MOSCOW (MRC) -- Citing the current economic downturn, Motiva Enterprises (Houston, Texas) said Wednesday that it will slash 10% of its workforce by 1 September, including jobs at its headquarters, terminals, and Port Arthur, Texas, facilities, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.
Motiva, which operates the 639,700-b/d Port Arthur refinery near Houston, the largest in North America, said hourly operations, maintenance, and lab team members will not be impacted by this job reduction. The company had about 2,800 employees as of December 2019, according to its website.
Motiva said the workforce reduction will not affect its licensing deals with Shell and 76. Under exclusive, long-term brand licenses for the Shell and 76 brands, Motiva supplies fuel to more than 5,000 retail gas stations.
"Motiva is undergoing a rigorous exercise to capture synergies and optimize processes across the entire organization—from our corporate headquarters, terminals, and Port Arthur facilities," the Houston-based company said.
Like other US-based refineries, Motiva has experienced historic demand destruction as lockdowns and mass-gathering restrictions related to COVID-19 have virtually wiped out transportation fuel consumption, severely cutting into product margins.
The Saudi Arabian Oil Co., or Saudi Aramco, which wholly owns Motiva, reported a profit of $6.6 billion in quarter two 2020, down 74% year-over-year (YOY) from USD24.7 billion, citing challenging market conditions due to COViD-19.
Motiva refines, distributes, and markets petroleum products throughout the US. It also operates the largest lubricant plant in the Western Hemisphere. In 2019, Motiva acquired a chemical plant that manufactures ethylene, propylene, cyclohexane, and other byproducts.
As MRC informed earlier, Motiva Chemicals, the American subsidiary of the Saudi petrochemical giant Saudi Aramco, began repair work on the compressor of the cracking unit in Port Arthur (Port Arthur, Texas, USA) on 2 August. It is currently unknown how long maintenance will continue on the compressor as part of the facility's light olefins unit (LOU) with a capacity of 620 kt ethylene and 340 kt propylene per year.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia dropped in January-June 2020 by 7% year on year to 328,000 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the main decrease in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia rose in the first six months of 2020 by 21% year on year to 105,300 tonnes. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.
MRC