Shell along with Valero and Marathon chasing Ecuadorian oil

Shell Plc’s trading unit Shell Western Supply and Trading, along with US refiners Valero Energy and Marathon Petroleum, are rushing to secure Ecuadorian barrels after America banned imports of Russian crude, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Ecuador’s state oil company EP Petroecuador held back-to-back meetings this week in Louisiana with several refiners and trading houses, according to Petroecuador’s oil trading manager, Pablo Noboa.

Fuelmakers and trading companies are seeking to plug a supply gap in an already tight market, sparking a hunt to replace the Russian barrels. Oil prices have been swinging wildly on mounting concerns over the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Brent futures are trading at about USD100 after surging to a 14-year high earlier this month. The ban on Russian oil includes straight-run fuel oil, a feedstock used to replace heavy crude that’s similar to what Ecuador produces.

“US refiners and traders are eager to sign mid-and long-term supply contracts after Russia invaded Ukraine,” Noboa said in an interview in New Orleans. “When oil in the global market is scarce, it makes sense to try to secure a steady supply.”

The prospect of US restrictions on Russian crude had refiners in Texas asking suppliers in Mexico and Brazil about long-term availability and prices even before the invasion of Ukraine. Brazil, which typically supplies fuel oil to Singapore and Europe, sold one cargo to the US Gulf Coast in February.

Marathon, the largest US fuelmaker, is seeking 11 to 22 cargoes of Ecuadorian heavy sour oil over 11 months, starting as soon as June, Noboa said. Jamaica’s state-owned oil company Petrojam Ltd is looking for a similar arrangement for 11 cargoes and Shell Western is seeking to extend an existing 3-year supply contract that expires in December 2023. Marathon and Valero didn’t immediately return emails seeking comment.

Shell is willing to pay more for the oil as long as it can load from Ecuador’s OCP terminal that handles larger vessels, he said. Valero is also seeking to secure a supply contract. Shell declined to comment.

Since the invasion of Ukraine, Petrojam has been reaching out to countries including Guyana and Argentina, to secure additional supplies of crude oil and fuels. It’s talking to Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. about supplying 4 MM bbl of crude annually, and is “currently in dialogue with Petroecuador and Ecopetrol in Colombia to establish term supply agreements,” General Manager Winston Watson said in a statement.

Ecuador, a former OPEC member, plans to boost oil production amid rising crude prices. “It’s now or never, we won’t have this window of opportunity of good prices” again, Petroecuador chief Italo Cedeno said late Tuesday in an online presentation. With the help of the private sector, the company plans to increase production by more than half in four years, to 763,000 bpd.

As MRC wrote before, Shell faces writedowns on USD400 MM in Russian downstream assets, it said, having announced USD3 B worth of other projects previously. The oil major announced on Feb. 28 that it would quit its ventures in Russia with Gazprom and related entities including the flagship Sakhalin 2 LNG plant and the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project.

We remind that Shell Chemicals expects its new petrochemical complex in southwest Pennsylvania to come online by the end of 2022, Royal Dutch Shell CFO Jessica Uhl said February 3, during the company's Q4 2021 earnings call.

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

Domo Chemicals, a global leader in engineered material solutions and fully integrated producer of PA6, announced today the successful delivery of 5 million tonnes of caprolactam at its Leuna site, said the company.

The Leuna site has produced caprolactam in its facilities since 1942. This quantity is equivalent to approximately 225,000 truck loads. The German subsidiary DOMO Caproleuna has been producing caprolactam and polyamide at the site in the heart of Europe since 1994. During this period, production capacities have been gradually expanded to the current 176,000 metric tonnes per year.

Caprolactam production has an 80-year-old tradition at the Leuna site. The world's first industrial-scale caprolactam production plant went into operation in Leuna as early as 1942. Since the DOMO Group took over the caprolactam plants in 1994, the technology and processes have been continuously enhanced and improved. Over the past 20 years, DOMO Caproleuna has been able to reduce specific energy consumption in medium-pressure steam by 30% and respectively in low-pressure steam by 40%, thus continuously optimizing the manufacturing process.

Sustainability is one of the strategic pillars for the Group. DOMO Beyond is our roadmap for innovative projects to achieve our sustainability goals in the areas of Planet Care, Responsible Employer, and Partner of Choice. DOMO is committing to neutral CO2 emissions growth by 2030, respectively from 2019, establishing a 15% reduction in the carbon content of DOMO’s energy mix and a 7% reduction of industrial waste.

Caprolactam is primarily required to produce polyamide 6 and is further processed in the company's own polymerization facility, which is integrated on-site, to produce the high-tech engineering plastics under the brand names DOMAMID and TECHNYL. DOMAMID is primarily used as a base polymer for engineering plastics, textiles and film applications. TECHNYL is the leading polyamide-based compound for a variety of industry segments such as automotive, electricals & electronics and industry & consumer goods.

Domo recently teamed up with pump manufacturer Wilo to supply materials for its pumps used in urban water systems. Its hot water pumps will be constructed of Domo's TECHNYL A218 V30 Black 34NG – an injection moulding compound which includes a 30% glass fibre reinforcement. It is resistant to heat and glycol and will be used to produce the Wilo Para MSL/6-43/SC circulation pump for heating systems.

In February 2020, Solvay completed the deal to split and sell the polyamide business to BASF and Domo Chemicals for EUR1.6 billion. Initially, the acquisition of the Solvay division by the German petrochemical giant was announced in September 2017. The parties planned to complete the transaction in the third quarter of 2018.

Domo Caproleuna GmbH (Lein, Germany) produces nylon, nylon derivatives, and polypropylene. Domo Caproleuna GmbH was previously known as Caproleuna GmbH. Domo Caproleuna GmbH is a subsidiary of Domo Chemicals NV.

mrchub.com

Pemex will keep oil exports close to 1 MMbpd through much of 2022, according to people familiar with the matter, despite plans to slash them to refine more crude domestically, reported Reuters.

In late December Pemex said it would more than halve exports of crude to 435,000 bpd this year and reduce them to nil in 2023 as part of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's self-sufficiency drive to end imports of gasoline.

The 2022 target rested on Pemex more than doubling refining output to over 1.5 MMbpd from about 714,000 bpd last year.

But that target is unlikely to be met, the sources said.

Lopez Obrador himself said this week that he was holding talks with the heads of Mexico's refineries as the price of crude oil has surged to its highest levels since 2008 on market tensions stemming from the war in Ukraine.

"We're defining a strategy on the basis that the price of crude is rising, and we're revamping refineries," Lopez Obrador said, without giving details of revised targets.

The president's office did not reply to a request for comment on whether the government now planned to export more crude than Pemex had projected in December. Neither Pemex nor the energy ministry replied to requests for comment.

The sources said exports will now be higher than Pemex forecast, due to surging oil prices and slow progress in boosting refining capacity. The federal budget predicts the company should produce over 1.8 MMbpd of crude this year.

"Last year's export levels will be maintained," a Pemex source with knowledge of planning told Reuters, putting it at between 1 MM and 1.1 MMbpd. Crude exports from Mexico were just over 1 MMbpd in 2021, according to Pemex.

Crude exports fell to 832,000 bpd in January, the lowest level in decades, which the source said was due to poor weather in the Gulf of Mexico. Preliminary data for February showed exports climbing to almost 950,000 bpd, the source added.

Shortfalls in processing capacity mean that more unrefined crude is sold abroad, the source noted.

Mexican refining output averaged some 712,00 bpd last year, and though it reached almost 800,000 bpd in January, a level it should stay close to through July, the source added.

Pemex said in February that processing would average 900,000 bpd this year, rising in the second half of 2022.

A second official source put crude exports at just under 1 MMbpd in 2022, in line with federal budget forecasts. Exports could be above 1 MM if two refineries are halted for repairs to improve their performance, the source added.

As MRC informed before, Pemex has sharply reduced crude exports to India, the third largest market for its oil, amid preparations for a new refinery expected to absorb more of its output. Petroleos Mexicanos in December said it would cut crude exports this year and could suspend them altogether in 2023 as the company works to meet the government's target of refining all of its oil domestically.

We remind that n late January, 2022, Pemex signed a long-term crude supply contract with Royal Dutch Shell Plc as part of its acquisition of the Deer Park refinery in Texas. Pemex and Shell in May, 2021, announced the transaction, which is worth almost USD600 MM and will make the Mexican firm the sole owner of the refinery near Houston. The facility has capacity to process 340,000 bpd. Shell will supply about 200,000 bpd of foreign and US crude to the plant for at least 15 years.

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 2,487,450 tonnes in 2021, up by 13% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 1,494.280 tonnes, up by 21% year on year. Deliveries of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whreas shipments of PP random copolymers decreased significantly.
MRC

Trinseo, a global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex binders, and synthetic rubber, and its affiliate companies in Europe, have announced a price increase for Poly Methyl Methacrylate (PMMA) Resins and PMMA Sheets, as per the company's press release as of 16 March, 2020.

Thus, the company's prices for the stated above products rose by EUR550/mt with immediate effect.

This price will be valid until further notice.

As MRC reported earlier, in May, 2021, Trinseo announced the closing of the previously announced transaction to acquire Arkema’s polymethyl methacrylates (PMMA) business. PMMA is a transparent and rigid resin with a wide range of end uses that augments Trinseo’s existing offerings across several end markets including automotive, building and construction, medical and consumer electronics.

The main application, consuming approximately 75% MMA, is in the production of polymethyl methacrylate acrylic plastics (PMMA). Methyl methacrylate is also used to produce methyl methacrylate-butadiene-styrene copolymer (MBS), used as a modifier for polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall production of unmixed PVC did not exceed 169,700 tonnes in the first two months of 2022, which virtually corresponds to the last year's figure. At the same time, three producers reduced slightly their output.

Trinseo is a global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex and rubber. Trinseo's technology is used by customers in industries such as home appliances, automotive, building & construction, carpet, consumer electronics, consumer goods, electrical & lighting, medical, packaging, paper & paperboard, rubber goods and tires. Formerly known as Styron, Trinseo completed its renaming process in 1Q 2015. Trinseo had approximately USD4.8 billion in net sales in 2021, with 26 manufacturing sites around the world, and approximately 3,400 employees.
MRC

Italian oil and gas company Eni said on Friday it was not using oil of Russian origin in operations related to its 20% share in the Bayernoil refinery in the Germany state of Bavaria, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Swiss firm Varo Energy, another shareholder in the Bayernoil refinery, said it had not entered into new deals to buy Russian oil since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and did not plan to. It said previous contracts had expired.

The West has imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia over the invasion. The US has banned Russian oil imports, while the European Union, which is more reliant on Russian fuel, has banned investments in Russia's energy sector.

Some buyers, meanwhile, appear to be shunning Russian oil to avoid becoming entangled in sanctions.

"In 2022, Eni Deutschland as a shareholder of Bayernoil has not used Russian crude oil, nor is the use of Russian crude oil planned in the near future," a spokeswoman for Munich-based Eni Deutschland GmbH said in a written statement.

"At the moment, Eni Deutschland sources its supply share in the Bayernoil refinery via other crude oils," she said.

Bayernoil processes 10.3 MMtpy of crude to make products including gasoline, diesel, heating oil and bitumen at its Neustadt and Vohburg sites.

Alongside from Eni's 20% stake in Bayernoil, Varo Energy holds 51.4% and Russia's Rosneft owns 28.57%.

Rosneft did not reply to enquiries about Russian oil flows.

As MRC wrote earlier, Eni is evaluating conversion of its Livorno refinery in northwest Italy into a biorefinery, as part of the Italian company's wider strategy to make its activities more environmentally sustainable. Eni has already converted two of its Italian refineries and is looking to almost double its biorefining capacity to around 2 million mt/year by 2024, and expand this to at least five times by 2050, as part of its pledge to achieve complete carbon neutrality 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 2,487,450 tonnes in 2021, up by 13% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 1,494.280 tonnes, up by 21% year on year. Deliveries of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whreas shipments of PP random copolymers decreased significantly.

Eni, abbreviation of Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi, in full Eni SpA, Italian energy company operating primarily in petroleum, natural gas, and petrochemicals. Established in 1953, it is one of Europe's largest oil companies in terms of sales.
MRC