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Brazil lowers biofuel mix in flooded state

  • Market: Biofuels, Freight, Oil products
  • 06/05/24

Brazil's oil regulator ANP temporarily decreased the mandatory mix of ethanol and biodiesel in fuels in Rio Grande do Sul state for 30 days, starting on 3 May, amid floods in the region.

The anhydrous ethanol blend on gasoline was lowered to 21pc from the current 27pc, while the mandatory biodiesel mix for 10ppm (S10) diesel is now at 2pc, down from the usual 14pc.

The agency also temporarily suspended the blending mandate for diesel with 500ppm of sulfur (S500).

ANP said it can revise deadlines depending on supply conditions in the state.

Rainfall in Rio Grande do Sul blocked railways and highways where biofuels are transported to retail hubs, such as Esteio and Canoas.

Supply of fossil fuels via pipeline from the 201,000 b/d Alberto Pasqualini refinery (Refap), in Canoas, and other retail bases has not been compromised, ANP said.

Floods in Rio Grande do Sul have left at least 83 dead and 111 missing, according to the state government. More than 23,000 people have been forced from of their homes amid widespread damage. Over 330 cities are in a situation of public calamity.


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Q&A: AtJ learnings, mandate critical for Australian SAF


27/11/24
News
27/11/24

Q&A: AtJ learnings, mandate critical for Australian SAF

Sydney, 27 November (Argus) — Australian bioenergy developer Jet Zero has received strong government backing for its proposed Project Ulysses, an alcohol-to-jet sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) project in the northern Queensland state city of Townsville. Argus spoke to chief executive Ed Mason on the sidelines of the Townsville Summit on 27 November about the project's initial engineering. Edited highlights follow: Regarding the proposed 102mn l/yr refinery here in Townsville, what are some of the initial engineering study findings? So with front-end engineering and design (FEED), what we're doing is value engineering, which you typically do at the end of FEED, we're doing it at the front because we've seen so many opportunities to improve on the reference project design in Georgia, US — they're just basically lessons learned from what LanzaJet have seen, as well as what we've identified as opportunities to eliminate, reduce, simplify costs. We've got hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids (HEFA), that's the kind of space rocket that can get you to the moon, we've now got alcohol-to-jet commercialised, which is like the space shuttle — slightly better, which can do more. But we really need to see a SpaceX type of system where you can go up and down and make it more efficient, so it's making those technologies far more capital efficient and better, so that's what we're focused on. Where are negotiations at with refiners Wilmar and Manildra, the two main producers of ethanol in Australia? We basically have constructive discussions in particular with Wilmar, they have surplus capacity, they're vocal supporters of development of the ethanol market, as you know, for many years. We've got ample supply (183mn l/yr) and confidence about what we need for SAF and importantly, assisting that supplier getting that feedstock RSB and Corsia certified. Looking at the regulatory situation at the moment, a low-carbon fuel standard. How critical is that to building a project like yours to final investment? We made a submission on the low-carbon liquid fuel paper . We're advocating both supply and demand measures and were fairly aligned with the wider industry submission. We believe a modest mandate, 1-2pc, supports and is ahead of what the project pipeline is, so you're not putting a mandate that can't be achieved by the projects at our stage but that sends a strong signal, like other countries have already sent. Secondly, supply measures around financing like other types of mechanisms you've seen with Hydrogen Headstart , just to get the industry going. How tight is the window for Australia to catch up with the rest of the world? It's very tight. I think we've got to move in the next two years — there is a wall of demand from 2030 and these projects take five years to develop from start to finish. If we don't move in this in the next few years, we'll end up seeing the feedstock develop that market, but not the production of SAF and we'll lose out on those jobs. A standard size plant has been proposed in Townsville, how much room do you have to grow that capacity in Townsville? We'd very much like to be bigger if the market was there for ethanol. We've sized it at the minimum size that we feel can deliver commercial volumes of SAF at a price that's in line with benchmark, but the bigger you go, the bigger economies of scale you get. These are modules, we can increase and add another train to Townsville quite easily, so a huge opportunity to grow that. The actual plant construction timeframe, what does that look like? The longest lead item is 14 months, but I'd assume two years. So if we are at final investment decision in the second half of next year, we could conceivably see this project start producing SAF by the second half of 2027. Is sugarcane going to be sufficient for growing AtJ SAF, or will we need other feedstock in the future? The sugarcane industry has theoretically got the biggest contributing opportunity, particularly short to medium term with this industry. But you've got agave, you've got other types of crops that can produce like sorghum and other types of sources of ethanol that can be used, and they are a potentially medium-to-long-term supply opportunity. [Farming lobby] Canegrowers ran a fairly extensive campaign around the potential of biofuels in the last Queensland state election, and we've seen other bodies in the sugar industry run similar campaigns so the industry, from grower to miller, is supportive of developing the industry. We've only seen sugar mills close in north Queensland over the last decade, I think ultimately the rest of the world's sugar industry has already moved on [biofuels]. By Tom Major Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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Norden agrees marine biodiesel deal with Meta


26/11/24
News
26/11/24

Norden agrees marine biodiesel deal with Meta

London, 26 November (Argus) — Danish shipping company Norden has agreed with tech giant Meta to utilise marine biodiesel blends on operated vessels. The deal is based on Norden's book-and-claim, a system that can be used to deliver proof of sustainability (PoS) documentation to customers to offset the latter's scope 3 emissions and fulfil their voluntary demand. The PoS can be obtained on a mass-balance system, allowing shipowners flexibility with regards to the port at which a blend can be bunkered. Norden did not specify which marine biodiesel blends it will use as part of this agreement, but said the biofuel will be ISCC-certified and will have an 80-90pc greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction potential. The agreement follows recent drops in Argus assessments for marine biodiesel blends comprising Advanced Fatty acid methyl ester (Fame) 0 in the ARA trading and refining hub. By Hussein Al-Khalisy Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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Nigeria restarts Port Harcourt refinery: Update


26/11/24
News
26/11/24

Nigeria restarts Port Harcourt refinery: Update

Recasts and adds details throughout London, 26 November (Argus) — Nigeria's state-owned NNPC said today it has restarted its 210,000 b/d Port Harcourt refinery after three and a half years offline. Product loadings began today after the plant's smaller, 60,000 b/d capacity crude distillation unit (CDU) came into operation. This gradual restart had been planned by Italian engineering firm Maire Tecnimont, which has been rehabilitating the plant under a $1.5bn contract, although a number of deadlines announced by NNPC have been missed. Refined products from Port Harcourt will add to the gasoline that has been supplied since September from the 650,000 b/d Dangote refinery. Product imports are likely to fall, an industry source said. Nigerian downstream regulator NMDPRA's head Farouk Ahmed said products from Port Harcourt will be made available nationwide and would stoke price competition. Nigeria's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported an average national gasoline price of 1,185/litre (70¢/l) for October, a rise of 88pc on the year and 15pc from September. The price of diesel, which has been deregulated since 2003, was an average N1,441/l in October, NBS said, up by 43pc on the year and by 2pc on the month. The Dangote Group dropped its ex-gantry gasoline prices on Sunday, 24 November, to N970/l from N990/l. Nigerian importers already appear under pressure to compete with Dangote on product pricing, which the Port Harcourt start-up may exacerbate. A local trader said he has found gasoline trading economics most workable when lifting from Dangote ex-single point mooring (SPM) and delivering to coastal ports such as Port Harcourt and Warri in Nigeria's southeast, where truck deliveries from Dangote would prove uneconomic. Nigeria's presidency and NMDPRA's Ahmed urged NNPC to now bring back online its 125,000 b/d Warri and 110,000 b/d Kaduna refineries, which have been closed since 2019. NNPC has opened a combined tender for operating and maintaining these. The outcome of a similar tender for Port Harcourt is unclear. Nigeria would become a net products exporter when Warri and Kaduna come online, NMDPRA's Ahmed said today. A source at the regulator said exports might become vital to Nigerian refiners. "The patronage for petroleum products is low and Nigeria is oversupplied," the source said, attributing the latest Dangote price cut to competition with imports and weak demand. The prospect of Port Harcourt running at its nameplate capacity is in doubt, sources said. It would at best reach 40-50pc of capacity, the industry source said, which would focus on mainly local gasoline deliveries. Port Harcourt was shut in 2020 after several years of low capacity utilisation. NNPC previously said it expects the initial 60,000 b/d phase to produce 12,000 b/d of gasoline, 13,000 b/d of diesel, 8,600 b/d of kerosine, 19,000 b/d of fuel oil and 850 b/d of LPG in the first year of resumed operations. By Adebiyi Olusolape and George Maher-Bonnett Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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Bimco develops FuelEU clause for charter parties


26/11/24
News
26/11/24

Bimco develops FuelEU clause for charter parties

Sao Paulo, 26 November (Argus) — Danish shipping association Bimco has developed a contractual clause to support time charter parties ahead of FuelEU Maritime regulations that come into force at the beginning of 2025. The clause designates the shipowner to be the party responsible for FuelEU Maritime. Bimco said the clause is intended to be the standard applicable for most scenarios and commercial relationships. Among the recommendations, the clause states it is mandatory for a shipowner to present the vessel's compliance balance for the previous two years and in the current year. The FuelEU maritime regulation will start in 2025 and will require that ships traveling in, out of, and within EU territorial waters gradually reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity on a lifecycle basis. It will start with a 2pc reduction in 2025, 6pc in 2030, and will be 80pc by 2050, all compared with 2020 levels. The regulation applies to all commercial ships above 5,000 gross tonnes (GT) carrying passengers or cargo. "The clause we have adopted today is the result of a collaborative process between owners, charterers, Protection and Indemnity (P&I), legal experts, and other stakeholders," said Bimco's documentary committee chairman Nicholas Fell. Bimco has also already adopted a clause for emission trading allowances under the EU emissions trading system (ETS) for ship management agreements, voyage charter parties, and contracts of affreightment. By Gabriel Tassi Lara and Natália Coelho Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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