Communicator

Gruppo API (Italiana Petroli) Fuel Station

Italiana Petroli (IP), a leading Italian oil refiner and fuel distributor, is currently the subject of a competitive bidding process involving three major international groups: Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR, Swiss commodity trader Gunvor, and the Abu Dhabi-based Bin Butti Group. Final offers for the company are expected by the end of May 2025, with SOCAR and Gunvor seen as the main contenders due to their longer involvement in the process, while Bin Butti joined more recently and is considered less likely to win.

IP, owned by the Brachetti Peretti family, operates around 4,600 fuel stations and manages a refining capacity of about 200,000 barrels per day, making it one of Europe’s largest private refining and fuel retail groups. Its main assets include the Ancona refinery (focused on bitumen), the SARPOM refinery in Trecate (producing fuels and jet fuel), and a tolling agreement for the Alma refinery in Ravenna. The company is valued between €2.3 and €2.5 billion, reflecting strong financials with nearly €500 million in core profit and over €400 million in net cash at the end of 2024.

The sale comes amid significant changes in the European refining sector, with private investors increasingly selling to commodity traders and state-backed companies. The winner of the IP auction will gain control over a vast network of fuel stations and significant refining capacity, which could influence fuel supply and pricing in Italy and the region. SOCAR’s bid would strengthen Azerbaijan’s presence in the European energy market, while Gunvor aims to expand from trading into full-scale refining and distribution. The outcome of this sale is expected to have a major impact on the structure of Europe’s refining industry as it adapts to new market and regulatory pressures.

#gunvor  #socar  #italianapetroli  #gruppoapi  #refinery  #ancona  #ravenna  #alma  #fuels  #fuelstations  #jetfuel  #bitumen 

Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Short-Term Energy Outlook, December 2024.

India has emerged as the leading source of growth in global oil consumption in 2024 and 2025, overtaking China this year, EIA reports.

China’s oil consumption grew by more than India’s in almost every year from 1998 through 2023, with China’s oil consumption regularly growing more than any other country during those years.

Over 2024 and 2025, India accounts for 25% of total oil consumption growth globally. EIA expects an increase of 0.9 million barrels per day (b/d) in global consumption of liquid fuels in 2024 and even more growth in 2025, with global oil consumption increasing by 1.3 million b/d.

Driven by rising demand for transportation fuels and fuels for home cooking, consumption of liquid fuels in India is forecast to increase by 220,000 b/d in 2024 and by 330,000 b/d in 2025. That growth is the most of any country in each of the years.

China’s liquid fuels consumption is expected to grow by 90,000 b/d in 2024 before increasing by 250,000 b/d in 2025. In China, rapidly expanding electric vehicle ownership, rising use of liquefied natural gas for trucking goods, a declining population, and decelerating economic growth have limited consumption growth for transportation fuels. Most of the growth in China is the result of increasing oil use for manufacturing petrochemicals.

Although India’s growth in percentage and volume terms exceeds China’s growth in the forecast, China still consumes significantly more oil. Total consumption of liquid fuels in India was 5.3 million b/d in 2023, while China consumed more than triple that amount at 16.4 million b/d in 2023, based on December estimates.

Read our oil demand forecast to 2050.

#fuels  #petrochemicals  #electricvehicles  #crudeoil  #naturalgas  #lng  #liquidfuels  #china  #india 

IRPC integrated complex mass balance has been initialized.
 

#irpc #refinery  #rayong  #crudeoil  #olefins  #aromatics  #petrochemicals  #petroleum  #fuels  

Petroineos Trading Limited has been added and parent companies identified.

#petroineos  #trading  #fuels  #ineos  #petrochina 

Petroineos Fuels Ltd. has been added and parent identified.

#petroineos #fuels  #ineos  #petrochina  #refining 

Credit: @ExxonMobil, Port-Jérôme (Gravenchon) refinery

ExxonMobil Chemical 🇫🇷 France (EMCF) announced on April 11 the definitive shutdown of the steam cracker and the polyethylene, polypropylene, adhesives and associated logistics facilities units at the Gravenchon site in Port-Jérôme-sur-Seine (Seine-Maritime) in 2024. This will result in the loss of 677 jobs out of a workforce of 2,400 employees in France during 2025, the company said in a press release. In detail, 647 positions will disappear on site and 30 at the company's management in Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine). The Port-Jérôme refinery activities are not affected. The site will continue to produce and supply fuels, lubricants, base oils and bitumens. Similarly, the activity of Infineum, the joint venture between ExxonMobil and Shell for the production of additives, is not part of the announcement. In 2020, 35 million euros were invested in these operations also located in Gravenchon.

#fuels  #lubricants  #bitumen  #polyethylene  #polypropylene  #steamcracking  #steamcracker  #refining  #refinery  #france  #exxonmobil 

Saudi Aramco is betting that the internal combustion engine will be around for a "very, very long time" as the world's largest oil company sees a business opportunity in the growing popularity of electric vehicles.

The state-owned oil group, which generated $500 billion in revenue last
year mainly from the production and sale of crude oil, acquired a 10 percent stake in Horse Powertrain for €740 million in June 2024, a company that makes internal combustion engines.

The calculation by Saudi Aramco and Horse's other shareholders - Chinese automaker Geely and its French rival Renault - is that as the industry stops designing and developing its own internal combustion engines, it will start buying them from third parties, the Financial Times said.

"It will be incredibly expensive for the world to completely eradicate or do away with internal combustion engines," said Yasser Mufti, Saudi Aramco's executive vice president in charge of the deal. "If you look at
affordability and a lot of other factors, I think they will be around
for a very, very long time."

Asked if he thought internal combustion engines would exist forever, Mufti answered in the affirmative. Saudi Aramco has previously said it believes that even in 2050, more than half of all cars will still be running on some form of fuel.

Photo: Aramco News, 28^th June 2024
At the signing ceremony, front row, from left: Renault Group Senior Vice President of International Development & Partnerships Francois Provost, Aramco Senior Vice President of Technology Oversight & Coordination Ali A. Al Meshari, and Geely Head of Strategy & Partnership (Chairman’s Office) Fiona Fei. Back row, from left: Valvoline Global Operations CEO Jamal Muashsher, HORSE Powertrain Limited CEO Matias Giannini, Aramco Executive Vice President of Products & Customers Yasser M. Mufti, Geely General Counsel Tihua Huang, and Aramco Vice President of Downstream Growth & Development Andrew Katz.

#diesel  #gasoline  #aramco  #crudeoil  #refining  #fuels  #combustionengines