MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil's Beaumont, Texas refinery is operating at about 60% of its 369,024-bpd capacity as a lockout of union workers nears the end of its ninth week, said sources familiar with plant operations, said Reuters.
Exxon spokeswoman Julie King said operations at the Beaumont refinery are normal. Exxon is operating the refinery with temporary workers, including managers, engineers and refinery unit operators hired after the lockout began.
Reducing production is a routine step refineries take during labor disputes. Several refineries reduced production by 50% during strikes in 2015.
As it was written earlier, Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) restarted the small crude distillation unit (CDU) at its 502,500 barrel-per-day (bpd) Baton Rouge, Louisiana, refinery on Thursday, following a month of work. An Exxon spokeswoman declined to discuss the status of specific units at the Baton Rouge refinery. The 90,000-bpd PSLA-8 CDU was shut on May 18 for planned maintenance scheduled to last at least 30 days, the sources said.
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.
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