Refinery news roundup: Some refineries undergoing works in Asia-Pacific

London — Some refineries have started maintenance work in the Asia-Pacific region.

Meanwhile, Indian Oil Corp, the country's largest refiner, will not carry out major works at any of its sites this year as all have seen shutdown programs of late before the national roll-out of Euro 6 fuel grades from April 1, company officials said. State-owned IOC runs 11 refineries, including two subsidiaries. Its refineries have a 32% share of India's total refining capacity of 249 million mt/year (around 5 million b/d). "All our refineries are operating at 100% run rates," said a company official. IOC has completed planned turnaround in all the refineries by at least two months ahead of the deadline of a national roll out of Euro 6 grades. India, the world's third biggest consumer and importer of crude, will switch straight to BS 6 or Euro 6 fuel standard from BS 4 grades, bypassing the BS 5 standard.

Separately, South Korea's Lotte Chemical shut its steam cracker in Daesan after an explosion, a company source confirmed. The steam cracker is able to produce 1.1 million mt/year of ethylene, 550,000 mt/year of propylene and 150,000 mt/year of butadiene.

NEW AND ONGOING MAINTENANCE

UPGRADES

LAUNCHES

NEW AND ONGOING MAINTENANCE

NEW AND REVISED ENTRIES

INDIA

–Indian refiner Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd will undergo works at its 300,000 b/d refinery in March, taking one of the plant's three crude distillation units offline for maintenance for around a month, sources with knowledge of the matter told S&P Global Platts. The 150,000 b/d unit is part of the plant's Phase II complex, the source said, adding that it comes ahead of the country's April 1 deadline to introduce the Euro 6 equivalent, Bharat Stage 6, fuel grades. Over the period of works, the Phase I and Phase II process units continued to function, Platts reported earlier.

EXISTING ENTRIES

ASIA-PACIFIC

–South Korea's top refiner SK Energy plans to shut its No.1 continuous catalytic reforming unit in Ulsan in early March for 45 days of maintenance, sources with knowledge of the matter said. The No. 1 aromatics plant at Ulsan with a paraxylene production capacity of 400,000 mt/year, would also be shut for a 40-day maintenance around the same period, a source familiar with the matter said previously. SK Energy is currently conducting test runs at a new 40,000 b/d vacuum residue desulphurization unit at its Ulsan complex, and aims to begin commercial production by the end of March to produce low sulfur marine fuels that comply with the IMO 2020 sulfur cap, Platts reported previously.

–Taiwan's Formosa Petrochemical plans to shut a 84,000 b/d No. 2 RFCC, 180,000 b/d CDU and 80,500 b/d No. 1 RDS (residue desulfurization unit) at Mailiao over March and April for maintenance, a company spokesman said. The No. 2 RFCC will be shut from March 1 and stay idle for 50 days, with the restart scheduled for April 20, the official said. Formosa has two RFCCs, each with a nameplate capacity of 84,000 b/d. The CDU and No. 1 RDS units will be shut around March 10, and restart around April 20-25.

–PARCO's Mid-Country refinery has shut for a two-month long scheduled maintenance period from early-February to end-April, industry sources with close knowledge of the matter told S&P Global Platts. The turnaround saw the 100,000 b/d plant completely idled, to "undergo repairs and maintenance works", the source added. PARCO was not immediately available for official comment. PARCO is a joint venture between the Pakistan government and the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, with the former holding a 60% shareholding, while the latter a 40% interest through state-owned Mubadala Investment Company.

–South Korea's third-biggest refiner S-Oil Corp will shut its 90,000 b/d No. 1 crude distillation unit and 76,000 b/d No. 2 residue fluid catalytic cracker at Onsan for several weeks' maintenance some time in 2020, but has yet to confirm the dates, a company official said. "The two units will be shut for maintenance this year, but the exact time is not decided," the official said. S-Oil operates three CDUs – No. 1 with a capacity of 90,000 b/d, No. 2 with 240,000 b/d and No. 3 with 250,000 b/d, and a condensate fractionation unit with a capacity of 89,000 b/d, giving it a total refining capacity 669,000 b/d. It also operates two RFCCs – No. 1 with a capacity of 73,000 b/d and No. 2 with 76,000 b/d, at its Onsan complex on the country's southeast coast. S-Oil last year shut its No. 3 CDU for maintenance over March-April, No. 2 RFCC over April-May and No. 1 RFCC over September-October.

–South Korea's Hyundai Oilbank plans to idle one of two crude distillation units and a fluid catalytic cracker at Daesan for maintenance in mid-April, a source with knowledge of the matter said. The turnaround will be for one month lasting until mid-May.

–GS Caltex, South Korea's second-biggest refiner, has scheduled maintenance at its Yeosu refinery for March, a source close to the company said. The duration was expected to be around one month.

–Indonesia's state-owned Pertamina is eyeing a turnaround for its Balongan refinery at the end of the first quarter, sources close to the matter said.

–Indonesia's state-owned Pertamina will postpone a turnaround at one of its two crude distillation units at Balikpapan in East Kalimantan to the end of July from mid-January, sources said. The 200,000 b/d CDU will now undergo maintenance from end-July to end-August, the source said. During the CDU turnaround, the refinery will also shut several secondary units, such as its 81,000 b/d high vacuum unit and 20,000 b/d platformer. The facility's 60,000 b/d CDU will also be taken offline later in the year, though the exact dates have yet to be settled.

–Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Co. plans to undertake maintenance at its 148,000 b/d Dung Quat refinery over June to July 2020. Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical expects production at Dunq Quat to fall to 5.57 million mt in 2020 due to the planned maintenance of around two months. In 2021 BSR plans to shut the refinery for two months to connect the facility with an expansion project.

UPGRADES

EXISTING ENTRIES

–South Korea's top refiner SK Energy said it has started test runs at a new 40,000 b/d vacuum residue desulfurization unit or VRDS after completing mechanical construction on January 31, three months ahead of schedule. "We aim to start commercial production by the end of March after a two-month test run," a company official said, adding the VRDS will supply low sulfur marine fuels that comply with the IMO 2020 sulfur cap. SK Energy has spent Won 1 trillion ($847 million) since November 2017 to build the VRDS at its Ulsan complex on the country's southeast coast. The VRDS will transform high sulfur heavy fuel oil into value-added low sulfur light products, producing 34,000 b/d of 0.5% sulfur fuel oil and 6,000 b/d of marine gasoil, as well as 2,000 b/d of LPG and naphtha. It will use 30,000 b/d of vacuum residue produced by its heavy oil upgrader and 10,000 b/d of atmospheric residue from crude distillation units as feedstock. The startup of the VRDS in late March will increase SK Innovation's supply of low sulfur fuels to 70,000 b/d from 30,000 b/d currently, the company official said.

–Indonesia's Pertamina is looking to upgrade the Balongan refinery in West Java. Two consortiums, REE and JSW, are competing to provide a front end engineering design (FEED). The first phase of the upgrade is expected to be completed in 2-1/2 years. Once upgraded, capacity will be increased to 150,000 b/d. Previously Pertamina was looking to launch Phase 1 in 2022, according to reports. Meanwhile, Pertamina had also signed a memorandum of understanding with ADNOC for potential development in the integrated Balongan petrochemical refinery.

–Hyundai Engineering has won a $2.17 billion deal to upgrade the Balikpapan refinery in Indonesia. Hyundai Engineering will "be responsible for the engineering, procurement and construction for the facility upgrade", which would take 53 months for completion and increase the refinery's capacity from 260,000 b/d to 360,000 b/d. Completion was expected in 2023. Separately, Indonesia's Pertamina and Mubadala signed a Refinery Investment Principle Agreement to evaluate any possibility to cooperate in processing sector, including to accelerate Pertamina's Balikpapan project that is expected to require about $5.5 billion of investment. Pertamina is seeking equity investor to join on the development of Balikpapan refinery. The process had been started in May 2019 by issuing project teaser to potential investors, the president director of Pertamina Nicke Widyawati said.

–IOC's refinery in the western state Gujarat will have the largest capacity among its portfolio of refineries by 2022-23, company officials said. 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. "The expansion project will take off after a detailed feasibility report gets approval from the company's board," an official said. The expansion plan will help the refinery on the west coast to process cheaper heavy crude grades and improve profitability.

–IOC plans to expand the atmospheric and vacuum unit at its Barauni refinery to boost its overall capacity to 9 million mt/year by 2021.

–At Thailand's Bangchak Petroleum an expansion plan is under way to ramp up the 120,000 b/d refinery's production capacity to 140,000 b/d in 2020, through installation of a continuous catalyst regeneration unit. Under the expansion plan, the company will also debottleneck the hydrocracker, which could expand the refinery's production capacity by 10%.

–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, which will produce ethylene and other basic chemicals from naphtha and off-gas.

–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." Start-up is set for 2023. The expansion will add capacity to increase cleaner fuels output with lower sulfur content by 48,000 b/d.

–HPCL's $3.2 billion project to expand Vizag's 8.3 million mt/year capacity to 15 million mt/year is on schedule for completion by March. The project will install primary processing units such as a CDU, replacing one of the three existing CDUs, a hydrocracker and a naphtha isomerization unit.

–Reliance Industries Ltd. has received clearance to raise the capacity of its export-oriented Jamnagar refinery on the west coast of India by 17% to 41 million mt (820,000 b/d). By 2030, RIL aims to raise its total refining capacity – including its domestic-focused refinery – at Jamnagar to 98.2 million mt/year.Reliance currently is 1.37 million b/d, of it 707,000 b/d for the export and 660,000 b/d domestic. The export one will increase capacity to 820,000 b/d. By 2030, it aims to raise its overall capacity to 1.96 million b/d.

–India's IOC plans to raise the capacity of its Panipat refinery to 25 million mt/year by 2021 to meet growing demand for oil products. The refinery's capacity is 15 million mt/year.

–India's cabinet has approved a project to expand the capacity of the Numaligarh refinery to 9 million mt/year from 3 million mt/year.

–South Korea's Hyundai Oilbank plans to expand its residue desulfurization unit's capacity to 130,000 b/d in May 2020 from the current 100,000 b/d. Hyundai Oilbank also is set to complete works to expand its CDUs, increasing its refining capacity to 650,000 b/d from 560,000 b/d. Once the works are complete, the 120,000 b/d No. 1 CDU will be expanded to 160,000 b/d, while the No. 2 CDU will be expanded to 360,000 b/d from 310,000 b/d.

–Nayara Energy is seeking the renewal of environmental approval to double capacity at its Vadinar refinery as the previous approval had been given to Essar Oil. It had planned to double the refining capacity at Vadinar to 40 million mt/year.

–Petron plans to expand and upgrade its Bataan refinery in Limay, increasing its capacity by 55% to produce 75,000 b/d of refined products and 1 million mt/year of aromatics. 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.

–IOC has signed up energy technology and infrastructure solutions provider CB&I for a residue upgrading unit at its Mathura refinery in north India.

–India's IOC is exploring an option to build a petroleum coke gasification plant at its Paradip refinery on India's east coast. IOC's $2.3 billion expansion project for the refinery to raise its overall capacity to 18 million mt/year from 13.7 million mt/year by 2020 is on schedule.

–The Philippines' Petron Corp. has been considering a plan to more than double capacity at its 88,000 b/d Port Dickson refinery in Malaysia by 2020 to 178,000 b/d.

LAUNCHES

EXISTING ENTRIES

–Pengerang Refining and Petrochemical, or PRefChem, also known as RAPID planned to reach commercial operations in Q4, 2019 with the exception of the atmospheric residue desulfurization (ARDS). It targets full commercial operations for the second half of 2020.

–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, Rosneft said. Commissioning of the plant in East Java is expected within the next five years. 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.

–Mongolia's first refinery is expected to reach full capacity by 2026, the facility's top official said, implying a lagged increase in the plant's run rate after completion of construction works in 2022. "We expect to achieve 70% of the installed capacity by 2024," Mongol Refinery Executive Director Altantsetseg Dashdavaa told S&P Global Platts.

–Iran remains open to investing in a planned expansion project by Chennai Petroleum Corp Ltd to set up a 180,000 b/d refinery at Cauvery Basin at Nagapattinam, in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadhu, Indian oil ministry officials said. IOC holds a 51.9% share in CPCL, while NIOC holds 15.4% through Swiss subsidiary Naftiran Intertrade.

–India's proposed new 1.2 million b/d refinery on the west coast will be commissioned in 2025, oil ministry officials said. The refinery will now be built in the Raigad district, around 100 km from Mumbai. An official at Ratnagiri Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd. (RRPCL) said construction of the refinery complex would start in 2020.

–Global trader Vitol is looking to build a 30,000 b/d refinery in southern Malaysia's Johor state. The project involves a simple refinery to be built at Tanjung Bin at VTTI's ATB tank farm. ATB, or ATT Tanjung Bin Sdn Bhd, is a terminal 100% owned by VTTI. Vitol co-owns VTTI.

–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 big refinery project in Maharashtra, being developed by state-owned IOC, HPCL and BPCL, will start up around 2022-23.