Mexico expects faster fuel transportation to drain inventories

MOSCOW (MRC) - Mexico’s freight transport association expects a contingency plan aimed at speeding up gasoline distribution that began over the weekend to help ease bottlenecks at terminals, where fuel inventories have been accumulating in recent weeks, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s crackdown on rampant fuel theft has caused long lines of angry motorists waiting to fill up their tanks since a handful of Mexico’s most important fuel pipelines were closed to avoid further losses.

The switch to more road distribution has slowed down deliveries to gas stations as crowded fuel terminals owned by state-run Pemex’s create bottlenecks with tanker ships waiting to discharge imports at several ports.

The National Chamber of Freight Transport expects faster truck loading, direct deliveries and better security can increase fuel distribution by road to 50 percent of the 1.27 million barrels per day (bpd) of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel Mexico consumes, compared with a current average of about 30 percent.

“This is a contingency plan for using existing assets to achieve a larger capacity of (fuel) distribution,” said chamber President Enrique Gonzalez.

Transporters have asked Pemex to speed up loading at terminals to a maximum of four hours from 8-18 hours currently. Before Lopez Obrador’s anti-theft push, each truck would spend up to 72 hours at Pemex’s distribution centers, Gonzalez said.

The chamber represents companies with a combined fleet of 3,500 double-tank fuel trucks capable of loading up to 62,000 liters each. The contingency plan also contemplates direct delivery from terminals to gas stations, without passing through Pemex distribution centers.

Large convoys of gasoline trucks are now a common sight along Mexican highways. The vehicles are given a military escort since Lopez Obrador moved thousands of soldiers and police to supervise and protect refining and distribution.
Mexico’s central region, including the capital, has been most affected by the shortages since a key pipeline from Pemex’s Salamanca refinery was shut in late December.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- An alliance of global companies from the plastics and consumer goods value chain today launched a new organization to advance solutions to eliminate plastic waste in the environment, especially in the ocean, said Nbc.

The cross value chain Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW), currently made up of nearly thirty member companies, has committed over USD1.0 billion with the goal of investing USD1.5 billion over the next five years to help end plastic waste in the environment. The Alliance will develop and bring to scale solutions that will minimize and manage plastic waste and promote solutions for used plastics by helping to enable a circular economy. The Alliance membership represents global companies and located throughout North and South America, Europe, Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

"Everyone agrees that plastic waste does not belong in our oceans or anywhere in the environment. This is a complex and serious global challenge that calls for swift action and strong leadership. This new alliance is the most comprehensive effort to date to end plastic waste in the environment," said David Taylor, Chairman of the Board, President and CEO of Procter & Gamble, and chairman of the AEPW. "I urge all companies, big and small and from all regions and sectors, to join us," he added.

"History has shown us that collective action and partnerships between industry, governments and NGOs can deliver innovative solutions to a global challenge like this," said Bob Patel, CEO of LyondellBasell, and a vice chairman of the AEPW. "The issue of plastic waste is seen and felt all over the world. It must be addressed and we believe the time for action is now."

The Alliance is a not-for-profit organization that includes companies that make, use, sell, process, collect, and recycle plastics. This includes chemical and plastic manufacturers, consumer goods companies, retailers, converters, and waste management companies, also known as the plastics value chain. The Alliance has been working with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development as a founding strategic partner. The Alliance today also announced an initial set of projects and collaborations that reflect a range of solutions to help end plastic waste.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- JGC Corporation has announced that it has been awarded the contract for the construction of chemical plants that will be the foundation of a high-performance synthetic resin manufacturing and sales undertaking in Thailand involving Kuraray Co., Ltd., PTT Global Chemical Public Company ( PTTGC) and Sumitomo Corporation, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The project aims to create a globally competitive high-performance synthetic resin manufacturing and sales business that employs butadiene and isobutylene produced at a petro-chemical complex in the Hemaraj Eastern industrial estate by PTTGC, one of the partner companies undertaking the project. The derivatives of butadiene and isobutylene will be used in the production of a wide range of items including electrical and electronic components, automotive parts, daily necessities and medical equipment.

As well as having constructed a Hydrogenated Styrenic Block Copolymers hydrogenated styrene thermoplastic elastomer- HSBC production plant in the United States for Kuraray in the early 2000s, JGC is also carrying out the Front End Engineering Design (FEED) for this project. The reason for selection of JGC as the contractor for this project is seen as a result of the client’s overall positive evaluation of this proven performance, the company’s highly-developed engineering skills and project management ability together with its bid estimate and schedule.

In light of the growth in the world demand for chemical products, in recent years Japanese chemical manufacturers have undertaken plans to build up production capacity in areas where petroleum and chemical products are price competitive. JGC intends to leverage its wide experience in plant construction to obtain orders from Japanese chemical product makers as they undertake the construction of various types of plants overseas.

As MRC reported previously, in December 2017, JGC Corporation, in partnership with JGC Indonesia, a subsidiary of JGC Corporation, and PT Rekayasa Industri of Indonesia, received an order for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) work for the construction of a gas processing plant in Bojonegoro, East Java Province, Indonesia.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF’s global business unit Fuel and Lubricant Solutions is investing in Mexico and China to increase production of antioxidants for lubricants, said the company.

The capacity expansions address growing demand for antioxidants from the increasing number of vehicles in Asia and the increasing global demand for long-life lubricant additives.

In Mexico, BASF expanded the production capabilities of its site in Puebla. In China, the expansion is through a technology licensing and manufacturing agreement with Feiya Chemical Co. Feiya has recently built a new site in Rudong, Jiangsu Province, which is fully operational and producing on-spec products.

"We continue to address the regional and global needs of our customers through investments and product innovation,” said Marius Vaarkamp, Global Marketing Director, Lubricant Oil Additives, BASF. “Expanding our global production capacity of antioxidants for lubricants shows our commitment to meeting the increasing needs of an evolving market."

“We value BASF as our partner, and we are committed to meeting the expectations of BASF and its customers,” said Hong Seng Cao, Chairman and General Manager, Feiya Chemical Co.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Algeria will conclude its deal with Exxon Mobil Corp and set up a trade joint venture with an international company before the first half of 2019, reported Reuters with reference to Sonatrach’s CEO.

"We are very optimistic and things are moving in the right direction so we will conclude with Exxon and have our trade JV," Abdelmoumen Ould Kaddour told reporters.

He gave no further details. Sonatrach has previously said it wanted a shale gas cooperation with the US major.

The state energy firm had also said before it was in talks with 14 international companies over a joint venture to trade oil and gas products after agreeing to buy its first overseas refinery.

As MRC wrote earlier, in October 2017, ExxonMobil Chemical Company commenced production on the first of two new 650,000 tons-per-year high-performance polyethylene (PE) lines at its plastics plant in Mont Belvieu, Texas. The full project, part of the company’s multi-billion dollar expansion project in the Baytown area and ExxonMobil’s broader Growing the Gulf expansion initiative, will increase the plant’s polyethylene capacity by approximately 1.3 million tons per year. The Mont Belvieu plant capacity will total more than 2.5 million tons per year, making it one of the largest polyethylene plants in the world.

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