Ineos seals TotalEnergies’ Lavera petchem deal
UK-based chemical petrochemical company Ineos has completed the purchase of TotalEnergies 50pc stake in the former joint venture at the Lavera chemical site in southern France with the deal including storage and pipeline assets.
Ineos and TotalEnergies originally announced the deal in July 2023. Ineos now completely controls the assets at the complex including Naphthtachimie, which operates a 720,000 t/yr ethylene steam cracker at Lavera that can produce 300,000 t/yr of propylene and 120,000t/yr of butadiene. The acquisition also included the 300,000 t/yr Appryl polypropylene business and the Gexaro aromatics operation with a capacity of 270,000 t/yr, the Gexaro site will continue to be operated by Petroineos. Naphtha storage business 3TC was also included in the deal. Ineos plans to fully integrate the connected assets.
Ineos already operated and owned ethylene oxide, polyethylene and oxo-alcohol production at the Lavera site. The company also operates the 207,100 b/d Lavera refinery through its Petroineos 50:50 joint venture with state controlled PetroChina.
The deal includes Ineos taking control of southern sections of TotalEnergies' ethylene pipeline network from Lavera to the Lyon region. TotalEnergies previously stated that it did not use its share of ethylene production from the Lavera steam cracker and mainly sold it to Ineos.
Ineos operates a PVC plant in the Lyon region under the Inovyn business. TotalEnergies operates the Feyzin cracker in the same area. The deal will allow closer integration between the Feyzin and Carling sites for TotalEnergies, the company said. The northern and central sections of the ethylene pipeline will continue to be jointly owned and remain operated by TotalEnergies.
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LPG World editorial: Clean cooking’s watershed moment?
LPG World editorial: Clean cooking’s watershed moment?
African clean cooking schemes could prove to be an early energy transition success story now that world leaders view them as environmental imperatives London, 16 May (Argus) — The $2.2bn in funding pledged for clean cooking programmes in Africa over the next five years, announced at the IEA's Clean Cooking Summit in Paris on 14 May, could be a "turning point", according to the agency's executive director Fatih Birol. Not only would this be true in terms of tackling what is a long-neglected problem. It is also true for the LPG industry, which has been extolling the benefits of a transition to LPG in sub-Saharan Africa for many years. Other than the dozen or so individual financial commitments made by governments and organisations, what resonated most from the event was just how achievable transitioning sub-Saharan Africa to cleaner fuels such as LPG actually is. Often the immediate reaction is to balk at the challenges — the lack of infrastructure, the lack of regulatory frameworks, the corruption, the cost of the LPG and equipment. Yet this was when it was looked at purely through the prism of the market. Now it is an environmental and social imperative. Many of the political leaders from Europe, Africa and the US that spoke noted that greenhouse emissions from cooking were comparable to the airline and shipping sectors, yet tackling the former is far less complex, less expensive and receives scant recognition in comparison with the latter two. "We can fix it now… it is not high-tech, it is low-tech," Norway's prime minister Jonas Gahr Store told delegates. Another often ignored part of the issue is how disproportionately women are affected by cooking with harmful solid biomass fuels — perhaps an underlying factor behind the many years of neglect at a national and international level. This is a gender issue, both Birol and Tanzania's first female president, Samia Suluhu Hassan, noted. The obvious health and social benefits from the transition to clean cooking will be most keenly felt by women and their children, who are at home breathing in the smoke from open fires. Several of the speakers, including African Development Bank president Akinwumi Adesina and World Health Organisation director-general Tedros Ghebreyesus, even spoke of their own experience of growing up in a household with open fires, and the consequent unnecessary suffering their mothers in particular had to endure. LPG is not the only solution here — others mentioned included electric cookers, biogas, bioethanol and cleaner cooking stoves. And as a fossil fuel, it will ultimately be replaced at some stage by renewable alternatives. But it is the best solution right now for large parts of the region. "LPG is the most efficient in terms of its benefits and its ease of use," Togo's president Faure Gnassingbe said. LPG markets can develop in the region through subsidies and LPG price regulation to moderate volatility, while countries must also invest in domestic LPG production as well as import and distribution infrastructure, he said. Each country will be different, but it is "well within our reach", Gnassingbe added. From pledge to realisation The sub-Saharan African region and the LPG industry must now work with foreign governments, financial institutions and private-sector companies to ensure that the large sums pledged are invested in a pragmatic and fruitful way. The IEA will come back in a year's time to report on the progress of the various commitments made at the summit and will provide updates online in an effort to ensure progress and transparency, Birol said. There is reason for cautious hope. The feasibility of achieving the transition and the relatively low levels of foreign investment involved — and the huge opportunities for LPG companies that will emerge — could create the conditions for success of a kind that has so far eluded many other such ambitions. It would be a huge boon for the world to have one such success story to point to by 2030 in its long, hard struggle to transition to a cleaner energy future. Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Japan’s Mol orders dual-fuel LPG, ammonia VLGCs
Japan’s Mol orders dual-fuel LPG, ammonia VLGCs
Tokyo, 16 May (Argus) — Japanese shipping firm Mitsui OSK Lines (Mol) has ordered two dual-fuel very large gas carriers (VLGCs) to deliver LPG and ammonia, with commissioning expected in 2026. Mol has reached a deal with TotalEnergies' shipping arm CSSA Chartering and Shipping Services to charter two 88,000m³ VLGCs to deliver LPG and ammonia, although the specific time period is undisclosed. The vessel will be built by South Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries, which has developed an engine that can use LPG and fuel oil. Japan's LPG consumption totalled 11.8mn t in the 2023-24 fiscal year ending 31 March, down by 3.2pc from a year earlier, according to the Japan LP Gas Association. Japan's trade and industry ministry expects the downwards trend will be driven further by technology innovation of high efficiency equipment. But its expects ammonia demand as a fuel to increase to 3mn t/yr by 2030 and to 30mn t/yr by 2050. Japan has set a goal of a 20pc ammonia co-firing at domestic coal-fired power plants by 2030 and above 50pc by 2050 to achieve the country's 2050 decarbonisation goal. By Reina Maeda Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Japan’s NS United plans methanol-fuelled bulk carriers
Japan’s NS United plans methanol-fuelled bulk carriers
Tokyo, 15 May (Argus) — Japanese shipping company NS United Kaiun plans to order several methanol-fuelled Capesize bulk carriers, targeting to begin delivery from 2027, as its aims to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from shipping raw materials for steel production. NS United Kaiun signed an initial agreement on 13 May with Japanese shipbuilders Imabari Shipbuilding and Japan Marine United and domestic vessel engineer Nihon Shipyard to build several methanol-fuelled ships of 209,000dwt each. The vessels will be equipped with dual-fuel engines, which can burn methanol and conventional marine fuel. NS United Kaiun expects the future use of green methanol will cut GHG emissions by more than 80pc compared with conventional marine fuel. The company will also co-operate with fuel developers to buy green methanol. Methanol has emerged as a potential alternative fuel as the marine sector looks to cut its GHGs. Fellow Japanese shipping firm NYK Line also plans to receive six chemical tankers over 2026-29, which will burn very-low sulphur fuel oil but will be designed to convert to use methanol. By Nanami Oki Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Rains hamper LPG distribution in south Brazil
Rains hamper LPG distribution in south Brazil
Sao Paulo, 14 May (Argus) — Torrential rain and flooding in southern Brazil's Rio Grande do Sul state reduced LPG distribution by 7-10pc in the affected area during the first two weeks of May, according to local market participants. LPG distributor Copa Energia's operations at its Canoas city unit — responsible for 30pc of the state's supply — were expected to resume by mid-May. The heavy rains since late April left 100 people dead, a further 128 missing and around 164,000 displaced from their homes, according to the state's civil defence. LPG companies have been working to ensure supplies are maintained in the region, with some advancing salary benefits to support workers during the crisis, local participants say. Distribution began to normalise by 6 May after "the chaos and lack of information" over the 4-5 May weekend passed, an industry executive says. State-controlled Petrobras' 201,000 b/d Refap refinery was also affected, cutting LPG output, but the volume was not disclosed. Many LPG retailers are now able to receive supplies, but it is unknown how many distribution routes have been compromised, according to local industry. LPG stocks have been able to meet demand, preventing shortages, they say. Oil regulator ANP's measures to cut red tape and foster collaboration during a crisis has kept the market supplied, according to LPG association Sindigas chief executive Sergio Bandeira de Mello. Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
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