ExxonMobil expands renewable fuels agreement with Global Clean Energy

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil, one of the world's petrochemical majors, and Global Clean Energy have expanded their five-year agreement to increase ExxonMobil’s purchase of renewable diesel up to 5 million barrels per year, reported Reuters.

ExxonMobil will be the exclusive buyer of renewable diesel from Global Clean Energy’s biorefinery in Bakersfield, California, which is on schedule to begin production in early 2022. The renewable diesel leverages Global Clean Energy’s patented camelina crop, which can significantly reduce life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions.

“Our expanded agreement with Global Clean Energy reinforces ExxonMobil’s longstanding efforts to support society’s ambitions for lower-emission fuels,” said Ian Carr, president of ExxonMobil Fuels and Lubricants Company. “Through our growing relationship, we remain focused on bringing renewable fuels to market that make meaningful contributions to help consumers reduce their emissions.”

The Bakersfield biorefinery will process up to 15,000 barrels per day of renewable feedstocks, including Global Clean Energy’s proprietary camelina. The balance of renewable diesel will be produced using various non-petroleum feedstocks, including used cooking oil, soybean oil, distillers’ corn oil and other renewable sources.

The original agreement signed in August 2020 committed ExxonMobil to purchase 2.5 million barrels of renewable diesel per year. Following production startup, ExxonMobil plans to distribute the renewable diesel within California and potentially other US and international markets.

As MRC informed previously, Sinopec Engineering (Group) and ExxonMobil (Huizhou) Chemical (EMHCC) have just entered into a BEPC (basic design, engineering, procurement and construction) contract for the proposed Huizhou Chemical Complex Project (Phase I). The main units of the project include a 1.6 million tonnes/year ethylene flexible feed steam cracker, downstream polymer and derivative units and utilities. The main product units include two performance polyethylene (PE) lines and two differentiated performance polypropylene (PP) lines.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated polyethylene (PE) consumption totalled 356,370 tonnes in the first two month of 2021, down by 9% year on year. Shipments of exclusively low density polyethylene (LDPE) increased. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market was 246,870 tonnes in January-February 2021, up by 30% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia's output of chemical products rose in March 2021 by 5.4% year on year. Thus, production of basic chemicals increased year on year by 6.7% in the first moths months of 2021, according to Rosstat's data.

According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, mineral fertilizers accounted for the greatest increase in the January-March output. Production of benzene grew up to 121,000 tonnes in March, compared to 113,000 tonnes a month earlier.

Overall output of this product reached 362,000 tonnes over the stated period, down by 8.2% year on year.
March production of sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) was 118,000 tonnes (100% of the basic substance) versus 98,400 tonnes a month earlier. Overall output of caustic soda totalled 329,400 tonnes in the first three months of 2021, down by 0.7% year on year.

2,327,000 tonnes of mineral fertilizers (in terms of 100% nutrients) were produced in March 2021 versus 2,098,000 tonnes a month earlier. Overall, Russian plants produced about 6,743,000 tonnes of fertilizers in January-March 2021, up by 12% year on year.

Last month's production of polymers in primary form was 958,000 tonnes versus 861,000 tonnes in February.
Overall output of polymers in primary form totalled 2,740,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 8.5% year on year.

151,000 tonnes of synthetic rubbers were produced in March, compared to 141,000 tonnes a month earlier.
Overall, Russian plants produced about 447,000 tonnes of synthetic rubbers in January-March 2021, up by 10.2% year on year.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Imports of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) in Russia reached about 7,500 tonnes in the first three months of the year, up 134% year on year. At the same time, exports decreased by 16%, according to MRC's DataScope report.

Last month's SPVC imports to Russia increased to 4,300 tonnes from 2,700 tonnes in March. High PVC prices in the domestic market and lower export prices for acetylene PVC in China have led to an increase in imports.Thus, overall imports were 7,500 tonnes in January-March 2021, compared to 3,200 tonnes a year earlier, with PVC from China accounting for the main increase in imports. At the same time, despite rather high prices for PVC in foreign markets, Russian producers have increased export sales in favour of the domestic market.

The total export indicator for the first three months of the year amounted to about 55,400 tonnes against 48,700 tonnes a year earlier.
MRC

1. Global crude oil demand to peak several years earlier than expected - in 2026

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The rapid adoption of electric vehicles (EV) around the world is likely to cause global oil demand to peak two years earlier than previously expected, reported Reuters with reference to Norway"s biggest independent energy consultancy Rystad. World demand is now seen peaking at 101.6 million barrels of oil per day (bpd) in 2026, down from a forecast made in November of a peak in 2028 at 102.2 million bpd, Rystad Energy said. "The adoption of electrification in transport and other oil-dependent sectors is accelerating and is set to chip away at oil sooner and faster than in our previous forecast," Rystad wrote. Before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, Rystad had anticipated that peak oil demand would be reached in 2030 at 106 million bpd.



MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Crude oil futures fell during mid-morning Asian trade April 22 following the latest release of the US Energy Information Administration's weekly statistics, which was a mixed bag, and as sentiment slumped on pandemic-induced demand concerns after India reported record high COVID-19 infections, reported S&P Global.

At 11:03 am Singapore time (00303 GMT), the ICE Brent June contract was down 28 cents/b (0.42%) from the April 21 settle at $65.04/b, while the June NYMEX light sweet crude contract was 30 cents/b (0.49%) lower at $61.05/b.

EIA data released late April 21 showed that commercial crude stocks had climbed 600,000 barrels to 493.02 million barrels in the week ended April 16. The build came as a surprise to analysts, who had expected inventories to fall by 4.4 million barrels instead, according to an S&P Global Platts survey.

The EIA data was mixed for downstream product inventories, with gasoline stocks edging up 90,000 barrels and distillate stocks falling 1.07 million barrels last week.

Of particular concern to the market was the total product supplied figure, EIA's proxy for demand, which fell almost 8% from the week prior at 18.76 million b/d in the week ended April 16. The market, however, received solace from rising gasoline demand, which averaged 9.1 million b/d last week, up 1.8% from the week prior and the highest since August.

Over in Asia, the rise in COVID-19 cases in Japan and India portends curtailed energy demand in the region. India reported a record 295,158 cases on April 20, latest data from John Hopkins University showed, even as large parts of country remained under lockdown. Meanwhile, Japan is also considering putting Tokyo and Osaka under a state of emergency, media reports showed.

As MRC informed earlier, COVID-19 outbreak has led to an unprecedented decline in demand affecting all sections of the Russian economy, which has impacted the demand for petrochemicals in the short-term. However, the pandemic triggered an increase in the demand for polymers in food packaging, and cleaning and hygiene products, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company. With Russian petrochemical companies having the advantage of access to low-cost feedstock, and proximity to demand-rich Asian (primarily China) and European markets for the supply of petrochemical products, these companies appear to be well-positioned to derive full benefits from an improving market environment and global economy post-COVID-19, says GlobalData.

We remind that in December 2020, Sibur, Gazprom Neft, and Uzbekneftegaz agreed to cooperate on potential investments in Uzbekistan including a major expansion of Uzbekneftegaz’s existing Shurtan Gas Chemical Complex (SGCC) and the proposed construction of a new gas chemicals facility. The signed cooperation agreement for the projects includes “the creation of a gas chemical complex using methanol-to-olefins (MTO) technology, and the expansion of the production capacity of the Shurtan Gas Chemical Complex”.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated polyethylene (PE) consumption totalled 356,370 tonnes in the first two month of 2021, down by 9% year on year. Shipments of exclusively low density polyethylene (LDPE) increased. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market was 246,870 tonnes in January-February 2021, up by 30% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.
MRC