Page 9 - DMEA Week 16 2021

DMEA FUELS DMEA

Egypt plans to invest in new

bioethanol firm

AFRICA EGYPT’S Petroleum Ministry plans to invest used as a raw material in the production of many
$100mn into a new bioethanol producing firm. chemicals such as acetic acid, acetaldehyde, ace-
The ministry plans to establish the Egyptian tone, ethyl acetate, ethylene and others, in addi-
Company for Bioethanol on land belonging to tion to the production of carbon dioxide.
state-owned hydrocarbons production giant Over the past few years, the Egyptian govern-
Egyptian General Petroleum Co. (EGPC) in ment has mandated the petroleum ministry to
Damietta Port. reduce the country’s energy and refined petro-
The new company targets having bioethanol leum products’ deficit through making better
production capacity of 100,000 tonnes annually use of domestic and imported crude by moving
to meet local demand, and the surplus is to be up the value-added chain of petroleum products.
exported abroad. The petroleum ministry made great strides in
Bioethanol is used to manufacture a myriad fulfilling its mandate almost closing the deficit
of materials in different fields including but not in the second half (July-December) of 2020, nar-
limited to medical and chemical products such rowing it down to $54mn, according to figures
as inks, paints and disinfectants. It can also be released by the central bank.™

PETROCHEMICALS

Iran launches new petrochemical facility

MIDDLE EAST OPERATIONS commenced last week at Iran’s annual production of 3.3mn tpy of ethane, pro-
integrated Parsian Sepehr Refining Project pane, butane and gas condensate as the main
which will supply 1.3mn tonnes per year (tpy) of product to be transported to Assaluyeh by an
ethane to olefin facilities throughout the country. 18-inch (457mm) pipeline with a length of
Speaking to state-owned energy sector media roughly 63 km.”
outlet Shana, Mahmoud Zirakchianzadeh, CEO He noted that one of the key environmen-
of the Parsian Sepehr Refining Co. said that the tal benefits of the project was the processing of
facility in Mohr in Fars Province had first been 16mn tpy of methane for use in the city gas dis-
proposed in 2014 with the first letters of credit tribution network.
opened by the National Development Fund in In early March, Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh
late 2016. He said that the project, which was said that ethane recovery units at Bushehr, Bid-
constructed by Iranians, had been developed boland Persian Gulf Refinery and Kangan Pet-
using “state-of-the-art technologies by relying ro-Refinery, as well as Parsian Sepehr, would all
on the expertise of local experts”. will come on stream during the final month of
The plant is divided into an ethane extraction the last Iranian calendar year, which ended on
facility located in Mohr with the Parsian Sepehr March 20, the current one. He added that the
refining complex and final ethane separation NGL 3100 and 3200 projects would also come
unit at Assaluyeh where much of the gas from the online by March 2022. Earlier this month, pro-
offshore supergiant South Pars field is processed. gress on the projects had reached 55% and 75%,
Zirakchianzadeh said: “The ethane produced respectively with each to capture 500mn cubic
in this site will be used for final separation and metres day of flare gas.™

Week 16 22•April•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P9