Crude oil prices drop on expectations for weaker demand after Hurricane Ida

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Oil fell on Tuesday on expectations for demand to fall after Hurricane Ida shuttered refiners on the US Gulf Coast, and as producing nations in OPEC+ geared up to meet on Wednesday with the United States calling for suppliers to pump more crude, reported Reuters.

Brent crude futures for October, due to expire on Tuesday, fell 39 cents, or 0.5%, to USD73.02 a barrel by 11:08 a.m. EDT (1508 GMT). US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 43 cents, or 0.6%, at USD68.78.

Both benchmarks were on track for their first monthly loss since March but were still not far from their July highs, when Brent rose to its strongest since 2018 and US crude since 2014.

Hurricane Ida, which made landfall in the United States on Sunday as a Category 4 hurricane, knocked out at least 94% of offshore Gulf of Mexico oil and gas production and caused "catastrophic" damage to Louisiana's grid.

Prices were pressured by concerns that power outages and flooding in Louisiana after Hurricane Ida will cut crude demand from refineries.

About 1.7 million bpd of offshore oil production was shut, but that output may resume more quickly than many refining operations along the Gulf that lost power and have limited access. Analysts at FGE said in a Tuesday note they expect roughly three-quarters of offshore output to resume by the end of the week.

OPEC and allied producers in OPEC+ had agreed to add 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) to monthly supply until the end of December. Sources told Reuters the group is likely to maintain that plan despite US pressure for more output.

OPEC's own data showed the market will face a deficit until the end of 2021 but then flip into a surplus in 2022.

As MRC informed previously, crude oil stockpiles fell modestly in early August, while gasoline inventories dipped to their lowest level since November, according to the US Energy Information Administration. Crude inventories fell by 447,000 barrels in the week to Aug. 6 to 438.8 million barrels, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.3 million-barrel drop. Overall crude inventories have been on the decline for several weeks due to increased demand.

We remind that US crude oil production is expected to fall by 160,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2021 to 11.12 million bpd, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a monthly report, a smaller decline than its previous forecast for a drop of 210,000 bpd.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - The Ministry of Finance and Rosneft have disagreed over measures to support the Eastern Petrochemical Complex (VNHK) project, Interfax reports.

"The company has formulated its proposals. We have formulated the conditions to which we agree. A decision should simply be made here at the level of government leadership," Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Sazanov told reporters.

"The relevant reports have been submitted to the government. In principle, indeed, we believe that VNHK is a necessary, useful project for the country, but the level of support that it requires, the position of the company and ours on this issue are still at odds and, accordingly, we need an arbiter in the person of governments to make a final decision", - he added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier instructed the government, together with Rosneft and Gazprom, to consider measures to support VNHK, as well as to study the possibility of providing VNHK with natural gas from the resource base of Gazprom. The deadline for the execution of the order was set until May.

The head of Rosneft, Igor Sechin, said in August 2020 that the company was ready to resume construction of the VNHK under fiscal conditions that ensure the profitability of the project. He pointed out that Rosneft has temporarily postponed the implementation of the project due to changes in the tax regime. According to Sechin, the company needs stability in this matter, which would allow planning the economy of this enterprise for at least 30 years. Putin then instructed the head of Rosneft to draw up and submit proposals.

Rosneft planned to build an oil refining and petrochemical complex in the Primorsky Territory in two stages - oil refining with a capacity of 12 m tonnes per year and petrochemicals with a capacity of 3.4 m tonnes per year.

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 1,176,860 tonnes in the first half of 2021, up by 5% year on year. Shipments of exclusively low density polyethylene (LDPE) decreased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 727,160 tonnes in the first six months of 2021, up by 31% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased. Supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.

Rosneft is the world's largest publicly traded oil company. The company accounts for about 5% of global oil production, and its proven reserves in the international category will exceed 5 billion tons of oil equivalent. Rosneft's structure includes the Lisichansk Refinery, Angarsk Polymer Plant, and Ufaorgsintez after acquiring a 60.16% stake in Bashneft on October 12, 2016.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shell found evidence of building damage at its 230,611-bpd Norco, Louisiana refinery, reported Reuters with reference to a company spokesman's statement.

"The site did lose power and there is evidence of some building damage," Shell spokesman Curtis Smith said. "We will commence a site start-up when safe to do so."

Sources familiar with plant operations said damage had been found at the Norco refinery but did not know the extent of the damage or time needed to make the repairs.

Shell is awaiting the restoration of external electrical power to the Norco refining and chemical plant complex.

As MRC informed earlier, 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 1,176,860 tonnes in the first half of 2021, up by 5% year on year. Shipments of exclusively low density polyethylene (LDPE) decreased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 727,160 tonnes in the first six months of 2021, up by 31% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased. Supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Danil Rasskazov was appointed General Director of the SIBUR--Khimprom enterprise; he took up his duties on 1 September, 2021, said the company.

Danil Rasskazov has been working for SIBUR since 2007, where he came after graduating from the Tyumen State Oil and Gas University.

He began his career as a labor organization engineer in the HR department at Nyagangazpererabotka (Nyagan, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug). For 14 years, he held executive positions at SIBUR enterprises in Western Siberia.

"Under the leadership of Danil Rasskazov, the Sibur-Khimprom team will continue the development of the Perm enterprise, bringing it to a new level of operational efficiency, the implementation of current and future projects, as well as strengthening interaction with major partners in the region," the message says.

As per MRC, Glavgosexpertiza of Russia approved the design documentation and the results of engineering surveys for the creation of a new production of special plasticizers using its own technology at SIBUR-Khimprom JSC in the Perm Territory. The design documentation, approved by Glavgosexpertiza, provides for the organization of the production of special plasticizers with a capacity of 25,000 tonnes per year using SIBUR-Khimprom's own technology.

According to MRC's DataScope report, last month"s SPVC imports to Russia grew to 8,700 tonnes from 5,000 tonnes in June. Good seasonal demand and shutdowns for maintenance at two major Russian plants led to a surge in imports in July. Overall imports totalled 28,700 tonnes in the first seven months of 2021, compared to 27,900 tonnes a year earlier, with resin from China accounting for the main increase in imports.

SIBUR-Khimprom specializes in the processing of liquid hydrocarbons and is one of the leading Russian producers of a number of important petrochemical products.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil Catalysts and Licensing LLC has introduced ExxonMobil Renewable Diesel process technology (EMRD) to help meet the evolving needs for mobility, while utilizing renewable feedstock, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

This new process technology converts feedstocks including, but not limited to, vegetable oils, unconverted cooking oil and animal fats, into renewable diesel.

The EMRD process is a two-stage process in which hydrotreating and dewaxing are controlled separately. Compared to a single-stage process, this approach provides higher diesel yields and superior control. Additionally, the EMRD process provides the potential to produce jet fuel as a secondary product with added fractionation.

The EMRD process is an integrated solution that leverages ExxonMobil’s BioIsomerization Dewaxing (BIDW) catalyst. This provides refiners and biofuel producers with powerful dewaxing in both winter and summer modes. Improved yields were demonstrated during testing of BIDW catalyst versus other internally formulated zeolite-based alternatives.

“Choosing the right process technology is critical to producing both renewable diesel and jet fuel from bio-feedstocks. The EMRD process provides an advanced solution that enables high yields while meeting stringent seasonal product specifications,” said James Ritchie, president of ExxonMobil Catalysts and Licensing LLC.

As MRC wrote before, ExxonMobil announced its majority-owned affiliate, Imperial Oil Ltd., is moving forward with plans to produce renewable diesel at a new complex at its Strathcona refinery in Edmonton, Canada. When construction is complete, the refinery is expected to produce approximately 20,000 barrels per day of renewable diesel, which could reduce emissions in the Canadian transportation sector by about 3 million metric tons per year. The complex will utilize locally grown plant-based feedstock and hydrogen with carbon capture and storage (CCS) as part of the manufacturing process.

We remind that ExxonMobil and SABIC have announced that their joint venture, Gulf Coast Growth Ventures located near Corpus Christi, Texas, has reached mechanical completion of a monoethylene glycol (MEG) unit and two polyethylene (PE) units. Project startup is expected to begin ahead of schedule, likely in the fourth quarter of 2021.

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 1,176,860 tonnes in the first half of 2021, up by 5% year on year. Shipments of exclusively low density polyethylene (LDPE) decreased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 727,160 tonnes in the first six months of 2021, up by 31% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased. Supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.

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