EPA issues warnings over US Virgin Islands oil refinery shutdown plan

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Environmental Protection Agency is pressuring owners of a US Virgin Islands oil refinery to get its approval for an orderly shutdown, calling into question the next steps for the process, reported Reuters.

Limetree Bay Energy refinery on St.Croix last week said it was preparing for an extended shutdown after failing to secure financing to continue a restart of the aged facility. Its plan included purging the processing units of gases, residual oil and products.

But the EPA on Thursday warned Limetree Bay not to employ a defective gas-flaring unit that could create "imminent and substantial endangerment," an EPA official said in a letter to the company. It wants the company to install air monitors and seek formal permission before gases are released.

The EPA also ordered the plant to install and operate 18 sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide monitors on St. Croix which must remain if the flare is to be restarted, the EPA said. read more

The EPA gave Limetree to June 28 to respond, according to a letter posted on the agency's website.

As MRC wrote earlier, the 210,000 barrel-per-day refinery had begun restarting in February after being idle for nearly a decade. It was forced to shut in May after several malfunctions including a flare fire which resulted in a petroleum mist sprayed over nearby neighborhoods.

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) -- Indian refining giant Reliance Industries has signed an agreement with Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) to build a multi-billion-dollar chemical project in Ruwais, marking the group’s first investment in a greenfield overseas project, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Reliance, which operates the the world’s biggest refining complex at Jamnagar in western India, is becoming more international in its focus. Previously, it has bought stakes in some overseas explorations and manufacturing assets.

“This is a significant step in globalizing Reliance’s operations, and we are proud to partner with ADNOC in this important project for the region,” Mukesh Ambani, the chairman of Indian oil-to-telcom conglomerate, said in the statement.

Asia’s richest man Ambani last week announced the appointment of Saudi Aramco chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan as a director in Reliance’s board and said this is the “beginning of the internationalization of Reliance”. The group hopes to formalize a deal to sell 20% stake to Aramco in its oil-to-chemical business.

In a joint statement, Reliance and ADNOC said they expected final investment decisions for the projects and awards of related engineering contracts to be taken in 2022. A source familiar with the matter said the project could cost USD2.1 billion.

The planned project at TA’ZIZ Industrial complex will have a capacity to produce 940,000 tons of chlor-alkali, 1.1 million tons of ethylene dichloride (EDC) and 360,000 tons of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) annually, the statement said.

As MRC informed earlier, in December 2019, Reliance and ADNOC signed a memorandum of understanding in 2019 to build Ethylene Dichloride facility in Ruwais.

EDC is a basic building-block for the manufacture of PVC, a polymer product in increasingly higher demand globally. PVC plays a critical role in the housing and agriculture sectors.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall PVC production reached 346,100 tonnes in the first four months of 2021, down 1% year on year. All producers decreased production volumes over the reported period, with the exception of the Bashkir Soda Company.

Reliance Industries is one of the world's largest producers of polymers. Thus, the company produces among others polypropylene, polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PBF Energy is considering a USD550m project that would retrofit an idled hydrocracker to produce renewable diesel at its Chalmette refinery in Louisiana, said Ogj.

PBF Energy Inc. is considering a major investment to implement a renewable diesel project at subsidiary Chalmette Refining LLC’s 185,000-b/d dual-train coking refinery in Chalmette, St. Bernard Parish, La., outside of New Orleans.

As part of the potential project to ensure ongoing competitiveness and employment for the refinery’s current 516 employees, PBF Energy would invest USD550 million to retrofit an existing hydrocracking unit idled since 2010 with new technology to enable renewable diesel production at the site, Louisiana Economic Development (LED) and the operator said.

The project, which would support an additional 200 jobs during its execution, also would include construction of a pretreatment unit at the manufacturing site to allow Chalmette Refining to process renewable materials such as soybean oil, corn oil, and other biogenically derived fats and oils into feedstocks for the revamped unit.

The proposed unit conversion comes as part of PBF Energy’s recovery efforts from economic impacts sustained as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, as well as the company’s plan to prepare the refinery for a green energy transition, said Steven Krynski, PBF Chalmette’s refinery manager.

To secure the project, which aligns with goals of Louisiana’s Climate Initiatives Task Force initiative to pursue lower greenhouse gas emissions, the LED has offered PBF Energy incentives that include solutions of its FastStart state workforce training program, as well as access to Louisiana’s Industrial Tax Exemption Program (ITEP).

Granting of ITEP incentives, however, remain subject to final approval of the project by St. Bernard Parish local officials, which is due sometime later this summer, LED said. PBF Energy said it plans to reach final investment decision on the planned Chalmette renewables conversion following St. Bernard Parish local taxing bodies consider the project.

The Chalmette refinery—which PBF Energy acquired from ExxonMobil Corp. and Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) in 2015—is equipped with flexibility to source and process a mix of light and heavy crudes to produce mostly gasoline, distillates, and specialty chemicals for distribution locally and abroad via connecting pipeline and maritime assets.

As per MRC, PBF Energy will shut most refining units at its Paulsboro, New Jersey, refinery, the company's chief executive said in a letter to employees that cited the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on fuel demand.

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) - US crude oil inventory draws likely extended in the week ended June 25 against a backdrop of rising refinery demand, reported S&P Global.

Total commercial crude oil stocks are expected to have declined 4.7 million barrels to around 454.4 million barrels, analysts surveyed by S&P Global Platts said. The draw would put inventories at the lowest since March 2020 and leave them 6.3% behind the five-year average of US Energy Information Administration data, opening the widest deficit to that average since August 2008.

The draw comes as analysts expected refinery utilization to have pushed to around 92.9% of capacity in the week ended June 25, up 0.7 percentage point from the week prior and the highest since early January 2020.

Refinery margins turned higher last week, with US Gulf Coast WTI MEH cracking margins averaging USD11.86/b in the five days ended June 24 up from USD10.63/b seen the week prior.

Refinery margins were likely supported by strong refined product demand. US Transportation Security Administration data show nearly 2 million passengers per day crossed checkpoints last week, up 4% from the week prior and more than 250% above year-ago levels.

Total refinery net crude demand is expected to have averaged 16.35 million b/d in the week ended June 25, S&P Global Platts Analytics data shows, from an EIA-reported 16.11 million b/d during the week prior.

Total gasoline inventories are expected to have declined around 700,000 barrels to 239.04 million barrels, analysts said, putting them nearly 1% behind the five-year average. Notably, while overall gasoline stocks have tightened in recent weeks, inventories in high demand regions such as the US Atlantic Coast and Midwest have been trending higher.

Following five consecutive weekly builds, USAC gasoline stocks were 1.4% above average in the week ended June 18, EIA data shows, while during the same period Midwest stocks climbed for a third week to just 6% behind average, the narrowest deficit since early January.

Distillate inventories are expected to have climbed 100,000 barrels to 138 million barrels, analysts said. In contrast to gasoline inventories, USAC diesel stocks remain very tight despite steadily building since late May.

As MRC informed before, crude oil futures ticked higher in mid-morning trade in Asia June 23 after the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a large draw in US crude inventories as the market awaited the July 1 OPEC+ meeting,

We remind that Indian refiners, anticipating a lifting of US sanctions, plan to make space for the resumption of Iranian imports by reducing spot crude oil purchases in the second half of the year. The world's third-largest oil consumer and importer halted imports from Tehran in 2019 after former US President Donald Trump withdrew from a 2015 accord and re-imposed sanctions on the OPEC producer over its disputed nuclear programme.

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) -- Canadian recycling technology developer GreenMantra Technologies is expanding its relationship with art tools and toy supplier Crayola by now using Crayola’s discarded plastic feedstock for recycling into specialty polymers, said Canpastics.

“Mixed plastic marker streams present challenges for traditional mechanical recycling, but they are a natural fit for [our] advanced recycling technology,” officials with Brantford, Ont.-based GreenMantra said in a news release. “[We] will now recycle both pre- and post-consumer plastic markers from across all of North America, expanding our feedstock stream for producing our specialty polymer additives."

The discarded plastic markers can be turned into high-value polymers that can then be used in the production of industrial products to enhance critical infrastructure applications (things like asphalt roads, roofing products, and plastic drainage pipes), while also enabling increased use of recycled content in those applications, the company said.

Easton, Pa.-based Crayola recently implemented 100 per cent renewable energy for its U.S. manufacturing operations, and has partnered with GreenMantra since 2014 through its ColorCycle Program, which enhances product circularity for Crayola’s line of markers.

As per MRC, Ineos Styrolution is partnering with Recycling Technologies, a Swindon, UK-based specialist in plastic recycling technology, to advance the development of polystyrene (PS) recycling in Europe.

According to MRC's ScanPlast, the estimated consumption of PS and styrene plastics in Russia amounted to 187,320 tonnes in the first four months of this year, which is 20% more than last year's consumption for the same period. The estimated consumption of PS and styrene plastics in April amounted to 49,370 tonnes, which is 35% higher than in the same month of 2020 (36,620 tonnes).
MRC