February 22, 2019:

Uzbekneftegaz has offered the Swiss company Bluestone Group to take the Fergana refinery in trust, Uzbek media reports.  Ulugbek Sayidov, the first deputy chairman of the board of Uzbekneftegaz, held the talks with the executive director of the Bluestone Group, Shlomo Wolf.  At the talks, representatives of the Swiss company expressed their interest in cooperating in promising projects of Uzbekneftegaz on terms of equity financing.  In this regard, the foreign party was invited to participate in the modernization of the Fergana refinery under the terms of a trustee manager and construction of a gas chemical complex using logistics technology as an investor.  In addition, Uzbek side invited representatives of the Bluestone Group to take part in a business forum organized by Uzbekneftegaz for potential participants in the implementation of projects for the deep processing of hydrocarbons in May 2019.  Following the talks, the parties agreed to meet again and, in case foreign investors are interested, to discuss issues of joint implementation of projects.  Earlier, the President of Uzbekistan held a meeting on the development of the oil and gas industry.

During the meeting, he instructed that the Fergana Oil Refinery be transferred to the trust management of investors through a public-private partnership.  Switzerland is one of the reliable partners of Uzbekistan. Strong relations of friendship and mutual understanding are actively developing between the two countries.  The progressive dynamics of the Uzbek-Swiss relations demonstrates the continued interest of both countries in full-scale partnership, both in bilateral and multilateral formats.  The renewal of the Swiss strategy on cooperation with Central Asia countries for the period from 2017 to 2020 demonstrates a commitment to increasing interaction.  Uzbekneftegaz was established on May 3, 1992. In 1998, it was transformed into national holding company. 

The national holding company Uzbekneftegaz is a state-owned holding company of the Uzbek oil and gas industry.  Bluestone is an international, privately owned group which works alongside key partners to manage a diverse portfolio of companies with sustained growth in value for the long term.  Bluestone’s international activity of investments, project management and trade is primarily focused on Europe, the Middle East, African and Asian markets.  Bluestone is a trusted partner of world renowned investment funds based in London, Paris, Switzerland and Asia.

By Azernews

February 9, 2019:

GUWAHATI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to inaugurate India’s first bio-fuel refinery - Assam Bio-Refinery Private Limited - in the state on February 9.  The Prime Minister will digitally lay the foundation stone of the project on February 9 at a programme. Further, this will be the first-of-its-kind bio-refinery in the northeastern region which will be entirely powered by renewable source of energy.        

Gunin Sarma, an official of Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) informed G Plus, “This bio refinery is different because we will be using technology from abroad - which is from Finland.” He added that the refinery will primarily use bamboo biomass as the fixed stock in production of ethanol. The bio-fuel refinery will be bamboo based and it will also be the largest bio-fuel refinery in the country, said officials. Talking about the capacity and the estimated output of the refinery, Sarma mentioned that they will be using 5 lakh metric tonne of raw bamboo, whereas their production will approximately be around 6 crore litres of ethanol every year.   Further, once ethanol is produced, Numaligarh Refinery Limited will be mainly blending the entire quantity of ethanol which is produced here with petrol and it will be used as a motor spirit.  Officials told G Plus that the project is expected to be completed by April 2021. Further, the company will source the required bamboo for the production of bio-fuel from all northeastern states - but mainly from Assam - and the nearest points from the neighbouring states including Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Manipur.  To set up the refinery, a joint venture (JV) between state-run Numaligarh Refinery Limited and two foreign partners has been signed.

The joint venture, which would produce the eco-friendly bio-ethanol and other chemicals from bamboo biomass, has been created by NRL with equity participation of Chempolis Oy of Finland and Fortum 3 B.V. of Netherlands, NRL Managing Director, SK Barua, had earlier informed. The joint venture by the three partners in which NRL will has an equity holding of 50 percent by NRL, 28 percent by Fortum 3 B.V. Netherlands and 22 percent by Chempolis Oy of Finland.  According to the official, bio-coal will be used for the production of steam and supplying clean power to the refinery. The government’s Ethanol Blending Programme allows for blending of petrol by up to 10 percent with ethanol. Its new bio-ethanol policy aims to spur investments in setting up projects with a total production capacity of 1 billion litres of ethanol every year.

The process of making ethanol from bamboo

Elaborating on the process by which ethanol will be made from bamboo in the bio refinery; an official at Numaligarh Refinery Limited said that it is a chemical process. “The basic principle which the bamboo will undergo at the refinery is Enzymetic hydrolysis- in which some enzymes are introduced to help in the process of bio-fuel formation.  After the introduction of enzymes, the bamboo biomass will be converted to cellulose,” informed officials.  Further, in the next step of the process, cellulose will be converted to glucose from where glucose will be fermented and finally ethanol will be produced as a result of the fermentation process.  The bio-fuel generation method is similar to the process used in sugar industries, said authorities. Enzymatic hydrolysis is a process in which enzymes assist in the cleavage of bonds in molecules with the addition of the elements of water. Similarly, the process is also used to generate renewable sourced of energy such as cellulosic ethanol. Authorities informed that some of the by-products of the methanol generation process in the refinery will include acetic acid and suphurine, which will later be converted to suphurine alcohol. Further, one of the essential by-products of the bio-fuel production will be bio-coal. This will be generated from the remaining portion of bamboo and will be utilised by NRL in generating power for the refinery’s operation thus making the refinery unit entirely powered by renewable energy for its power requirement.

By www.guwahatiplus.com

February 8, 2019:

Pursuant to Regulation 30 read with Schedule III of the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015, we hereby inform that Mr. Narender Sharma, owing to his personal obligations has resigned from the position of Company Secretary and Key Managerial Personnel of the Company with effect from February 07, 2019 and the same has been taken on record by the Board of Directors.

By The Hindu Businessline

February 8, 2019:

Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Friday reported a net loss of Rs 268 crore in December quarter 2018 after refinery margins turned negative. The company logged a profit of Rs 970 crore in October-December 2017-18, as per a company statement. It lost $0.64 on turning every barrel of crude oil into fuel in the third quarter of 2018-19 as compared to earning $9.27 on turning every barrel of crude oil into fuel in the same period of previous year. In value terms, Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) lost Rs 148 crore in refinery margins as compared to a gain of Rs 1,973 crore in December quarter of 2017-18. Turnover rose 16 per cent to Rs 20,250 crore. Exports were up 54 per cent at Rs 8,852 crore.

By Energy Infra Post

February 8, 2019:

Turkish subsidiary of Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR has completed the integration of STAR refinery and Petkim petrochemical complex, Trend reports citing SOCAR Turkey Energy. “By selling 1.303 tons of naphtha produced at STAR refinery to Petkim, SOCAR Turkey Energy completed the integration of the refinery and the petrochemical complex. This sale has been an important step towards the integration,” said the company. The opening ceremony of the STAR oil refinery took place on October 19, 2018 in Izmir, Turkey. The total refining capacity of the refinery will be 10 million tons, and Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR is the main supplier of crude for the refinery. The refinery will significantly reduce the dependence of Turkey on imports of petrochemical products. The refinery worth $6.3 billion, built by SOCAR in the Aliaga District of Izmir, will produce 1.6 million tons of naphtha, 1.6 million tons of aviation fuel, 4.8 million tons of low-sulfur diesel, 700,000 tons of petroleum coke, 420,000 tons of mixed xylene and 160,000 tons of sulfur. SOCAR is represented in Turkey by its subsidiary SOCAR Turkey Energy. So far, SOCAR Turkey Energy has invested over $14 billion in the Turkish economy. Meanwhile, 5,000 people work in the company, while the annual export potential reaches $3 billion. Among SOCAR’s current assets in Turkey are the Petkim petrochemical complex, the STAR refinery and the Petlim port.

By Azernews.az