AFPM issues statement in favour of refineries

MOSCOW (MRC) -- American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers President and CEO Chet Thompson issued the following statement upon the release of the Supreme Court’s opinion in the case HollyFrontier Cheyenne Refining, LLC v. Renewable Fuels Association (20-472), according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The Justices ruled 6-3 in favor of refineries, a decision that upholds Congress’s vision for the Renewable Fuel Standard small refinery relief program and the ability for small refineries experiencing disproportionate economic hardship to petition and receive RVO relief from the EPA at any time.

Statement from Chet Thompson: AFPM is very pleased with this ruling and hopes that EPA now moves expeditiously to provide critical relief to those small refineries that have demonstrated disproportionate economic harm resulting from the RFS. RFS compliance costs hit all-time highs this month, nearing 25 cents per gallon. The program is hurting consumers and jeopardizing the viability of refineries across the country, as well as the jobs and communities they support. Further delay from the Administration in setting achievable annual volume standards, issuing small refinery waivers, and responding to numerous petitions for relief will make a bad situation even worse.

As MRC wrote previously, US refiner HollyFrontier Corp said in early May, 2021, it would purchase a 149,000-bpd refinery in Washington from Shell as part of the European company"s strategy to reduce its global refinery footprint.

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- No new proposals for ending a two-month lockout of 650 United Steelworkers union members from ExxonMobil's Beaumont, Texas refinery were made during a meeting, said union and company spokespeople, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The lead negotiators for both sides met last week, but no proposals were exchanged, the spokespeople said. Exxon locked out the workers on May 1 citing the risk of a strike. The USW has said the company’s last proposal requires its members to give up long-standing seniority and would create a separate contract for workers in a lube oil plant from that for workers in the refinery.

Exxon has said the proposal would give it the flexibility to be profitable in even low-margin environments.

As MRC informed previously, Gov. John Bel Edwards and ExxonMobil Baton Rouge Refinery Manager David Oldreive have announced the company’s final investment decision for more than USD240 million in capital improvements at the ExxonMobil Baton Rouge Refinery.

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.

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) -- The US Chemical Production Regional Index (US CPRI) grew by 4.6% in May following a 1.2% reduction in April and a 3.4% drop in March, according to Chemical Engineering with reference to the American Chemistry Council (ACC).

During May, chemical output rose in all regions, reflecting capacity restoration after the winter storms along the Gulf Coast. The US CPRI is measured as a three-month moving average (3MMA). It includes the Federal Reserve’s recent benchmark revision, whose base year is now 2017.

Chemical production was mixed in May, with an improving trend in production of organic chemicals, plastic resins, chlor-alkali, adhesives, coatings, fertilizers, crop protection chemicals, other specialty chemicals, and miscellaneous inorganic chemicals. These gains were offset by continued weakness in synthetic rubber, synthetic dyes and pigments, manufactured fibers, and consumer products.

As nearly all manufactured goods are produced using chemistry in some form, manufacturing activity is an important indicator for chemical demand. Following a small decline in April, manufacturing output rose in May, by 1.0% (3MMA). The 3MMA trend in manufacturing production was mixed, with gains seen in the output of food and beverages, appliances, aerospace, machinery, fabricated metal products, computers and electronics, semiconductors, oil and gas extraction, refining, iron and steel products, foundries, rubber products, paper, printing, and furniture.

Compared with May 2020, US chemical production remained off by 0.5%, reflecting the lingering impact of March’s freeze damage. Chemical production was lower than a year ago in all regions except the Gulf Coast, which turned slightly positive.

As MRC reported earlier, the largest US refinery, Motiva Enterprises’ 607,000 barrel-per-day Port Arthur, Texas, plant, returned to normal operations in early Marhc, 2021. The refinery was shut on Feb. 15 when freezing temperatures, rarely seen on the US Gulf Coast, knocked out steam supply. Motiva began restarting the refinery on Feb. 24.

Besides, Motiva Chemicals has also resumed operations at its mixed-feed cracker in Port Arthur, USA. The process of restart of this cracker with the capacity of 635,000 mt/year of ethylene and 340,000 mt/year of propylene began on 27 February, 2021, and finished in early March. The cracker wa shut along with the refinery at the same site on 14 February, 2021, because of the deep freeze.

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A recovery in European jet fuel demand to pre-pandemic levels is years away, forcing regional refiners to continue blending the aviation fuel into diesel, and keeping a lid on their crude runs, consultancy FGE Energy said, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

FGE sees jet/kerosene demand in Europe at the end of 2022 reaching 75% of 2018-2019 levels only, meaning European refiners will continue to blend a large volume of jet into diesel to soak up the surplus. "Such blending tends to limit overall refinery crude throughput because maximum distillate hydrotreating capacity is reached at lower crude throughputs," FGE says.

Hydrotreating is a chemical process used in refining petroleum products to remove sulfur. "At this point, incremental crude runs would produce only naphtha, high sulphur gasoil and fuel oil – not a recipe for positive margins," FGE added.

The consultancy forecasts European jet demand not fully returning to pre-COVID-19 levels until 2030, but it will be very close to it from 2024-25 onwards. The collapse in fuel demand after major European economies went into lockdown to slow the spread of the coronavirus forced refineries that could no longer profitably run into capacity rationalisation.

FGE estimates that European refining capacity will shrink by 700,000 barrels per day (bpd) due to the closures announced for 2020 and 2021, with hydrotreating capacity falling by 200,000 bpd. This means European refiners will not return to their pre-COVID-19 annual crude run levels of 12.5 million bpd, FGE says, and forecasting runs to average 11.1 million bpd this year and 11.7 million bpd next year.

"The more jet that can be pulled out of the diesel pool (thus freeing-up diesel hydrotreating capacity) the more scope there is for refiners to increase throughput," FGE said. European diesel refining margins have remained under pressure, even as economies around the continent ease movement restrictions, to a large extent due to jet fuel blending, traders say.

Barge diesel margins in northwest Europe are trading at about USD5 a barrel, according to Reuters calculations, compared with over USD23 a barrel in March 2020.

As per MRC, global oil consumption is set to return to pre-pandemic levels by the first quarter of 2022, driven by a strong expansion in global manufacturing and freight transport as well as the gradual re-opening of major economies. Booming consumption from miners, manufacturers, shipping and trucking firms, as well as private motorists, is expected to offset the continued loss of jet fuel consumption from quarantine restrictions on passenger aviation. Global liquids consumption (including biofuels) is forecast to reach 100.6 million barrels per day (bpd) in March 2022, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Charles Amyot has been appointed as the new president of ExxonMobil’s French affiliate, Esso S.A.F., effective 1 July, said the company.

The Board of Directors of Esso SAF, which met at the end of the general meeting of June 23, appointed Charles Amyot to succeed Antoine du Guerny as Chairman and CEO who will retire on June 30, 2021 after a career of more than 37 years at Esso SAF and within the companies of the ExxonMobil group in Europe.

Since 2004, Antoine du Guerny has been administrative and financial director of Esso SAF and of the companies of the ExxonMobil group in France. Appointed Director of Esso SAF in 2010, he became Chairman and CEO in May 2017. He is also Chairman of Esso Raffinage SAS and Exxon Mobil Chemical France.

Esso S.A.F.’s has two refineries – Gravenchon and Fos-sur-Mer – in France, along with petrochemical operations.

As per MRC, ExxonMobil has released the final election results of the 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders as confirmed by the independent election inspector. The ExxonMobil board of directors will consist of Michael Angelakis, Susan Avery, Angela Braly, Ursula Burns, Kenneth Frazier, Gregory Goff, Kaisa Hietala, Joseph Hooley, Steve Kandarian, Alexander Karsner, Jeffrey Ubben and Darren Woods. Douglas Oberhelman, Sam Palmisano and Wan Zulkiflee will be departing the board.

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.

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