REFINERY NEWS ROUNDUP: Runs, output mostly higher in Asia-Pacific

Refiners in the Asia-Pacific region have been raising runs and output, for the most part, although some have reduced processing as demand has been affected by high fuel prices.

** The average run rate for all refinery categories in India rose to 104% in June compared with 90% in June 2021, according to an oil ministry survey. Refiners benefited from higher cracks, while last year's demand was affected by the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

The run rate in June was below 110% in May as some refiners, including the Paradip refinery on India's East Coast, shut for maintenance.

In June, state refineries recorded a 108% run rate compared with 85% in June 2021 and 113% in May.

Indian Oil Corp, the No. 1 state refiner, averaged a combined run of 109% for its nine stand-alone refineries in June, compared with 93% in June 2021 and 112% in May.

India's No. 2 state refiner, Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd registered a 100% run rate in June compared with 85% a year ago and 116% in May.

Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd, India's No. 3 state refiner, recorded a run rate of 112% in June compared with 60% a year ago and 113% in May.

Private refineries recorded a 99% run in June compared with 97% a year ago and 104% in May.

Reliance's domestic unit operated at 109% in June, compared with 99% a year ago and 115% in May, but its export-focused refinery ran at 83% in June, compared with 87% a year ago and 88% in May. Reliance's combined run averaged 96% in June, compared with 93% a year ago and 101% in May.

Rosneft-owned Nayara ran at 102% in June, compared with 100% a year ago and 105% in May.

Indian refiners processed 21.57 million mt of crude in June, an average of 5.3 million b/d and up 17% on the year.

** Thailand's Bangchak refinery reported 102% utilization in Q1, unchanged from Q1. It processed 122,500 b/d, in line with 122,100 b/d in Q1. The company attributed its "high average crude run" to the continuing "positive momentum" of crude oil prices and cracks amid "rising oil demand from unwinding of COVID-19 control measures in various countries, as well as the economic reopening amid supply tightness on the prolonged war between Russia-Ukraine."

** S-Oil Corp., South Korea's third-biggest refiner, had a 93.8% average utilization rate in Q2, lower than 98.8% a year earlier and 98.4% in Q1. The Q2 run rate was lowered owing to concerns about tumbling demand for oil products in the wake of higher prices, a company official said July 27. The lowered crude throughput in Q2 was largely attributable to a shutdown of its No. 2 crude distillation unit at Onsan, which has a capacity of 240,000 b/d, for several weeks of maintenance in the same quarter. At the same time, S-Oil also lowered the operating rate of residue its fluid catalytic cracking/hydrocracker to 94.1% in Q2, from 103.9% a year earlier and 97.2% in Q1. S-Oil plans to maintain a relatively high crude run rate later this year on the back of solid margins.

** South Korea's top oil refiner SK Innovation lowered its crude run rate to average 74% in Q2 to address weaker demand of oil products due to high prices amid concerns of a possible global economic slowdown. SK Innovation runs two refining complexes in South Korea, with five CDUs with a combined capacity of 840,000 b/d in the Ulsan complex and two CDUs with 275,000 b/d and a 100,000 b/d condensate splitter in the Incheon complex. Q2 crude throughput was lower than 77% in the first quarter, but higher than 66% in the same quarter in 2021, well below pre-pandemic levels of around 90%. Its crude run rate averaged 66% in 2022 and 75% in 2020.

SK Innovation shut its No. 1 CDU with a capacity of 60,000 b/d and No. 2 CDU with 110,000 b/d -- 170,000 b/d combined -- in its main complex in Ulsan on the country's southeast coast for several weeks each in the first half for regular maintenance.

"We would remain cautious about crude run rates due to uncertainties in the global oil market," a company official said.

The crude run rate at the Ulsan complex -- run by SK Energy -- averaged 78% in Q2, down from 83% in Q1 but up from 77% in Q2 2021. The Incheon complex on the west coast run by SK Incheon Petroleum averaged 63% in Q2, compared with 58% in Q1 and 76% in Q2 2021.

"Rather than raising CDU run rates, we have focused on raising the utilization rate of upgraders to maximize profitability," the official said.

Its 64,000 b/d No. 1 RFCC and 90,000 b/d No. 2 RFCC in the Ulsan complex were operated at 84% and 105% in Q2, respectively, compared with 100% and 98% in Q1, and 79% and 102% in Q2 2021.

The refiner kept the run rate of its heavy oil upgrader, with a capacity 45,000 b/d in Ulsan, at 80% in Q2 compared with 75% in Q1 and 69% in Q2 2021.

** Malaysia's motor fuels production rose 5.37% year on year in May, data from the Department of Statistics showed, continuing an uptrend to meet increasing domestic consumption requirements. The country's combined gasoil and gasoline output was at 1.53 million mt in May, up 16% from April.

Malaysia's gasoline production climbed 9.7% on the month and 21% on the year to 644,917 mt (176,832 b/d) in May, while gasoil output rose 22% on the month but fell 3.7% on the year, to 886,360 mt.

** Malaysia's Pengerang Refining and Petrochemical restarted its naphtha-fed steam cracker recently after an unplanned shutdown in the previous week, sources said.

NEW AND ONGOING MAINTENANCE

UPGRADES

LAUNCHES

New and ongoing maintenance

New and revised entries

Asia-Pacific

** South Korea's top oil refiner SK Innovation plans to shut three CDUs with a combined capacity of 445,000 b/d and a 100,000 b/d condensate splitter in the second half as it has lowered crude throughput to address weak demand of oil products, a company official said. The company plans to shut its No. 3 CDU with a capacity of 170,000 b/d, No. 2 RFCC (residue fluid catalytic cracker) with 90,000 b/d and No. 2 RHDS (residue hydro-desulfurization unit) with 80,000 b/d at the main Ulsan complex for maintenance in the second half, the official said, adding that exact schedules for the maintenance have not been fixed. The refiner also plans to shut two CDUs at the smaller Incheon complex -- No. 1 CDU with 75,000 b/d and No. 2 CDU with 200,000 b/d, as well as a condensate splitter unit (CSU) with a capacity of 100,000 b/d, with details on schedules undecided, according to the official.

** Indonesia's Balikpapan refinery is planning a maintenance in August, according to trading sources. The maintenance is likely to start around mid-August and last 40 days.

** A full shutdown maintenance at PetroVietnam's Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical refinery at Dung Quat, which started June 22, was expected to end Aug. 11, according to a BSR official. The last planned maintenance at Dung Quat was in 2020. Dung Quat's run rates in the first six months of 2022 stood at 105%-108%.

** BP Australia "continues to advance plans to develop a renewable fuels plant" at the Kwinana site, by producing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and renewable diesel, a BP spokesperson said July 2022. The plan is part of BP's "broader plans to develop its Kwinana site as an integrated energy hub that produces and distributes fuel for the future." In April, the Australian government earmarked up to A$70 million ($47 million) to help support green hydrogen production at the site. The hydrogen hub is developed in partnership with Macquarie Group. 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 March 2021.

India

** India's Paradip refinery plans to carry out a major maintenance shutdown program in August, market sources said, having delayed it from Q2. as the refiner wanted to benefit from improved oil product margins due to higher crude prices. Paradip refinery operated at normal level in July after a short shutdown in June.

Existing entries India

** India's Bharat Petroleum Corp-owned refineries at Bina and Kochi have plans to carry out maintenance works in the second half of the current year. Bina refinery in central India plans for a short duration maintenance in September, while Kochi refinery has a maintenance plan during the September-October period. The plan at Bina involves maintenance shutdown of a 2.6 million mt/year hydrocracker unit for 10 days while the maintenance at Kochi has been planned for three to four weeks.

Officials said the shutdown plan at Kochi would be executed after the short maintenance plan at Bina.

The maintenance plan at Kochi involves shutdown of 210,000 b/d crude distillation unit along with secondary units such as fluid catalytic cracking, vacuum gas oil hydrotreater, diesel hydrotreater, sulfur recovery and hydrogen generation. Bina refinery also plans a major shutdown for 3-4 weeks in Q2 2023.

** India's Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd, which has been running at higher run rates to take advantage of strong cracking margins, will not stop for any major maintenance in Q3, company officials said.

** India's Numaligarh Refinery Ltd. plans to carry out a maintenance shutdown in March-April 2023, as part of a regular turnaround after a gap of four years. The maintenance will last 30 days during which operations at the refinery will come to a halt. "All units will be shut as we are a single train refinery," a company official said. The refinery, in the eastern state of Assam, has been carrying out an expansion project to raise the processing capacity to 9 million mt (180,000 b/d) by 2024-25 (April-March). The expansion plan will add a second crude distillation unit of 6 million mt/year. In April, the refinery's run rate stood at 110% compared with 90% a year earlier.

** India's Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd plans to carry out maintenance at the Mumbai refinery, involving a shutdown of the smaller crude distillation unit during the October-December period.

** HPCL plans to carry out maintenance at Vizag at the smaller crude distillation unit and some secondary units during Q1 2023.

** India's Reliance Industries Ltd deferred a planned turnaround during the January-March quarter at its integrated refinery complex to gain from higher crack margins, company officials said. They did not say when the deferred turnaround plan would be carried out. Market participants said the refiner was scheduled to carry out works on the crude distillation unit at its export-focused unit during March for about three weeks, but the plan was deferred to the second half of 2022.

Asia-Pacific

** New Zealand's Refining NZ said last December it and Fortescue Future Industries were studying the "feasibility of production, storage, distribution, and export of industrial-scale green hydrogen" from its former Marsden Point refinery. Marsden Point has now closed and the import terminal on the site was officially launched April 1.

** ExxonMobil Australia will integrate the common infrastructure between the Altona refinery in Melbourne and the new Mobil Melbourne fuel import and storage terminal over the course of 2022, with the conversion expected to be carried "over the next few years." The infrastructure that is not part of the future terminal will be safely decommissioned. The process of shutting down the refinery started at the end of August 2021 after the company. Most facilities have been halted, but some parts of the refinery, including the flares and boilers, will continue to operate in 2022 to ensure a safe site.

Upgrades

New and revised entries

** Indonesia's Balikpapan refinery will expand its capacity to 360,000 b/d from 260,000 b/d by 2024 and carry out upgrades to meet Euro 5 quality standards. Earlier this year it changed equipment on the RFCC units. Balikpapan is also in the process of building an RFCC unit, as part of its first phase of upgrades, which is expected to be operational in 2024 and have a 90,000 b/d capacity. In the second phase, the refinery would have increased flexibility in its crude oil supply, enabling it to process sour crude with sulfur content of as much as 2%. The second phase was scheduled for completion in 2026.

Pertamina and the local unit of France's Air Liquide Indonesia have agreed to cooperate to develop carbon capture and utilization technology at the Balikpapan refinery. Pertamina and Air Liquide signed a joint study agreement within which they will conduct a joint study on the application of CO2 Syngas and Flue Gas capture technology from hydrogen production in the Balikpapan refinery area. The captured CO2 emissions will then be compressed and channeled to a potential CO2 storage area in the Kutai Basin, East Kalimantan, as a solution for low-carbon hydrogen production or blue hydrogen.

Existing entries

** India's IOC has approved Digboi refinery's proposal to raise capacity to 20,000 b/d. Digboi, India's oldest refinery, was set up in 1901. Its current capacity stands at 13,000 b/d. "The project is expected to be commissioned by October 2025," the company said in a regulatory filing.

** India's Numaligarh Refinery, in the eastern state of Assam, has been carrying out an expansion project to raise the processing capacity to 9 million mt (180,000 b/d) by 2024-25 (April-March). The expansion plan will add a second crude distillation unit of 6 million mt/year. Numaligarh Refinery Ltd. has finalized more details of the new diesel hydrotreating unit it will be installing as part of its multi-year expansion. Toyo Engineering Corp. said Dec. 9 that its Toyo Engineering India subsidiary had been awarded a contract by NRL for the engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning of 3.55 million mt/year diesel hydrotreating unit.

Separately, 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.

** Pakistan Refinery Ltd has awarded a front end engineering design, or FEED, contract to Wood Group UK for the upgrade and expansion of the refinery. The project includes upgrading the existing refinery from hydro skimming to deep conversion which as a result will "significantly reduce production" of high sulfur fuel oil, also known as furnace oil, and maximize production of Euro 5 standard diesel and gasoline.

The project also includes doubling the crude processing capacity to 100,000 b/d. The upgraded complex will also produce propylene, which is a valuable feedstock for petrochemicals. Following the completion of FEED, the refinery will award an engineering procurement and construction contract. Pakistan Refinery plans to complete the project in five years, or around 2027.

** Australia's Viva Energy will upgrade its Geelong refinery to produce ultra-low sulfur gasoline by 2025. The upgrade will cost about $300 million, of which $125 million would be from the Federal Government's Refinery Upgrades Program.

Separately, Viva Energy said it was to acquire LyondellBasell Australia, or LBA -- a Geelong-based national polymer manufacturer and distributor which has its production facility inside the footprint of Geelong Refinery. The business is complementary to Viva Energy's refining operations, with Geelong Refinery's propylene production utilized as the feedstock in LBA's manufacturing operations.

** Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical, operator of the Dung Quat refinery in central Vietnam, has submitted a final proposal to expand the refinery to PetroVietnam, which will then seek approval from the central government. Under the current proposal, the refinery capacity will be expanded to 7.6 million mt/year from current 6.5 million mt/year. Its gasoline and diesel products will be upgraded to meet Euro-V standards. Its crude oil mixture will include 53% of Azeri BTC and 47% of ESPO, but the exact percentage of each will be clarified in the final front-end engineering and design. The new refinery will be able to process up to 14 crude oil types, including two domestic and 12 imported types. BSR aims to kick off the expansion and upgrade project later this year, finish in 2025 and begin commercial operation in early 2026.

** Pertamina's Balongan refinery is upgrading and aims to increase capacity to 150,000 b/d. It is also upgrading its residue cracking unit and expects to complete the revamp in 2022. The unit will have 83,000 b/d capacity. The project is expected to be completed in 2026. Pertamina will build the project in three phases. The first phase will raise refining capacity to 150,000 b/d by 2022, from 125,000 b/d. The second and third phases will increase the product yield from the refinery, including from the new petrochemical plant.

** Pertamina is carrying out upgrades at Cilacap, Dumai and Plaju refineries.

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.

** India's Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. expects higher refining margins from its Vizag refinery on the east coast in 2023-24, after the completion of a residual bottom upgrade. Vizag refinery's modernization project, involving capacity expansion, will be completed by December 2022. The project is expected to be completed in March 2022, while the residual bottom upgrade has been set to be completed by December 2022. The capacity expansion project has been delayed by three years, mainly due to the pandemic. The expansion aims to raise the refinery's existing capacity of 8.3 million mt/year to 15 million mt/year. The modernization project involves installation of primary processing units such as a CDU, replacing one of the three existing CDUs, a hydrocracker, and a naphtha isomerization unit. The initial deadline for the completion of the project along with a bottom-upgrade program was March 2020.

** India's Indian Oil Corp. will invest around $1.2 billion for a new crude pipeline system to connect the Mundra port on the west coast with its Panipat refinery in northern India. The new pipeline system will have a nameplate capacity of 17.5 million mt/year. "The project is expected to be completed within 36 months and would be synchronized with the commissioning of the Panipat refinery expansion project," IOC said in a regulatory filing in December. The project will meet enhanced crude oil demand arising from the capacity expansion of the refinery to 25 million mt/year by 2025 from 15 million mt/year. The expansion project will be part of a petrochemicals integration plan for Panipat refinery. The expansion program includes an Indmax unit for deriving maximum value from the petrochemical molecule, a polypropylene unit, and a lube complex for producing lube oil base stock.

** SK Innovation and Energy has selected Honeywell UOP for a feasibility study to retrofit the hydrogen plant at its Ulsan refinery with carbon capture. SK will "explore capturing and sequestering 400,000 tons of carbon dioxide" from the existing hydrogen production assets. From 2026, the CO2 will be reinjected in depleted natural gas reservoirs, Honeywell said.

** Indian Oil Corp. has received environmental clearance for a capacity upgrade project at its Mathura refinery. The capacity expansion project includes residue upgrade and distillate yield improvement programs. The upgraded crude processing capacity will be 11 million mt/year.

** India's Nayara Energy will complete the first phase of its petrochemicals expansion project, including the setting up of a 450,000 mt/year polypropylene plant, in 2023 at its 20 million mt/year refinery complex at Vadinar, Gujarat. Nayara, as part of its broader plan for its petrochemicals vertical, will set up a new propylene recovery unit along with upgrading the existing fluid catalytic cracking and LPG treatment units.

** Reliance Industries Ltd. has no investment commitment for any refinery capacity expansion plan at its Jamnagar integrated complex, company officials 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/year. Reliance has received environmental clearance for a capacity expansion proposal at its export-focused refinery from 35.2 million mt/year to 41 million mt/year. Reliance also applied for regulatory clearance for a capacity expansion proposal at its domestically focused refinery from 33 million mt/year 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 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/year "once-through" hydrocracker unit, a fuel gas treatment unit and associated facilities. The expansion project will raise its capacity by 50% to 180,000 b/d and add petrochemicals such as polypropylene to its product portfolio. The initial plan for completing the capacity project was scheduled for 2021. But the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic may result in this being rescheduled.

** IOC-owned Bongaigaon refinery plans to raise its capacity to 4.5 million mt/year.

** IOC's Haldia refinery will launch a second catalytic dew axing unit with 270,000 mt/year capacity in 2023. The unit will produce advanced Group III Lubes Oil Base Stock. The unit is expected to be commissioned in January 2023.

** IOC-owned Gujarat refinery's capacity expansion project is set to be completed by Sept. 30, 2024 -- a delay of 1-1/2 years from the previous deadline. The delay is mainly due to the pandemic. The existing smaller capacity atmospheric unit and vacuum units will be replaced by a large atmospheric vacuum unit. 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 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 production capacity of 56 kilotons/year. The company does not plan any expansion for its Paradip refinery, whose overall capacity is 15 million mt/year.

** French company Axens has been selected to provide technological support to Chennai Petroleum's 9 million mt/year 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. at Cauvery basin, known as the Cauvery Basin Refinery. CPCL initially set up a refinery at the Cauvery basin in south India with a capacity of 500,000 mt/year in 1993, and later expanded the capacity to 1 million mt/year 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 (Octanizing), C5-C6 isomerization unit, and VGO Hydrotreater incorporating ZPJE spiraled tube heat exchangers technology.

** Pakistan's National Refinery is considering installing a continuous catalytic reformer to produce Euro 5 motor gasoline while stopping production of naphtha. The project is expected to take at least four or five years to complete. It is continuing to study the possibility of a hydrocracker/bottom-of-the-barrel upgrade, aimed at upgrading fuel oil to value-added products. For the highly capital-intensive project of converting fuel oil into diesel and naphtha a joint project among Pakistan's five refineries is under initial consideration. A joint venture is being considered to carry out the project as it is not feasible for low-capacity refineries on a standalone basis.

** Pakistan's largest refiner, Cnergyico -- formerly Byco -- 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 said in September 2021.

Byco Petroleum typically produces 30%-40% fuel oil, or furnace oil as it is commonly called in the country, from each barrel of crude oil it refines. The product is mainly used by utilities for power generation. But furnace oil demand has weakened after utilities started using LNG, 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," he said. Civil work on the site and the arrival of equipment and machinery are underway, and the company is getting ready to install additional units. "Byco seeks to install 14 plants altogether, including fluid catalytic cracking and diesel hydro desulfurization units," Wasi Khan said. By the time it finishes, the company will have 19 plants at its oil refining complex. This equipment will help convert the bulk of 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 upgrade 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.

** Pakistan's Attock refinery reiterated in its latest financial report that it was in the process of upgrades, including of the diesel desulfurization unit. The Front End Engineering Design for the Continuous Catalyst Regeneration complex has been completed.

** 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 technology 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. TPPI will also continue with its aromatics revamping project. The olefins project is slated for completion by 2024, while the aromatics revamping project will be completed by 2022.

** 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 flexi-coking 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/year flexi-coking unit at the end of 2019. Hengyi Industries has selected the technology for its new Phase II expansion project. The flexi-coking unit, due for a start-up in June 2024, will upgrade 2.1 million mt/year 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 an aromatics block comprising CCR Platformer to convert naphtha into aromatics, as well as an aromatics complex to recover high-purity paraxylene from mixed xylenes. The latter will produce up to 2.3 million mt/year of PX. The complex will also include naphtha hydrotreater and olefin removal process unit among others. In addition, UOP is providing VGO unicracking unit and diesel unicracking unit targeting maximum naphtha production. The first phase of the Pulau Muara Besar refinery envisages crude processing capacity of 8 million mt/year, while in the second phase, the refinery will add 14 million mt/year of crude processing capacity, bringing overall capacity to 22 million mt/year.

** 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.

** Two separate consortiums have submitted bids for the engineering, procurement, and construction contract to build, upgrade and expand the Dung Quat refinery in central Vietnam. The upgrade will raise the capacity of Dung Quat to 8.5 million mt/year from current 6.5 million mt/year.

** 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

** India is considering moving the location of the planned 1.2 million b/d Ratnagiri refinery, originally earmarked for the west coast. However, it can spur economic development through the growth of downstream industries if it is moved to the Vidarbha region, in the eastern part of the state of Maharashtra, oil ministry officials have said. Bitumen from the refinery would speed up road construction in the area. The refinery's original proposed site was in Ratnagiri district, 250 km from Mumbai. A second option that was considered was Raigad district, around 100 km from Mumbai. As per the new plan, the 1.2 million-b/d refinery is set to start in 2025.

** Vitol's refinery in southern Malaysia's Johor state was not expected to be online before the end of Q2 2022, the company said Jan. 21. The refinery, whose construction started in 2019, was likely to be operational in Q4 2021, but there have been some minor delays.

** Mongolia is aiming to complete the construction of its maiden refinery project in 2025. Engineering work at the refinery in Dornogovi in the southeast of the country has been completed despite the disruptions caused by the pandemic. When the feasibility study was approved in December 2018, completion was expected for 2024, the statement said. It will have a 1.5 million mt/year capacity, with 66% of the output diesel and the rest 95 RON gasoline, LPG and jet fuel. The plant will cover 80% of the domestic demand for diesel and gasoline. Construction started in 2018.

** Flow Petroleum Ltd, a Pakistan-based oil marketing company, has signed an agreement with Al Ghurair Investments, a large investment group in the UAE, for 100% ownership of a 120,000 b/d refinery named Trans Asia Refinery. It will be set up on 200 acres of land leased from Port Qasim Authority, Karachi, Pakistan.

** 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/year, planned capacity at the petrochemical complex includes more than 1 million mt/year for ethylene and 1.3 million mt/year 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.

** Indian 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 state government.

** Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have been 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, was due for completion by March 2023.