Page 12 - DMEA Week 04 2020

DMEA PETROCHEMICALS DMEA
Borouge sets up shop in Egypt
EGYPT
Borouge is eyeing expansion in multiple markets.
UAE-BASED petrochemicals firm Borouge has set up a new marketing department in import-dependent Egypt, stating the move will help it meet customer demand in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
“Opening a marketing company for the com- pany in Egypt is a necessary step to ensure a bet- ter understanding of our customers’ needs and opening a regular dialogue on how we can better help them improve their businesses and prod- ucts,” Wim Roels, CEO of Borouge’s Singapore arm, said.
Borouge, a joint venture between the UAE’s national oil company ADNOC and Austria’s Borealis, operates a major petrochemicals com- plex in Ruwais, now undergoing a fourth-stage expansion. It began shipping products to Egypt in 2002. Egypt relies heavily on imports of most petrochemical products, and its domestic pro- jects to meet this demand have struggled to make headway.
Known as Borouge-4, the current project at Ruwais involves the construction of the world’s largest mixed-feed cracker, along with various units to process its output into finished products.
Early last year Borouge also handed front-end engineering and design (FEED), project man- agement and licence contracts to TechnipFMC, Maire Tecnimont and WorleyParsons for the cracker.
The Ruwais complex currently manufactures 4.5mn tpy of petrochemical products, includ- ing 2.3mn tonnes of polyethylene and 1.76mn tonnes of polypropylene. But its owners aim to double this output by 2030.
Borouge’s Roels expressed the company’s desire to expand its sales operations in Egypt, elsewhere in East Africa and in Southeast in December.
“[On] the geographic dimension — China, India and developing countries in South East Asia that are beginning to open up such as Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia,” Roels explained at a conference. “They’re relatively small but they’re picking up. We put all our focus in expanding in the Middle East and Africa, mainly in East Africa — Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, [as well as] Egypt.”
China is also earmarked as a target for expan- sion, with the company looking to “move inland” away from industry clusters along its coastline.™
Gas stations in southern
Yemen shut down amidst
extreme fuel crisis
Fuel stations in the southern port city of Aden have closed their doors to citizens on January 26 due to the extreme fuel shortages, local media reported.
According to media sources in the city, hundreds of cars were parked in long queues in front of the stations, which refrained from direct selling to citizens on the pretext of the high price of foreign exchange in the occupied southern provinces.
Moreover, the sources confirmed that the closure of the oil stations itself has
led to a significant increase in the cost of transportation, with reports claiming price hikes of up to 200%
Furthermore, the sources added that the trade in oil derivatives has revived on the black market, with the price of 20 liters of gasoline reaching up to 12,000 riyals, which is about 47 US dollars. This in a country where the average yearly income per capita was reported to have collapsed to a mere 667.9 US dollars in 2018 due to the war.
Economic observers accuse Ahmed al- Essa, The Deputy Director of Hadi’s Office
NEWS IN BRIEF
for Economic Affairs, which controls the
oil market in the southern provinces, of fomenting the oil derivatives crisis in the city through corruption and mismanagement.
Eni signs LNG supply agreement with Nigeria LNG
Eni signed a new long term contract for the purchase of 1,5 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas with Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG), a joint venture between NNPC, Shell, Total and Eni (with Eni having a participating interest of 10.4%).
The LNG will be produced from the existing Trains 1,2 and 3 located in Bonny Island, Nigeria. Eni, through its local affiliate NAOC, is also one of the suppliers of the liquefaction plant, thus contributing to the valorization of associated gas resources in Nigeria.
The deal, together with the one for
1.1 million tonnes of LNG executed last December between Eni and NLNG, allows Eni to increase its global LNG portfolio starting from 2021 and to support further the development of its presence in the main destination markets worldwide.
Eni has been present in Nigeria since 1962,
with operated and non-operated exploration development and production activities in the onshore and offshore areas of the Niger. Eni’s equity hydrocarbon production in the country exceeds 100,000 boe/day.
Nigeria LNG inks supply deal with Total
Nigeria LNG signed an LNG sale and purchase agreement (SPA) for some of the remarketed volumes from NLNG’s Trains 1, 2 and 3 with Total Gas & Power (TGP).
The agreement is for the supply of 1.5 million metric tonnes per annum (mtpa) for a 10-year term.
The volumes will be delivered on a Delivered Ex-ship (DES) and Free on Board (FOB) basis, Nigeria LNG said in its statement.
The SPA with TGP advances the plans by NLNG to re-market volumes from three trains.
This agreement is in line with NLNG’s drive to continue to deliver LNG globally and is expected to boost the company’s global presence and market reach.
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Week 04 30•January•2020