REFINERY NEWS ROUNDUP: Plants in India cut runs

Average runs for all categories of refineries in India fell to 92% in May compared with 97% in the previous month, the most recent survey by the oil ministry showed June 22, as domestic demand for oil products in Asia's third-largest economy hit its lowest level in 2021 due to the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

Run in May were above the 80% run rate of May 2020, as overall economic activity increased since the first wave of COVID-19 last year.

In May, state-run refineries recorded an 87% run rate compared with 72% a year ago and 98% in April. State-run refiner Indian Oil Corp. in May recorded a combined average run rate of 94% across its nine standalone refineries compared with 75% in the year-ago period and 104% in April. India's No. 2 state-run refiner Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd. registered a 92% run rate in May compared with 70% a year ago and 115% in April. Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd., India's No. 3 state-run refiner, recorded a run rate of 65% in May from 98% in May 2020 and 67% in April.

Private refineries recorded a 99% run rate in May from 95% in May 2020 and 92% in April. Reliance Industries Ltd.'s domestic unit operated at 105% in May compared with 102% last year and 102% in April. Its export-focused refinery ran at 93% in May compared with 88% a year ago and 78% in April. Reliance's combined runs in May were 98% from 95% in May 2020 and 90% in April.

Rosneft-owned Nayara Energy recorded a 103% run rate in May from 95% in May 2020 and 99% in April.

Domestic consumption of gasoline in India in May fell to a one-year low, as strict lockdowns across the country aimed at stopping the spread of the new variant of the coronavirus pulled demand for the motor fuel to its lowest point since the first nationwide lockdown. Indian gasoline demand totaled 1.99 million mt in May, down 16.57% month on month, the most recent data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell showed.

India's No. 2 state-run refiner Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd has reduced run rates at its two refineries to adjust crude processing on lower domestic retail fuel demand due to the pandemic, company officials said June 25. Average run rates at the Mumbai and Kochi refineries are currently at 75-80%.

Elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific, Shell is planning to cut capacity at Pulau Bukom in July, but Petron Philippines plans to restart shortly its Bataan plant.

** Shell will reduce the crude processing capacity at its Pulau Bukom refinery in Singapore by around 200,000 b/d in July 2021, the company said May 10. In November 2020, Shell announced plans to nearly halve the capacity at Pulau Bukom as part of its initiative to reduce its CO2 emissions to net zero by 2050. "Our Bukom refinery will move from a crude-oil, fuels-based product slate towards new, low-carbon products," the company said in a statement May 10. "We have a 10-year plan for how the company could make significant investments in people, assets and capabilities to repurpose its core business and aim to cut its own CO2 emissions here by about a third within a decade. To this end, we are transforming our manufacturing business, making it fit for the new future, where our Pulau Bukom Manufacturing Site will be an energy and chemicals park." ** Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. plans to shut its Tabangao refinery and transform the facility into an import terminal, the company said in a statement. The refinery has been shut since May 24, 2020, having been idled due to weak demand for domestic products.

** New Zealand's Refining NZ could close its Marsden Point refinery by the middle of 2022 and convert it into an import terminal after making further progress in talks with customers, according to local media reports. The conversion would depend upon shareholders' agreement and a final investment decision. The refinery said previously that in 2020 it has started "engagement with customers to evaluate a possible future staged transition to an import terminal." The proposed terminal would have annual capacity of around 3 billion liters. Refining NZ also previously said that it has reached "in principle agreement" with BP, but negotiations with ExxonMobil and Z Energy were ongoing. The company has now reached "in principle" agreement for the transition to an import terminal with Z Energy, Z Energy said in a statement, adding that the agreement is non-binding and contingent upon several conditions. Z Energy also said that it will work with Refining NZ "with the objective of securing final approval in the third quarter of 2021." Refining NZ however is yet to reach an agreement with ExxonMobil, according to the reports. ExxonMobil is one of three wholesalers that take cargoes from Marsden Point, along with BP and New Zealand's Z Energy. From January, the refinery has implemented a plan to simplify refinery operations, which will enable it to "continue to operate the refinery safely in 2021 in a low-margin environment and providing time to properly assess the import terminal option." The simplification involves reducing total refined fuels production and ceasing bitumen production.

** Australia's second-largest refiner, Viva Energy, said it welcomes the Federal Government's announcement of a Fuel Security Package earlier in May and as part of the package would make a six-year commitment to maintain refining operations at Geelong through to June 30, 2027 with a further three-year option to extend until June 30, 2030. "Viva Energy expects to commit to and participate in the FSP, subject to the finalisation of the detail of the package, and approval of the legislative package," it said in a statement. Late last year, the company decided to avoid the closure of Geelong after taking up a payment lifeline extended by the Australian federal government, which lasted for six months from January-July 2021. Refineries that took part in the grant, had to agree to maintain operations at least during the tenure of the program. The new Fuel Security Package "provides important and welcome structural support to the refining sector in Australia," CEO and Managing Director, Scott Wyatt said in the statement, adding that the sector "has faced several structural headwinds in recent years from challenging trading conditions globally, increased competition from Asian refinery imports, and the significant impacts of demand destruction from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020." The Fuel Security Service Payment will commence from July 1 2021 until June 30 2027 by providing support at lower margins. As part of the FSP, the government intends to bring forward the requirement for ultra-low sulfur gasoline specification to the end of 2024, which requires substantial upgrades at Geelong, the company said. To facilitate the upgrade, the government intends to contribute towards the capital upgrades, it also added.

** Ampol, formally known as Caltex Australia, will continue refining operations at its Lytton refinery. It had previously said it would complete the comprehensive review of the plant by the end of H1 2021, which would provide an indication on the refinery's future in Australia. The decision to keep refining operations is "subject to the government's refining support package being successfully legislated as proposed," the company said. The company has decided to keep the refinery open after the government pledged a support package, according to local media reports. The proposed government package will provide a "variable support payment of up to $108 million per annum that should protect refinery earnings during periods of low margins," the company said. In 2020, several Australian refineries have announced their closures, with BP's Kwinana refinery and Exxon Mobil's Altona refinery, leaving Australia with only two refineries -- Ampol's Lytton refinery in Brisbane and Viva Energy's refinery in Geelong, Victoria. The government however, has pledged support to both Lytton and Geelong refineries, according to local media. The fuel security package will provide refiners access for six years up to mid 2027, Ampol said, adding that it has an option to extend for another three years. However, Ampol also said that it could pursue a conversion of 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." According to local media, the company is also planning to develop a hydrogen demonstration plant at Lytton which could provide a framework to pursue green hydrogen opportunities in the region.

** ExxonMobil Australia plans to shut its Altona refinery in Melbourne and convert it into a fuel import terminal, the company said in a statement released Feb. 10. "The decision was made following an extensive review of operations at Australia's smallest refinery...the review considered the competitive supply of products into Australia, declining domestic crude oil production, future capital investments and the impact of these factors on operating earnings," the statement said. The refinery will remain in operation while transition work is undertaken, the statement added.

** The Maritime Union of Australia has urged the federal government to nationalize BP's Kwinana oil refinery, rather than allow it to be closed. BP Australia on Oct. 30 said it was planning to shut its Kwinana refinery and convert it into a fuel import terminal, in a strategy aimed to better meet the needs of a changing oil market.

** In other news, Indonesian state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina said June 11 that one of the benzene tanks at the paraxylene complex of its Cilacap refinery caught fire around 7.45 pm local time. The cause of the accident remains unclear and a company official, who declined to be named, said that refinery operations have not been affected.

** Saudi Aramco's chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan has joined the board of India's Reliance Industries Ltd as an independent director, in a move that signals the proposed sale of a stake in Reliance to Aramco, which has been stalled since first being announced in 2019, could go ahead soon.

**Indian Oil Corp., India's biggest state-run refiner, has floated several tenders to set up renewable hydrogen plants by the end 2021, but fossil fuels will continue to dominate its products long term due to the country's growing energy requirement, a top executive in the company said June 30. "The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas advised all the oil marketing companies under its control to set up at least five demonstration units of green hydrogen and use it for various applications including refining," Dr. SSV Ramakumar, IOC's director of research and development and board member, said in an interview.

Renewable hydrogen, popularly termed as 'green' hydrogen, is generated by electrolysis that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen using power from a renewable source such as wind or solar. IOC has floated tenders for electrolysis plants based on three different technologies and the renewable hydrogen generated in these would be used to fuel 15 fuel cell busses, Ramakumar said. This would add up to 10 kg/hour capacity of hydrogen and will be commissioned by the end of this year backed by a micro grid powered by solar electricity.

IOC will grow its energy basket in line with demand and by 2030 more than half its total fuel production will come from conventional sources. The group's refining throughput was 62.351 million mt in 2020-21. Crude oil contributed 76% to its revenue, as stated in its 2019-20 annual report.

NEW AND ONGOING MAINTENANCE

UPGRADES

LAUNCHES

New and ongoing maintenance

New and revised entries

India

** India's Reliance Industries Ltd has restarted the fluid catalytic cracker unit at its 704,000 b/d export-oriented plant at Jamnagar in Gujarat on the west coast of India, industry sources with close knowledge of the matter told S&P Global Platts. The unit had gone offline on June 6 after an emergency shutdown was carried out, the company said in a regulatory filing previously.

Existing entries

India

** India's Kochi refinery plans to carry out a maintenance shutdown program in September-October, company officials said. There will be works at one of the Crude distillate units and a continuous catalytic reforming unit. "The shutdown program is likely to be 3-4 weeks," one official said.

** India's Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd. has been focusing on the revamp of one of two crude distillation units at Mumbai after carrying out planned maintenance at the other unit, company officials said June 1. The maintenance for 3.5 million mt/year (70,000 mt/b) was over during the third week of April. The revamp at the other CDU of 4 million mt/y (80,000 b/d) involves raising the capacity of this unit by 2 million mt/y (40,000 b/d). The revamp work for the enhanced capacity was expected to be over by the last week of June. The enhanced capacity unit is expected to become functional from the first week of July. The revamp will raise the total processing capacity of the refinery on the west coast to 190,000 b/d. The capacity enhancement program was originally scheduled for completion in March 2020, a plan that was overtaken by the coronavirus pandemic.

** Indian Oil Corp-owned refinery at Guwahati in the eastern state of Assam is undergoing a maintenance shutdown program, company officials said May 14. The shutdown, which started from the first week of May, is expected to continue until July and forms part of the facility's Quality Improvement Programme, they added. In March, the plant's run rate was 105%, although in fiscal year 2020-21 (April-March), it stood at 85%.

Asia-Pacific

** Taiwan's Formosa Petrochemical is targeting to restart its No. 2 residue desulfurization unit at the Mailiao refinery over July 1-10, one year after it was shut due to fire, but the refiner will first need to obtain the necessary approvals and permit required for restart, a company spokesman said May 27.

"We originally targeted to restart the RDS around mid-June. The repair work has been completed, and we are waiting for government approval following the safety inspection. That process has been delayed by the worsening COVID-19 situation," the official said. Formosa is also required to re-apply and obtain approval for an emission permit in order for the unit to restart, since the current one was revoked.

Separately, the company plans to shut the No. 1 RDS unit at the refinery from Oct. 1 for a turnaround lasting 35 to 40 days , the official added. Both RDS units have the same capacity. The No. 2 RDS unit was shut on July 15, 2020, due to a fire. Following the No. 2 RDS unit's restart, Formosa might raise its refinery operating rate should current margins be maintained and if the COVID-19 situation in Asia improves. Meanwhile, Formosa restarted its No. 3 crude distillation unit at the Mailiao complex on May 25. Formosa Petrochemical idled one of its crude distillation units of 180,000 b/d in November due to weak margins and low secondary unit operations. The unit will process and use up to 2 million barrels of sweet crude, which is estimated to last 10 to 20 days, after which the CDU will be shut again once the feedstock has been used up. The CDU will restart after the RDS unit's restart in July, and start processing sour crude, the official said. Meanwhile, Formosa will also shut its 150,000 b/d base oil unit for turnaround from July 7 until Aug. 25.

** Vietnam's Nghi Son refinery has finished maintenance at one of its two residue hydrodesulfurization units in April. The second unit, which was in operation during the maintenance of the first, is scheduled to undergo maintenance in August.

** Viva Energy, Australia's second-largest refiner, said it was delaying planned maintenance at its hydrofluoric acid alkylation unit at Geelong to 2021 from late 2020.

Upgrades

New and revised entries

** Russian oil major Rosneft-owned Nayara Energy is moving ahead with an expansion plan for its Vadinar refinery after receiving environmental approval, company officials said June 2021. Nayara's decision to more than double the capacity with a petrochemical complex will rest on prevailing market conditions even after approvals of the green authorities, the next layer of approvals required after the environmental nod for executing the plan. It had planned to double the refining capacity at Vadinar to 40 million mt/year.

** Indian Oil Corporation 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, company officials said June 2021. 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.

** India's HPCL aims to raise its existing capacity of 8.3 million mt/year at Vizag refinery to 15 million mt/year by fiscal year 2023-24 (April-March), the company said June 2021. The latest completion deadline for the expansion project has been delayed by at least four years, mainly due to the coronavirus pandemic. The expansion 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.

** Reliance Industries Ltd. has no investment commitment for any refinery capacity expansion plan at its Jamnagar integrated complex, company officials said June 2021. 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. Reliance has received environmental clearance for a capacity expansion proposal at its export-focused refinery from 35.2 million mt (704,000 b/d) to 41 million mt (820,000 b/d) at the Jamnagar complex. However, nothing definitive happened in terms of investment commitment to the proposal. Company officials said prior regulatory approvals were taken as standard practice depending on the then prevailing market scenario that might not remain constant in a dynamic world. Previously Reliance also applied for regulatory clearance for a capacity expansion proposal at its domestically focused refinery from a capacity of 33 million mt/year (660,000 b/d) to 40.5 million mt (810,000 b/d). However, it aborted the proposal after marketing conditions changed.

** Thailand's Bangchak has stabilized its throughput at 120,000 b/d after completing a debottlenecking project, which increased capacity by 10%.

The Hydrocracker debottlenecking project completed in March 2021, helps it to "stabilize crude run in complex refining mode at 120,000 b/d", it said June 10. The refinery is no longer aiming to increase capacity to 140,000 b/d.

Separately, Bangchak completed maintenance in Q1 2021, between February 15-March 25. The maintenance has been deferred from 2020.

** Petron Malaysia is ramping up operations at its new diesel hydrotreater at its 88,000 b/d facility located in Port Dickson, industry sources with knowledge of the matter told S&P Global Platts. The unit, which was part of the ongoing upgrade work of the plant, started operations around late April and was heard to be stepping up operations throughout June, according to the source. With the new diesel hydrotreater, the refinery is able to produce cleaner diesel fuel with a maximum of 10 ppm sulfur that meets the Euro 5 standards. Petron Corp. 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.

Existing entries

** India's Hindustan Petroleum Corp has been focusing on the revamp of one of two crude distillation units at Mumbai after carrying out planned maintenance at the other unit, company officials said June 1. The revamp at the CDU of 4 million mt/y (80,000 b/d) involves raising the capacity of this unit by 2 million mt/y (40,000 b/d). The revamp work for the enhanced capacity was expected to be over by the last week of June. The enhanced capacity unit is expected to become functional from the first week of July. The refiner on the west coast will have a total processing capacity of 190,000 b/d, after the revamp. The refinery is a lube-based entity with the highest lube output capacity in India.

** Hengyi Industries has selected a flexicoking technology for a second time as part of its expansion project in Pulau Muara Besar, Axens said in a statement May 27. The Brunei refinery already started up a 1.1 million mt/yr flexicoking unit at the end of 2019. Hengyi Industries has selected the technology for a second time to upgrade heavy feeds for its new Phase II expansion project, the statement said. The flexicoking unit, due for start-up in June 2024, will upgrade 2.1 million mt/yr of vacuum residue, FCC slurry oil and steam cracker pyoil into valuable distillates and flexigas. Axens signed a licensing alliance agreement with ExxonMobil in 2020 allowing Axens to provide ExxonMobil's flexicoking technology. The technology is used to convert heavy feeds to lighter products and flexigas. Separately, 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 Light Desorbent Parex aromatics complex to recover high-purity paraxylene from mixed xylenes. The latter will produce up to 2.3 million mt/year 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/year of paraxylene. 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.

** 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, company officials said April 2021. The contract involves the installation of a 1 million mt/year "once-through" hydrocracker unit (OHCU), a fuel gas treatment unit (FGTU) and associated facilities. The OHCU, in combination with downstream units of the refinery, will enable the production of Euro 6 equivalent fuels and petrochemicals. 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 (180,000 b/d) by 2024. The UOP Distillate Unionfining technology removes impurities to improve the quality of middle distillate feedstocks that meet increasingly stringent regulations for fuels, such as diesel, Honeywell said in a statement May 11. UOP Unionfining technology provides flexible ways to gasoil conversion for producing ultra low sulfur diesel fuel and kerosene. Numaligarh Refinery Ltd. has also Axens to provide technical support and licensed technology for its planned expansion, Axens said. Axens will provide technical support and license a naphtha hydrotreating unit, continuous catalytic reforming unit, isomerization, and fluid catalytic cracker to produce lower sulfur gasoline cargoes, the French company said in a statement Feb. 16. The company was aiming to complete the expansion project by 2025.

** Pakistan Refinery Limited is seeking to upgrade and expand its refining capacity to produce Euro V grade road fuels such as gasoil and gasoline, based on a tendering document provided to S&P Global Platts on April 12. "For this purpose, PRL intends to purchase a pre-owned refinery complex for relocation to Pakistan," it said. "The size of the preferred units shall correspond to 50,000 to 100,000 b/d design throughput refinery." PRL is seeking to improve the refining of bottom-of-the-barrel streams through hydrogen addition or carbon rejection. Other units being that could be upgraded include hydrotreater, hydrofiner, reformer, isomerization, alkylation, hydrogen manufacturing, and sulfur blocks.

** Pertamina will start producing biodiesel at its Cilacap Refinery Unit IV from December 2021 onward, with production set to rise further in coming years, industry sources with knowledge of the matter told S&P Global Platts. From December onward, the state-owned oil and gas giant 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 onwards, one source said. D-100 bbm is gasoil which is 100% made from "palm oil that has been refined to remove free fatty acids and purification to remove color and odor," while B30 biodiesel blend consists of a mix of palm oil and diesel, Pertamina explained. In January, Pertamina had conducted trials to test the refinery's capability to produce D-100 bbm, with testing of the B30 biodiesel production having already been conducted. Aside from biodiesel production, Cilacap is also producing B20 gasoline, with production of the ethanol blended gasoline having started April 2020. According to market sources, the B20 gasoline has an octane rating of 92 RON, akin to the domestically consumed Pertamax brand. Units are also currently being built at Plaju refinery, for the production of an additional 20,000 b/d in biofuel production.

Indonesia's state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina will use Honeywell UOP technologies to produce advanced biofuels at its Plaju and Cilacap refineries. The biorefinery in Plaju will produce 20,000 b/d of vegetable oils and fat to produce renewable jet fuel, renewable diesel fuel and green LPG at the Plaju refinery. The Cilacap refinery will be revamped to process 6,000 b/d of vegetable oils and fats to produce advanced biofuels.

** The upgrade of Pakistan's Cinergyco (former Byco) refinery, which aims to enable it to convert fuel oil into gasoline and diesel meeting Euro 5 and Euro 6 specification, is planned to be completed in the next three years, thus meeting the government's requirement for cleaner environment and lower sulfur content, the company said in a statement April 2021. The Upgrade-1 project consists of constructing 10 new units grouped into four categories which will enable Byco to reduce the sulfur content in the diesel it produces and convert fuel oil into gasoline and diesel, the company said. These include a vacuum distillation unit, which will distill fuel oil to yield heavy vacuum gasoil; a fluidized catalytic cracking unit, which breaks heavy VGO large molecules into smaller ones such as olefinic gases, cat naphtha, cat diesel and other products; olefin-to-gasoline conversion units, which convert propylene and butylene into gasoline blending components; and hydro treating units and sulfur recovery units to desulfurize diesel and gasoline down to 10 ppm sulfur. Byco has started building the diesel hydro desulfurizing unit (DHDS) and the FCC. The upgrade will enable Byco to reduce production of low value fuel oil and enhance product quality, making the products better for the environment, Mohammad Wasi Khan, Byco's board chairman said. Earlier in April, the company changed its name from Byco Petroleum Pakistan to Cinergyco Pk Limited following the merger of five companies over the past years, the company said in statement at the time. The change is still to be notified to the Pakistan Stock Exchange.

** Indonesia's Pertamina late February 2021 started upgrade work at its Balongan refinery as part of Indonesia's Refinery Development Master Plan, which aims to boost the country's overall refining capacity. The first phase of the RDMP project at the Balongan refinery kicked off with upgrade work at the facility's crude distillation unit, to raise "the refinery's ability to process different types of crude," a source said. In addition to increasing the flexibility of the refinery's crude slate, the CDU upgrade will raise 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. Works at the Balikpapan refinery have reached one third completion. Upon completion of the project, the Balikpapan facility's refining capacity will increase to 360,000 b/d from 260,000 b/d and it will be able to produce higher quality gasoline that meet Euro 5 standards. Completion was expected in 2023. 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.

** 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. The new Olefin Project, which will consist of the construction of a new naphtha cracker as well as the necessary downstream units, will provide the facility an additional "1 million mt/year Polyethylene products and 600,000 mt/year Polyethylene," according to the company statement. In addition the Olefin project, TPPI will also continue its Aromatic Revamping project, which will "increase petrochemical production in the form of Paraxylene from 600,000 mt/year to 780,000 mt/year," added the statement. 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. They is a consortium of Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co. Ltd. and Hyundai Engineering Co., Ltd.; and consortium of Technip Italy, Technip Geoproduction (M) Sdn Bhd, Technip France, PetroVietnam Technical Services Corp. and Vietnam's Lilama Corp. The upgrade will raise the capacity of Dung Quat to 8.5 million mt/year from current 6.5 million mt/year. The project will enable the refinery to diversify its crude inputs and meet Euro-V standards for its fuels.

** Pakistan's Attock Refinery has planned to install a hydrocracking facility, Attock Refinery Limited told analysts. Attock Refinery is considering two upgrade projects, including the hydrocracker as well as a Continuous Catalyst Regeneration, CCR, the company's officials told the analysts. After the implementation of these projects, Attock Refinery would be able to produce Euro V compliant gasoline and diesel along with full conversion of naphtha into mogas.

** Pakistan's National Refinery has issued shares in order to upgrade and expand the plant into a deep conversion refinery, according to market sources and company documents. The proceeds will be used to revamp units and increase the gasoline and diesel yield.

** Indian Oil Corp. owned Bongaigaon refinery has plans to raise its annual capacity to 4.5 million mt.

** Indian Oil Corp's Haldia refinery will launch a second catalytic dew axing unit (CIDWU) with 270,000 mt/year capacity in 2023, company officials said. The unit will produce advanced Group III Lubes Oil Base Stock (LOBS). The unit is expected to be commissioned in January 2023.

** State-run Indian Oil Corp.-owned Gujarat refinery's capacity expansion project is set to be over by Sept. 30 2024, company officials said, a delay of one-and-a-half years from the previous deadline.

The delay is primarily due to the rescheduling of the project execution timelines for the pending projects as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The initial deadline for the capacity expansion project was contemplated for 2020. The expansion plan will help the refinery on the west coast to process cheaper heavy crude grades and improve profitability. Under the expansion project, the existing smaller capacity atmospheric unit and vacuum units will be replaced by a large atmospheric vacuum unit (AVU) for raising the operational efficiency of the refinery. The project also involves a revamp of the existing hydrogen generation unit for the production of syngas and hydrogen, 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.

** Indian Oil Corp. 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/year. Currently, the entire Needle Coke requirement of the country (80-100 kilotons/year) is met via imports. The company does not plan any expansion for its Paradip refinery, whose overall capacity is 15 million mt/year.

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

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

** 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.

Launches

Existing entries

** Malaysia's Pengerang Refining and Petrochemical, also known as PRefChem, is gearing for a "full start-up in the second half of 2021," Petronas said in a statement May 27. PRefChem had previously announced in early March that it had to review the restart date due to the extended Movement Control Order that was imposed by the Malaysian government. 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.

** French company Axens has been selected to provide technological support to Chennai Petroleum's Cauvery Basin Refinery project at Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu. In January, the board of state-run refiner Indian Oil Corp., or 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/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 (OctanizingTM), C5-C6 isomerization unit, and VGO (Vacuum Gasoil) Hydrotreater incorporating ZPJE spiraled tube heat exchangers technology. The heat exchangers technology helps to achieve the highest energy efficiency, Axens said. Axens will also offer products for cracked gasoline selective desulfurization (Prime-G+) unit, and a sulfur block consisting of two trains of Claus unit and two trains of Tail Gas Treatment Unit (SultimateTM). The new refinery will produce gasoline and high-speed diesel meeting Euro 6 norms and polypropylene with a capacity of 540,000 mt/year as a value-added product. IOC and its subsidiary CPCL will hold a 25% stake each in the joint venture while the rest will be with financial investors. The refinery will have capacities to produce around 4 million mt/year diesel, 1.8 million mt/year gasoline, both Euro 6 grades, and 600,000 m/year of LPG and 300,000 mt/year jet fuel.

** Flow Petroleum Ltd., or 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 This refinery will be set up on 200 acres of land leased from Port Qasim Authority, Karachi, Pakistan. FPPL said that the company has awarded contract for engineering, procurement and construction to a Chinese firm. The complete machinery with spares available at site and ready for assembly, it added.

** India is committed to timely completion of Mongolia's maiden refinery project in Dornogobi (Dornogovi), oil ministry officials said. India has given a $1 billion loan towards construction of the project, with state-owned Mongol Refinery scheduled for completion in 2022. State-run Engineers India Ltd (EIL) is the main consultant to the green field refinery project. The refinery was expected to reach 70% of installed capacity by 2024 and run at maximum by 2026. It is operated by the state owned Mongolian Oil Refinery. Mongolia will be able to process its own crude with the start-up of the refinery, around 400 km from Ulaanbaatar.

** India's proposed new 1.2 million b/d Ratnagiri refinery on the west coast is still facing delay due to "local issues", the country's Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Minister of Steel Dharmendra Pradhan said. 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 H1 2021, after almost 13-years of consecutive delays to the project, industry sources with close knowledge of the matter said. Following the start of the works, the refinery is expected to come online in 2025-2026, and will increase the country's refining capacity by 250,000 b/d. PARCO also operates the 100,000 b/d Mid-Country Refinery in Mahmoodkot. The project for the coastal refinery was approved in 2007, but construction was subsequently delayed due to issues regarding funding.

** Indonesia's Pertamina decided to postpone the construction of a proposed 300,000 b/d Bontang refinery in East Kalimantan. "Bontang is still on the list, but currently we are focusing on the existing ones," Pertamina's mega project refinery and petrochemical director Ignatius Tallulembang said, adding that upgrading the existing refineries is "our priority". Ignatius Tallulembang said that the construction has been going on "but our partner stopped. So we hold the project while we are assessing more detail on oil supply and demand. If everything is clear, we will discuss again with our stake holders." The proposed refinery is targeted to produce at least 60,000 b/d of gasoline and 124,000 b/d of diesel and the products will meet Euro IV specifications, with Pertamina prioritizing domestic marketing first.

** 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.

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.

** 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.