ExxonMobil plans six-week turnaround at Rotterdam aromatics unit in March

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil is planning to shut its aromatics unit in Rotterdam-Botlek, Netherlands, for six weeks of maintenance between March and April next year, according to Chemweek with reference to market sources.

This work is part of a larger turnaround program at ExxonMobil's interconnected 191,000-b/d Botlek refinery and Rotterdam aromatics plant beginning in the first quarter, OPIS reported in October.

"We don't know the exact dates yet, but they will close between March and April for six weeks," one source told OPIS Thursday.

"We will communicate to communities when appropriate," an ExxonMobil spokesperson said Friday. It is not company policy to comment on future turnarounds or maintenance, the spokesperson said.

The Rotterdam aromatics plant is one of the largest aromatics production facilities globally and produces pure aromatics such as benzene, ortho-xylene, paraxylene, and cyclohexane, according to IHS Markit data.

There are three benzene production units at the Botlek site. One has a capacity of 365,000 metric ton/year using reformate as feedstock. Another has a 300,000-metric tons/year capacity and uses pyrolysis gasoline as feedstock. The third is a 120,000-metric tons/year selective toluene disproportionation unit that produces benzene and paraxylene via the use of toluene as a feedstock.

"From a benzene-supply perspective, we believe the impact of the turnaround over the period of the outage will be the loss of more than 30,000 metric tons from the units," said Simon Cleghorn, director consultant/aromatics, EMEA at IHS Markit. "However, some of the benzene feedstocks usually processed at Botlek will find their way to other benzene extractors who will process the feedstock and return benzene to the market."

"We believe the tight supply situation seen towards the end of this year should ease by March next year, so we do not expect a big impact on the benzene market," the source added.

"The current situation for sure isn't sustainable," said a trader.

OPIS is an IHS Markit company.

As MRC reported earlier, in August 2017, ExxonMobil Chemical Company announced that its Singapore affiliate had completed its acquisition of one of the world’s largest aromatics facilities on Jurong Island in Singapore. The acquisition was first announced in May 2017. The facility, previously owned by Jurong Aromatics Corporation, is located near ExxonMobil’s largest integrated refining and petrochemical complex, which has an ethylene production capacity of 1.9 million tonnes per year and a crude oil processing capacity of 592,000 barrels per day. The acquisition strengthene both sites with operational and logistical synergies, as well as increase ExxonMobil’s Singapore aromatics production to over 3.5 million tonnes per year, including 1.8 million tonnes of paraxylene, and add about 65,000 barrels per day of transportation fuels capacity.

Benzene is the main feedstock for the production of styrene monomer (SM), which, in its turn, is used for manufacturing polystyrene (PS).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated consumption of PS and styrene plastics totalled 410,780 tonnes in the first ten months of 2020, which corresponded to the same figure a year earlier. High impact polystyrene (HIPS) and general purpose polystyrene (GPPS) shipments increased, whereas demand for other PS grades subsided.

ExxonMobil Chemical Company is one of the largest petrochemical companies worldwide. The company holds leadership positions in some of the largest-volume and highest-growth commodity petrochemical products in the world. ExxonMobil Chemical Company has manufacturing capacity in every major region of the world, serving large and growing markets. More than 90 percent of the Company’s chemical capacity is integrated with large refineries or natural gas processing plants.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Honeywell has announced a partnership with Princeps for petroleum refining supply chain solutions. Honeywell’s expertise in oil and gas planning will add Princeps’ petroleum solutions platform to its offerings to provide customers with industry-leading insights in determining the most profitable ways to operate their plants, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Honeywell will replace its refining planning software - Refining and Petrochemical Modeling System (RPMS) - by migrating existing customers to Princeps’ leading refining supply chain software covering planning and scheduling, blend and crude optimization in a unique platform. Princeps’ solutions help customers determine their optimal feed and product mix and facilitate scheduling plant-wide operations to optimize their plant profitability.

“Our oil and gas customers in the energy sector face a number of industry challenges, particularly in planning, crude purchasing and investment strategies,” said Stuart Morstead, vice president and general manager, Honeywell Connected Industrial. “Princeps’ innovative software is a pioneer in the industry and will offer better decision support to help our customers adjust their operations to operate more efficiently.”

As RPMS is replaced, Honeywell will provide existing RPMS customers with a seamless migration path to the Princeps’ software solution along with additional future RPMS enhancement and upgrade opportunities. Customers will be able to evaluate multiple production scenarios, dynamically respond to a volatile market and improve their ability to ensure business continuity. Customers benefit operationally from enterprise-level production planning and scheduling that includes eliminating product downgrades, reducing unplanned blends, lowering demurrage and improving quality.

“We are excited about this partnership with Honeywell to bring our software insights to supply, demand, pricing, product specifications, production, and supply asset capabilities,” said Hamid Chehade, CEO of Princeps. “Together we will bring better insights to downstream customers, such as oil refiners and petrochemicals, to run their operations more efficiently and maximize their margins.”

As MRC reported earlier, in May, 2020, Honeywell announced that Enterprise Products Partners L.P. will use Honeywell UOP’s C3 Oleflex technology in its second propane dehydrogenation plant, called "PDH 2". Located near Mont Belvieu, Texas, PDH 2 will produce 750,000 metric tons per year of polymer-grade propylene as part of Enterprise’s expansion of propylene manufacturing capacity.

Propylene is the main feedstock for the production of polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 978,870 tonnes in January-October 2020 (calculated using the formula: production minus exports plus imports minus producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively of PP random copolymer increased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Crude oil prices plummeted during the mid-morning trade in Asia Dec. 21, as concerns over a new highly infectious strain of the coronavirus raised fears of tightening lockdown and travel restrictions, reported S&P Global.

At 11:35 am Singapore time (0335 GMT), the ICE Brent February contract fell USD1.70/b (3.25%) from the Dec. 18 settle to USD50.26/b, while the February NYMEX light sweet crude contract was down USD1.54/b (3.13%) at $47.70/b. The fall in these markers has reversed an upward trend that saw both contracts rise by 4.58% and 5.33% on Dec. 18 to settle at USD52.26/b and USD49.25/b, respectively.

Market analysts attributed the steep fall in oil prices in the morning to the emergence of a highly infectious variant of coronavirus called B.1.1.7. The strain emerged in the UK, with the country enacting tougher restrictions to cope with the new strain.

"The new strain of the COVID-19 virus is worrying for the market, as it is believed to be more infectious, and could lead to a host of new travel restrictions, sapping oil demand," Pan Jingyi, market analyst at IG told S&P Global Platts on Dec. 21.

Several European countries, including France, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Italy and Belgium have announced travel restrictions pertaining to the UK in order to curb the spread of the virus, according to media reports.

Warren Patterson, head of commodities strategy at ING, told Platts on Dec. 21: "Over the past few weeks we have seen quite a bit of speculative money moving into the market, and the fear of more lockdowns and travel restrictions that this new virus strain has raised is causing some of that speculative money to close their positions."

Meanwhile, amid the coronavirus gloom, reports that a deal over a US stimulus bill worth nearly USD900 billion has been reached among US lawmakers failed to reassure the market, even though such stimulus has long been considered essential to US economic recovery and oil demand.

"Congress needs to do much more, especially with the UK lockdown headlines playing a major factor worrying investors which country is next to get hit with the mutant strain," said Stephen Innes, chief global market strategist at Axi in a Dec. 21 note.

As MRC informed previously, global oil demand may have already peaked, according to BP's latest long-term energy outlook, as the COVID-19 pandemic kicks the world economy onto a weaker growth trajectory and accelerates the shift to cleaner fuels.

Earlier this year, BP said the deadly coronavirus outbreak could cut global oil demand growth by 40% in 2020, putting pressure on Opec producers and Russia to curb supplies to keep prices in check.

And in September 2019, six world's major petrochemical companies in Flanders, Belgium, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and the Netherlands (Trilateral Region) announced the creation of a consortium to jointly investigate how naphtha or gas steam crackers could be operated using renewable electricity instead of fossil fuels. The Cracker of the Future consortium, which includes BASF, Borealis, BP, LyondellBasell, SABIC and Total, aims to produce base chemicals while also significantly reducing carbon emissions. The companies agreed to invest in R&D and knowledge sharing as they assess the possibility of transitioning their base chemical production to renewable electricity.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,760,950 tonnes in the first ten months of 2020, up by 3% year on year. Only high density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 978,870 tonnes in January-October 2020 (calculated using the formula: production minus exports plus imports minus producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively of PP random copolymer increased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Neste, the world’s leading provider of renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) has signed an agreement to supply SAF to DHL Express, the express service arm of Deutsche Post DHL Group, world’s leading mail and logistics company, said the company.

The Group is renowned as a pioneer of green logistics, utilising its expertise to make the logistics of its customers greener and more sustainable. Through this agreement Neste has commenced supply of sustainable aviation fuel with immediate effect to DHL Express at San Francisco International Airport (SFO).

Earlier this year Neste established a continuous supply of sustainable aviation fuel to SFO. Neste MY Sustainable Aviation FuelTM has been made available for all commercial, cargo, business and private aviation operators at SFO, with commitments in place to use SAF from major commercial and business airlines. This deal will see DHL Express become the first cargo operator to use Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel on flights departing from SFO and will enable them to contribute to their climate protection target to reduce all logistics-related emissions to zero by the year 2050.

"DHL has set the goal of achieving zero logistics-related emissions by 2050. To reach this ambitious target and support our customers with their own vision of a greener supply chain in the future, we are exploring innovative solutions across every part of our network. Sustainable aviation fuels have great potential to further increase the environmental efficiency of our air network and we are therefore very excited to begin this collaboration with Neste out of San Francisco International Airport,” said Mike Parra, CEO, DHL Express Americas.

"We are committed to supporting our customers to meet their climate and carbon neutrality targets and reduce greenhouse gas emissions with our sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Despite the difficult current situation, the aviation industry is showing increased commitment to investing in sustainable aviation fuel,” says Jonathan Wood, Vice President, Renewable Aviation at Neste. “The cargo aviation sector is essential for global business, generating growth and facilitating economic recovery. As the transportation of goods is an essential part of a strong economy, we need solutions which both enable its growth and reduce emissions immediately. We are proud to be now collaborating with DHL Express and support them in their highly ambitious emission reduction targets."

As MRC reported earlier, in March 2020, Borealis started to produce polypropylene (PP) based on Neste-produced renewable feedstock in its production facilities in Kallo and Beringen, Belgium. This marked the first time that Borealis has replaced fossil fuel-based feedstock in its large-scale commercial production of PP. The Belgian plants were recently awarded by the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) organization with ISCC Plus certification for its renewable PP.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,760,950 tonnes in the first ten months of 2020, up by 3% year on year. Only high density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 978,870 tonnes in January-October 2020 (calculated using the formula: production minus exports plus imports minus producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively of PP random copolymer increased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shell has agreed to sell a 26.25% stake in Australia's Queensland Curtis LNG (QCLNG) Common Facilities to US-based fund manager Global Infrastructure Partners for USD2.5bn, said the company.

This decision is consistent with Shell’s strategy of selling non-core assets in order to further high-grade and simplify Shell’s portfolio. The sale will contribute to Shell’s expected divestment proceeds, without impact on people or the operations of the QCLNG venture, and aligns Shell’s interest in the Common Facilities with its 73.75% interest in the overall QCLNG venture.

Due to the advantages it offers as a complement to renewable energy and as the cleanest burning hydrocarbon, natural gas is a core component of Shell’s strategy to provide more and cleaner energy solutions. Global LNG demand is expected to outpace total demand for energy and the QCLNG venture is crucial in helping Shell meet the world’s growing energy needs.

The transaction is subject to regulatory approval in Australia and customary conditions. It is expected to complete in the first half of 2021.

As MRC informed previously, Royal Dutch Shell plc. said in November that its petrochemical complex of several billion dollars in Western Pennsylvania is about 70% complete and in the process to enter service in the early 2020s. The plant's costs are estimated to be USD6-USD10 billion, where ethane will be transformed into plastic feedstock. The facility is equipped to produce 1.5 million metric tons per year (mmty) of ethylene and 1.6 mmty of polyethylene (PE), two important constituents of plastics.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing PE and polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC"s ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,760,950 tonnes in the first ten months of 2020, up by 3% year on year. Only high density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 978,870 tonnes in January-October 2020 (calculated using the formula: production minus exports plus imports minus producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively of PP random copolymer increased.

Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.

MRC