ExxonMobil to take off-stream some of its Singapore complex owing to unfavourable market factors

ExxonMobil, the world's petrochemical major, is planning to shut part of its Singapore Chemical Plant in April due to unforeseen external market factors that significantly impact the company’s businesses, according to CommoPlast with reference to ExxonMobil's official statement to its customers.

The company did not specify which units are affected by the shutdown, however, reassured buyers of a stable supply of performance polyethylene (metallocene grade). As such, it is assumed that the 650,000 tons/year metallocene PE (mPE) plant would continue to operate throughout April.

Meanwhile, the old plant including the 480,000 tons/year PP line and the 600,000 tons/year LLDPE unit would likely be affected, and so the 650,000 tons/year new LLDPE line.

As MRC reported earlier, last month, ExxonMobil announced that construction of the new linear alpha olefins (LAO) manufacturing unit at its Baytown, Texas, integrated petrochemical complex is progressing and targeting commercial start up in mid-2023. When fully operational, the new facility will have the capacity to produce approximately 350,000 metric tons of LAO annually.

We remind that in February, 2022, ExxonMobil and SABIC successful started up Gulf Coast Growth Ventures world-scale manufacturing facility in San Patricio County, Texas. The new facility will produce materials used in packaging, agricultural film, construction materials, clothing, and automotive coolants. The operation includes a 1.8 MM metric tpy ethane steam cracker, two polyethylene (PE) units capable of producing up to 1.3 MM metric tpy, and a monoethylene glycol (MEG) unit with a capacity of 1.1 MM metric tpy.

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.

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

Consumption of ethane has grown every year since 2010 in the US, and more ethane is now consumed in the country than either jet fuel or propane, said EIA on its site.

Consumption of ethane, which the EIA estimates using product supplied, grew by 50,000 bpd in 2021, according to data from its March 2022 Petroleum Supply Monthly. The EIA forecasts that by 2023, US consumption of ethane will grow by another 340,000 bpd.

Annual US ethane consumption has increased in every year since 2010 because demand for ethane as a petrochemical feedstock has grown. Ethane mainly serves as a petrochemical feedstock to produce ethylene, which is used to make plastics and resins.

Domestic ethane consumption over the past two years has increased due to increased ethylene cracking capacity. In contrast, consumption of most other petroleum products has decreased these past two years as a result of less travel during the COVID-19 pandemic.

US ethane consumption grew in 2021 despite the mid-February winter storm on the US Gulf Coast, which took more than one-third of US ethylene cracking capacity offline. Because about 90% of US ethane consumption is concentrated along the Gulf Coast, storm disruptions reduced ethane consumption by 655,000 bpd in February 2021. Despite this drop, the additional capacity from two new ethylene crackers during the second half of 2021 contributed to an overall increase in ethane consumption in 2021.

The EIA expects U.S. ethane consumption to average 2.1 MMbpd in both 2022 and 2023 because another ethylene cracker was recently completed in Monaca, Pennsylvania, which will add an estimated 96,000 bpd of ethane feedstock capacity, and existing ethylene crackers should operate at higher utilization rates.

As MRC informed before, in March 2022, the EIA projected that US energy consumption will grow through 2050, primarily driven by population and economic growth. In this case, which reflects only current laws and regulations, renewable energy is the fastest-growing energy source through 2050, and petroleum remains the largest share of energy consumption throughout that period, followed by natural gas.

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

Canada will offer a substantial incentive to companies that invest in carbon capture technologies (CCT) and will set aside as much as USD3 B over eight years to accelerate critical mineral exploration, extraction and processing as it seeks to cut carbon emissions, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

In this year's budget, Canada is introducing a 60% tax credit for equipment used to capture carbon from the air, and 50% for all other capture equipment, plus a 37.5% credit for transportation and storage equipment.

CSS facilities are expected to be a key part of global efforts to contain emissions from fossil fuels. Canada is the world's fourth-largest oil producer and has a set a goal of generating net-zero emissions by 2050.

"For the oil and gas sector this tax credit, combined with the fact they are generating massive revenues right now, is more than enough to reduce the risk associated with going ahead with CCS projects," said Chris Severson-Baker, Alberta regional director at the Pembina Institute, a clean energy think-tank.

The tax credit is projected to cost the government USD2.1 B over five years. The incentive is below the 75% level the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers requested last year, and one industry group said it would look for additional funding from programs like the Canada Infrastructure Bank and Emissions Reduction Alberta.

As MRC reported earlier, Canadian researchers have developed an inexpensive, non-toxic coating for almost any fabric that decreases the infectivity of the virus that causes Covid-19 by up to 90%.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, 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

(India's HDFC Bank and some foreign banks have stopped offering trade credit for oil imports to Nayara Energy, a Russian-backed refiner, and some suppliers are seeking payment upfront to avoid potential problems resulting from western sanctions against Moscow, reported Reuters with reference to four banking and industry sources.

Nayara has not been sanctioned as part of the international response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but Russian energy giant Rosneft, which owns 49% of the Indian refiner, has been.

To avoid the need for credit to fund overseas trade, the Mumbai-headquartered company is selling more of its refined fuels in India, two of the sources said.

All of the sources declined to be named because they are not authorized to speak to the media.

Nayara did not respond to a request for comment. Rosneft did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Nayara imports crude oil worth about USD1 B every month on average for its 400,000 bpd Vadinar refinery in India's Gujarat state, the two sources told Reuters.

India's HDFC Bank and international banks such as Citibank, JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank and Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group have stopped opening and confirming Letters of Credit (LCs), which are a standard form of payment guarantee in the oil trade, for Nayara, four sources said.

Citigroup, JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank and Mitsubishi UFJ declined to comment on Monday, while HDFC did not respond to requests for comment.

Kesani Enterprises Co Ltd, a consortium led by Trafigura Group and Russia's UCP Investment Group, is the other major stakeholder in Nayara, also with a 49.13% stake.

Kesani has pledged all of its shares in Nayara to Russian bank VTB, from which it took a loan to fund its acquisition of the Indian refiner in 2017, a fundraising document Nayara issued in August last year showed.

As MRC wrote before, in December 2021, Rosneft backed Nayara Energy, earlier known as Essar Oil, has chalked out massive expansion plans for India which include setting up of a greenfield petrochemical complex and ramping up its existing refining capacity from 20 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) to 46 mtpa at Vadinar near Jamnagar in Gujarat. The total envisaged investment for expansion, of which a major part is towards building a new petrochemical complex, is about Rs.1.5 lakh crore, they said. The expansion plans also include increasing its retail presence and additional investment at the captive port of Vadinar.

We remind that Nayara Energy hopes to operate its 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) refinery in western India at close to 100% capacity in 2021 as fuel demand is picking up, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing with reference to Chief Executive Alois Virag's statement at APPEC 2021 conference. Nayara, part owned by Russian oil major Rosneft, cut rates at its Vadinar refinery in Gujarat state last year.
MRC

Dangote's 650,000-bpd oil refinery being built in Nigeria is due to begin production by the 4Q of 2022, reported Reuters with reference to Group Executive, Devakumar Edwin.

"75% hydraulic testing ... as well as 70% of electrical cable fitting have been completed preparatory to the completion of the refinery in the fourth quarter of this year," Edwin said during a site tour with Nigeria's Information Minister Lai Mohammed.

The refinery, being built at a cost of USD19 B in Lagos, has 4.74 B liters storage capacity, Edwin said. He added that 75% of products will be moved by sea within Nigeria.

Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote said in January he expected his oil refinery project to begin production by the end of the 3Q and reach full capacity by early 2023.

The project has been delayed by several years and the cost has shot to USD19 B from Dangote's earlier estimates of USD12 B to USD14 B.

Dangote, who built his fortune in the cement industry, first announced the intention to build a refinery in 2013, with the project expected to be finished in 2016.

The billionaire then moved the site to Lekki in Lagos, upgraded the size and said production would start in early 2020.

Despite being Africa's biggest oil producer and exporter, Nigeria depends almost entirely on fuel imports after allowing its significant refining capacity of 445,000 bpd to become dilapidated over several decades.

As MRC wrote previously, in August, 2021, gunmen killed a police officer and six employees of a Nigerian oil and gas services contractor during an attack on buses transporting workers to a Shell project site in the southeastern state of Imo. Attacks on oil and gas facilities have long been a problem in Nigeria, where the multi-billion dollar industry sits alongside impoverished communities that have seen little benefit from it. In this case, the motive was unclear.

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 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