Page 15 - EurOil Week 23 2021

EurOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES EurOil

PKN Orlen to expand olefins capacity

POLAND POLISH energy group PKN Orlen has unveiled of petrochemicals, amid a weak outlook for
a plan to expand the olefins complex at its pro- demand for motor fuels.
The company is one of duction plant in Plock. “Petrochemicals have a huge potential,” Oba-
a number of European The Olefins III complex will be built using jtek said. “We want to harness it to deliver max-
refiners pushing in “state-of-the-art” technologies, PKN Orlen said, imum value, in response to the steadily growing
the petrochemicals resulting in greater efficiency and a 30% reduc- demand for high-margin petrochemical prod-
direction. tion in CO2 emissions per tonne of production. ucts. This will benefit the group companies, our
The facility is on track for completion in the first shareholders and the Polish economy, which will
quarter of 2024, and will deliver its first products become even more competitive.”
a year later, adding around PLN1bn ($270mn) to The expansion will cost PLN13.5bn ($3.7bn)
PKN Orlen’s annual EBITDA. to implement, PKN Orlen said. Its decision on
PKN Orlen CEO Daniel Obajtek said the the plan will pave the way for an engineering
plant would be one of the most modern of its contract to be signed. The preferred bidders are
kind in Europe, positioning the company as one South Korea’s Hyudnai Engineering and Spain’s
of the biggest petrochemical players on the con- Tecnicas Reunidas.
tinent. Its current share of the market is 5% but As part of the project, PKN Orlen will
will rise to 6.4% with the project’s completion. consider closing another section of the ole-
“It will also secure [PKN Orlen’s] competi- fins plant that was built more than 40 years
tiveness in the long run and increase its resist- ago. That facility has a 340,000 tonne per year
ance to unfavourable mega-trends in the fuel capacity, but has lower operational and energy
market,” he said. efficiency. The more modern section of the
PKN Orlen is preparing to merge with its plant, with a 300,000-tpy capacity, will undergo
smaller rival refiner Lotos. Obajtek said the ole- upgrades.
fins expansion would benefit from the supply The group plans to build a 740,000-tpy new
of significant amounts of kerosene as a result of steam cracker at the site. The complex will also
the merger. The company is one of a number of comprise five extra production units, including
refiners looking to shift more in the direction a large ethylene oxide and glycol plant. ™

NEWS IN BRIEF
Turkey unveils new gas of seabed gas production systems, a gas inspections and checks. ODE has recently
been awarded the Phase 1 duty holder
processing centre within the Filyos Industrial
discovery in Black Sea Zone, and pipelines to connect these two contract for the installation and pipeline
units..
operator as well as facilities operations and
Turkey, through its national oil and gas maintenance.
company TPAO, has discovered 135bn cubic According to IOG, main power was
meters (bcm) of natural gas in the Amasra-1 IOG installs two unmanned switched on, communications with the
well in the North Sakarya field located in the onshore control room was established, and
Black Sea. platforms in UK North Sea the requisite post-installation remotely
TPAO started drilling operations at operated vehicle (ROV) surveys were
the Amasra-1 well exploration well in the UK company IOG plc has confirmed that undertaken before both platforms were
North Sakarya field in April 2021. The well the Blythe and Southwark gas platforms have signed off as complete.
was drilled using the Fatih drillship. TPAO been installed at their respective offshore
bought the 6th generation Fatih drillship in field locations in the UK Southern North
2017, under its original name Deepsea Metro Sea. GEOxyz set for surveys for
II. IOG signed off the Blythe and Southwark
With the addition of the 135 bcm to the normally unmanned installations (NUIs) as Jersey Oil and Gas
previously discovered volume of 405 bcm in mechanically complete back in April 2021.
the Sakarya gas field, the total gas reserves The platforms were built by HSM Offshore at OGEOxyz Offshore is set to kick off a series
discovered in the Black Sea reached 540 bcm, its yard in Schiedam, Netherlands. The first of surveys in the Greater Buchan Area to
TPAO said in a statement on June 4. gas is scheduled for the late third quarter. Sandford Bay in the UK on behalf of Jersey
The Tuna-1 ultra-deepwater exploration For both platforms, after the suction Oil and Gas.
well in block AR/TPO/KD/C26-C27- pile foundations were fixed on the seabed The company’s Geo Ocean III will
D26-D27, Turkey’s largest discovery, is now and jacket legs cut to height, topsides lift commence an Environmental Baseline
called the Sakarya gas field. operations were undertaken by the Seaway Survey (EBS) of a proposed subsea cable
The new discovery at the Amasra-1 Strashnov heavy lift vessel, IOG informed on route between Buchan Fixed Facilities and
well, with a 1938 metre water depth and June 7. Sandford Bay between 27 June and 3 July,
3850-meter total depth, in the North Sakarya After the final welding of the connections which will take up to six days.
field will also be included in the Sakarya gas between the topsides and jacket the IOG, The EBS will begin at the location of
field development project. HSM Offshore and ODE Asset Management the proposed Buchan Fixed Facilities, some
The project includes the construction teams then performed all the necessary 111 km from Peterhead, and terminate

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