U.S. to sell additional 20 million barrels of oil from strategic reserve

The Biden administration said it will sell an additional 20 MM barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as part of a previous plan to tap the facility to calm oil prices boosted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and as demand recovers from the pandemic, said Reuters.

The administration said in late March it would release a record 1 MM barrels of per day of oil for six months from the SPR, held in hollowed-out salt caverns on the coasts of Louisiana and Texas. The United States has already sold 125 MM barrels from the reserve with nearly 70 MM barrels already delivered to purchasers, a senior administration official told reporters.

The SPR releases have been a "supply lifeline" to oil and refining companies as the industry continues to get oil production back online after declines during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the official said. The U.S. Energy Information Administration, the statistics arm of the Energy Department, said this month that U.S. oil output will rise to more than 11.9 MMbpd in 2022 and to nearly 12.8 MMbpd in 2023, from about 11.2 MMbpd in 2021. That compares with a record near 12.3 million bpd in 2019.

The United States will take bids in autumn to begin the process of buying back 60 million barrels of crude for reserve, a first step in replenishing the stockpile after the 180 MM barrel release, the Department of Energy said in May. The department will soon propose a rule to help put oil back into the SPR, where levels have sunk to 475.5 MM barrels, the lowest since June 1985, by allowing it to enter forward contracts to purchase oil in future years at fixed, preset prices.

"What it means in practice is that producers would have more certainty about future demand for their product, and that would encourage investment in production today," a senior U.S. official told reporters. Oil purchases to replenish the SPR will not be competing with demand for oil in the near term as they will likely take place after fiscal year 2023, an official told reporters.

As per MRC, the recovery in Russian oil production has continued this month as higher domestic demand offset a slight drop in exports to key markets. The nation’s producers pumped 10.78 million barrels a day on average from July 1 to 17, according to data from the Energy Ministry’s CDU-TEK unit that was seen by Bloomberg. That’s 0.6% above the June level, according to calculations based on the data, indicating that the pace of the country’s output recovery has slowed.
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Cosmo First Limited, a four-decade-old global business organisation with entities-- Cosmo Films, Cosmo Speciality Chemicals, Zigly, and Cosmo Foundation, today announced the elevation of Mr. Kulbhushan Malik as the Business Head for their Films Business globally, as per Financialexpress.

He was earlier working as Head of Operations for International Businesses. A seasoned business leader with over 24 years of experience, Kulbhushan comes to Cosmo Films with diverse experience in General Management roles with P&L responsibilities, business development and finance roles with a demonstrated record of working in the manufacturing Industry.

On the announcement, Mr. Pankaj Poddar, Group CEO, Cosmo First Limited said, “Kulbhushan has not only been an integral part of Cosmo Films growth but has helped navigate it via his leadership, strategy, and business acumen. I am confident that with Kulbhushan in-charge, Cosmo First will continue to achieve its strategic business goals."

Commenting on his new role, Mr. Kulbhushan Malik, Global Business Head, Cosmo Films said, “Cosmo has been at the forefront of innovation and manufacturing capabilities in the packaging industry. I look forward to work with the team and leveraging their capabilities to seek challenges and continue to deliver upon our commitment to quality, trust, and innovation with our consumer-centric approach."

As per MRC, Cosmo Films Ltd, a global leader in Films for packaging, labelling, lamination and synthetic paper and an emerging player in Specialty Chemicals, Polymers & Pet Care today announced its new brand identity, Cosmo First Limited. The strategic decision comes considering the company's business activities have expanded beyond films into specialty chemicals (master-batches, coatings, and textile chemicals) and D2C Pet care.

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The Mitsubishi Chemical Group (MCG) hereby announces that it has invested in Eridan Communications, a company developing power transceivers for the 5G communications environment, through its CVC subsidiary Diamond Edge Ventures, Inc., said the company.

Eridan and its next-generation radio-frequency (RF) transceiver technology enable improved connectivity for more people, using less energy, less expensive infrastructure, and less spectrum, addressing the main obstacle for the shift from 4G to 5G. In its initial stages of deployment, Eridan’s MIRACLE RF Front End Module will be utilized by telecom equipment manufacturers building small cells and Massive MIMO systems for urban and suburban locations.

In line with its management policy of "Forging the future," MCG has positioned electronics as one of its most important strategic fields and aim to develop its business in semiconductor materials and high-speed telecommunications-related materials. Leveraging open innovation, MCG will co-create new digital-related solutions by combining the Group's materials technology, such as GaN substrates, with Eridan's module design technology.

This activity is part of our corporate venture activities, and MCG will continue to promote collaboration with startup companies to promote commercialization.

As MRC reported earlier, in February 2022, MCC and its subsidiary, Mitsubishi Chemical Methacrylates (MCM announced plans to design and build a pilot plant to further validate the technology. Three possible pathways to creating sustainable MMA, including the molecular recycling of acrylic resin; substituting conventional materials with drop-in plant-derived raw materials in the existing MMA monomer manufacturing process; and the direct production of MMA monomers from plant-derived raw materials by fermentation were explored. The promising results using the drop-in route have now led to the decision to commence with the design process for a new pilot plant using this technology.

The Japanese integrated chemical company Mitsubishi Chemical was established on October 1, 1990 as a result of the merger of Mitsubishi Kasei and Mitsubishi Petrochemical Co. Due to the wide scope of its activities, it is one of the ten leading chemical companies in the world.
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Neste, the world's leading producer of renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel produced from waste and residue raw materials, has agreed to acquire 100% of Walco Foods, an Irish trader of animal fats, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The transaction is subject to the fulfillment of customary closing conditions and regulatory approval. “This is another important step for Neste in the execution of our growth strategy. With this acquisition we continue to build a global waste and residue raw material platform and add trading capabilities in Ireland,” says Matti Lehmus, President and CEO of Neste.

Together with the previously announced acquisitions of IH Demeter, Bunge Loders Croklaan and Count Terminal in the Netherlands, and Mahoney Environmental and Agri Trading in the United States, Walco Foods will enhance Neste’s supply of global waste and residue raw materials.

Walco Foods was established in 1996 as a family-run business. The in-depth knowledge and market understanding developed over the years has helped Walco Foods become a leading animal fat and by-products trading company in Ireland.

Neste refines waste, residues and innovative raw materials into renewable fuels and sustainable feedstock for plastics and other materials. This is possible thanks to its proprietary NEXBTL technology – a platform that allows the company to turn a wide variety of renewable waste and residues and oils into premium fuels and other products.

As per MRC, Technip Energies has been awarded a significant contract by Neste for the expansion of their renewable products production capacity in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, as part of the existing Partnership Agreement between Technip Energies and Neste. The contract covers Engineering, Procurement services and Construction management (EPsCm) for the expansion of Neste’s existing renewables refinery in Rotterdam which will increase Neste’s overall renewable product capacity by 1.3 MMtpy.
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Shell USA and Shell Midstream Partners announced they have executed a definitive agreement and plan of merger pursuant to which Shell USA will acquire all of the common units representing limited partner interests in SHLX held by the public at USD15.85 per Public Common Unit in cash for a total value of approximately USD1.96 bn, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

A subsidiary of Shell USA currently owns 269,457,304 SHLX common units, or approximately 68.5% of SHLX common units. SHLX’s assets include interests in entities that own crude oil and refined products pipelines and terminals that serve as key infrastructure to transport onshore and offshore crude oil production to U.S. Gulf Coast and Midwest refining markets and deliver refined products from those markets to major demand centers, as well as storage tanks and financing receivables that are secured by pipelines, storage tanks, docks, truck and rail racks and other infrastructure used to stage and transport intermediate and finished products. Its assets also include interests in entities that own natural gas and refinery gas pipelines that transport offshore natural gas to market hubs and deliver refinery gas from refineries and plants to chemical sites along the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The Board of Directors of Shell Midstream Partners GP LLC, the general partner of SHLX delegated to a conflicts committee of the SHLX Board consisting solely of independent directors, the review, evaluation, negotiation and determination of whether to approve and to recommend that the SHLX Board approve the Transaction. The Conflicts Committee, after evaluating the Transaction in consultation with its independent legal and financial advisors, unanimously approved and recommended that the SHLX Board approve the Transaction. Following receipt of the recommendation of the Conflicts Committee, the SHLX Board reviewed the terms of the Transaction and the Merger Agreement, and unanimously approved the Transaction.

The Transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2022, subject to customary closing conditions. A subsidiary of Shell USA, as the holder of a majority of the outstanding SHLX common units, has delivered its consent to approve the Transaction concurrently with the execution of the Merger Agreement. As a result, SHLX has not solicited and is not soliciting approval of the Transaction by any other holders of SHLX common units.

As per MRC, Shell said surging demand for oil products that had almost tripled refining profits in the second quarter would boost earnings by up to USD1.2 bn. In an update before second quarter results on July 28, Shell also said it would reverse up to USD4.5 B in writedowns on oil and gas assets after it raised its energy prices outlook following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Earnings from oil and refined products trading were expected to be strong in the quarter but lower than the first quarter of 2022, Shell said.
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