USW offers modified proposal to ExxonMobil in attempt to end eight-month Texas refinery lockout

USW offers modified proposal to ExxonMobil in attempt to end eight-month Texas refinery lockout

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The United Steelworkers union (USW) on Thursday modified its contract proposal to ExxonMobil in a bid to end an eight-month lockout of about 600 workers at the company’s Beaumont, Texas, refinery, reported Reuters with reference to a union official's statement.

The sides held their first negotiating session since late October, meeting for about an hour on Thursday morning, said Bryan Gross, USW international representative.

"We made a few modifications around holiday pay and a few other items to match other ExxonMobil contracts at the Baytown (Texas) and Baton Rouge (Louisiana) refineries," Gross said. He said the proposal modifications were not concessions.

The two sides were awaiting results from a US National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)-supervised decertification vote on whether to remove the union from the plant.

The company has said it would end the lockout when an agreement is reached or when the union is removed through decertification.

Exxon has kept operating the 369,000-bpd refinery and oil-blending facility using supervisors, managers and temporary operators. The facility produces gasoline and Mobil 1 motor oil.

On Dec. 29, the NLRB said it impounded ballots in the decertification vote while it investigates the union's complaints of unfair labor practices against Exxon. Results may not be known for several weeks, a NLRB spokeswoman said.

The federal board is reviewing union charges that the months-long lockout was intended to break the union at the plant and that Exxon improperly aided a union-removal campaign. Exxon has denied the allegations.

As MRC informed before, ExxonMobil said on Dec. 27, its Baytown, Texas, refinery continued to operate at reduced rates following a fire on Dec. 23, and that the unit involved remained shut down. The company has not yet determined the cause of the fire, but said it was continuing to empty the unit so it could safely enter the facility and assess what impact it would have on production. A filing with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said the fire occurred at the facility's hydro desulfurization unit 1.

Exxon's Baytown facility is home to a chemical plant, an olefins plant and the country's fourth-biggest oil refinery, with capacity to process 560,500 bpd of crude.

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 2,265,290 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2021, up by 14% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,363,850 tonnes in January-November, 2021, up by 25% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.

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

Tilley-Phoenix acquires Callahan Chemical

Tilley-Phoenix acquires Callahan Chemical

MOSCOW (MRC) --Tilley-Phoenix Group, a US-based specialty ingredients distributor and services provider, has acquired Callahan Chemical Company for an undisclosed sum, said the company.

Callahan, with operations in the Philadelphia and Boston areas, is a regional distributor of ingredients and compounds.

The company serves customers in end markets such as food and beverage, personal care and cosmetics, pharmaceutical and nutraceuticals, HI&I (household institutional and industrial) and CASE (coatings, adhesives, sealants and elastomers).

Baltimore, Maryland-based Tilley-Phoenix is a portfolio company of SK Capital Partners, which announced the acquisition in a statement earlier this week.

As per MRC, US thermoplastic compounds company Teknor Apex has completed a new 50,000 square-metre facility at Rothenburg ob der Tauber, southeast of Frankfurt, Germany, to produce thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) and engineering thermoplastics (ETPs) compounds. The Rothenburg facility produces thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) and engineering thermoplastics (ETPs), ranging from general-purpose compounds to highly specialized formulations. An extensive laboratory will be used for developing new compounds and providing customers with design support, application development, as well as product and process training.

As MRC wrote previously, in May 2018, Teknor Apex announced that it had developed a series of flexible PVC injection moulding compounds that have been used successfully in automotive window encapsulation.
MRC

TechnipFMC sells stake in Technip Energies

TechnipFMC sells stake in Technip Energies

MOSCOW (MRC) -- TechnipFMC plc has announced the sale of 9 MM Technip Energies N.V. shares through private sale transactions, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The sale price of the shares in the sale is set at EUR13.15 per share, yielding total gross proceeds of EUR118.4 MM.

Upon completion of the sale, representing approximately 5% of Technip Energies’ issued and outstanding share capital, TechnipFMC retains a direct stake of approximately 7% of Technip Energies’ share capital.

The sale was conducted without a public offering in any country and included the following parties: Settlement for the sale is expected to take place on or around January 14, 2022.

TechnipFMC is subject to a 30-day lock-up for its remaining shares in Technip Energies that expires on February 9, 2022.

As MRC reported earlier, in December 2021, Technip Energies provided the technology licensing and process design to SP Olefins (Taixing) Co. Ltd., for China’s first gas-cracking ethylene plant in Taixing, Jiangsu Province, China. The 780,000 tpy plant successfully started up in August 2019, reaching on-spec olefins shortly thereafter. Earlier last year, the plant passed all performance guarantees, and the final acceptance certificate was recently issued, which was delayed due to COVID-19. The Taixing plant is not only the first gas-cracking ethylene plant in China, but also the first plant to use imported US ethane as feedstock.

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 2,265,290 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2021, up by 14% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,363,850 tonnes in January-November, 2021, up by 25% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.
MRC

COVID-19 - News digest as of 10.01.2022

1. Essar to transition existing assets towards green economy and invest in clean energy ecosystem

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Energy and infrastructure conglomerate Essar will transition existing assets towards a green economy and invest in businesses that will transform sector landscapes from carbon to a clean energy ecosystem, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing with reference to the company"s promoter director Prashant Ruia" statement in late December, 2021. As the world welcomes the new year, the group announced the launch of its campaign #KalKeLiye with a vision to ensure a cleaner and greener tomorrow. With this campaign, Essar embarks upon building a much greener and cleaner business portfolio for the new-age shared economy.

MRC

Advanced Petrochemical net profit rise by 37% on higher PP sales

Advanced Petrochemical net profit rise by 37% on higher PP sales

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Arabia’s Advanced Petrochemical Co. has registered its highest-ever estimated annual profit since its incorporation in 2021, amid higher polypropylene (PP) sales, according to ARAB NEWS.

The Jubail-based company’s net profit rose by 37% to SR815 million (USD217 million), compared to SR596 million a year earlier, it said in a bourse filing.

This was mainly driven by a 51% increase in sales of PP - used to make packaging as well as a wide array of consumer products.

Total comprehensive income surged to SR985 million, up 56% year-on-year, due to unrealized gains on equity investment during the period.

The hike came despite some drawbacks including a decline in its stake in South Korean affiliate SK Advanced Co. and higher prices of propane and outsourced propylene, among other factors that led to an increase in expenses.

As MRC wrote previously, in April, 2021, Advanced Petrochemical Co. announced that it had resumed operations at two plants in Jubail, Saudi Arabia after the completion of a scheduled turnaround. Thus, operations at the company's polypropylene (PP) plant began on 28 March, 2021, whereas operations at its propane degydranation (PDH) unit restarted on 11 April, 202. Both plants were shut for repairs on 11 March, 2021. The maintenance works were implemented in line with the occupational safety and health standards, despite the COVID-19 outbreak.

We remind that SK Advanced started up a new PP plant in Ulsan, South Korea on 23 March, 2021, and managed to produce on-specification PP at this plant in the week ending 9 April, 2021.The PP unit is a joint venture between PolyMirae and SK Advanced, using the “Spheripol” process of LyondellBasell, and have an annual output of 400,000 tons/year.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,363,850 tonnes in January-November, 2021, up by 25% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.
MRC