ExxonMobil considering to completely withdraw from Russia by June 24

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil Corp is considering a complete withdrawal from Russia by June 24, two sources familiar with plans told Reuters on Thursday, following the US oil major's earlier decision to exit all operations in the country.

Exxon Mobil has not provided a timetable for the withdrawal but last month removed employees who are US citizens from Russia after Moscow launched what it calls its special military operation in Ukraine.

The first departures included staff from its large oil and gas production operations on Sakhalin Island in Russia's Far East, including the Sakhalin 1 project.

"As we announced March 1, we are discontinuing operations and taking steps to exit the Sakhalin-1 venture," Exxon spokesperson Casey Norton said in a written statement.

Exxon last year employed more than 1,000 people across Russia, with offices in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Yuzhno-Sakhalinst, according to its website.

Exxon has also significantly phased down its chemical and lubricant businesses in Russia, and limited sales to existing contractual commitments and essential products used in applications such as food preservation, agriculture and hygiene, the spokesperson said.

As MRC wrote previously, earlier this month, SEE, ExxonMobil, and Ahold Delhaize USA announced their collaboration on an advanced recycling initiative, the first of its kind in the US. The project recycles flexible plastics from the food supply chain and remakes them into new, certified circular food-grade packaging. The initiative is expected to begin this summer and scale over time.

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Valero Energy Corp's quarterly earnings blew past Wall Street expectations on Tuesday, as margins strengthened thanks to rising demand for fuel and as worldwide supply tightened following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, reported Reuters.

Valero's quarterly refining margin more than doubled to USD3.21-B from a year earlier. Global fuel demand has rebounded to near pre-pandemic levels, while supply of refined products like diesel and jet fuel have tightened sharply due to the Russia-Ukraine war.

In addition, numerous refineries worldwide have closed, to the benefit of facilities that are still operating.

Valero, the first major US refiner to post quarterly results, said its total refinery throughput volumes averaged 2.8 MMbpd in the quarter ended March 31, 390,000 bpd higher than a year earlier.

The company's refining segment posted adjusted operating income of USD1.47-B, compared with an adjusted loss of $506 million in the year-ago period. Its per-barrel refining margin was USD12.74 in the first quarter, compared with $6.91 for the year-ago period.

Valero reported a quarterly adjusted profit of USD2.31 per share, far ahead of analysts' average estimate of USD1.66, according to Refinitiv IBES data.

The company's shares, which have gained nearly 34% so far this year, rose as much as 3.2% in premarket trading.

As MRC wrote previously, San Antonio-based Valero Energy Corp, the second-largest US oil refiner, ran its 14 refineries at between 88% and 92% of their combined capacity of 3.2 million barrels per day (bpd) 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 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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Rosneft failed to sell oil in a jumbo tender after demanding prepayment in roubles, meaning the country's top oil company will need to find ways to divert more crude to buyers in Asia via private deals, reported Reuters.

The failure of the tender highlights a growing struggle by the Kremlin oil major to sell oil due to sweeping Western sanctions on Russia for the invasion of Ukraine.

Moscow, which calls the invasion "a special operation", has publicly acknowledged it has faced some oil export problems since March due to sanctions but pledged to boost cooperation with Asia to divert some oil sales from the West.

Western sanctions on Russian oil are part of a broader effort to isolate Moscow politically and economically for the invasion that includes discussion of an EU-wide oil embargo

The European Union also advised its members not to succumb to Russian President Vladimir Putin's demand to pay roubles for gas from Russian gas monopoly Gazprom.

The EU is much more dependent of Russian gas than on oil and analysts and economists have said a full embargo on Russian gas would plunge the continent deep into recession.

Last week, Rosneft followed on the footsteps of Putin's orders to Gazprom and asked for 100% prepayment and conversion of the payment into roubles for purchases of its oil.

Rosneft tendered to sell 6.5 MMtons of Urals, Siberian Light, Sokol and ESPO Blend oil loading from Russian ports in May-June but no bids were submitted by Monday, the five traders said.

Rosneft did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

As MRC informed before, earlier this month, India's HDFC Bank and some foreign banks 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. 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.

We remind that 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.

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- An explosion at illegal oil refining depot in Nigeria's Rivers state has killed over 100 people overnight, reported Reuters with reference to a local government official and the NGO Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre's (YEAC) statement on Saturday.

"The fire outbreak occurred at an illegal bunkering site and it affected over 100 people who were burnt beyond recognition," the state commissioner for petroleum resources, Goodluck Opiah, said.

As MRC informed earlier, Dangote's 650,000-bpd oil refinery being built in Nigeria is due to begin production by the 4Q of 2022.

We remind that 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 also 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