US largest biofuels producer in talks with Flint Hills to acquire its ethanol assets

MOSCOW (MRC) -- POET, the largest biofuels producer in the United States, is in discussions with Flint Hills Resources to acquire the entirety of Flint Hills’ ethanol assets, both companies told Reuters on Thursday.

The deal would increase POET’s potential production capacity for ethanol by more than a third to 3 billion gallons per year, said Jessica Sexe, a spokeswoman for POET.

That could help the company tap into potential growth in the biofuels market as the Biden administration considers boosting biofuels as part of a broader strategy to decarbonize the nation’s economy to fight climate change.

Both Sexe and Jake Reint, spokesman for Flint Hills, declined to put a price on the deal.

Flint Hills, a refining, biofuels and petrochemical company, is based in Wichita, Kansas, and is currently the fifth-largest ethanol producer in the United States. Its biofuels division includes six ethanol plants with a combined capacity of about 800 million gallons per year, 1.5 million tons of distillers grains and about 200 million pounds of corn oil, Reint said.

Both companies are privately held.

The discussions come after a hard year for the ethanol industry because of the coronavirus pandemic, which sank demand for fuel. Ethanol’s top market is for use in blending with gasoline, something required under US law.

As MRC informed earlier, Encina Development Group (Encina; The Woodlands, Texas) and Flint Hills Resources said in February, 2021, they are exploring a collaboration to produce renewable chemicals and fuels from plastic waste. The two have signed a non-binding term sheet that proposes construction of a facility in Corpus Christi, Texas. Flint Hills would market the aromatic products produced at the Encina Corpus Christi facility and work with its affiliates to market renewable aromatic products from other Encina plants in the US.

We remind that in November 2019, Motiva Enterprises, the US refining arm of Saudi Aramco, acquired 100% of Flint Hills Resources chemical plant, adjacent to its Port Arthur, Texas, oil refinery. The Flint Hills plant operates a 1.57 billion-pound-per-year ethylene cracker, a unit producing nylon component cyclohexane, and a network of pipelines and storage caverns.

Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 576,270 tonnes in the first three month of 2021, up by 4% year on year. Low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 410,890 tonnes in January-March 2021, up by 56% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China's crude oil imports in April fell 0.2% from a year earlier as refiners curbed production to relieve a squeeze in profit margins brought about by rising crude oil prices and bulging inventories, reported Reuters.

The world's biggest crude oil buyer brought in 40.36 million tonnes of crude oil in April, or 9.82 million barrels per day (bpd), data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Friday. That was the lowest since December and was down from 11.69 million bpd of imports in March.

As crude oil prices hovered above USD60 a barrel, versus historic lows a year earlier, refiners - in particular small, independent plants - faced shrinking margins as overall fuel supplies swelled due to increased operations at larger, more efficient private refiners. Margins were also hurt as traders brought in a record amount of light cycle oil (LCO), a blending fuel for making diesel, pushing stocks of diesel to multi-year highs. LCO inflows are expected to slow due authorities' clampdown on illicit trading of the fuel.

However, analysts said robust domestic fuel demand and reviving refining margins in recent weeks are likely to prompt some refiners to shorten maintenance periods, bolstering crude trade in coming months.

"We expect imports over May-June to be higher than what the market previously anticipated. Crude imports should rise to 11.0-11.5 million bpd levels in August-September, with the ramp up of new refining capacities," said Chen Jiyao, head of China client advisory at energy consultancy FGE.

As MRC informed earlier, more crude oil was being refined in China's refineries in April 2020 than in US refineries for the first month on record, and this trend continued for all remaining months in 2020 except for July and August. Thus, China processed more crude oil than the United States not only because of the unique effects of COVID-19 pandemic-related restrictions in 2020, but also because of differences in the longer-term structural refining trends between the two countries.

Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 576,270 tonnes in the first three month of 2021, up by 4% year on year. Low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 410,890 tonnes in January-March 2021, up by 56% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- In a move that further positions it in the reycling sector, Canadian plastic pipe maker and cleantech company Soleno, said to be one of the largest recyclers of HDPE in Eastern Canada, has acquired Plastiques VPC, a start-up specializing in the recovery of oil-contaminated plastics, said Canplastics.

The financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed. Plastiques VPC is headquartered in Saint-Henri, Que., and in a news release, officials with New Brunswick-based Soleno said the deal “will position the province of Quebec advantageously in the recycling industry."

"Annually, in Quebec and the Atlantic Provinces, more than 3.5 million kg of oil and antifreeze containers can be recycled,” the news release said. “By acquiring Plastiques VPC, [we] will be the only company in Eastern Canada able to recover materials from these territories in a fully integrated manner, while ensuring exemplary traceability from the beginning to the end of their life cycles."

Soleno represents a group of four business units, including Soleno, Soleno Recycling, Soleno Service and Soleno Textile, which employs 500 workers in nine industrial sites in Quebec, Ontario, and New Brunswick. The company manufactures and distributes a wide range of products for the collecting, conveying, treating, and storage of stormwater for the infrastructure, residential, natural resources, and agricultural sectors. The majority of Soleno’s products are made of HDPE.

As per MRC, Canada-based thermoplastic piping systems manufacturer Ipex has completed its stock purchase of Silver-Line Plastics. Silver-Line Plastics is a U.S. manufacturer of plastic pipe products with production facilities in North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Florida. The goal of the acquisition, which was first announced in August, is to allow Ipex to increase its market position in the U.S. with an expanded product portfolio serving a broader client base.

As per MRC ScanPlast, March total HDPE production reached 175,900 tonnes versus 152,500 tonnes a month earlier, all producers raised their capacity utilisation. Russian plants" overall HDPE output reached 505,800 tonnes in the first three months of 2021, up by 15% year on year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) --- Petrochemical producer Lyondell Basell Industries does not plan to perform major maintenance at its global assets, including a Houston refinery, in the second quarter of 2021, said Chief Executive Bob Patel during a Friday morning conference call with Wall Street analysts, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

"Deferred turnarounds from 2020 are resulting in high levels of planned maintenance downtime for many of our competitors during the second quarter," Patel said. "Lyondell Basell has no major planned maintenance for the second quarter at any of the global assets that we operate."

The company's 263,776 barrel-per-day (bpd) Houston refinery is running at nearly full production, said Michael McMurray, chief financial officer. In the first quarter, the Houston refinery operated at an average 57% of capacity because of the severe cold weather that shut it for about a month beginning in mid-February, McMurray said.

Patel said he hopes that the company's refining segment, which recorded a USD110-million loss in the first quarter of 2021, will return to break even in the third quarter of this year.

As per MRC, LyondellBasell Industries N.V. (Rotterdam the Netherlands) announced another step towards its ambition to advance the circular economy by making virgin quality polymers from raw materials derived from plastic waste at its Wesseling, Germany, site. Produced by the thermal conversion of plastic waste, this raw material is converted into ethylene and propylene in the LyondellBasell production facilities, and then processed into polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) in the downstream units for plastics production. The first use of raw material derived from plastic waste follows the company’s successful production of plastic materials made from renewable-based raw materials such as used cooking oil, which helps to reduce CO2 over the product life cycle and reduce the use of fossil-based raw materials.

As per MRC, LyondellBasell, the world's largest polyolefins producer, has declared a force majeure (FM) on shipments of some polypropylene (PP) grades from its Ferrara plant in Italy as of May 3, according to NCT with reference to a source familiar with the issue. This plant is able to produce 285.000 tons/year of PP. At the time of press, no details were shared regarding the reason or duration of the FM.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 410,890 tonnes in January-March 2021, up by 56% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.

LyondellBasell is one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world. Driven by its 13,000 employees around the globe, LyondellBasell produces materials and products that are key to advancing solutions to modern challenges like enhancing food safety through lightweight and flexible packaging, protecting the purity of water supplies through stronger and more versatile pipes, and improving the safety, comfort and fuel efficiency of many of the cars and trucks on the road. LyondellBasell sells products into approximately 100 countries and is the world's largest licensor of polyolefin technologies.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Ontario is expanding its COVID-19 safety inspections of manufacturing and food processing workplaces, warehouses, and distribution centres, said Canplastics.

About 100 provincial offences officers will visit 1,500 workplaces in Toronto, Hamilton, and regions of Durham, Halton, Peel, and York between May 10 and May 28.

In a May 18 news release, provincial officials said that officers made 718 visits to workplaces during the first week of the campaign, inspecting for COVID-19 workplace safety requirements under the Reopening Ontario Act. “Officers are checking that employers screen employees and visitors, ensure workers maintain physical distance and be masked, where needed, and that businesses have safety plans, among other measures,” the statement said.

They are also offering information on workplace rapid antigen screening, supports available for businesses, as well as job-protected Infectious Disease Emergency Leave and paid sick days through the Ontario COVID-19 Worker Income Protection Benefit.

Only 15 per cent of businesses inspected last week were flagged for follow-up visits and nine tickets were issued, the province said, which demonstrates that most businesses are following the rules and that workers are being kept safe. Since the beginning of the pandemic, provincial offences officers and occupational health and safety inspectors have done more than 75,000 COVID-19-related inspections and investigations. They have issued over 630 tickets and stopped unsafe work related to COVID-19 93 times during that period.

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 the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 576,270 tonnes in the first three month of 2021, up by 4% year on year. Low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 410,890 tonnes in January-March 2021, up by 56% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.
MRC