May 29, 2017:

Shell officials continue to monitor a tank at the Corunna Refinery tank farm that developed problems Sunday afternoon. At around 4:30pm, spokesman Randy Provencal says employees making routine inspections noticed an odour, and, upon further investigation, discovered oil on the top of the floating roof of the massive tank. Additional Chemical Valley Emergency Coordinating Organization (CVECO) foam equipment was requested and St. Clair firefighters responded with their special ladder truck with attached camera equipment that allows them a visual of the tank without having to put personnel near it. “We continue to monitor the tank and apply suppressant foam which acts as odour mitigation,” says Provencal. “We recently conducted air monitoring right at the source at the tank and there were no VOC’s detected there, so that’s good news.” Provencal says they are working on plans on how to remove the crude oil and water inside the tank. “It’s a floating roof on this tank, so as a result it’s not uncommon for there to be water in the tank,” he says. “We need to be able to remove both the crude oil and the water and we’re working on plans right now to do that.” They haven’t yet been able to determine just what occurred, nor is it know yet how much product is inside the tank.

No one was injured and the Ministry of the Environment was notified.

May 28, 2017:

Mina Abdullah oil refinery is currently full-scale maintenance due to proceed until June 6, said Mutlaq Rashed Nasser Al-Azmi, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer at the refinery.  Azmi said in a statement yesterday that the maintenance work began on May 12, covering all the units. Projected budget for the work is estimated at KD 950,000, he added.

Coordination with Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) and Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) preceded as regular the process "to alter output exploration plans and meet needs of the local and international oil markets," he said.  He noted that the coordination with the other national oil companies ahead of the maintenance was conducted, a perfect and very professional manner.  The operation was an opportunity to make more Kuwaiti personnel involved in various forms of maintenance and conduct field work. - KUNA

By Kuwait Times

May 26, 2017:

Kaduna State government delegation’s visit to China led by Governor Nasir El-Rufai, has brightened prospects for the development of a new 50,000 barrels per day refinery in Kaduna. In a statement signed by El-Rufai’s spokesman, Samuel Aruwan, the representatives of the Kaduna Refinery Consortium and the China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) signed an agreement on the project this week in China. The statement explained that, it was the highlight of the investment and cooperation pacts the Kaduna State delegation signed in China. Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, said the MoU appoints CMEC as the contractor for the refinery project. “The selection of CMEC means that our plan for a greenfield refinery in Kaduna is gathering pace. The project includes laying an associated 400km pipeline from the border of Niger Republic to Kaduna to transfer crude oil to the proposed refinery. Project goals also include the construction of an 80-100 MW power plant adjacent to the refinery.”

El-Rufai explained that the refinery project is being sponsored by the Kaduna Refinery Consortium, consisting of Kaduna State, DGE/CCEGC and Tianjin. He noted that the three parties had earlier signed an agreement in Kaduna committing themselves to the project. The MoU signed this week in China between the consortium and CMEC appoints CMEC as the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractor for the project. Malam Nasir El-Rufai signed for the Kaduna Refinery Consortium, while Li Mingqiang signed for CMEC.`

By www.leadership.ng

May 26, 2017:

Uzbekistan revealed in late April that it had begun building a new $2.2 billion oil refinery that would produce fuel for sale domestically and abroad.  Official news sources stated perfunctorily that oil supply agreements had already been reached with Kazakhstan and Russia, although the finer details still in fact need to be decided.

The ambition is formidable.

The refinery being built in the Jizzakh province, which lies adjacent to the South Kazakhstan Region, is being designed to process up to 5 million tons of oil annually, an almost 50 percent increase on Uzbekistan’s existing refining capacity. It will when completed turn out 3.7 million tons of gasoline, more than 700,000 tons of aviation fuel and 300,000 tons of associated products. Completion of the project is slated for 2022. The location was chosen with supplies from the north in mind. A representative with state-owned holding company Uzbekneftegaz told RIA-Novosti news agency earlier this month that a 95-kilometer pipeline is to be built to plug into an existing route from Siberia to southern Kazakhstan. “We have agreed with Kazakhstan to extend the [3,100-kilometer] Omsk-Pavlodar-Shymkent pipeline into our territory. It will be sufficient to build 95 kilometers worth of pipeline, and then [5 million tons of oil per year] will flow into Uzbekistan," the company representative said. The unnamed Uzbekneftegaz official may have been running ahead of himself by implying that all the oil for the Jizzakh refinery would come from Russia and Kazakhstan, but the remarks are suggestive all the same.

Building the pipeline will obviate the current reliance of railway transportation and should bring down costs substantially. Uzbekneftegaz estimates that it currently bears costs of between $150 and $250 for every ton of oil imported into Uzbekistan by train.  Uzbekistan already has three refineries — Alty–Aryk NPZ, Ferghana NPZ and Bukhara NPZ — that can collectively process up to around 11 million tons of oil. In planning that certainly made more sense in Soviet times, when all the Central Asian republics had closely integrated economies, Alty–Aryk NPZ and Ferghana NPZ were built a mere 30 kilometers from one another, positioned conveniently in the regionally central Ferghana Valley. As a result, the sight of convoys of oil trucks plying their way from central Uzbekistan to the Ferghana Valley, day and night, has long been a common one. Notably, the convoys are routinely accompanied by police cars, not so much for their protection, say people living along the route, but to ensure the truck drivers are not tempted to pilfer fuel as a way of supplementing their income. The figures for capacity at those refineries is only theoretical, however. At the moment, shortage of crude supplies means that the plants are only operating at 60 percent of their potential. The knock-on effect of that are the regular gasoline shortages that blight the lives of the country’s motorists. That in turn has led to the flourishing of a vibrant black market trade that enriches black market traders but hits regular people hard in the pocket. President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has already reached tentative agreements with Russia and Kazakhstan separately on the future supply of oil. But that issue is still object of some discussions between officials in those nations. The energy ministers of Russia and Kazakhstan met in Moscow on May 25 to discuss the question of Kazakhstan serving as a transit point for Russian oil, and how exactly that would happen.

Inevitably, there is some politics involved. Back in April, one analyst speaking to Russian news agency Sputnik said that work was underway in Moscow on finding a way to supply Uzbekistan with duty-free oil, but only on condition Tashkent agrees to entertain joining the Russian-dominated Eurasian Economic Union. “This project [to supply Russian oil] is promising because Uzbekistan could become a full-fledged member of the [Eurasian Economic Union]. That is the context in which there are discussions going on about the delivery of levy-free Russian oil in relatively small amounts,” said Alexander Pasechnik, an analyst with the Moscow-based National Energy Security Fund think tank. Still, the Pavlodar-Shymkent pipeline is pumping well below its design capacity — around 25 million tons of oil annually — which gives Uzbekistan some leeway for negotiation. Even once the overhaul of Kazakhstan’s three refineries is completed, annual oil processing capacity there will, to go by remarks made by Energy Minister Kanat Bozumbayev in March, reach 17.5 million tons. And one of those refineries, in Atyrau, draws its crude supplies from reserves in western Kazakhstan and therefore has no impact on the Pavlodar-Shymkent route. If Uzbekistan can really bring its new refinery online within the promised timeframe, this all makes for a promising picture, but it would be naive not to expect some bumps along the way.

By www.eurasianet.org

January 25, 2017:

A United States multinational company, General Electric, GE, Tuesday, proposed to invest in Nigeria’s three refineries.  The three refineries are located in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna.  GE, a company with an asset valued at $493 billion, focuses on business areas including oil and gas, power, water supply, aviation, healthcare, transportation and capital.  In a presentation to the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Maikanti Baru, and his team in Abuja, the company stated that its teams of partners would be engaged in the initiative.  Details of the discussion were contained in a statement by Ndu Nghumadu, NNPC’s spokesperson on Tuesday. 

The American firm said the team includes its consortium involving the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) partners, off-takers, traders and some financiers.  “We were involved in the tenders that started around last year which was subsequently withdrawn but our commitment to bringing the refineries on-stream is still very deep and we are very serious about it.  “We propose that work commences either with the Warri or Port Harcourt Refinery as a pilot, as we set a target to improve the refinery capacity before the end of 2017,’’ the Company stated in its presentation.  GE’s desire to partner with NNPC on the rehabilitation of the three refineries came on the heels of a similar proposal by the Italian company, Eni, to establish cooperation with NNPC for the rehabilitation and enhancement of Port Harcourt Refinery. 

Leading a high powered delegation to the NNPC Towers, Jeff Immelt, GE Global Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said as part of the offering, GE and NNPC have identified some major national power projects in the country.  He added that the two organisations are currently developing the scope of intervention in the projects which have a potential combined capacity of about 4.4 gigawatts.  General Electric further pledged its readiness to work with the NNPC to make production in the off-shore fields profitable for the benefit of both companies and other stakeholders.  The company also expressed its hope to consolidate on its existing working relationship with the corporation to expand the prevailing power business, stressing that it would help NNPC achieve its vision of becoming the leading power company in Nigeria.  In his reaction, Mr. Baru noted that GE’s offer of a package that includes projects financing would greatly improve collaboration and initiate the power projects rapidly.  The NNPC boss also welcomed GE’s offer for support to boost the nation’s offshore production and raise crude oil reserve ratio replacement, urging the company to also tap into the opportunities on offer in medical supplies.  He disclosed that the NNPC plans to commercialise the services of its 52 hospitals and clinics spread across the country in future, calling on GE to tap into the opportunity.

By Premium Times