BP Refining & Petrochemicals GmbH
http://www.bprp.de/index_en.html

As a large supplier of olefins in north-west Europe BP RP has the operatorship of the petrochemicals plants in Gelsenkirchen and Münchsmünster, which are operated jointly by Deutsche BP and its partner, the Venezuelan oil company PdVSA. Supplies come predominantly from the oil-refining facilities of Ruhr Oel.

There are further petrochemicals plants at Erdoel-Raffinerie-Emsland (ERE) in Lingen, a 100% shareholding of Deutsche BP.

The total annual capacity of the petrochemicals plants amounts to 4.9 million tonnes. BP RP is the biggest supplier of ethylene in the merchant market. It is also market leader in sales of cyclohexane. In its core business of olefins BP RP will expand its market position by means of stategic expansion and increases in capacities.

BPRP operates two cracker lines at Gelsenkirchen, the stricken 440,000mt line and another 515,00 mt/yr ethylene line which continues to run as normal.

The beginnings
As early as 1913 Friedrich Bergius carried out successful experiments in coal hydrogenation. The large-scale industrial application of the results of his research did not, however, follow until 1927 - through the chemist Mathias Pier.

The first hydrogenation plant capable of producing gasoline on an industrial scale went into operation in 1927. The process was based on lignite as the raw material and Pier conducted research on the hydrogenation of bituminous coal. In 1935 he achieved the breakthrough. His process was so far advanced that it was decided to set up a large-scale plant for the hydrogenation of bituminous coal (瀝青炭).

Scholven - situated in Gelsenkirchen, in the mining region known in Germany as the "coal pot" - was the ideal location for the project, with plenty of the necessary raw material available locally. All that was needed in addition was hydrogen, and this was extracted from the coke furnace gas produced in the cokeries of the Hibernia nitrogen works already there.

It was for these reasons that the first large-scale plant for the hydrogenation of bituminous coal was built in Gelsenkirchen-Scholven, where the first gasoline was produced on 3rd August 1936. A milestone in the history of petrochemicals - and the birthdate of our company.

Petrochemicals
To be precise, petrochemicals already existed at the Scholven location before gasoline was produced from coal. Pure hydrogen is needed for the hydrogenation of coal and this was not available as such. There was, admittedly, so-called coke furnace gas from the cokeries of the Hibernia nitrogen works, but this gas - with its 60% hydrogen content - could not be used for hydrogenation because of its other components. This marked the birth of petrochemicals in Scholven: the impurities which impaired the hydrogenation process are in fact valuable raw materials for the petrochemicals industry. The products which arise in the course of coke-gas purification - hydrogen sulphide, raw benzene, carbon dioxide and ethylene - are processed in a further step to sulphuric acid, pure benzene and (together with the ammonia likewise produced from pure hydrogen) fertilizers, while ethylene was sold in those days in steel bottles. In those days the plants were still very small - polyethylene plants had a normal capacity of around 10,000 tonnes per year, whereas today 300,000 tonnes and more per year are the rule - but nevertheless the basis for petrochemicals in Scholven had been established.

In the last months of the war the hydrogenation plants were completely destroyed in massive Allied air-raids, and petrochemicals production also came to a halt.

After the end of the war it became clear very quickly that petrochemicals, once started up again, would no longer be based on coal and coke gas but on crude oil, which was far easier to process.

At the beginning of the 1950s crude oil began to be refined in Scholven and Horst, at first with the aim of producing heating oil. During the distillation process naphtha was produced in quantities that could not be sold on the as yet still small motor fuel market. Therefore it was decided to process this naphtha further by cracking, into ethylene, in an olefin plant with a capacity of 40,000-60,000 tonnes per year. For purposes of comparison: the quantity of ethylene produced from coke processing in the early days in Scholven amounted to a maximum of 10,000 tonnes per year.

Veba Oil Refining & Petrochemicals GmbH
The origins of VORP and its petrochemicals segment date back to the establishment of the Scholven Hydrogenation Plant on the Hibernia site in 1935. This represents a milestone in the history of the company, as it was here that the first gasoline in the world was produced from bituminous coal and hydrogen. The Hibernia nitrogen works provided the hydrogen needed for hydrogenation.

In 1939 in Gelsenkirchen-Horst Gelsenberg Benzin AG started the production of gasoline from bituminous coal by the Bergius-Pier process.

After the total destruction of both plants - Scholven and Horst - in the Second World War, the next milestone came in the early 50s: the beginning of oil refining. In the early 60s the question arose of what to do with the surplus naphtha production from the oil refining process. The solution found in Scholven was to build an olefin plant, which marked the birth of our petrochemicals activities. At the same time Gelsenberg started producing crude oil from its own production sites.

In 1975 both companies came together under the umbrella of Veba Chemie, which was superseded in 1978 by Veba Oel AG. The setting up of Ruhr Oel GmbH in 1983 by Veba Oel AG and Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. was a further important step, especially for the petrochemicals segment. Ruhr Oel operates the plants at the Scholven and Munchsmunster (Bavaria) sites. After numerous restructurings and new shareholdings in the 80s and 90s, Veba Oel AG became the integrated oil company that is today among the leaders in Europe.

With the establishment of Veba Oil Refining & Petrochemicals GmbH with effect from January 1st, 2000, all of Veba Oel's supply, refining and petrochemicals activities were brought together under one roof. VORP has transferred the operatorship of Ruhr Oel's Gelsenkirchen and Munchsmunster plants to its subsidiary Veba Oel Verarbeitungs GmbH.

The October 1, 2002 acquisition of Veba Oel AG by BP (from E.ON) did not change the business goals or activities of VORP. VORP's Joint Venture Assets with the ROG system were transferred to Deutsche BP on January 1, 2003. VORP is since then the contractual operator for BP and PdVSA in the ROG system.

BP Refining & Petrochemicals GmbH
Effective September 1, 2003, the company name Veba Oil Refining and Petrochemicals GmbH has been changed to BP Refining and Petrochemicals GmbH to underscore ownership by Deutsche BP AG.

BP Refining & Petrochemicals, BP RP for short, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Deutsche BP, on whose behalf it operates of one of the biggest refinery and petrochemicals systems in Europe. This system, known as Ruhr Oel, is a joint venture between BP and Venezuela’s PdVSA. Each partner has a 50% stake in Ruhr Oel and the products are marketed through the outlets of BP/Aral and partly by BP RP itself.

The BP RP oil refining and petrochemicals production activities are grouped mainly under the umbrella of Ruhr Oel GmbH, a 50:50 joint venture with the Venezuelan state-run oil company Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PdVSA). The Ruhr Oel companies include the Scholven and Horst refineries in Gelsenkirchen and the Münchsmünster petrochemicals plant near Ingolstadt. BP RP operates all three locations on behalf of Ruhr Oel through its subsidiary BP Gelsenkirchen GmbH.

Via Ruhr Oel, BP RP also cooperates with other national and international oil companies such as DEA, Agip, TotalFinaElf, Esso, Mobil and Conoco. BP RP looks after the operational side of BP's shareholding in the Mineraloelraffinerie Oberrhein GmbH & Co. KG Karlsruhe, the BAYERNOIL Raffinerie Gesellschaft mbH, Vohburg/Danube and the PCK Schwedt GmbH, Schwedt/Brandenburg.

Ruhr Oel's Capacities in the BP RP Group 2004

^* Min = Oil refining, ^** PTC = Petrochemicals

PCK Raffinerie GmbH
Ruhr Oel has a 37.5% interest in PCK Raffinerie in Schwedt/Oder. PCK mainly refines Russian crude and has an annual crude distillation capacity of 10.5 million tonnes. The affiliated petrochemical plants have a total capacity of nearly 0.5 m tonnes per year.

BAYERNOIL Raffineriegesellschaft mbH
Ruhr Oel has a 25% share in BAYERNOIL Raffineriegesellschaft in Vohburg (BO). BP RP's task is also the operational care of BP's 10% interest in BO. The refinery is mainly supplied with crudes from Africa, Venezuela, Norway and Saudi Arabia through the Transalpine Pipeline (TAL). BAYERNOIL has an annual crude distillation capacity of 12 million tonnes.

Mineraloelraffinerie Oberrhein GmbH & Co. KG (MiRO)
Ruhr Oel holds a 24% share in MiRO, Karlsruhe. MiRO processes crudes from Africa, the Persian Gulf, Russia, Venezuela and the North Sea. These crudes are transported from Marseilles and Triest via pipeline to Karlsruhe. The annual crude distillation capacity of MiRO is 14.9 million tonnes.

DHC Solvent Chemie GmbH
DHC Solvent Chemie GmbH, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ruhr Oel GmbH, is one of the leading European producers of solvents and other oil-based specialties. The company is supplied with feedstocks mainly from the Gelsenkirchen refineries and petrochemical plants.

The DHC product range includes special gasolines, white spirits (standard and aromatic-free), solvent naphtha and numerous other products such as printing ink oils and rolling oils.

There are further petrochemicals plants at Erdoel-Raffinerie-Emsland (ERE) in Lingen, a 100% shareholding of Deutsche BP.
Veba Oel AG purchased Erdöl-Raffinerie-Emsland GmbH & Co. KG, Lingen from Wintershall AG, Kassel, in 1999.

History

In the petrochemicals industry, scientific research and indsutrial applications are very closely connected - more so than in almost any other branch of industry. This symbiosis is rooted in the history of petrochemicals. If we consider the early years of this branch of science - or industry - the fruitful interaction between the two, from the start, becomes clear.

The roots of petrochemicals lie on the one hand in organic chemistry as a branch of science, on the other hand in the desire of the coal industry to optimise the usefulness of its raw material. Developments were accelerated by considerations at the time of self-sufficiency, which had a high economic status.

The beginnings
As early as 1913 Friedrich Bergius carried out successful experiments in coal hydrogenation. The large-scale industrial application of the results of his research did not, however, follow until 1927 - through the chemist Mathias Pier.

The first hydrogenation plant capable of producing gasoline on an industrial scale went into operation in 1927. The process was based on lignite as the raw material and Pier conducted research on the hydrogenation of bituminous coal. In 1935 he achieved the breakthrough. His process was so far advanced that it was decided to set up a large-scale plant for the hydrogenation of bituminous coal.

Scholven - situated in Gelsenkirchen, in the mining region known in Germany as the "coal pot" - was the ideal location for the project, with plenty of the necessary raw material available locally. All that was needed in addition was hydrogen, and this was extracted from the coke furnace gas produced in the cokeries of the Hibernia nitrogen works already there.

It was for these reasons that the first large-scale plant for the hydrogenation of bituminous coal was built in Gelsenkirchen-Scholven, where the first gasoline was produced on 3rd August 1936. A milestone in the history of petrochemicals - and the birthdate of our company.

Petrochemicals
To be precise, petrochemicals already existed at the Scholven location before gasoline was produced from coal. Pure hydrogen is needed for the hydrogenation of coal and this was not available as such. There was, admittedly, so-called coke furnace gas from the cokeries of the Hibernia nitrogen works, but this gas - with its 60% hydrogen content - could not be used for hydrogenation because of its other components. This marked the birth of petrochemicals in Scholven: the impurities which impaired the hydrogenation process are in fact valuable raw materials for the petrochemicals industry. The products which arise in the course of coke-gas purification - hydrogen sulphide, raw benzene, carbon dioxide and ethylene - are processed in a further step to sulphuric acid, pure benzene and (together with the ammonia likewise produced from pure hydrogen) fertilizers, while ethylene was sold in those days in steel bottles. In those days the plants were still very small - polyethylene plants had a normal capacity of around 10,000 tonnes per year, whereas today 300,000 tonnes and more per year are the rule - but nevertheless the basis for petrochemicals in Scholven had been established.

In the last months of the war the hydrogenation plants were completely destroyed in massive Allied air-raids, and petrochemicals production also came to a halt.

After the end of the war it became clear very quickly that petrochemicals, once started up again, would no longer be based on coal and coke gas but on crude oil, which was far easier to process.

At the beginning of the 1950s crude oil began to be refined in Scholven and Horst, at first with the aim of producing heating oil. During the distillation process naphtha was produced in quantities that could not be sold on the as yet still small motor fuel market. Therefore it was decided to process this naphtha further by cracking, into ethylene, in an olefin plant with a capacity of 40,000-60,000 tonnes per year. For purposes of comparison: the quantity of ethylene produced from coke processing in the early days in Scholven amounted to a maximum of 10,000 tonnes per year.
 
Veba Oil Refining & Petrochemicals GmbH
The origins of VORP and its petrochemicals segment date back to the establishment of the Scholven Hydrogenation Plant on the Hibernia site in 1935. This represents a milestone in the history of the company, as it was here that the first gasoline in the world was produced from bituminous coal and hydrogen. The Hibernia nitrogen works provided the hydrogen needed for hydrogenation.

In 1939 in Gelsenkirchen-Horst Gelsenberg Benzin AG started the production of gasoline from bituminous coal by the Bergius-Pier process.

After the total destruction of both plants - Scholven and Horst - in the Second World War, the next milestone came in the early 50s: the beginning of oil refining. In the early 60s the question arose of what to do with the surplus naphtha production from the oil refining process. The solution found in Scholven was to build an olefin plant, which marked the birth of our petrochemicals activities. At the same time Gelsenberg started producing crude oil from its own production sites.

In 1975 both companies came together under the umbrella of Veba Chemie, which was superseded in 1978 by Veba Oel AG. The setting up of Ruhr Oel GmbH in 1983 by Veba Oel AG and Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. was a further important step, especially for the petrochemicals segment. Ruhr Oel operates the plants at the Scholven and Münchsmünster (Bavaria) sites. After numerous restructurings and new shareholdings in the 80s and 90s, Veba Oel AG became the integrated oil company that is today among the leaders in Europe.

With the establishment of Veba Oil Refining & Petrochemicals GmbH with effect from January 1st, 2000, all of Veba Oel's supply, refining and petrochemicals activities were brought together under one roof. VORP has transferred the operatorship of Ruhr Oel's Gelsenkirchen and Münchsmünster plants to its subsidiary Veba Oel Verarbeitungs GmbH.

The October 1, 2002 acquisition of Veba Oel AG by BP did not change the business goals or activities of VORP. VORP's Joint Venture Assets with the ROG system were transferred to Deutsche BP on January 1, 2003. VORP is since then the contractual operator for BP and PdVSA in the ROG system.

BP Refining & Petrochemicals GmbH
Effective September 1, 2003, the company name Veba Oil Refining and Petrochemicals GmbH has been changed to BP Refining and Petrochemicals GmbH to underscore ownership by Deutsche BP AG.