Limetree Bay refinery owners file for bankruptcy

Limetree Bay refinery owners file for bankruptcy

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The owners of Limetree Bay, a Caribbean refinery that was once the largest in the Western Hemisphere, filed for bankruptcy after lenders balked at putting new cash into a project dogged by cost overruns and regulatory troubles, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The St. Croix refinery overhaul was the most expensive effort in nearly a decade to expand refining capacity in the hemisphere. Investors plunged several billion dollars into the project, aimed at taking advantage of its prime location along shipping routes in the Caribbean. The plan fizzled after construction delays and the COVID-19 pandemic, which slashed demand for fuel worldwide.

The refinery finally restarted in February - only to shut three months later when Limetree Bay ran afoul of U.S. environmental regulators who ordered shut after a series of fires and noxious gas releases. "Severe financial and regulatory constraints have left us no choice but to pursue this path, after careful consideration of all alternatives," Jeff Rinker, Limetree Bay's chief executive, said of the bankruptcy filing in a statement.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in May ordered the plant to shut temporarily after the gas releases contaminated local drinking water, shut a school and led residents to complain of breathing problems and foul odors. The EPA order, and subsequent investigations by U.S. officials, made investors wary of investing the additional money needed to get the refinery restarted, the company said in court filings.

Late on Monday, Limetree and its debtors requested court approval to obtain up to USD25 million in so-called debtor-in-possession financing. This would allow the parties to immediately borrow USD5.5 million, with approval for rest of the amount at subsequent hearings.

More recently, lenders objected to the plant's call for new cash to complete the project, according to the head of EIG Global Energy Partners, the Washington-based private equity firm that leads the largest investor group. "EIG supports the company's efforts to secure funding," EIG Chairman Blair Thomas said in a statement, adding "to date the senior lenders have objected" to those efforts. The firm and its partners became "the reluctant owners" earlier this year when its original sponsor withdrew, he said.

Westbourne Capital, an Australian debt investor that provided a USD700 million term loan, holds the senior-most debt in the project and could decide the plant's fate, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorised to speak to media and declined to be identified. Westbourne did not reply to requests for comment.

As MRC wrote before, in early July, US crude stocks fell for the sixth straight week as refiners ramped up output in response to rising demand, according to the Energy Information Administration. Crude inventories fell by 6.7 million barrels in the week to June 25 to 452.3 million barrels, a steeper drop than the 4.7 million barrels expected by analysts in a Reuters poll.

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

MEGlobal nominates ACP for August 2021 at USD840 per tonne

MEGlobal nominates ACP for August 2021 at USD840 per tonne

MOSCOW (MRC) -- MEGlobal has announced its Asian Contract Price (ACP) for monoethylene glycol (MEG) to be shipped in August 2021, according to the company's press release.

Thus, on 12 July, the company said ACP for MEG would be at USD840/MT CFR Asian main ports for arrival in August 2021, up by USD10/tonne from the previous month.

The August 2021 ACP reflects the short term supply/demand situation in the Asian market.

As MRC reported earlier, MEGlobal announced its July ACP for MEG at USD830/MT CFR Asian main ports, as in June and May, when the company's MEG prices went down by USD100/tonne from April 2021.

MEG is one of the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

According to ICIS-MRC Price report, in Russia, spot prices of producers Ecopet and SIBUR remained unchanged last week. Producer's average spot prices fell to Rb118,000-130,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT.

MEGlobal is a fully integrated supplier of monoethylene glycol (MEG) and diethylene glycol (DEG), collectively known as ethylene glycol (EG).
MRC

Shell to build large-scale carbon capture and storage facility in Alberta

Shell to build large-scale carbon capture and storage facility in Alberta

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shell announced a proposal to build a large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) project at its Scotford Complex near Edmonton, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

This would be a key step in transforming Scotford into one of five energy and chemicals parks for Shell around the world, providing customers with lower-carbon fuels and products into the future, such as hydrogen.

The proposed Polaris CCS project, the largest in a series of low-carbon opportunities Shell is exploring at Scotford, would capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from the Shell-owned Scotford refinery and chemicals plant. The initial phase is expected to start operations around the middle of the decade, subject to a final investment decision by Shell expected in 2023. Polaris would have storage capacity of about 300 million tonnes of CO2 over the life of the project.

“Shell is making bold moves to decarbonize our operations, and wider industry, and the Polaris CCS project is the latest example,” said Susannah Pierce, Shell Canada President and Country Chair. “Our plans for Scotford are in line with Shell’s target to become a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050, in step with society. We are creating a world-class site that will provide customers with lower-carbon fuels, products and CO2 storage. Polaris would also make a significant contribution to Shell’s aim to have access to an additional 25 million tonnes a year of CCS capacity by 2035.”

The Polaris CCS project follows the success of the Quest CCS facility at Scotford, which has captured and safely stored more than six million tonnes of CO2 in its six years of operation. Recently, Shell has also taken a final investment decision on the Northern Lights CCS project in Norway and is part of the Porthos CCS project in the Netherlands.

The initial phase of the Polaris CCS project would capture and store approximately 750,000 tonnes a year of CO2 from the Scotford refinery and chemicals plant. It would reduce Shell’s direct and indirect emissions (Scopes 1 and 2) by up to 40% from the refinery and by up to 30% from the chemicals plant. It would also create up to 2,000 jobs.

The second phase of the Polaris CCS project involves the creation of a CO2 storage hub in Alberta, further decarbonizing Shell’s facilities and storing emissions on behalf of third-party industry sources as a trusted and reliable CO2 storage operator. Fully built, and contingent on acquiring pore space leases from the Province of Alberta, Polaris could serve as a CO2 storage hub for more than10 million tonnes of CO2 each year.

Once fully built, Polaris would contribute to the Edmonton region becoming Canada’s first hydrogen hub. In the initial phase of Polaris, CO2 captured from the refinery’s hydrogen plants would produce blue hydrogen for use in the refining process, with the potential for large-scale blue hydrogen production in future phases. Shell is also exploring the development of additional volumes of blue and green hydrogen at Scotford that leverage Alberta’s abundance of natural gas and availability of renewable sources of power.

The transformation of Scotford into an energy and chemicals park for Shell builds on the site’s leading positions in energy efficiency and CCS, while including renewable sources of power and bio-feedstocks. CCS and renewable power will allow Scotford to process new feedstocks such as bio-oils or waste oils to significantly reduce the CO2 emitted in the production of the fuels of today. Scotford’s transition into a fully integrated energy and chemicals park is anticipated to happen this decade.

As MRC wrote before, in May 2021, Shell announced the sales of its Anacortes, Washington, US refinery as well as the controlling interest in the joint venture Deer Park, Texas, refinery. The company also sold its chemical refinery in Mobile, Alabama.

We remind that Royal Dutch Shell plans to reduce its refining and chemicals portfolio by more than half, it said in July 2020 without giving a precise timeframe. The move is part of the Anglo-Dutch company's plan to shrink its oil and gas business and expand its renewables and power division to reduce greenhouse gas emissions sharply by 2050.

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.

Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.
MRC

Crude oil futures steady in Asia amid softening demand due to resurgence of COVID-19 cases across the globe

Crude oil futures steady in Asia amid softening demand due to resurgence of COVID-19 cases across the globe

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Crude oil futures were steady during mid-morning trade in Asia July 13, with market sentiment bogged down by a resurgence of COVID-19 cases across the globe that could slow economic recovery, while the OPEC+ alliance remained unable to reach a consensus on reducing production cuts for August and beyond, reported S&P Global.

At 10:24 am Singapore time (0224 GMT), the ICE September Brent futures contract was up 16 cents/b (0.21%) from the previous close to USD75.32/b, while the NYMEX August light sweet crude contract was up 17 cents/b (0.23%) at USD74.27/b.

"Oil looks like it is stuck between opposing forces -- on one hand, there is the slowing down of recovery, particularly in Asia, and on the other hand, there are expectations that OPEC+ will come up with a (production) deal to maintain prices," Jeffery Halley, senior market analyst at OANDA, told S&P Global Platts July 13.

Concerns of softening demand weighed on market sentiment after data from the US showed a spike in COVID-19 cases in the week ended July 11, reflecting that the path to demand recovery may not be smooth sailing.

"The robust crude demand outlook is starting to take a hit as many countries continue to struggle with the more infectious Delta variant. Even the US is seeing a surge as low vaccinated states are behind the 47% increase in cases over the previous week," said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA in a July 13 note.

Furthermore in Asia, countries continue to implement lockdown measures to combat the resurgence of the virus, further dampening the global demand outlook for the near term.

In the UK, rising counts of COVID-19 cases are casting a shadow over the optimism surrounding the re-opening of the country, which is expected to continue as planned on July 19.

Meanwhile, the OPEC+ alliance remains unable reach an agreement on the reduction on production cuts for August and the months ahead, resulting in the bloc defaulting to sticking to current production quotas that could result in oil supply tightness, providing some support to prices.

Meanwhile, as MRC informed earlier, 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

COVID-19 - News digest as of 13.07.2021

1. US petroleum inventories fallen below the pre-pandemic five-year average

MOSCOW (MRC) -- US petroleum inventories have fallen below the pre-pandemic five-year average with consumption accelerating but crude producers slow to respond to rising prices, signalling more supply is needed, reported Reuters. Total stocks of crude and refined products outside the strategic petroleum reserve fell by 10 million barrels last week and are now down by 188 million barrels compared with the same point a year ago. Total stocks have fallen in 38 out of the last 52 weeks as OPEC+ and US shale firms limit crude production even as product consumption recovers.

MRC