Communicator

TotalEnergies Manufacturing Site at the port of Antwerpen ©Belga

TotalEnergies closes one of its two steam crackers in Antwerp, 253 jobs disappear "without layoffs"

Antwerpen, 22 April 2025 -- TotalEnergies will close one of its two steam crackers in the port of Antwerp, a decision that will impact more than 250 jobs. No forced layoffs will be announced, according to the energy group.

By 2028, the chemical cluster in the port of Antwerp will lose one of its three steam crackers. TotalEnergies has chosen to shut down its oldest Naphtha Cracker (NC2). The reason is a concerning overcapacity in the petrochemical market. Although 253 positions are affected by this closure, management seeks to reassure: no forced departures are on the horizon.

“We assure every employee of the affected steam cracker that they will be able to continue their activity at our Antwerp site,” says Ann Veraverbeke, CEO, in an interview with Gazet van Antwerpen. “This transition is possible because, by early 2028, 270 of our employees in Antwerp will reach the legal retirement age. The 253 employees from the old steam cracker will be essential to fill this wave of departures.”

Ethylene overcapacity

NC2, a petrochemical facility that transforms hydrocarbons into basic molecules used in the chemical industry, was “historically dependent” on a contract with a user of the ethylene produced, who did not wish to renew this contract, the French oil and gas group specified.

The facility “will no longer have outlets for its ethylene production” and TotalEnergies will “focus on its newest steam cracker (NC3), whose ethylene production is entirely consumed by TotalEnergies’ units in Antwerp and Feluy,” it added.

2017 Revamp of Naphtha Cracker 3

As part of a project to upgrade its refining and chemicals platform in Antwerp, TotalEnergies had started up a new ethylene cracker that runs on ethane feedstock in July 2017, investing nearly $60 million to revamp its Naphtha Cracker 3 to run on the light feed and the adaption of the site’s terminal to enable the import of 200,000 t of ethane per year by ship from Norway. The revamp was done to optimize supply by providing flexibility for the cracker to use either ethane, butane or naphtha as feedstock, so that advantaged feedstock could therefore account for more than 50% total input.

#totalenergies  #antwerp  #belgium  #petrochemicals  #steamcracker  #naphthacracker  #plantclosure  #ethylene 

The description of the Idemitsu Chiba complex has been updated.

#idemitsu #chiba  ##refining #petrochemicals  #steamcracking  #naphthacracker  #refinery  #oilrefinery  #japan 

The description of the Idemitsu Tokuyama Complex has been updated.

#idemitsu #tokuyama  #tokuyamacomplex  #japan  #naphth  #steamcracker  #naphthacracker 

Fuyou Technology, from top left to bottom right: a corner of the factory, office building, satellite view, 170 kta coal tar full fraction hydrogenation unit, 500 kta coal tar full fraction hydrogenation unit, 80 kta light hydrocarbon fraction separation unit.

Fuyou Technology has developed combined coal-based process technologies such as coal pyrolysis, hydrogenation of medium and low temperature coal tar full fractions to produce more intermediate distillate oil, efficient impurity removal and aromatics saturation of naphtha to produce cycloalkane chemicals. The company is the leading producer of methylcyclohexane, light white oil, transformer oil and aerospace special oils obtained from medium and low temperature coal tar.

Low-grade coal, which accounts for about 55% of the total coal resources in Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, has low carbon content and calorific value, and relatively high tar yield and hydrogen and oxygen content. The characteristics of the feedstock is conducive to efficient transformation and utilization through medium and low temperature pyrolysis.

Fuyou Technology's pyrolysis process product is separated into three substances: gas (coal gas), liquid (coal tar), and solid (semi-coke), and further converted to obtain clean fuels such as oil, gas, and electricity, as well as high value-added chemical products. The company has built and put into use China's first 170,000 tons/year medium and low temperature coal tar full-fraction hydrogenation high-yield intermediate distillate oil industrial demonstration unit and a 500,000 tons/year coal tar full-fraction hydrogenation production cycloalkane oil unit, promoting the high-end transformation of coal tar and realizing the transformation of coal from a single fuel to diversified products.

The naphtha separation unit now produces 80,000 tpy naphtha, which is converted mainly into cyclohexane, methylcyclohexane, and dimethylcyclohexane. Fuyou Technology is the largest methylcyclohexane producer in China, with an annual output of 30,000 tonnes, accounting for 85% of the market share. The company has also laid out industrial chain extension projects to produce high value-added products such as ethylcyclohexane.

Li Zhuoran, 10 Oct 2024, Focus on the high-quality development of Shaanxi's energy and chemical industry, West China Network.

#coal  #coalgasification  #coaltar  #cycloalcane  #naphtha  #distillate  #pyrolysis  #fuyou  #fuyoutechnology  #shaanxi  #yulin  #china

Hydrocrackate (hydrocracked naphtha) has been added.

#hydrocracker #hydrocracking  #hydrocrackednaphtha  #hydrocrackate  #naphtha 

A detailed description of the TC2C crude oil to chemical conversion process has been added.


#lummus  #aramco  #clg  #chevronlummusglobal  #crudeoiltochemicals  #oiltochemicals  #refineryintegration  #steamcracking  #lpg  #naphtha  #olefins  #aromatics  #ctc  #cotc  #coc  #tc2c  #c2c 

Saudi Arabian Oil Co., DHAHRAN, 17^th Nov 2022, Aramco affiliate S-OIL to build one of the world’s largest petrochemical crackers in South Korea

Aramco is making its biggest ever investment in South Korea to develop one of the world’s largest refinery-integrated petrochemical steam crackers through its S-OIL affiliate, in line with the company’s strategy to maximize the crude to chemicals value chain.

The $7 billion Shaheen project aims to convert crude oil into petrochemical feedstock and would represent the first commercialization of Aramco and Lummus Technology’s TC2C thermal crude to chemicals technology, which increases chemical yield and reduces operating costs. It follows an earlier $4 billion investment into the first phase of the petrochemical expansion completed in 2018.

Located at S-Oil’s existing site in Ulsan, the new plant is planned to have the capacity to produce up to 3.2 million tons of petrochemicals annually and include a facility to produce high-value polymers. The project is expected to start in 2023 and be completed by 2026.

The steam cracker is expected to process by-products from crude processing, including naphtha and off-gas, to produce ethylene — a building block petrochemical used to make thousands of everyday items. The plant is also expected to produce propylene, butadiene and other basic chemicals.

#shaheen  #soil  #petrochemicals  #tc2c  #oiltochemicals  #crudeoiltochemicals  #southkorea  #aramco  #steamcracker  #ulsan  #thermalcrudetochemical  #naphtha 

IOCL chairman Arvinder Singh Sahney having a discussion with Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi at Lok Seva Bhawan in Bhubaneswar on 24 Dec 2024 (Photo | Express)

Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL), India's largest oil refiner, has announced a significant investment of approximately $7 billion (INR 61,000 crore) in a new naphtha cracker project in Paradip, Odisha. This project represents a major step in expanding India's petrochemical production capacity and boosting economic development in the region.

The naphtha cracker unit will be located at IOCL's existing refinery complex in Paradip. This strategic location offers synergies with the existing infrastructure and feedstock supply. The project is expected to create numerous jobs during construction and operation, contributing to local employment and economic growth. The investment proposals is part of Paradip refinery capacity expansion from 15 million tonne per annum (MTPA) to 25 MTPA.

This investment underscores IOCL's commitment to meeting the growing demand for petrochemicals in India. The naphtha cracker will produce key building blocks for various downstream products, serving industries ranging from plastics and packaging to textiles and automotive. This project will reduce India's reliance on imports for these crucial materials.

#iocl  #indianoilcompany  #steamcracker  #naphtha  #india  #paradip  #refinery 

Light Aromatic Naphtha (C₉ aromatic naphtha) has been added. 


#naphtha  #lightaromatic  #c9aromatic  #aromaticnaphtha 

Japanese refiner Taiyo Oil Co., Ltd has been created.

#japan #taiyooil  #refining  #refinery  #crudeoil  #naphtha 

Fuel Blending has bee added as a refinery process to produce various types of fuels and a generic fuel blending technology created for modeling fuel blending assets.


#fuelblending  #blendingstock  #gasolineblending  #diesel  #gasoline  #kerosene  #luboils  #naphthablending  #fueloil  #baseoils 

On Oct 1st, 2024, Technip Energies announced that the Long Son Petrochemicals Co., Ltd. (LSP) olefins plant in Long Son Island, Ba Ria-Vung Tau province,  Vietnam, passed its final performance acceptance test.

Technip Energies provided licensing, engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, start-up and initial operation for the 1,350,000 tonnes/year cracker. As Vietnam’s first olefins plant, the flexible feed cracker, can utilize both naphtha and liquified petroleum gas (LPG) feeds to produce ethylene, propylene, and butadiene.

The plant successfully started up end 2023 to reach its full capacity shortly after the start-up and pass its first performance test in February 2024. The plant, which broke ground end 2018, includes Technip Energies’ licensed ethylene technology, including Ultra Selective Conversion (USC®) furnaces preferred for high selectivity and low cost, and the Heat-Integrated Rectifier System®, preferred for energy efficient ethylene recovery.

However, Listed Siam Cement Group (SCG), Thailand's largest cement maker and industrial conglomerate, has suspended operations at its Long Son Petrochemicals (LSP) complex in order to cope with high production costs and the impact of a downturn in the global petrochemical market.

The suspension, slated to last for at least six months, began in mid-October, only roughly two weeks after LSP commenced commercial operations on Sept 30, with a production capacity of 74,000 tonnes.

A resumption of operations will mainly depend on the spread, according to SCG.

The petrochemical complex uses naphtha, which is a product of fossil fuels, as a key raw material to produce high density polyethylene (HDPE), but the prices of naphtha are expensive.

"The spread between naphtha and HDPE prices is US$300 per tonne because of a slowdown in the global petrochemical market," said Sakchai Patiparnpreechavud, chief executive and president of SCG Chemicals. "If the spread increases to $400 per tonne, we will consider resuming operations at LSP."

The suspension does not mean SCG Chemicals will stop investing in this petrochemical complex, he said.

SCG Chemicals plans to upgrade LSP, enabling it to use ethane, a colourless, odourless, gaseous hydrocarbon, as a raw material because it is cheaper than naphtha.

Mr Sakchai said the company will spend $700 million on the new investment, especially to build an ethane storage facility.

#technip  #scg  #siamcementgroup  #longson  #naphtha  #lpg  #steamcracker  #ethylene  #propylene  #butadiene  #olefins  #hdpe  #ethane  #storagefacility 

HPPO plant, propylene oxide production and imports of naphtha and hydrogen peroxide have been added.


#basf  #antwerp  #belgium  #propyleneoxide  #hydrogenperoxide  #propylene  #ethylene  #hppo  #steamcracker  #naphtha 

Alterra closes investment round with the expectation to accelerate the commercialisation of its plastics pyrolysis technology

Investors Infinity Recycling, Chevron Phillips Chemical, LyondellBasell, and Neste, along with long-term support from Potenza Capital, have successfully closed their latest round of equity funding in Alterra Energy (formerly Vadxx Energy). This investment round is expected to accelerate the commercialization of Alterra’s plastics pyrolysis technology, designed to transform discarded plastic into valuable raw materials.

Alterra's advanced recycling technology has been modeled on ppPLUS and the mass balance of the company's demo plant in Akron has been created. One main product the technology is producing is plastics pyoil, which may be fractionnated to separate naphtha, which can be used as a feedstock returned to the cracker to produce ethylene among other products. The feedstock the technology is accepting is mostly clean polyolefin waste.

Source: Alterra, 22^nd Oct 2024 & portfolio planning PLUS.

#alterra  #lyondellbasell  #neste  #cpchem  #pyrolysis  #plasticwaste  #advancedrecycling  #molecularrecycling  #chemicalrecycling  #pyoil  #steamcracking  #naphtha  #ethylene  #polyethylene  

Shazand Petrochemical has been added.

#iran  #shazand  #arak  #arpc  #petrochemical  #refining  #naphtha 

LAGOS, Sept 2 –  Nigeria’s Dangote Oil Refinery has commenced gasoline processing after recent crude shortages caused delays, according to a company executive on Monday. The $20 billion facility, built by Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote on the outskirts of Lagos, started operations in January, initially producing products like naphtha and jet fuel.

With a massive capacity of 650,000 barrels per day, the Dangote Refinery is Africa’s largest and aims to reduce Nigeria’s heavy dependence on imported oil products, a costly burden for the country despite being a major oil producer.

“We are currently testing gasoline, and soon it will begin flowing into our product tanks,” said Devakumar Edwin, Vice President of Dangote Industries Limited. Edwin did not specify when
 the gasoline would reach the local market but confirmed that state oil firm NNPC Ltd, Nigeria’s sole gasoline importer, would exclusively purchase the gasoline. “If there are no buyers locally, we will export it, as we have done with our jet fuel and diesel,” he added.

The introduction of gasoline from Dangote’s refinery could significantly ease NNPC’s ongoing struggles to meet local fuel demand. Since January, NNPC has accumulated $6 billion in debt to oil traders for supply, hampering its ability to adequately serve the Nigerian market, where long fuel queues have persisted since July. Fuel prices have surged by 45% from the official rate of 617 naira ($0.3942) following the removal of subsidies last year.

“The timing of Dangote’s gasoline production is critical, especially given NNPC’s current challenges in securing imported supply due to financial constraints,” noted Clementine Wallop, Director for Sub-Saharan Africa at Horizon Engage, a political risk consultancy. She emphasized the need for NNPC to demonstrate transparency in its financial dealings as it begins to purchase from Dangote.

Despite being Africa’s leading oil producer, Nigeria imports almost all of its fuel due to years of neglect and underinvestment in its national refineries.

naija247news

#diesel  #naphtha  #gasoline  #crude  #crudeoil  #refining  #Refinery #jetfuel  #kerosene  #africa  #nigeria 

Based on available information, naphtha production and cracking product volumes are not matching. 
· 540,000 BO/day / 25,000,000 tonnes/year of crude oil import (matching based on light crude oil API)
· Three CDU each with 160,000 BO/day capacity (8,333,333 tonnes/year)
· 3,750,000 tonnes of naphtha capacity as cracking feedstock (matching, corresponding to 15 weight-% of Crude Oil). 
· Three crackers with cumulative 2,930,000 tonnes capacity for ethylene production: NOT MATCHING, as three times as much naphtha would be needed compared with ethylene, or 8,800,000 tonnes, corresponding to a deficit of 5 million tonnes of naphtha. 

#naphtha #ethylene  #crackingyield  #adu  #crudedistillation 

On April 1^st, INEOS has completed the acquisition of TotalEnergies’ 50% share of Naphtachimie (720 ktpa steam cracker), Appryl (300 ktpa polypropylene business), Gexaro (270 ktpa aromatics business) and 3TC (naphtha storage, a 50/50 JV between Petroineos and TotalEnergies) announced on July 5^th. These businesses have until today been joint ventures between the two companies. A number of other infrastructure assets have also been acquired including part of TotalEnergies ethylene pipeline network in France.

INEOS will now fully integrate the Naphthachimie, Gexaro and Appryl petrochemical businesses, assets and infrastructure into INEOS Olefins & Polymers South at Lavera in Southern France. Gexaro, which is located on the Lavera refinery site will continue to be operated by Petroineos.

Source: INEOS Press Release, Apr 1^st, 2024

#steamcracker  #aromatics  #polypropylene  #naphtha  #naphtha  #pipeline  #ethylene  #olefins  #refinery