US weekly refinery capacity utilisation grows to highest since February 2020

US weekly refinery capacity utilisation grows to highest since February 2020

MOSCOW (MRC) -- US weekly refinery utilisation rates increased to 88.7% last week, which is the highest level since February 2020, reported Reuters with reference to US Energy Information Administration data released.

Midwest weekly refinery utilization rates grew to 91.5%, also the highest since February 2020, the data showed.

As MRC informed earlier, Royal Dutch Shell is selling its 90,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Mobile, Alabama refinery to specialty refiner Vertex Energy for USD75 million plus the cost of hydrocarbon inventory. Shell and Vertex will have crude supply and product offtake agreements, according to the companies.

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 744,130 tonnes in the first four month of 2021, up by 4% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, PP deliveries to the Russian market were 523,900 tonnes in January-April 2021, up by 55% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whereas shipments of PP random copolymers decreased.
MRC

Eneos resumes operations of CDU at its Kashima refinery

Eneos resumes operations of CDU at its Kashima refinery

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Japan's largest refiner Eneos Corp (formerly known as JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy) has restarted the 168,000-bpd No.1 crude distillation unit (CDU) at its Kashima refinery, east of Tokyo, after it was shut on May 11 due to system trouble, reported Reuters with reference to a company spokeswoman's statement.

The refiner, which is a unit of Eneos Holdings Inc, plans to restart the 105,000-bpd No.3 CDU at its Mizushima-B refinery, western Japan, in early June, she said. The CDU was shut on Feb. 25 for turnaround.

It plans to shut down the 145,000 CDU at its Sendai refinery in northern Japan for planned maintenance in early June, the spokeswoman said.

The company's 141,000-bpd Sakai refinery in western Japan is expected to restart in late June after maintenance, she added.

Eneos plans to restart the 136,000 bpd CDU at its Oita refinery in southwestern Japan in August, she said. The Oita CDU, which was shut on May 12 last year for scheduled maintenance, has been shut due to a fire later that month.

As MRC wrote previously, ENEOS restarted its Sendai refinery in northeast Japanon 18 May, 2021. This refinery was hit by an earthquake on 1 May, 2021. Besides, on 18 May, the company shut down its Sakai refinery in western Japan for maintenance.

We remind that ENEOS Corporation restarted its naphtha cracker in Kawasaki on 1 February 2021. The company shut this cracker with an annual capacity of 515,000 tons/year of ethylene, 300,000 tons/year of propylene, and 105,000 tons/year of butadiene on 4 December, 2020, for repairment after a technical issue reported at the butadiene separation unit and initially planned to resume operations on 28 December, 2020.

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 744,130 tonnes in the first four month of 2021, up by 4% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, PP deliveries to the Russian market were 523,900 tonnes in January-April 2021, up by 55% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whereas shipments of PP random copolymers decreased.

Japan's largest refiner JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy was renamed ENEOS Corporation on 25 June, 2020, as part of a wider re-organization of the parent company JXTG Holdings. The move, which also involved renaming the parent company to ENEOS Holdings upon approval at its annual shareholders meeting in June 2020, comes as it strives to be a more comprehensive energy and materials company under its 2040 vision announced in May, 2019. JXTG Holdings was formed as a result of a merger between JX Holdings and TonenGeneral in April 2017. This followed the establishment of JX Holdings as a result of the merger between Nippon Oil and Nippon Mining Holdings in April 2010.
MRC

Russian oil refining capacities will be reduced by 19.5% in July

Russian oil refining capacities will be reduced by 19.5% in July

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia's offline oil refining capacity is expected to decline by 19.5% month-on-month to 2.866 million tonnes in July, according to Refinitiv Eikon data and Reuters calculations, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The offline capacity has been revised up this month, by 12.6% from the previous plan to 3.560 million tonnes.

The revision follows adjustments of maintenance schedule by some refineries.

As MRC informed earlier, crude oil futures were lower during mid-morning trade in Asia June 4 as the market used mixed data from the Energy Information Administration as an excuse to lock in profits following the recent surge in oil prices, while a stronger dollar provided further headwinds for the market. At 11:06 am Singapore time (0306 GMT), the ICE Brent August contract was down 26 cents/b (0.36%) from the previous settle at USD71.05/b, while the July NYMEX light sweet crude contract was down 19 cents/b (0.28%) at USD68.62/b.

As per ICIS-MRC Price Report, Ufaorgsintez (UOS, Bashneft’s petrochemical asset) has shut down operations at some of its low density polyethylene (LDPE) production capacities for a scheduled turnaround. The plant"s customers said UOS shut its second LDPE line (158 grade and 153 grade polyethylene - PE) for a scheduled maintenance on 1 June. The outage of the second PE line will be short and will take only a week. The first LDPE line (108 grae PE) will be shut for scheduled maintenance works in September.


MRC

SIBUR will conduct IPO next year - L. Mikhelson

SIBUR will conduct IPO next year - L. Mikhelson

MOSCOW (MRC) - SIBUR's petrochemical holding is unlikely to go to an IPO this year, RBC reports, citing the words of its largest shareholder, NOVATEK CEO Leonid Mikhelson at SPIEF-2021.

"The IPO of SIBUR this year is unlikely, most likely it will happen in 2022. We will accelerate with this issue," the businessman said. L. Mikhelson added that in September SIBUR will close the deal to acquire 51% of the shares of TAIF Group. The remaining 49% stake will be purchased later.

SIBUR began preparations for the placement of its shares on the stock exchange in 2018. The company has hired several banks to advise on the matter, but the exact timing and details of the IPO were not disclosed.

Meanwhile, due to the declining interest of international investors in the Russian stock market, given the deteriorating geopolitical background, these plans were not implemented. The head of the company, Dmitry Konov, said that SIBUR expects the best combination of three factors to enter the IPO: financial reporting, the state of the industrial and financial markets.

In February, the company's CFO Peter O'Brien reported that SIBUR had decided to postpone going public and focus on exporting products to Asian markets, primarily Chinese.

"Now we cannot announce anything. It would be fair to say that this IPO is definitely one of the options and shareholders will continue to evaluate it, but there is currently no such plan," said the top manager.

He added that the IPO could take place closer to the opening of the Amur gas chemical complex under construction on the border with China, the construction of which should be completed in 2024.

SIBUR Holding is the leader in the Russian petrochemical industry and one of the largest global companies in the sector with more than 23 thousand employees. In 2019, SIBUR's revenues amounted to USD 8.2 billion, EBITDA - USD2.6 billion. Over the past 10 years, SIBUR has implemented a number of large-scale investment projects worth about RUB 1 trillion.
MRC

Chemours appoints Mark Newman as new CEO

Chemours appoints Mark Newman as new CEO

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chemoursa, global chemistry company with leading market positions in Titanium Technologies, has appointed Mark Newman as its new president and CEO, effective 1 July, according to the company's press release.

Newman, currently chief operating officer, succeeds Mark Vergnano, who has led Chemours as president and CEO since it was spun off from DuPont in 2015.

Vergnano will be retiring from the company and assume the position of non-executive board chairman for the rest of 2021, assuring an effective transition of leadership to Newman, said the company.

Mark Newman joined Chemours in 2014 as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. He was instrumental in the launch of Chemours as a stand-alone, publicly traded company and helped transform a portfolio of businesses into a focused and profitable company. In 2019, Mr. Newman was appointed Chief Operating Officer with responsibility over the company’s global commercial businesses. He oversaw the recent evolution of the former Fluoroproducts business into two reportable segments: Thermal & Specialized Solutions and Advanced Performance Materials. Throughout 2020, he also chaired the company’s Crisis Leadership Team which oversaw the company’s global response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr. Newman is the executive sponsor of the Chemours Diversity and Inclusion Council, the group charged with improving the company’s overall inclusion and diversity approach to talent acquisition and development, company culture, and community engagement.

Prior to joining Chemours, Mr. Newman was Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of SunCoke Energy, where he oversaw strategy, business development, and information technology. He also served in a number of senior operating and finance leadership roles in the United States and China, primarily with General Motors Corporation, where he began his career in 1986.

As MRC informed before, in December 2019, Chemours announced plans to sell its methylamines and methylamides unit to Belle Chemical, an affiliate of Cornerstone Chemical. The sales price was not disclosed. Thus, Chemours had signed a letter of commitment with Belle Chemical Co. to sell Chemours' methylamines and methylamides business and production facilities at the Belle location. Earlier in 2019, Chemours announced it would stop making methylamines and methylamides at the plant. In 2020, it planned to start dismantling the methylamines operations. Once Belle takes possession of the plant, most of the employees at Belle and others assigned in supporting roles at other locations will become part of Belle, Chemours said. Cornerstone makes acrylonitrile (ACN) and melamine at Fortier, Louisiana.

Acrylonitrile is one of the main feedstock for the production of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS).

According to ICIS-MRC Price report, ABS imports into Russia grew in January-April of 2021 by 29% year on year to 14,100 tonnes from 10,900 tonnes a year earlier. The share of imports from South Korea virtually remained at the previous year's level and was about 60%.

Chemours is a global leader in titanium technologies, fluoroproducts and chemical solutions, providing its customers in a wide range of industries with market-defining products, application expertise and chemistry-based innovations. Chemours ingredients are found in plastics and coatings, refrigeration and air conditioning, mining and oil refining operations and general industrial manufacturing. The company has approximately 6,500 employees and 30 manufacturing sites serving approximately 3,300 customers in approximately 120 countries in North America, Latin America, Asia-Pacific and Europe. Chemours is headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware and is listed on the NYSE under the symbol CC.
MRC