REFINERY NEWS ROUNDUP: Companies in India focus on renewables

Indian oil companies are increasingly focusing on renewables.

** Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries will convert its conventional hydrogen capacity to renewable hydrogen by 2025, Chairman & Managing Director Mukesh Ambani said Aug. 29. "We aim to progressively commence transition from gray hydrogen to green hydrogen by 2025, after proving our cost and performance targets," Ambani said.

Ambani said the group is in advanced discussions to partner with electrolyzer technology companies globally to set up a giga-scale electrolyzer manufacturing facility at Jamnagar in Gujarat state.

Reliance plans to establish 20 GW of solar energy generation capacity by 2025, Ambani said.

Reliance inaugurated the first phase of its Bio-Energy Technology Centre at Jamnagar on Aug. 15, Ambani said.

Reliance will also expand its polyester chain capacity by adding 3 million mt/year of purified terephthalic acid capacity and 1 million mt/year of polyethylene terephthalate capacity at Dahej, Gujarat state, by 2026, Ambani said at the company's annual general meeting.

In the vinyl chain, Reliance will add 1.5 million mt/year of integrated PVC capacity at Dahej and Jamnagar in phases by 2026.

Further, it will expand its overseas capacity for ethylene dichloride and PVC at Ruwais in the UAE in a joint venture with Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. and Abu Dhabi holding company ADQ. The capacity expansions in the UAE will cater to regional demand. No details of this capacity addition were given.

** Indian state-run Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd. is pushing ahead with its refinery expansion and upgrading plans, while tying up with leading global auto and other companies to expand its footprint in the electric mobility space in India.

During the first quarter of the current fiscal year (April 2022-March 2023), HPCL invested Rupee 28.09 billion ($354 million) in upgrading refinery and oil products marketing infrastructure, including equity investment in joint ventures and subsidiaries, the company said.

"Mumbai refinery expansion project for enhancing the capacity from 7.5 million mt/year to 9.5 million mt/year has fully stabilized," it said, adding that the refinery operated at 102% of the enhanced capacity during April-June and achieved its highest ever quarterly throughput of 2.43 million mt, compared with 2.31 million mt in the previous quarter. The Mumbai refinery ran at 109% of its expanded capacity of 190,000 b/d in July.

The Visakhapatnam refinery modernization project to expand capacity from 8.3 million mt/year to 15 million mt/year was also close to completion, the company said.

Meanwhile, HPCL and Honda Power Pack Energy India Private Ltd., a subsidiary of Honda Motor Co. Ltd., launched their first battery swapping station in Bengaluru in southern India.

"Customers can exchange the depleted batteries with fully charged ones in two minutes at e:swap stations," HPCL said, adding that Bengaluru would have more than 70 such stations in a year, followed by expansion to other cities.

HPCL is also pursuing a series of other energy transition initiatives. Its compressed biogas plant at Budaun in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh is also nearing completion. Solar panels were installed at 134 retail outlets during the quarter, taking the total number of retail outlets with solar power to 6,545, HPCL added. The refiner also achieved an ethanol blending of 10.83% during the quarter, HPCL added.

** State-owned Indian Oil Corp will invest $25 billion to achieve net-zero operational emissions by 2046, Chairman Shrikant Madhav Vaidya said Aug. 25. The emissions target of India's largest state refiner is in sync with the country's net zero commitment by 2070 as set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the COP-26 Summit last year. Vaidya also said the drive to achieve net zero operational emissions would yield improvements in refining margins.

IOC said it is working on several emission mitigation pathways, including green hydrogen, biofuels, renewables, carbon offsetting through ecosystem restoration and carbon capture utilization and storage, among others.

IOC plans to achieve two-thirds of its emission reduction through energy efficiency, electrification and fuel replacement efforts, while about a third of the total will be mitigated through options such as CCUS, nature based solutions and purchase of carbon credits, the chairman said.

Meanwhile, refiners in the region are exploring various crude options.

** Separately, India's state-owned refiner Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd is exploring the option of sourcing crude via term deals from across the world including Russia, its chairman Arun Kumar Singh said on Aug. 29. "We are continuously talking with suppliers including Russia," Singh said after the company's 69th annual general meeting in Mumbai. The idea is to have 70% crude sourcing via term deals to minimize the price volatility factor associated with spot buying, he said.

** South Korea aims to maximize spot and term Middle Eastern crude intake, with shipments from Saudi Arabia and UAE in July rising sharply to support high domestic refinery runs amid healthy middle distillate cracks, while refiners prepare for a significant fuel switching from gas to oil across Asia amid surging LNG prices, market participants said over Aug. 29-31.

Among top crude suppliers in July, South Korea's crude imports from the UAE surged almost fourfold from a year earlier to 15.83 million barrels, marking the biggest monthly intake from the Persian Gulf producer since November 2005 when it received 16.73 million barrels.

South Korea's crude imports from its top supplier Saudi Arabia also jumped 44.1% year on year to 29.127 million barrels in July, while shipments from Kuwait rose 3.1% on the year to 10.03 million barrels and Iraqi crude imports rose 76.2% to 10.199 million barrels.

** Indonesia is poised to boost the share of Middle Eastern crudes in its overall feedstock procurement basket over the coming years as its refineries gradually process more volumes of high sulfur crude grades.

Indonesia's slow but gradual refinery upgrading works are starting to bear fruit, with state-run oil and gas company Pertamina's enhanced ability to process cheaper sour crude oil contributing to its overall operational cost savings of about Rupiah 6 trillion ($400 million) in the first seven months 2022, feedstock and logistics management sources at the company said.

In other news, Sri Lanka's refinery appears to have resumed operations, while elsewhere some temporary closures are on the cards.

** Pakistan's Attock refinery has already halted one of its crude distillation units temporarily and has now further reduced throughput due to "low upliftments of petroleum products" and high stocks, it said Aug. 18 in a letter to the country's Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA). The measures are aimed to help the refinery "manage the ullage situation and avoid complete refinery shutdown," it said. As a result the plant is operating at "a bare minimum throughput of 65%" of capacity.

It asked for OGRA's assistance in getting the oil marketing companies to take "maximum supplies" of gasoil and gasoline.

Pakistan oil marketing companies started importing heavily and building up inventories of gasoline and gasoil from June onwards due to continuous devaluation of the local currency, while at the same time reducing purchases from local refineries.

** Sri Lanka's Sapugaskanda refinery has resumed operations Aug. 20, the country's Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera said on his Twitter account. A 100,000 mt of crude oil has been discharged and another one of 120,000 mt will be discharged this week which will enable the refinery to operate at full capacity for 40 days. The refinery has halted operations several times since November 2021 over shortages of crude oil.

** Malaysian Petronas' Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development, or PRefChem, started its new polyethylene facilities at the Pengerang Integrated Complex in Johor in August, a company source said Aug. 29. The complex's start was delayed due to a fire and a subsequent explosion that took place in April 2019.

** South Korea's fire officials have allowed refiner S-Oil to continue to operate four units at its Onsan refinery, a company source said on Aug. 26, which were ordered to shut over Sept. 1-15 due to a violation against safety regulations, according to media reports. S-Oil was ordered by local fire officials on Aug. 22 to suspend operations at four units, including the No. 2 and No. 3 crude distillation units. The refiner was also ordered to shut the hydrocracker and the paraxylene units at the Onsan refinery.

NEW AND ONGOING MAINTENANCE

UPGRADES

LAUNCHES

New and ongoing maintenance

New and revised entries

Asia-Pacific

** Taiwan's Formosa restarted its 84,000 b/d FCC unit at the Mailiao refinery Sept. 5. The unit was shut Aug. 22 due to a water leakage in a carbon monoxide boiler and was expected to remain offline for two to three weeks. The FCC can produce 375,000 mt/year propylene.

India

** Indian Oil Corp.'s Panipat refinery has planned a maintenance shutdown of its atmospheric and vacuum distillation unit next month, company officials said. The planned maintenance shutdown and inspection is scheduled to start Sept. 20 for a 40-day period. During the shutdown the refinery's overall run will be reduced for about one-and-a-half months as one of the two CDUs will be under maintenance.

** India's Bharat Petroleum Corp is set to undertake a month-long maintenance shutdown at Kochi refinery from Sept. 25, company officials said. 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.

** India's BPCL Mumbai refinery is running normally after a planned maintenance shutdown plan involving a 120,000 b/d crude unit and secondary units including a diesel hydro desulfurizer and hydrogen generation unit in June, company officials said Aug. 30. The units that went through the maintenance came on stream after the start-up operation in July. In July, Mumbai refinery operated at 68% compared to 89% in June and 127% in May. For the April-July period, it ran at 103% compared with 117% in the same period a year earlier.

** The ongoing turnaround program at India's Paradip refinery was expected to be over by mid-September, market sources said Aug. 24. The maintenance, which started Aug. 1 with the shutdown of the crude unit, also involved shutdown of naphtha hydrotreater, continuous catalytic reformer, diesel hydrotreater, coker and alkylation units. Paradip refinery operated at a normal level in July after a short shutdown in June. In July, it ran 106% compared with 103% in June and 83% a year ago.

Existing entries

Asia-Pacific

** South Korea's SK Innovation will carry out planned works between end-September and end-October at its Ulsan and Incheon refineries, according to market sources. The company said at the end of July that the exact schedules for the maintenance had not been fixed.

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 capacity at the main Ulsan complex for maintenance in the second half.

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 capacity, as well as a condensate splitter unit (CSU) with a capacity of 100,000 b/d.

** 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.

** PetroVietnam's Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical will conduct maintenance at its refinery at Dung Quat from Jun. 22 to Aug. 11 2023, according to a BSR official. It will be a full shutdown as per previous maintenance works.

** 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.

** 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.

India

** India's Reliance Industries Ltd is planning a maintenance shutdown for 30 days starting Sept. 10 at unit 2 of Jamnagar special economic zone refinery, which has a capacity of 41 million mt/year, a company official said Aug. 10. The shutdown may get extended by up to 10 days in case of any exigency, the official added. The unit 2 of the refinery is an export-oriented one in the special economic zone. "Such shutdowns take place once in three years. The last time it was scheduled in 2019, it got rescheduled to March 2020 but because of COVID-19, the plan got deferred," the source said.

The processing impact from the shutdown on crude oil could be nearly 3.5 million mt, while production impact for polypropylene could be around 125,000 mt, with C3 supply from the refinery also to be lower, the source added.

** 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. The plan at Bina involves maintenance shutdown of a 2.6 million mt/year hydrocracker unit for 10 days. Officials said the shutdown plan at Kochi would be executed after the short maintenance plan at Bina. 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.

Upgrades

New and revised entries

** India's Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd will raise the petrochemical intensity level at its three refineries to 8% in fiscal year 2026-27 (April-March) from the current level of around 1%. BPCL is planning two new projects -- an ethylene cracker project at the Bina refinery and a polypropylene project at the Kochi refinery. The refiner is carrying out feasibility studies and other pre-project activities for these two planned projects. "The projects are likely to take around four years for completion once the environmental clearance is received," said one official.

** The capacity upgrade project for India's Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. Vizag refinery is scheduled for completion in the first quarter (January-March) of 2023, company officials said. The expansion project aims to raise the existing capacity of 8.3 million mt (166,000 b/d) to 15 million mt (300,000 b/d). Execution of Residue Upgradation Facilities (RUF) as part of the expansion project is also progressing well. The expansion project includes setting up a 180,000 b/d new crude unit, revamping a motor spirit and diesel hydro-treating block, integrated effluent treatment system, offsite facilities and a captive power plant that can either run on naphtha or natural gas. The project involves building facilities for a 352,000 mt/year naphtha isomerization unit, and a 3.053 million mt/year hydrocracker. The project also involves the renovation of units including a 30% increase in capacity of naphtha hydrotreater to 1.5 million mt/year and diesel hydrotreater to 2.86 million mt/year. The capacity of continuous catalytic cracker will also be raised to 1.039 million mt/year.

Existing entries

** Toyo Engineering has been awarded a contract by India's IOC for EPCC (engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning) of a new 2.5 million mt/year vacuum distillation unit at the Vadodara refinery in Gujarat. The Gujarat refinery is also in the process of expanding its capacity from 13.7 million mt/year to 18 million mt/year, which is due for completion in the first half of financial year 2024, the statement said.

The expansion project is set to be over by Sept. 30, 2024. Under the expansion project, the existing smaller capacity atmospheric unit and vacuum units will be replaced by a large atmospheric vacuum unit for raising the operational efficiency of the refinery.

** 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.

** 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 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 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.

** 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

New and revised entries

** India's Chennai Petroleum Corp. Ltd. approved a proposal to form a joint venture company with its parent firm Indian Oil Corp. and others equity investors to set up a 9 million mt/year refinery, company officials said. IOC and its subsidiary CPCL will hold a 25% stake each in the joint venture while the rest of the share will be with financial investors such as Axis Bank Limited, HDFC Life Insurance Company Limited, ICICI Bank Limited, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company Limited and SBI Life Insurance Company Limited. The refinery project is scheduled for completion by June 2025, a company official said. The Cauvery Basin refinery will have capacities to produce around 4 million mt/year diesel, 1.8 million mt/y gasoline, both Euro 6 grades, and 0.6 million m/y of LPG and 0.3 million mt/y jet fuel. The configuration of the proposed refinery would be such that it would be able to process 50% each of a mix of Basrah Light and Basrah Heavy and 100% with respect to Iranian Light.

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.