Sulphur 410 Jan-Feb 2024
31 January 2024
Sulphur Industry News
Sulphur Industry News
UNITED STATES
Oil production reaches record levels
US domestic oil production has surged during 2023, reaching 13.3 million bbl/d in December, a record not just for the US but for any single country’s oil production. Adding in natural gas liquids and biofuels takes overall liquids production to 21.4 million bbl/d. Exports are also running at record levels, around 6 million bbl/d. This is a remarkable turnaround from 2008, when production was less then 5 million bbl/d and exports essentially zero. Furthermore, non-OPEC production is continuing to expand, with Brazil reaching 3.4 million bbl/d of oil production and 4.2 million bbl/d of liquids, and Canada producing 4.8 million bbl/d of crude and 5.7 million bbl/d of total liquids, keeping oil prices moderated in spite of OPEC+ production cuts. Global oil production is expected to reach a record level in 2024, with non-OPEC+ liquids growth projected to increase by 2.7 million bbl/d, far more than demand growth of 1.6 million bbl/d. n
Fire at refinery sour water tank
Marathon Petroleum suffered a fire at its 593,000 bbl/d Galveston Bay refinery in Texas in mid-December. The fire was reported at a vent on a sour water tank at the plant’s power unit, leading to an explosion in a second tank at the Power 2 unit. No injuries were reported and production was unaffected. The Power 2 unit provides utility water, fuel gas and steam to the refinery.
UNITED KINGDOM
Topsoe to provide flue gas technology for carbon capture project
Essar Oil UK has selected Topsoe to provide its sustainable flue-gas treatment technology, SNOX™, for Essar’s planned £360 million ($460 million) Essar Energy Transition Industrial Carbon Capture facility. The carbon capture facility will be an integral part of Essar’s Stanlow refinery in northwest England. The carbon capture facility is expected to be operational by 2028, eliminating an estimated 1 million tons of CO 2 per year – the equivalent of taking 220,000 cars off the road. The captured CO 2 will be permanently sequestered in depleted gas fields under the sea in Liverpool Bay.
Topsoe will deliver its SNOX™ technology for the removal of nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, dust and other contaminants from the flue gas emitted in the production process. Topsoe’s technology will be one of a number of integrated licensed solutions supporting Essar’s plant, and will contribute to reducing their CO 2 footprint.
Deepak Maheshwari, CEO of Essar Oil UK, said: “We are ready to move into the next phase of Essar Oil UK’s decarbonisation strategy. With an investment of $1.2 billion, Essar Oil UK is positioned to be the world’s first low carbon refinery. The industrial carbon capture facility, combined with our upcoming hydrogen fuel switching project, will reduce the refinery’s CO 2 emissions by 95%. Topsoe is a valuable partner in this endeavour. With Topsoe’s SNOX™ technology we are getting a well proven and highly sustainable flue-gas treatment.”
YEMEN
Missile strikes disrupt oil and gas transport
Over the past two months Houthi rebels in Yemen have launched a series of attacks using drones and missiles against shipping around the Gulf of Aden at the entrance to the Red Sea. Although many have missed and some have been shot down by US and other naval vessels operating in the area, several ships have been hit, including the container ships Al Jasrah and Palatium III, the Norwegian tankers Strinda and Swan Atlantic, while the vehicle carrier Galaxy Leader was boarded using a helicopter and hijacked to a Yemeni port.
The attacks have caused consternation in international shipping; around 12% of global shipping traffic passes through the narrow straits, which are only 30 km across, en route to or from the Suez Canal, including 8 million bbl/d of global oil and oil products traffic and up to 8% of global LNG shipments, mainly from Qatar to Europe. On December 18th BP suspended tanker traffic through the Red Sea, following similar decisions by container shippers Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd. Alternative routes to Europe via the Cape of Good Hope could increase shipping times by 22 days on a round-trip basis. So far the impact on spot LNG prices has been minimal due to high inventories in Europe and North Asia, and oil prices likewise remain at around $80/bbl, with high non-OPEC production (see above) causing fears of a surplus in 2024. However, freight rates for crude transport from the Middle East to Europe have gone up by 25%, with insurance war risk premiums rising from $2,000 to $10,000.
INDIA
Market launch of sulphur coated ‘urea gold’
The Indian the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Department of Fertilizers, has issued a notification to all fertilizer manufacturing companies approving the sale of sulphur-coated urea, dubbed ‘urea gold’ in India. The sale of sulphur coated urea had been approved in principle last year by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA). The Department of Fertilizers note approves the sale of urea gold in in 40 kg bags, with pricing set at equivalent to 45 kg bags of neem-coated urea, i.e. a maximum retail price of rupees 322.50 ($3.20). The move is part of Indian government efforts to promote sustainable and innovative agricultural practices. Sulphur-coated urea is expected to play a role in enhancing soil health, optimising nutrient release, and ensuring improved crop yields. The decision to price it on par with existing neem-coated (i.e. slow release) urea is intended to encourage the adoption of environmentally friendly fertilizers without imposing an additional financial burden on farmers.
KAZAKHSTAN
Talks to settle fine over sulphur storage
Talks began at the end of last year between the government of Kazakhstan and the international partners in the North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC), operators of the huge Kashagan oil, gas and condensate field, to settle a potential $5.1 billion fine over what the government claims was illegal storage of sulphur at the project site. The Bolashak oil and gas treatment plant receives and processes associated gas from the offshore Kashagan field and has a reported total permitted capacity of 730,000 tonnes, but the Kazakh government alleges that this reached 1.7 million tonnes in November 2022. Other allegations include a lack of dust suppression, failure to recycle water, and lack of automated emissions monitoring. NCOC has said that the company carries out its sulphur management activities responsibly and in accordance with the laws of Kazakhstan, as well as in accordance with applicable standards and best practice. It produces around 1.4 million t/a of sulphur and exports 1.0-1.2 million t/a of this overseas. It has denied any wrongdoing and mounted a successful legal challenge to the decision, with a court ruling in June 2023 that the regional environmental protection department’s sulphur storage inspection had not been valid. However, the government is still pursuing the penalty at the country’s court of appeals. Press reports have suggested that there is a counter-offer of $200 million and a commitment to reduce sulphur storage to minimal levels. The government is also disputing an estimated $13 billion in project costs with the project partners over delays in the implementation of the Kashagan project.
MEXICO
Delayed start-up for new refinery
Mexican state oil company Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) has said that production at its new Olmeca refinery at Dos Bocas in the in southern Tabasco state of Mexico would begin at the end of January 2024. During 2024 the refinery is expected to process an average 243,000 bbl/d of crude to produce 274,000 bbl/d of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. It would ramp up to its full capacity of 320,000 bbl/d in 2025, according to a statement by Pemex CEO Octavio Romero Oropeza. Total throughput by Pemex’s six refineries was 794,000 bbl/d of crude oil last year, while its Deer Park refinery in Texas processed 270,000 bbl/d. The new refinery will raise Pemex’s crude processing capacity to 1.5 million bbl/d, and the company expects that to rise to 1.8 million bbl/d in 2026. By refining more of its own oil, Mexico is seeking to reduce its imports of petroleum products, including gasoline and diesel, and lower its petroleum trade deficit. Pemex imported 396,000 bbl/d of gasoline in 2023, and 170,000 bbl/d of diesel. n
OBITUARY
James Hyne
November 23, 1929 -December 11, 2023
It is with sadness that we announce the passing of Jim Hyne in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Jim will be remembered by many people in many different ways. He was an individual who seemed as large as life itself. We are honoured to write a few words about our friend. The longer stories will be told amongst us for some time to come.
Jim was born in Dundee, Scotland to William Simpson Hyne and Winnifred Moore (nee Bissett). Following his early education at Dundee Public School and Morgan Academy, he completed his BSc (Hons) Chemistry in 1951 and PhD in 1954, both at St. Andrew’s University, Scotland. In the 1940s and early ‘50s Jim was an active member of the Grampian Club, a climbing and hillwalking club that was founded in Dundee in 1929. It was at this time that his love of the mountains developed. Jim was particularly drawn to the Munros of the Angus Glens, particularly Glen Clova, an affinity which remained with him throughout his life. During this time, he also served with the United Kingdom Territorial Army, achieving the rank of Sergeant Major.
Jim emigrated to Canada in the summer of 1954 where he held a postdoctoral fellowship in chemistry at the National Research Council of Canada in Ottawa. He continued his military service with the Canadian Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa as 2nd Lieutenant. He joined the staff of the Chemistry Department at Yale University in 1956 as an instructor. Whilst there, he met Ada Leah Jacobson, a native of Boston, Massachusetts, who was working on her own PhD. While Ada was conducting postdoctoral work at Stanford in California, Jim visited her there and proposed marriage. Happily, they were married in New Haven, Connecticut on September 3, 1958. From 195960, Jim was an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.
In July of 1960, Jim and Ada moved to Calgary in Alberta, where they joined the Chemistry Department of the University of Alberta (Calgary Branch), he as Associate Professor and she as a Research Associate. Their arrival coincided with the opening of the new campus in northwest Calgary. Jim was appointed Administrative Officer of the Chemistry Department, and in 1963 he became the Head of the Department.
In early 1964 Jim, together with representatives from the local oil and gas industry, formed Alberta Sulphur Research Ltd (ASRL), a not-for-profit research group established to investigate the applied chemistry of sulphur and sulphur compounds to support the evolving sour gas industry. The group was housed within the faculty of Science and it integrated faculty, graduate students, postdoctoral appointees, undergraduate summer students, interns and, eventually, full-time research staff, in a relatively unique model of academic – industrial collaboration that has seen the organisation grow and thrive for sixty years. Jim was the inaugural Director of Research for ASRL until 1995. If that were not enough, when the University of Calgary became an autonomous institution in 1966, Jim was appointed the first Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies, a position he would hold until 1989.
Throughout his academic career, Jim spearheaded hundreds of research projects, published numerous papers, was named inventor on patents, and was celebrated with many awards and appointments; too many to mention here. As important as his research and administrative accomplishments were in their own right, his mentorship of young scientists, (as scholars, researchers, and individuals), has arguably made a larger impact throughout academia and industry. His encouragement to explore new ideas, to be creative in the laboratory, to persevere through the challenges of building a frontier research facility, and his approach to effective communication, has had an immeasurable influence. Not only did he impact the people under his guidance, but in many cases their families too, who grew up around and were supported by the structures Jim helped to build.
Then there was Jim apart from these institutions, these companies, and these business networks. He owned and operated a ranch west of Peace River, Alberta. He maintained an interest in cattle breeding well into his 80s and would often visit the Perth bull sales back in his native Scotland. He was an avid collector of items that ranged from the beautiful and culturally significant to the esoteric and idiosyncratic. He travelled to many places around the world, always curious and engaged with the people and the culture he experienced. Jim would also combine his travels with visits to his family and his favourite book seller in St Andrews (Mare Wilks). In the early days of their move to Calgary Jim’s mother Winnie was a frequent visitor. In the years that followed his sister May and her husband Alf were welcomed into Jim and Ada’s home and given many “Grand Tours” of the splendours of Alberta. These visits were continued by his niece Sheila her husband Alister and their children Ashley and Bradley. As well as hosting family Jim and Ada hosted many gatherings, big and small, including notable celebrations on Robbie Burns Day.
Jim is survived by his nephew Edward and his great nieces and nephews Ashley, Bradley and Simon and their families. They continue to live in Scotland in the area of Jim’s birth. Much appreciation and gratitude goes out to the health care nurses who were Jim’s companions of late. As we bid Jim farewell, we are reminded that we take not here the full measure of this man. We can, however, assert that he will be sorely missed and fondly remembered.
