Page 13 - DMEA Week 42 2022

DMEA REFINING & FUELS DMEA

The consortium reported in its notice that it September, according to Refinitiv data cited by
had interrupted shipments due to the “extensive Reuters. It will not be able to match that figure in
flooding being experienced in Nigeria, causing October, as the flooding that triggered the dec-
a substantial reduction in the production and laration of force majeure led the consortium’s
supply of liquefied natural gas and natural gas upstream suppliers to curtail production.
liquids,” Galp said. Equity in the NLNG consortium is split
It went on to say that it was preparing for the between Nigerian National Petroleum Co. Ltd
possibility that its own LNG supplies might be (NNPCL), with 49%; Shell (UK), with 25.6%;
disrupted, even though it did not have any con- TotalEnergies (France), with 15%; and Eni
crete information to confirm this. “At this stage, (Italy), with 10.4%. State-owned NNPCL serves
no information was provided to support an as operator of the group.
assessment of potential impacts from this event, The consortium brought its first production
which may however result in additional sourc- train on stream in 1999 and now has six pro-
ing disruptions to Galp,” the statement said. duction trains capable of turning out a total of
NLNG, the operator of Nigeria’s only large- 22.5 mn tpy. The complex’s installed capacity
scale gas liquefaction plant, is a major supplier is now set to rise to 30mn tpy as a result of the
of LNG to Portugal. In 2021, it accounted for Train 7 project, which envisions the construc-
about half of the LNG delivered to that country tion of a seventh production train that can turn
– which is, along with other EU member states, out 4.2mn tpy, as well as the debottlenecking of
nervous about securing adequate fuel supplies existing trains, which will add another 3.4mn
ahead of the coming winter. Reuters noted on tpy of capacity. ™
October 18 that Jefferies, a New York-headquar-
tered investment bank, had identified Portugal
and the UK-based major Shell as the parties that
faced the most risk as a result of the shutdown
at NLNG.
Galp is contracted to buy about 1mn tonnes
per year (tpy) of LNG from NLNG’s first three
production trains under a 10-year deal signed
in 2020. It has also arranged to purchase 1.42mn
tpy of remarketed LNG from Trains 4 and 5.
NLNG exported 18 cargoes of LNG in NLNG’s suppliers have also shut down (Photo: NLNG)

PETROCHEMICALS
SABIC starts commercial operations at

United Ethylene Glycol Plant 3 in Jubail

MIDDLE EAST SAUDI Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) in 2017. Work on the project began in December
reported on October 17 that it had launched of that year.
commercial operations at the United Ethylene In November 2021, SABIC began start-up
Glycol Plant 3 in Jubail. operations at the plant, which is located inside
In a stock exchange statement, SABIC, the JUPC’s facilities.
top producer of petrochemicals in the Middle News of the facility’s start-up gave a lift to
East, noted that the new plant had a production SABIC’s share prices on October 17. According
capacity of 700,000 tonnes per year. It also said to Arab News, the company’s stock finished at
that the new facility’s financial impact would SAR90.6 ($24.12) per share on that day, up from
begin to impact its balance sheet during the SAR89.7 ($23.88) per share as of the end of the
fourth quarter of this year. previous day’s close. ™
No change has been made to the scope or
cost of the project, it added.
United Ethylene Glycol Plant 3 has been
under construction for several years. SABIC’s
75%-owned subsidiary, Jubail United Petro-
chemical Co. (JUPC), signed a joint venture
agreement with Samsung Engineering of South
Korea for engineering, procurement and con-
struction (EPC) services related to the project The plant began operating October 17 (Photo: SABIC)

Dangote Refinery construction site (Photo: Twitter/@DangoteGroup)
Week 42 20•October•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P13