mt/y for ethylene and 1.3 million mt/y for aromatic hydrocarbons.
** Sri Lanka has approved a $20 billion refinery project at the port town of Hambantota. The announcement follows the inauguration of a smaller refinery complex at the port, which has backing from the Oman Oil Company.
** Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd.’s proposal to invest $4.05 billion in an integrated refinery and petrochemicals facility in Balasore, India, has been granted approval by the Odisha government.
** Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are in talks to develop a 200,000-300,000 b/d refinery in Balochistan’s Gwadar district for $10 billion.
** A new HPCL project in Barmer, India, is due for completion by March 2023.
** India’s refinery project in Maharashtra, being developed by state-owned IOC, HPCL and BPCL, will start up around 2022-23.
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