BP reported emissions at Cherry Point refinery

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BP has reported emitting sulfur dioxide from its Cherry Point refinery in Blaine, Washington, after a heater tripped, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

According to a filing with the Northwest Clean Air Agency, the line heater at the 225 Mbpd refinery's sulfur plant's went down, leading to an "ongoing release."

"They have an overall reduced rate of emissions among a number of units," the filing states.

A BP spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

We remind that, as MRC informed previously, in late March, 2013, Total PetroChemicals and Refining USA reported emissions at its Port Arthur, Texas, refinery owing to leaking exchangers at an alkylation unit's cooling tower. The refinery's crude oil throughput capacity is 174,000 barrels a day.

Earlier, in January, Total Petrochemicals and Refining USA reported a malfunction in the sulfur recovery unit of its Port Arthur, Texas refinery. The malfunction resulted in increased emissions at the 225,500-barrel-a-day refinery.

Total, one of the world's leading petrochemicals companies with business in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia. Total has two main product groups: base chemicals and the consumer polymers (polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene) that are derived from them.

BP is one of the world's leading international oil and gas companies, providing its customers with fuel for transportation, energy for heat and light, retail services and petrochemicals products for everyday items.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Dow Chemical Company, the largest US chemical maker by sales, has announced that it completed final resolution of the K-Dow arbitration with Petrochemical Industries Company of Kuwait (PIC), according to the company's press-release.

Dow confirms that it has received a direct cash payment of USD2.2 billion from PIC. Payment reflects the full damages awarded by the International Chamber of Commerce, as well as recovery of Dow’s costs.

In March, 2013, the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce released the final award amount, representing interest and costs, in the arbitration case between Dow Chemical and Petrochemical Industries Company of Kuwait (PIC) related to the K-Dow transaction.

"Dow and Kuwait share a long history, and payment of this award brings final and appropriate resolution and closure to the issue," said Andrew N. Liveris, Dow’s chairman and chief executive officer. "Our partnership with Kuwait includes several industry-leading joint ventures, which are valuable assets in Dow’s portfolio and have consistently returned accretive equity earnings to Dow. We continue to look for ways to strengthen our relationships within the country for the benefit of our partners and Dow shareholders."

"Receipt of this award enables Dow to accelerate actions that are in line with our stated priorities for uses of cash – foremost of which is paying down debt and remunerating shareholders," Liveris added. "Our actions moving forward will be consistent with this approach."

As MRC reported earlier, Dow put together a USD17.4 billion joint venture with Petrochemical Industries Co. (PIC), a subsidiary of state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corp., to produce plastics for consumer products, automotive parts, and drug processing in 2008. But as commodity prices plunged and the global economy went into a recession, the so-called K-Dow Petrochemicals joint venture was scrapped just days before it was set to close. Two months after the deal collapsed, Dow posted losses of USD1.55 billion for the fourth-quarter of 2008 and cut about 11 per cent of its global work force. The International Court of Arbitration in Paris ruled that PIC will pay Dow for backing out of the deal. The court is part of the International Chamber of Commerce.

The Dow Chemical Company is an American multinational chemical corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. Dow is a large producer of plastics, including polystyrene (PS), polyurethane, polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and synthetic rubber.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Qatar Petroleum and ExxonMobil have signed a commercial framework agreement for the proposed liquefaction project at the world-class Golden Pass LNG terminal facility in Sabine Pass, Texas, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The deal establishes a commercial framework to sell up to the full 15.6 million tpy output of the Golden Pass liquefaction project, and provide shipping and sales opportunities to existing and new markets, including leveraging the sponsors’ long-term arrangements for international imports via the UK's South Hook facility.

"This agreement sets out a highly competitive commercial blueprint for Golden Pass Products, with a commitment that builds on the unique combined strengths of QP and ExxonMobil throughout the global downstream LNG value chain," said Bill Collins, president of Golden Pass Products.

Golden Pass Products would invest approximately USD10 billion to build the liquefaction facility in Sabine Pass, Texas.

Golden Pass Products has received US Department of Energy (DOE) authorization for exports to free-trade agreement (FTA) countries, and is awaiting DOE approval to export to non-FTA countries.

In addition, Golden Pass Products is advancing preparations for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) permitting process and said it anticipates pre-filing soon.

We remind that, as MRC wrote previously, recently ExxonMobil Corp. and BHP Billiton Ltd. have laid out plans to develop a huge natural gas field off the coast of Australia that would use the world's largest vessel capable of processing the gas at sea. The proposed facility would be capable of producing between 6 million and 7 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas a year. Production would begin in 2020-21.

Golden Pass shareholders and their joint ventures are world leaders in the LNG business with operational LNG expertise, financial capabilities, access to shipping fleets, large-scale regasification facilities and a diverse global customer portfolio, according to project officials.

ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3 percent of the world's oil and about 2 percent of the world's energy.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Brazilian state-run energy giant Petroleo Brasileiro, or Petrobras, has reported that its first-quarter profits fell 17% year-on-year as declining crude-oil production and hefty imports of gasoline and diesel fuel undercut earnings, as per The Wall Street Journal.

Petrobras registered a first-quarter net profit of 7.69 billion Brazilian reais (USD3.85 billion), down from BRL9.21 billion in the year-ago quarter. That was greater than the BRL6.93 billion median forecast of 11 analysts.

Recent increases to domestic gasoline and diesel prices lifted revenues, but stronger sales receipts weren't enough to offset continued imports of the two fuels at higher international prices. In the first quarter, the price differential between domestic and international fuel prices averaged about 20%, according to Espirito Santo Investment Bank.

Crude-oil production in the first quarter also decreased 4% from the fourth quarter amid ongoing maintenance at offshore platforms, the company said.

Petrobras recorded revenues of BRL72.5 billion in the first quarter, up 10% from BRL66.1 billion in the first quarter of 2012 on higher domestic fuel prices.

Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in the first quarter were BRL16.2 billion, down from BRL16.5 billion in the year-prior quarter. Analysts had estimated Petrobras first-quarter revenues at BRL72 billion and Ebitda at BRL15.1 billion.

As MRC informed previously, Petrobras had reported a 53% rise in fourth-quarter income following tax and financial gains, rounding off that was still its least profitable year since 2004.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. or Petrobras is a semi-public Brazilian multinational energy corporation headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is the largest company in the Southern Hemisphere by market capitalization and the largest in Latin America measured by 2011 revenues.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PVC demand in Europe overall has dropped 5-7% annually since 2007 and a rebound is not expected soon, according to the European Council of Vinyl Manufacturers. However, Eastern Europe holds promiseб said Plasticsnews.

"Interestingly, production of PVC is growing in the eastern part of Europe due to widespread construction projects. Turkey is among the key markets in Europe where lots of construction is going on," said Brigitte Dero, general manager of the council.

In 2007, 15.2 billion pounds of PVC was made in Europe, she said. "It may take a minimum of five years or even more than that to regain the earlier ground," Dero said.

When asked if Europe is exporting PVC to other markets, she replied, "We may export in small quantity; we have to look beyond to other markets. We have overcapacity and look for exports to markets like Croatia, Turkey, eastern parts of Europe and in the future to Asia."

She added, "Currently, there is no export of PVC to Asia — only finished products like profiles."
India also could be a big market for exports "as there is limited production capacity, and the PVC industry is more dependent on imports."

While PVC use is increasing in Asia and Eastern Europe because of widespread construction programs, there is a lack of recycling and sustainable development efforts, Dero noted.

Overall, however, Europe recycled almost 800 million pounds of PVC waste in 2012 under its VinylPlus program, and aims to recycle 1.8 million pounds annually by 2020, according to Dero. VinyPlus is managed by a comprehensive board representing all of Europe’s PVC industry sectors.

In Europe, about USD90 million was spend in the past decade to recycle PVC, Dero said, and there are plans to spend around USD6.5 million annually for the next 10 years "to achieve maximum sustainable development in the PVC business."

As MRC wrote before, Russia's investments in processing of PVC in 2012 made USD74.3 mln, down 21% from 2011, when investments rose sharply after two-years fall in investments. Investments in PVC processing in 2008 was 2.5 times higher than in 2012. In 2012 there were installed 436 production lines with total capacity of PVC processing about 450,000 tonnes/year, down almost 21% from 2011.

MRC