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AGIC, SKGP plan Saudi PDH, PP project

  • Market: LPG, Petrochemicals
  • 30/03/20

Saudi petrochemical producer Advanced Global Investment (AGIC) and South Korea's SK Gas Petrochemical (SKGP) are planning a propane dehydrogenation (PDH) and polypropylene (PP) project in Saudi Arabia's Jubail.

Construction is expected to start next year with commercial operations targeted for the second half of 2024. AGIC will own 85pc of the 843,000 t/yr PDH and 800,000 t/yr PP units, with the remainder owned by SKGP.

AGIC has signed a licensing agreement with US engineering firm Lummus for the supply of Catofin technology for the PDH plant. It also signed another agreement with Dutch chemicals firm LyondellBasell for the use of Spheripol and Spherizone technology for the two 400,000 t/yr PP units. Propane feedstock to the PDH unit will be supplied by Saudi Arabia's state-owned Saudi Aramco.

AGIC parent Advanced Petrochemical currently operates a 455,000 t/yr PDH unit and 450,000 t/y PP plant in Jubail. SK Gas and Advanced also operate the SK Advanced joint venture in South Korea, which also includes Kuwaiti state-owned firm KPC's PIC subsidiary, that operates a 600,000 t/yr PDH unit in Ulsan.


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06/05/25

Orlen to close phenol, acetone unit in Poland

Orlen to close phenol, acetone unit in Poland

London, 6 May (Argus) — Polish integrated oil company Orlen said it has decided to end phenol and acetone production at its Plock petrochemicals site by the end of this year. The decision to decommission the 50,000 t/yr phenol unit was mainly because of technical and environmental reasons, Orlen said. The unit also produces about 30,000t of acetone as co-product. "The continued operation of the plant, which has been in operation for nearly 60 years, would necessitate an extensive and costly modernisation," Orlen said, adding that further investments will be needed to comply with tightening EU environmental regulations. The revenue generated from the continued phenol and acetone production at Plock will be inadequate to cover the cost of these investments, Orlen said. The 75,000 t/yr cumene unit, which supplies feedstocks to the phenol unit at Plock is also likely to close as a consequence. The phenol and acetone markets in Europe have been struggling to cope with high energy costs, overcapacity, weak demand and increased imports, mainly of downstream products from Asia-Pacific. This has led to idling of some phenol and acetone production in Europe. Orlen in July 2024 said it had cancelled long-delayed plans to build a new phenol unit integrated with the 373,000 b/d Plock refinery as part of a site-wide petrochemical expansion project. The plans, which involved building a new cracker, were placed under review later in the year as part of a strategy update because of rising costs and the weak outlook in the petrochemical sector. Orlen pushed back plans to construct the cracker, which has an ethylene capacity of 740,000 t/yr, to "no sooner than 2030." By Monicca Egoy Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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Mexican economy grows 0.6pc in 1Q


30/04/25
News
30/04/25

Mexican economy grows 0.6pc in 1Q

Mexico City, 30 April (Argus) — Mexico's economy expanded at an annualized rate of 0.6pc in the first quarter, with solid growth in the agriculture sector offsetting a slowdown in industry. The result came in at the high end of analyst estimates and slightly above the 0.5pc GDP growth reported by statistics agency Inegi for the fourth quarter of 2024. Still, it marks the second-slowest quarterly growth in the past 16 quarters. Most of the first quarter's GDP growth came from a 6pc expansion in the agricultural sector, which more than reversed the 4.6pc contraction recorded in the fourth quarter of 2024. The industrial sector — including mining, manufacturing and construction — shrank for a second straight quarter, contracting by 1.4pc after a 1.2pc drop in the previous quarter. Manufacturing faced tariff-related uncertainty during the quarter, though investment in the sector had already been slowing for months. The contraction was softened by manufacturers ramping up production ahead of US tariffs, with the risk of trade-driven inflation also pushing builders to contain construction costs, according to market sources. These effects are expected to fade in the second quarter and worsen in the third if high US tariffs on Mexican goods persist, said Victor Herrera, head of economic studies at finance executive association IMEF, "especially as supply chains are hit by dwindling inventories." Services expanded by an annualized 1.3pc in the first quarter, compared with a 2.1pc growth in the fourth quarter of 2024. This marks the slowest growth in services since the end of Covid-19 restrictions in early 2021. By James Young Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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Repsol sees Spanish refineries back to normal in a week


30/04/25
News
30/04/25

Repsol sees Spanish refineries back to normal in a week

Adds chief executive's comments and further detail on refineries Madrid, 30 April (Argus) — Repsol said it expects its five Spanish refineries to return to normal operations within a week following the nationwide power outage on Monday, 28 April. The company confirmed that power was restored to all its refineries on Monday evening, allowing the restart process to begin. It will take three days to restart the crude distillation units and 5-7 days to restart secondary conversion units, with hydrocrackers taking the longest, according to chief executive Josu Jon Imaz. A momentary and unexplained drop in power supply on the Spanish electricity grid caused power cuts across most of Spain and Portugal, disrupting petrochemical plants and airports, as well as refineries. Imaz noted that Repsol was fortunate that its refineries avoided damage from petroleum coke formation and other solidification processes during the shutdown. Repsol's 220,000 b/d Petronor refinery in Bilbao was the first to restart, thanks to electricity imports from France, he said. Petroleum reserves corporation Cores has temporarily reduced Spain's obligation to hold 92 days of oil product consumption as strategic reserves by four days, mitigating potential supply issues from the outage. Repsol's refining margin indicator, a benchmark based on European crack spreads weighted to the firm's product basket, has been recovering this week and stood at $7.5/bl this morning, compared with an average of $4.2/bl in April and $5.3/bl in the first quarter, according to Imaz. The company posted a 70¢/bl premium to the indicator in January-March on refinery optimisation and use of heavier and cheaper crudes. This was lower than the $1.20/bl premium it reported in 2024 and negatively affected by the high water content in first-quarter deliveries of heavy Mexican Maya, a staple for Repsol's more complex refineries. The high water cut in the Maya receipts shaved a potential 50¢/bl from Repsol's refining margin premium in the first quarter, and operational issues at the company's Tarragona refinery a further 20¢/bl, according to Imaz. Repsol has already completed the three major refinery maintenance projects for 2025 it flagged at its Bilbao, Tarragona and Puertollano refineries . Work on the three refineries in the first quarter cut about 40¢/bl from the firm's refining margin. The three factors point to a combined $1.10/bl shortfall in the firm's refining margin in the first quarter and were one of the reasons for the 80pc fall in adjusted profit at Repsol's refining-focused industrial division to €131mn ($149mn) in January-March from a year earlier and the 62pc fall in group profit to €366mn. By Jonathan Gleave Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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Repsol sees Spanish refineries back to normal in a week


30/04/25
News
30/04/25

Repsol sees Spanish refineries back to normal in a week

Madrid, 30 April (Argus) — Repsol said it expects its five Spanish refineries to return to normal operations within a week following Monday's nationwide power outage. The company confirmed that power was restored to all its refineries on Monday evening, allowing the restart process to begin. It will take three days to restart the crude distillation units and 5-7 days to restart the secondary conversion units, with hydrocrackers taking the longest, according to chief executive Josu Jon Imaz. A momentary and as-yet unexplained drop in power supply on the Spanish electricity grid caused power cuts across most of Spain and Portugal, disrupting petrochemical plants and airports, as well as refineries. Imaz noted that Repsol was fortunate that its refineries avoided damage from petroleum coke formation and other solidification processes during the shutdown. Repsol's 220,000 b/d Petronor refinery in Bilbao was the first to restart, thanks to electricity imports from France, he said. State-controlled petroleum reserves corporation Cores has temporarily reduced Spain's obligation to hold 92 days of oil product consumption as strategic reserves by four days, mitigating potential supply issues from the outage. Imaz declined to speculate on the cause of the power outage. By Jonathan Gleave Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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New Trinidad PM to seek access to Venezuelan gas


29/04/25
News
29/04/25

New Trinidad PM to seek access to Venezuelan gas

Kingston, 29 April (Argus) — Major LNG exporter Trinidad and Tobago's new government wants to open discussions with the administration of US president Donald Trump on access to natural gas fields on the border with Venezuela. United National Congress (UNC) party leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar will be the new prime minister of the Caribbean state of 1.5mn people after the party won Monday's general election, ending 10 years of administration by the People's National Congress (PNC) party of Stuart Young. The UNC won 26 seats in the 41-member assembly. "We will work with the Trump administration to see how the discussions with the Venezuelan government on the cross-border gas fields can be reopened," the UNC's energy spokesman David Lee said. Lee is expected to be appointed the energy minister. "We do not have any closed doors on this matter," Lee said. "We will directly engage the US so it will be confident in working with us on resolving our cross-border issues." Trinidad and Tobago's gas-short economy was set back earlier this month by the Trump government's revocation of licenses granted by the administration of former US president Joe Biden to Trinidad. The waivers exempted certain work to develop two gas fields that straddle the maritime border with Venezuela from US sanctions. Access to the Dragon and Manakin-Cocuina gas fields is "vital" to reversing Trinidad's fall in gas production, Young said. Trinidad has been struggling to recover natural gas flow since November 2017, following a long slide from a peak of 4.3 Bcf/d in 2010. Gas output in 2024 was 2.53 Bcf/d, and the fall in output suppressed LNG, petrochemical and fertilizer production. Trinidad's 2024 LNG production of 16.7mn m³ was down by 4.6pc on 2023, according to the latest energy ministry data. The 11.8mn t/yr Atlantic liquefaction plant in southwestern Trinidad, which is majority owned by Shell and BP, is Trinidad's sole LNG producer. Crude production has also declined, moving from a peak of 144,400 b/d in 2005 to 50,854 b/d in 2024, according to the energy ministry. The decline in crude feedstock contributed to the 2018 shutdown of the state-owned 160,000 b/d Guaracara refinery. Young's administration failed at several attempts to engage foreign investors to reopen the plant. The government last month selected Nigerian privately owned oil and gas company Oando to lease and operate the refinery. But the incoming UNC administration will terminate negotiations with Oando to reopen the refinery and will seek new investors for the plant, the party said. By Canute James Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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