Chemical rail traffic in North America down 3.1%

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending July 9, 2022, said AAR.

For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 437,600 carloads and intermodal units, down 3.1 percent compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending July 9 were 207,450 carloads, down 1.3 percent compared with the same week in 2021, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 230,150 containers and trailers, down 4.7 percent compared to 2021.

Four of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2021. They included coal, up 1,633 carloads, to 60,105; farm products excl. grain, and food, up 1,056 carloads, to 15,705; and motor vehicles and parts, up 409 carloads, to 10,725. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2021 included metallic ores and metals, down 4,422 carloads, to 18,019; chemicals, down 1,038 carloads, to 30,163; and petroleum and petroleum products, down 378 carloads, to 9,395.

For the first 27 weeks of 2022, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 6,201,367 carloads, down 0.2 percent from the same point last year; and 7,108,876 intermodal units, down 6.1 percent from last year. Total combined U.S. traffic for the first 27 weeks of 2022 was 13,310,243 carloads and intermodal units, a decrease of 3.5 percent compared to last year.

North American rail volume for the week ending July 9, 2022, on 12 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 302,763 carloads, up 1.9 percent compared with the same week last year, and 311,439 intermodal units, up 0.3 percent compared with last year. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 614,202 carloads and intermodal units, up 1.1 percent. North American rail volume for the first 27 weeks of 2022 was 18,170,988 carloads and intermodal units, down 3.4 percent compared with 2021.

Canadian railroads reported 73,339 carloads for the week, up 14 percent, and 65,786 intermodal units, up 26.7 percent compared with the same week in 2021. For the first 27 weeks of 2022, Canadian railroads reported cumulative rail traffic volume of 3,863,292 carloads, containers and trailers, down 4.4 percent.

Mexican railroads reported 21,974 carloads for the week, down 2.6 percent compared with the same week last year, and 15,503 intermodal units, down 9.1 percent. Cumulative volume on Mexican railroads for the first 27 weeks of 2022 was 997,453 carloads and intermodal containers and trailers, up 1 percent from the same point last year.

We remind, The Association of American Railroads (AAR) today reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending July 2, 2022, as well as volumes for June 2022. U.S. railroads originated 1,157,555 carloads in June 2022, down 1.5 percent, or 17,970 carloads, from June 2021. U.S. railroads also originated 1,323,119 containers and trailers in June 2022, down 4.6 percent, or 63,483 units, from the same month last year. Combined U.S. carload and intermodal originations in June 2022 were 2,480,674, down 3.2 percent, or 81,453 carloads and intermodal units from June 2021.
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Dow, the LPGA Tour and Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational (Dow GLBI) tournament officials have teamed up to announce an extension for Dow GLBI to run through 2029, said the company.

The extension marks one of the longest extensions on the LPGA Tour currently and comes as the 2022 event kicks off at Midland Country Club this week, where 72 two-person teams will compete for a share of a USD2.5 million purse.

"As we celebrate our 125th Anniversary, I couldn’t think of a better way to kick off this year’s event and look ahead to the future than by sharing the news of Dow’s continued commitment to the Great Lakes Bay Region and to the LPGA Tour,” said Jim Fitterling, Dow Chairman and CEO. “Our partnership with the LPGA Tour continues to be a perfect platform for us to positively impact our region while showcasing our efforts in sustainability and inclusion as well as our customer-centric approach to doing business. And we couldn’t have accomplished any of this without the support of our many community partners."

Since its inception, the Dow GLBI has donated more than USD1 million to local charities and organizations. The event partners annually with more than 250 local companies and suppliers and is estimated to have brought more than $25 million in economic impact to the Great Lakes Bay Region. In addition to the official LPGA tournament, the week-long event features many ancillary events and activities meant to engage the entire community including the Eat Great Food Festival, an onsite STEM Center for kids and families, SOAR – an inclusion summit, and more.

The Dow GLBI made its debut in 2019 as the first official team competition in LPGA Tour history. That same year the tournament won LPGA Tournament of the Year – the first time this award was presented to a first-year tournament.“Dow continues to be a leader in sustainability and inclusion on the LPGA Tour, and we are thrilled to continue this incredible partnership,” said Mollie Marcoux Samaan, LPGA Commissioner. “Partners like Dow not only help elevate the playing field for our golfers, but also allow us to use our collective platform for maximum impact. The longevity of our partnership is a true testament to Dow’s commitment and leadership."

The Dow GLBI became the first event on the LPGA Tour to receive and retain full GEO® Certification for its sustainability efforts and was also the first-ever professional golf tournament to receive this recognition in its first year of operation. In 2021, the Dow GLBI also became the first-ever event on the LPGA Tour to achieve carbon neutrality, tournament officials announced last week. Dow is the Official Sustainability Resource of the LPGA Tour and the Ladies European Tour offering the league and tournaments strategies and a blueprint to become more sustainable.

“Dow’s purpose is to deliver a sustainable future for the world through our materials science expertise and collaboration with our partners,” said Dow GLBI Executive Director Chris Chandler. “That’s why this partnership with the LPGA family is so critical – and why it’s a privilege to be a part of it. Together, we believe we can imagine a better future through sport – harnessing the power of sport to drive meaningful and actionable change for our planet."

As per MRC, Dow has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Chinese food and beverage firm Want-Want for zero-solvent emissions and to develop a circular economy for flexible packaging, said the company.
The agreement intends to strengthen value-chain partner cooperation with customised adhesives solutions to meet the demands of the industry for more eco-friendly packaging options. With Dow’s water-based and solventless adhesives technologies, Want-Want will shift to more sustainable laminating adhesives for all of its flexible packaging.
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LUKOIL approved Energy Saving and Energy Efficiency Improvement Program for entities of the LUKOIL Group for 2023 and for the period of 2024-2025, said the company.

The Program will help the Company to save about 9 million GJ of fuel and energy resources over the next three years. The Program provides, among other things, for upgrading pump and process equipment, optimizing production processes, patterns of power flow distribution and heat exchange between process facilities as well as introducing modern lighting systems.

Energy saving activities make a basis of the Decarbonization Program of the LUKOIL Group. Efforts to improve the energy efficiency in the Company are based on the energy management system. By now all major production entities have confirmed their compliance with requirements of the new revision of the ISO 50001-2018 international standard.

The energy management system includes mid- and short-term planning process to set quantitative goals in energy saving for one and three years. The achievement of goals is reviewed on an annual basis at the yearend and projected indicators are adjusted accordingly.

As per MRC, LUKOIL will develop a network of Shell filling stations in Russia under the Finnish brand Teboil. Following extensive discussions with the leaders and employees of Shell's filling station network in Russia, acquired by LUKOIL last month, the decision was made to preserve the business as a separate subsidiary of the Company. It will develop under Teboil brand – a fuel brand that had not previously been present in the Russian market. The brand belongs to LUKOIL since 2005. The Company has already embarked upon a step-by-step rebranding of the filling stations.
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U.S. refiners last quarter imported West African oil at the highest rate in nearly three years, customs data showed, buying the gasoline-friendly crudes as they boosted motor fuel production to meet summer driving demand, as per Reuters.

Imports from West African nations, primarily by East Coast operations of PBF Energy, Phillips 66 and Monroe Energy, were at least 11.6 MM barrels in the second quarter, U.S. customs and ship-tracking data on Refinitiv Eikon showed, the highest since the third quarter of 2019.

Imports rose even as prices for Nigeria's Qua Iboe and Yoho crudes touched record levels. Qua Iboe averaged a $4.20 premium to dated Brent in the quarter. U.S. gasoline demand has climbed. Consumption of finished motor gasoline reached 9.4 MM barrels per day, the highest since the end of 2021, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. East Coast gas prices were USD4.50 to USD5 per gallon.

West African imports spiked in May with 5.2 MM barrels being discharged in the United States, more than doubling from April. Light oil, like that from West Africa, typically produces a greater percentage of gasoline than heavy oil. "Some refiners have been forced into running more light sweet in lieu of Russian sour," a seller of West African crude said. The United States in March banned imports of Russian crude and refined products over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, which it calls a "special operation."

The U.S. share of West Africa light sweet crude imports climbed to about 20% last month, from about 8.2% before Russia's invasion, said Houston-based independent energy strategist Clay Seigle, citing data from energy analytics firm Vortexa. Asia's share fell to about 23% from 42%. Imports of Arab light and extra light sour crude grades in June also touched their highest since May 2020, at 19.3 MM barrels.

As per MRC, Oil refining company and labor union representatives pressed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency at a virtual meeting last week to lower costs of the nation's biofuel blending program when it resets the policy next year, according to sources familiar with the call. The refining industry and unions representing its workers have grown more concerned about the impact of an expected overhaul of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). It requires refiners to blend billions of gallons per year of biofuels like ethanol into the nation's fuel or buy credits called RINs from those that do. When Congress enacted the RFS in 2005, it set yearly volume requirement targets of renewable fuel through 2022 and gave the EPA broad authority to reshape the policy after that. The EPA is expected to propose changes by mid-September.
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The prices of renewable identification number (RIN) credits—a compliance mechanism used for the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)—have remained high in 2022, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

So far this year, RINs generated by biomass-based diesel (biodiesel and renewable diesel) production, known as D4 RINs, peaked on April 28 at USD1.91 per gallon (gal), and RINs generated by ethanol production (D6 RINs) peaked on June 7 at USD1.68/gal, close to the high prices seen in 2021.

The RFS program sets annual targets, also called Renewable Volume Obligations (RVOs), for the amount of renewable fuels that must enter into the U.S. fuel supply to increase biofuels use. Petroleum refiners and importers of motor gasoline and diesel comply either by blending biofuels into petroleum-based fuels or by purchasing RIN credits. In general, RIN credit prices increase for two reasons.

The first reason RIN prices increase is when the cost of a biofuel is higher than the petroleum fuel it is blended into. In this case, blenders sell the RIN at a higher price so that they can offset the costs of the more expensive feedstock and continue blending at levels suitable for RFS compliance. Rising global demand for the agricultural feedstocks used to make biodiesel fuels has made biodiesel more expensive than petroleum diesel, driving D4 RIN prices higher in 2022 and creating an incentive to blend biodiesel and renewable diesel.

At its peak on April 28, the U.S. Gulf Coast spot price for biodiesel reached $8.36/gal. Even when accounting for a $1.00/gal biodiesel tax credit that blenders receive for blending biodiesel, biodiesel spot prices were more than $3.00/gal more expensive than the USD4.30/gal U.S. Gulf Coast spot price for ultra-low sulfur diesel. This difference has decreased slightly since then to USD2.52/gal as of July 11 but remains a large enough difference that high D4 RIN prices are needed to drive enough blended fuel to meet the RFS targets.

The second reason RIN credit prices increase is when RFS targets are set at a higher level than normal market-driven biofuel consumption can support. In this case, a higher RIN price encourages blending to the higher target level. The value of the higher RIN provides an incentive for blenders and retailers to offer higher biofuel blends at discounted prices to encourage higher consumption of biofuels to meet the increased RFS targets. So, the recent increase in D6 RIN prices is likely due to the higher RFS target announced by EPA on June 3, 2022.

The EPA announcement set the implied RVO target for ethanol at the statutory maximum of 15 B RINs, the same as in 2019. This target is an increase from 2020 and 2021 targets, which were lower because of reduced driving demand during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We remind, Oil refining company and labor union representatives pressed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency at a virtual meeting last week to lower costs of the nation's biofuel blending program when it resets the policy next year, according to sources familiar with the call. The refining industry and unions representing its workers have grown more concerned about the impact of an expected overhaul of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). It requires refiners to blend billions of gallons per year of biofuels like ethanol into the nation's fuel or buy credits called RINs from those that do. When Congress enacted the RFS in 2005, it set yearly volume requirement targets of renewable fuel through 2022 and gave the EPA broad authority to reshape the policy after that. The EPA is expected to propose changes by mid-September.
mrchub.com