NewBase 11 March 2024 Energy News issue - 1706 by Khaled Al Awadi_compressed.pdf

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NewBase Energy News 11 March 2024 No. 1706 Senior Editor Eng. Khaled Al Awadi
NewBase for discussion or further details on the news below you may contact us on +971504822502, Dubai, UAE
UAE Chemical Maker Eyes Expansion Even as Merger Talks Continue
Bloomberg - Anthony Di Paola
The United Arab Emirates’s biggest chemicals producer Borouge Plc is seeking further expansion
opportunities, even as it pursues a €30 billion ($32.8 billion) tie-up with a unit of Austria’s OMV AG.
State-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., which controls Borouge, is pushing for international
growth, including a multibillion-dollar pursuit of Germany’s Covestro AG, purchasing stakes in
natural gas fields in Egypt and Azerbaijan and talks over a Brazilian chemicals company. Adnoc is
also negotiating the proposed merger of Borouge with OMV’s chemical producer Borealis AG.
Borouge will be Adnoc’s petrochemicals “champion,” Chief Executive Officer Hazeem Sultan Al
Suwaidi ( pictured in frame above) said in an interview.
“You’ve seen how things are evolving with Adnoc in terms of their expansion and acquisitions and
further growth,” the Borouge CEO said. “Petrochemicals will definitely will be big portions of this.”
ww.linkedin.com/in/khaled-al-awadi-80201019/

Borouge has been “evaluating options,” which are likely to embrace the company’s key Asian
markets, including India and China, Al Suwaidi said at the construction site of its fourth major
production facility. The most important thing is to have the right partner, he added.
Al Suwaidi said he couldn’t comment on the talks between Adnoc and OMV on the Borouge-Borealis
merger.
The Borouge 4 project, at the Ruwais industrial area along the coast from Abu Dhabi city, is set to
be completed by the end of 2025 and boost the company’s production capacity to 6.4 million tons a
year from 5 million now. It exports plastics from the site, which is also the location for Adnoc’s main
refinery.
Chemical markets are set to remain under pressure this year, after prices declined in 2023, Al
Suwaidi said. Borouge pledged to maintain its 2024 dividend payout at $1.3 billion and will rely on
geographically diverse customer base to support sales, he said.
“We are navigating through year 2024 very cautiously,” the CEO said. “It’ll be also another
challenging year.”
About Borouge
Building on the advanced, unique and proprietary
technologies of Borstar® and Borlink™ from
Borealis , Borouge provides value-creating polymer
solutions for the agriculture, infrastructure, energy,
advanced packaging, mobility and healthcare
industries – employing more than 3,100 people and
serving customers in over 50 countries across Asia
, the Middle East and Africa.
Committed to providing creative solutions for a
wide range of industries and customers around the
world, in an effective and environmentally sound
manner, Borouge employs Borealis’ most
advanced proprietary technologies and contributes
to addressing global challenges such as climate
change, food waste and scarcity, access to fresh
water, energy transition, healthcare support and
waste management.

Gulf oil giants Saudi Aramco, Adnoc set sights on lithium
Reuters - Clara Denina, Sarah Mcfarlane and Maha El Dahan
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates' national oil companies plan to extract lithium from brine
in their oilfields, in line with efforts to diversify their economies and profit from the shift to
electric vehicles (EVs), three sources told Reuters
Other oil companies, including Exxon Mobil (XOM.N), opens new tab and Occidental
Petroleum (OXY.N), opens new tab, plan to take advantage of emerging technologies to filter lithium
from brine, as the world seeks to move away from fossil fuels.
Saudi Arabia, whose economy for decades has relied on oil, has spent billions on trying to turn itself
into a hub for EVs as part of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's attempts to find
alternative sources of wealth.
General view of Aramco's oil field in the Empty Quarter, Shaybah, Saudi Arabia, January 12, 2024.
REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab
Three people familiar with the matter said Saudi Aramco (2222.SE), opens new tab and Abu Dhabi
National Oil Company (ADNOC) were in the very early stages of work to extract lithium, regarded
as a critical mineral by many major economies because of its use in battery manufacture.
They declined to give detail on the type of direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology that would be
used. Aramco did not respond to a request for comment, Adnoc declined to comment.
The three sources declined to be named because they were not authorised to speak publicly. DLE
technology is in its infancy and its economics are far less certain than those of oil.

But Saudi Arabia and the UAE can draw on expertise in handling oil brine and wastewater at oil
production sites.
An advantage of filtering the ultralight battery metal from salt water is that it avoids the need for
costly and environmentally challenging open pit mines or large evaporation ponds, as employed in
the world's leading producers Australia and Chile. China is the biggest processor and consumer of
lithium, needed for electric and hybrid vehicles.
CONCENTRATION AND PRICE COLLAPSE
For now, global economic weakness has depressed buying of new vehicles and led lithium prices
to dive. Lithium prices have fallen by about 80% since touching a peak in November 2022 as a
slowdown in EV sales exacerbated a supply glut.
Leading carmakers, however, are among those looking for new lithium supplies in anticipation of
future demand. Analysts have said the EV industry will depend on lithium for years to come, even
though cheaper battery technology alternatives using less or no lithium are being studied.
An issue with extracting lithium from brine is that concentration levels can be very low, making
already uncertain economics less favourable.
One of the people said Aramco was working on using new filtration technology that seeks to solve
the issue of concentration, while another person said Adnoc was also addressing that.
Saudi Arabia's oil wealth means it can afford to take a financial risk and its diversification plans
include establishing itself as a hub for EVs to make use of whatever lithium it produces.
The kingdom has established its own EV brand Ceer, and built an EV metals plant. Its sovereign
wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), has a goal to produce 500,000 EVs annually by
2030. Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma'aden) (1211.SE), opens new tab, the Gulf's largest
miner, is working to extract lithium from seawater.
"There is good research in the kingdom with Ma'aden ...and Aramco because the discharge of the
oilfields have good salinity and good traces of minerals," Saudi vice minister of industry and mineral
resources Khalid bin Saleh Al-Mudaifer told Reuters on the sidelines of a press conference in Riyadh
in December.
"They have done good work, they have done good extractions of sodium, magnesium, and traces
of lithium. The technologies are in the early stage, but there is good work and good investment," Al-
Mudaifer added.
Reporting by Clara Denina and Sarah McFarlane in London, Maha El Dahan in Dubai; additional
reporting by Pesha Magid, Ernest Scheyder and Eric Onstad; Editing by Veronica Brown and
Barbara Lewis

Cote d'Ivoire: Eni make major discovery in block CI-205, offshore
Source: Eni
The discovery, named Calao, stands as the second largest in the country, following the Baleine field
by Eni in September 2021
The President of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire Alassane Ouattara and the Chief Executive Officer
of Eni Claudio Descalzi met in Abidjan to discuss the company’s activities in the country, including
the successful results of the exploration well Murene 1X on the discovery named Calao.
The Prime Minister Robert Beugré Mambé and the Minister of Mines, Petroleum, and Energy,
Mamadou Sangafowa-Coulibaly, also participated in the meeting.
The Calao discovery was greeted as a significant one. Drilling operations took place approx. 45 kms
off the coast in block CI-205, reaching a depth of 5,000 meters in water depths of around 2,200
meters.
The well encountered light oil, gas, and condensates in various intervals of Cenomanian age
characterized by good to excellent permeability values. Preliminary assessments indicate potential
resources ranging between 1 and 1.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent. Eni operates the block in
partnership with Petroci Holding.
President Ouattara and Mr. Descalzi discussed the appraisal and development plans for the
discovery, including Eni’s commitment to meet the country’s domestic needs.
Eni operates in Côte d’Ivoire since 2015. In addition to block CI-205, Eni holds participating interests
in five other blocks in Ivorian deep waters: CI-101, CI-401, CI-501, CI-801, and CI-802, all in
partnership with Petroci Holding. Presently,
Eni has an equity production of hydrocarbons totaling approximately 22,000 barrels of oil equivalent
per day from the Baleine field, which started production in August 2023.

U.S Reduced refinery activity increase gasoline and diesel prices
source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Weekly Petroleum Status Report
Since early January 2024, U.S. refinery utilization has decreased 11%, falling as low as 81% during
the two weeks ending February 9 and February 16, and briefly dropped below the five-year (2019–
23) low.
Although U.S. retail average prices for gasoline and diesel are below 2023 prices for this time of
year, decreasing regional inventories for the major U.S. refining regions increased retail prices for
both fuels last month, according to our Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update.
The sharp decline in refinery utilization is the result of reduced plant operations in both the Midwest
and Gulf Coast regions and more intense seasonal patterns. The decline is also affecting
inventories.
The U.S. Gulf Coast (PADD 3), the area with the largest drop in refinery utilization, has been the
primary source of overall reduced U.S. refinery runs. Since the first week of January, U.S. Gulf
Coast four-week average refinery utilization has decreased 14%, falling below 80% for the past two
weeks.
The reduced refinery runs are likely the result of weather-related issues stemming from cold
temperatures, as well as planned maintenance. Weatherization against extreme cold is less
common on the Gulf Coast compared with other regions, such as the Midwest, and a lack of
winterization can contribute to power outages or damage to instruments, resulting in temporary
shutdowns.

The current Gulf Coast refinery maintenance started earlier than normal and has had a larger impact
on refinery operations. Trade press indicates maintenance shutdowns are underway at the Motiva
Port Arthur and Marathon Galveston Bay refineries, which together account for about 7% of total
U.S. capacity, or more than one million barrels per day of processing capacity. Planned refinery
maintenance is typically seasonal and generally peaks during late February and March.
In the Midwest (PADD 2), bp’s refinery in Whiting, Indiana, (the largest refinery in the Midwest) was
taken offline because of an unplanned outage. This outage is also a major source of reduced
utilization nationwide and the driving force behind a 10% drop in Midwest regional refinery utilization
since the first week in January.
Lower refinery production has led to decreased inventories of both motor gasoline and
diesel (defined as distillate fuel oil with sulfur content under 15 parts per million) in the United States.
In the Midwest, high refinery runs at the end of 2023 and logistical limitations on moving gasoline
and diesel out of the region increased regional inventories of both fuels at the end of last year.
Inventories started the year near or above five-year highs through early February. On the U.S. Gulf
Coast, inventories also started the year at above-average levels but have since decreased
significantly as refinery utilization has dropped. Inventories of both gasoline and diesel dropped
below their 2023 levels.
As of Monday, March 4, regional retail gasoline prices increased in all regions compared with the
previous Monday. Although similar increases occurred in mid-February, on-highway diesel prices
have come down slightly in all regions in the last two weeks.
Low U.S. Gulf Coast gasoline inventories will contribute to higher gasoline prices until more
production is brought back online and stock levels increase. Although Midwest inventories are still
closer to the high end of the five-year range, inventory draws will continue as long as the Whiting
refinery remains offline.

NewBase March 11 -2024 Khaled Al Awadi
NewBase for discussion or further details on the news below you may contact us on +971504822502, Dubai, UAE
Oil prices fall on China demand worries
Reuters+ NewBase
Oil prices extended last week's losses on Monday on concern about slow demand in China,
although lingering geopolitical risk surrounding the Middle East and Russia limited the decline.
Brent futures fell 55 cents, or 0.7%, to $81.53 a barrel at 0405 GMT, while U.S. West Texas
Intermediate (WTI) dropped 57 cents, or 0.7%, to $77.44.
"Worries over weak demand in China outweighed the extension of supply cuts by OPEC+," said
Hiroyuki Kikukawa, president of NS Trading, a unit of Nissan Securities, adding that mixed signs
from U.S. jobs data prompted some traders to adjust positions.
"Still, the losses will be capped by increased geopolitical risk, with the possibility that a ceasefire
may not be reached in the Hamas-Israel war and that conflict may expand in Russia and its
neighbours," he said.
Oil price special
coverage
Both benchmarks fell last week, with Brent down 1.8% and WTI 2.5% lower on
bearish Chinese data which pointed at softer demand in world's no. 1 crude
importer.

Data last week showed U.S. job growth accelerated in February, but a rise in the unemployment
rate and moderation in wage gains kept an anticipated June interest rate cut from the Federal
Reserve on the table.
China last week set an economic growth target for 2024 of around 5%, which many analysts called
ambitious without much more stimulus.
China's imports of crude oil rose in the first two months of the year compared with the same period
in 2023, but they were weaker than the preceding months, data showed on Thursday, continuing a
trend of softening purchases by the world's biggest buyer.
On the supply side, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies,
collectively known as OPEC+, agreed early this month to extend voluntary oil output cuts of 2.2
million barrels per day into the second quarter.
"With OPEC+ extending its voluntary production cut agreement until the end of second quarter, this
could tighten the market as demand recovers from its seasonal lull," analysts at ANZ Research
wrote in a note.
In the Middle East, Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh blamed Israel on Sunday for stalling ceasefire talks
and rejecting Hamas' demand to end the war in Gaza, but said the group was still seeking a
negotiated solution.
Tension is also escalating in Russia and its neighbours, raising fear about a potential escalation in
conflict outside of Ukraine, NS Trading's Kikukawa said.
Moldova's president on Thursday signed a defence cooperation accord with France, saying Russia
was renewing efforts to destabilise her country and that if President Vladimir Putin was not stopped
in Ukraine he would keep going.

NewBase Specual Coverage
The Energy world –March 11 -2024
CLEAN ENERGY
Saudi Aramco “ How 70-year-old Abqaiq Plants transformed to
become a 4IR leader
As part of our efforts to become the world’s leading digitalized energy company, Aramco renovated
and refurbished our oldest oil processing plant, transforming it into a world leader in the use of
Fourth Industrial Revolution technology.
 Abqaiq Plants, the oldest oil processing plant in Saudi Arabia, has harnessed the power of
digitalization to enhance its operations; utilizing robotics, artificial intelligence, data analytics,
and IIoT
 The use of 4IR technology helped free workers from mundane, sometimes hazardous tasks,
allowing them to take on more rewarding roles
 The revamped site gained recognition as a cutting-edge technology leader and is our latest
facility to become part of the World Economic Forum’s Global Lighthouse Network
 Abqaiq Plants is the largest crude stabilization plant in the world, and a cornerstone of our
operations.

It provides around 5% of global oil supplies and stabilizes half of Saudi Arabia’s daily oil production.
However, at 70 years old, it is also our oldest oil processing facility. This naturally presented a few
challenges on its journey toward becoming more digitalized — a process essential to maintaining
peak performance.
Given the facility’s importance, it has played a central role in our digital transformation program,
which harnesses Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies to increase efficiency, and is
integral to our goal to become the world’s leading digitalized energy company. The result, even in
the face of the unique challenges the project presented, has been global recognition, with the World
Economic Forum (WEF) acknowledging it as a global leader in 4IR in 2021.
Inspiring tomorrow’s technology leaders
The World Economic Forum (WEF) highlights world leaders in 4IR technology through its Global
Lighthouse Network (GLN). They've reported that many companies have struggled with taking their
4IR plans beyond the pilot stage. By showcasing successful projects, and supporting the sharing of
expertise, the aim of the GLN is to inspire companies and industries to embrace 4IR technologies
and their potential to transform their operations.
Abqaiq Plants is our third site to be admitted to the GLN by the WEF's panel of global experts,
following the Khurais oil field and the 'Uthmaniyah gas processing plant. All three sites are examples
of how 4IR technology can be used to render oil and gas production more sustainable.
“Abqaiq Plants' achievement of becoming a Global Lighthouse is a testament to Aramco's efforts to
boost digitalization and promote the use of Fourth Industrial Revolution technology, with the aim to

reinvent our industry and shape the next generation of smarter and more efficient oil and gas
production,” says Nasir Al-Naimi, President Upstream.
Unique challenges
A successful digital transformation starts at the infrastructure level. The technology infrastructure
of most old oil and gas facilities relies on legacy and de-centralized systems to carry out its
processes.
What these old and outdated systems do is distribute critical data across several systems and
applications inside the facility — meaning it is hard to easily access data, and interpret it or use it in
collaborations.
Working with this infrastructure, employees at Abqaiq Plants had to manually analyze the data in
order to troubleshoot or optimize processes. They were also used to legacy systems, and processes
developed over many years, and to carrying out sometimes mundane, occasionally hazardous,
tasks.
Transformation roadmap
Reinventing Abqaiq Plants meant creating the right roadmap to help ensure a smooth digital
transformation journey.
This roadmap incorporated many approaches, including: using a centralized technology
management database to identify promising technologies, collaborating with technology providers
on pilot projects, and establishing a dedicated 4IR technology center to accelerate collaboration and
knowledge sharing.
The roadmap also helped encourage the sharing of data across teams to enhance the value of the
technologies used, and supported the development of new and innovative solutions. The availability
of data across teams was improved through the use of an Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)
infrastructure. And helping employees embrace the use of technology was always front and center,
with new skill development encouraged through dedicated courses and programs.

Old facility, new tricks
Global technology-focused recognition was not on the agenda when Abqaiq Plants was built in the
1940s. Indeed, few had considered that we might one day connect-up industrial machines using
radio signals so they could ‘talk’ to computers.
But that is just one aspect of what
4IR technology allows: using
industrial Wi-Fi, machines share
crucial performance data, and then
relay that to artificial intelligence
(AI) systems that make
adjustments in order to increase
efficiency or which can predict
faults preemptively.
Wireless communications have
evolved with time, progressing
from point to point communication
to mesh technology — a network
that enables several devices to connect and transfer data simultaneously.
The benefits of that include better performance, greater flexibility, and wider coverage for industrial
applications. Abqaiq Plants’ systems have also evolved from de-centralized systems to the latest
state-of-the-art distributed control systems, which offer greater interface and connectivity
capabilities. Higher efficiency, lower costs, and enhanced safety are among the numerous
operational benefits that advanced connectivity brings.
Enhancing performance with AI
By harnessing the transformative power of big data and analytics, Abqaiq's manufacturing
processes have been transformed, enabling it to innovate and improve. That includes using AI to
monitor equipment performance, so manual inspections are not carried out unnecessarily. Using AI
in this way has also eliminated production impacts caused by equipment failure.
The site also uses a machine learning model trained on 1.7 billion data points to carry out
simultaneous optimization of 18 crude stabilization units. Previously managed manually, these units
now run more efficiently because the AI can analyze the data and perform an adjustment faster than
any human.
More digitalized, more human
4IR technology offers a great opportunity to free workers from mundane tasks, equipping them with
new skills and allowing them to take on more rewarding roles and responsibilities. At Abqaiq Plants,
a safety inspector can retrain as a drone pilot, flying an unmanned vehicle to the top of a facility to
carry-out inspections, rather than climbing scaffolding to reach it.
They can then use their experience to examine the data and identify potential faults. Robots and
drones are now the norm and are used to perform almost a third of routine operations checklists,
such as safety inspections.

Employees also use AI to monitor the oil stabilization process — a partial distillation process that
makes crude oil suitable for storage or pipeline transportation.
Intelligent Sensors monitor every part of the stabilization process and AI analyzes the data to detect
abnormalities, identify the cause, and provide recommendations on corrective actions. The system
might decide, for instance, that less steam is required to stabilize a particular oil stream. Reducing
the steam used means less energy is needed and the environmental footprint is lower.
Drone training
“Aramco recognizes the importance and power of strategically deploying 4IR, to improve efficiency
and sustain demand in a safer and more reliable way and enable us to reduce our GHG emissions,”
says Khaled Al-Buraik, Senior Vice President Southern Area Oil Operations.
“This recognition by the World Economic Forum extends to the talented teams from Abqaiq Plants
who transformed ideas and concepts
into reality, as well as Aramco’s wider
corporate organization which
supported and enabled these efforts.”
Driving energy efficiency and
emissions reduction
The world’s demand for energy is
increasing, and so is the need for
more-sustainable ways to produce
that energy. Fortunately, big data,
advanced analytics, and automation
can be leveraged to help maximize
efficiency.
Automated systems can make subtle
changes to production in an instant —
far more quickly than a person, who would have to analyze the data, interpret its meaning, make a
decision, and then put it into action. Abqaiq Plants used advanced data analytics to predict real-
time crude oil quality and make small, fast adjustments to production, and implemented various
other initiatives to boost efficiency. This helped achieve a 31.8% reduction in carbon intensity
between 2019 and 2022.
Abqaiq Plants demonstrates the power of 4IR
Abqaiq Plants’ success demonstrates just how important 4IR technology is to the overall efficiency,
productivity, and future-proofing of energy facilities.
The founders of Abqaiq Plants would scarcely have been able to imagine the technology that it uses
today. But, if a facility well into its seventh decade can be turned into a global beacon for 4IR, then
any industrial facility, anywhere in the world, could potentially do the same.

NewBase Energy News 11- March - Issue No. 1706 call on +971504822502, UAE
The Editor:” Khaled Al Awadi” Your partner in Energy Services
NewBase energy news is produced Twice a week and sponsored by Hawk Energy Service – Dubai, UAE.
For additional free subscriptions, please email us.
About: Khaled Malallah Al Awadi,
Energy Consultant
MS & BS Mechanical Engineering (HON), USA
Emarat member since 1990
ASME member since 1995
Hawk Energy member 2010
www.linkedin.com/in/khaled-al-awadi-38b995b
Mobile: +971504822502
khdmohd@hawkenergy.net or khdmohd@hotmail.com
Khaled Al Awadi is a UAE National with over 30 years of experience in the Oil & Gas
sector. Has Mechanical Engineering BSc. & MSc. Degrees from leading U.S.
Universities. Currently working as self leading external Energy consultant for the
GCC area via many leading Energy Services companies. Khaled is the Founder of
the NewBase Energy news articles issues, Khaled is an international consultant,
advisor, ecopreneur and journalist with expertise in Gas & Oil pipeline Networks,
waste management, waste-to-energy, renewable energy, environment protection
and sustainable development. His geographical areas of focus include Middle East,
Africa and Asia. Khaled has successfully accomplished a wide range of projects in
the areas of Gas & Oil with extensive works on Gas Pipeline Network Facilities & gas
compressor stations. Executed projects in the designing & constructing of gas pipelines, gas metering &
regulating stations and in the engineering of gas/oil supply routes.
Has drafted & finalized many contracts/agreements in products sale, transportation, operation & maintenance
agreements. Along with many MOUs & JVs for organizations & governments authorities. Currently dealing for biomass
energy, biogas, waste-to-energy, recycling and waste management. He has participated in numerous conferences and
workshops as chairman, session chair, keynote speaker and panelist.
Khaled is the Editor-in-Chief of NewBase Energy News and is a professional environmental writer with over 1400
popular articles to his credit. He is proactively engaged in creating mass awareness on renewable energy, waste
management, plant Automation IA and environmental sustainability in different parts of the world. Khaled has become
a reference for many of the Oil & Gas Conferences and for many Energy program broadcasted internationally, via GCC
leading satellite Channels. Khaled can be reached at any time, see contact details above.

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