WHAT LOCKDOWN BRINGS TO PETROCHEMICAL INDUSTRIES

Let's understand petrochemical first, they are the end or the furnished products obtained from the petroleum or in actual the crude obtained from within the earth, basically categorised as olefins and aromatics, simply natural gas and fossil fuel,

It's a well known fact that with the recent introduction of lockdown 3.0 the vulnerability of market is breaking all previous records so is the case of the oil plants, or broadly petrochemical plants.. 

With the unexpected cut-off in the consumption rates leading to the increase in production rate is seriously posing a bigger threat to the biggest industrial sector, as there is surplus in production and reduction in consumption we are out of our storing capacities and as a result leading to the least ever petroleum prices which is somewhat acceptable, because that's not a big issue in that, the lower rates of crude gives opportunity to the refiners to buy it cheeper as a result will sell them cheaper after processing to the consumer's which is fairly a good deal.

Then what is the problem, the problem is of storing such amount of crude every day, we don't have such capacity..!!

And it's not the case in India only.. the problem is there throughout the world, many of the countries are reverted to half their production many of them are on the verge of shutdown, well SHUTDOWN.. is a big big deal in a chemical plant it's not so easy.. and certainly expensive and disastrous too..!!

Well let's understand it deeply..

Shutdown in a chemical plant are of two types:

1.  Shutdown where no repair work is required

2. Shutdown where repair work is required

Suppose you have taken shutdown for repair work then you'll have to do following things,

Draining of the liquid or fluid from the columns,Will have to allow steam to pass through each column and pipeline so as to remove each hydrocarbon vapour,Then comes water washing where you wash the column as the repair work is going to be manual you need to check each and everything before letting someone enter the column, the hot work that means welding is difficult  as well as a dangerous task because it is a close passage where there should be sufficient air supply..many other things are kept in mind people are working in heights, their security plants security, even a drop of crude left in the column can pose threat, well this Might sound easy but its hell of a difficult things,  you aren't done with the problems here

The main task begins with the thought of restarting that section of the plant ,the problems faced are:

a) Reducing pressure drop

b) Maintaining temperature

c) Maintaining equilibrium

Sudden increase in pressure or temperature may lead to thermal stress which may lead to malfunctioning of many equipments.

And if there is shutdown when no repair work is required it may be due to loss of power, air etc.. there is a backup for this short of drop out, the feed ( the crude to be refined) is circulating is the plant again and there is lesser void for the development of vaccum.

Shut downs for repair works are more of a planned activity, even then also all the plant workers remain stressed till the moment plant is again working to the same capacity as earlier..!!

With these unexpected shutdowns, the demand and supply of the crude to these refineries and from refineries to the consumers is severely affected, as a result the plants are asked to cut down their production, and even shut down the plant.. what shut down costs and what it's outcomes are I have already told you above..

Few of the technical terms Might have bothered you above so let me clear you the basic of it,

 with explaining the structure and function of a refinery unit.. with the advent of the very fluid obtained beneath the earth there comes the idea of using it, the crude is not just petrol or diesel its mixture of many such liquids.. but before reaching that fuild our drill bit reaches the natural gas which is usually methane, mercaptans etc and then comes our desired black gold, this fluid is passed on to the refinery unit where series of activities are carried out but broadly we will call it separation or industrially it is called DISTILLATION, which is the process of separation of the crude into its constituents  on the basis of their boiling point or the vapour pressure, the resultant fluid is obtained in sections which are called as cuts in industry the upper cut includes light gas oil, diesel, naptha, gasoline, then comes the lower cut which mostly includes heavy gas oil, lubricating oil, asphalt, grease and finally the tar.. so your petrol and kerosene are the further purification of this naptha and gasoline, and these metaled roads are stiff by the virtue of this tar..!!

Well many a times if the supply is more then demand often companies utilise these cuts for other fuel generation sometimes gasoline, jet fuel or many.. but due to this world wide lockdown there is complete deduction in the demand of any such fuel.. which is certainly posing a great threat, so many a countries are bound to shut down the plants whereas many are left with no option then to just burn the excess fuel produced, instead of the flare( used to test the volume of the fluid or gas inside the pipeline, keeps burning and its different colour represent diffrent volume) whole resultant will be left burning..!!

Its not just a loss for the industry, not just the nation where that particular plant is present whereas whole environment will suffer, 

countries like russia, america who are the leading producers of crude have asked their plants to either cut their production by half barrel per day, or to shut down.. where as situation in India isn't far different who's is one of the biggest consumer of this crude is not allowing imports..! our stocks are completely filled, confirmed by IOCL ( Indian oil corporation ltd) whereas the biggest refiner the RIL ( reliance india ltd) is also functioning to half its capacity..!! 

The crude, the gasoline, jet fuels are found in negative margins for the very first time, it's an index which is the difference of cost of buying crude and selling it,

If we talk of the petrochemical industries in personal then here's something,

India's chemical and petrochemical (C&PC) industry has urged central government to declare the entire value chain in the sector as 'essential' during the coronavirus lockdown period. The industry claimed that it has multiple cross-linkages and is critical in functioning of many essential goods like food, edible oils, drugs, fertilizers etc,are stuck at various checkpoints in the country. Manufacturers are unable to produce, even if permitted to operate, as their employees are finding it difficult to reach at work. Hence, the Chemical & Petrochemical sector should be declared as essential and be exempted from lockdown,The ICC said that many essential life-saving drugs cannot be manufactured without an uninterrupted supply of key chemicals. Citing an example, the council said that many companies, which supply key raw material for drug like paracetamol, are being forced to shut.

Similarly, polymers made by the petrochemcal sector, have life-saving applications in medical devices like catheters, blood transfusion pipes, blood bags, Personal Protection Equipment (PPE), etc.", said the ICC, demanding that the plastic downstream industry should also be treated as essential due to its vast application in agriculture, potable water, food, process-flow etc.The petrochemical industry includes the pesticides, pharmaceutical companies as well..!!

Petrochemical industry needs revival, they needs to get started or else things will get worsening the way they have never been, there'll be shortage of many of them.. without which our life is impossible..!

The danger for some refineries is that they cannot simply throttle back and operate at really low levels. experience says, crude throughput in the 60 percent to 70 percent range is approaching the minimum rates that a refinery can operate without completely shutting down units.

Complete shut down of these plants isn't possible, they need to get back to atleast 50-70% working..!

The lockdown is costing alot to them, then just mere SHUTDOWN, their shutdown will turn disastrous, kindly don't let it happen..!