Exxon asks U.S. labor board for new date for hearing on refinery lockout charges

Exxon asks U.S. labor board for new date for hearing on refinery lockout charges

ExxonMobil asked the U.S. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to move back by a month a hearing on a complaint the company unlawfully locked out more than 600 workers from its Beaumont, Texas, refinery, said Reuters.

In the filing, Exxon said several of company's attorneys and anticipated witnesses are unavailable the week of Jan. 9, 2023 "due to prior engagements." The NLRB had asked an administrative law judge to hear the complaint beginning on Jan. 9, 2023. In the complaint made public on Monday, the NLRB charges that the 10-month lockout was part of an unlawful attempt to remove the United Steelworkers union (USW) from representing the workers at the 369,024 barrel-per-day (bpd) Beaumont refinery.

In the complaint, the board said the employees should be awarded back pay and their costs from the lockout by an administrative law judge who will hear the complaint and Exxon's response in Houston.

We remind, ExxonMobil is gradually shutting down its 235,000 barrel per day (bpd) Fos-Sur-Mer refinery in France as a result of ongoing strike action. Walkouts caused the gradual shut down of Exxon's 240,000 bpd Port Jerome-Gravenchon oil refinery and Notre Dame de Gravenchon (NDG) petrochemical site in France on Sept. 20 before spreading to Fos-Sur-Mer 24 hours later.
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Honeywell announces new ethanol-to-jet fuel technology

Honeywell announces new ethanol-to-jet fuel technology

Honeywell International Inc will roll out technology that could increase supplies of lower-carbon fuel produced from ethanol, the company said, as per Reuters.

Honeywell's technology can increase production efficiency of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to lower costs. The airline sector is considered one of the most difficult to decarbonize as fuel cannot be easily replaced with other kinds of power. Oil refiners have been trying to increase production of SAF to try to lower emissions.

"As demand for SAF has increased, we've been looking at different ways to make more SAF economically that people can adopt and adopt at large-scale and produce to displace significant fractions of the jet and diesel pools," Kevin O'Neil, senior business leader for renewable fuels at Honeywell UOP, said.

The company says, depending on the type of ethanol feedstock used, that its technology can cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80% on a total lifecycle basis compared with petroleum-based jet fuel. Ethanol is primarily made from corn in the United States.

SAF plants using Honeywell's technology can be modularized offsite, enabling lower costs and faster and less labor-intensive installation, the company's news release said. Through this approach, producers can build new SAF capacity more than a year faster than traditional construction, the release said.

The new technology would also enable oil refiners and other fuel producers to convert current or idle facilities into SAF production plants, it said.

In September 2021, the Biden administration launched an effort to boost output to at least 3 billion gallons of SAF per year by 2030 and have enough SAF by 2050 "to meet 100% of aviation fuel demand, currently projected to be around 35 billion gallons a year." The recent Inflation Reduction Act, a climate bill that includes incentives for lower-carbon fuels, is also likely to accelerate demand for SAF feedstocks.
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Saudi Aramco to supply full contract volumes of crude oil to 3 Asian refiners in November

Saudi Aramco to supply full contract volumes of crude oil to 3 Asian refiners in November

Saudi Aramco has told at least three customers in North Asia they will receive full contract volumes of crude oil in November, several sources with knowledge of the matter said Reuters.

Saudi Aramco has notified at least three North Asian buyers that it will supply full contractual volumes of crude in October. The world's top oil exporter has slashed its official selling prices (OSPs) to Asian buyers for the month, the first reduction in four months. The price cut was overall in line with the market expectation as the spot premiums for the Middle Eastern crude dipped since mid-August amid an increasing number of arbitrage cargoes flowing into Asia.

We remind, Saudi Arabian Oil Company (“Aramco”) inaugurated the Aramco Research Center at KAUST (ARC KAUST), which aims to accelerate the development of low-carbon solutions for the energy industry using advanced analytics. Strategically located within the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), the newly established research hub deploys artificial intelligence and machine learning to develop innovative ways to advance low-carbon solutions and enable a Circular Carbon Economy.
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DuPont announces global portfolio of Kevlar engineered yarns

DuPont announces global portfolio of Kevlar engineered yarns

DuPont Personal Protection announced the launch of a new portfolio of patented DuPont Kevlar engineered yarns, which combine cut and heat-resistant soft-spun Kevlar materials, high-strength inorganic yarns, and elastic stretch-core yarns, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Hand injuries continue to present a significant risk to workers across industries. Selecting the appropriate protection for the task, while ensuring hand or arm protection is comfortable to wear, is key to enabling safety compliance in the workplace. Through the development of personal protective equipment solutions made with Kevlar engineered yarns, it is now possible to address multiple levels of protection without compromising on comfort and dexterity.

Kevlar engineered yarns can provide industry leading multi-hazard protection against cut, heat, flame, and electric arc hazards. This versatility is key to providing hand and arm protection which can be used across a range job tasks and industries.

The use of Kevlar engineered yarns helps enable manufacturers to increase the level of protection without significantly increasing weight and thickness. The materials are also designed to help deliver enhanced breathability and moisture management. These characteristics can contribute to greater comfort and dexterity across a variety of industries, from automotive to manufacturing and utilities.

“We’re excited to launch this new line of innovative and multi-hazard Kevlar engineered yarns. It provides our Kevlar licensee partners access to a portfolio that includes a range of protection benefits as well as affordability levels.” said Joel DeNardis, global marketing leader, Kevlar Industrials. “Our mission is to provide innovative technology and protection solutions. Every day we strive to deliver the hand and arm protection workers need so they can do their job comfortably and safely, enabling them to go home to their friends, families, and loved ones in the same way they came to work.”

To address specific needs across industries, the Kevlar engineered yarns portfolio delivers next-generation performance across 3 new brands – Kevlar Xtreme, Kevlar Comfort, and Kevlar Essential yarns.

As per MRC, DuPont announced completion of the previously-announced sale of its Biomaterials business unit, effective May 31, 2022, to the Huafon Group for a purchase price of approximately USD240 mln. The results of operations of the Biomaterials business unit were previously reported in Corporate & Other. For full year 2021, the Biomaterials business unit recorded net sales of approximately USD200 million.
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TotalEnergies accelerates refinery wage talks as fuel supply shrinks

TotalEnergies accelerates refinery wage talks as fuel supply shrinks

TotalEnergies offered to bring forward wage talks, in response to union demands, as it sought to end a strike that has disrupted supplies to almost a third of French petrol stations and led the government to tap strategic reserves, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

"Provided the blockades will end and all labour representatives agree, the company proposes to advance to October the start of mandatory annual wage talks," it said in a statement. The talks were initially scheduled to start in mid-November.

Union representatives earlier told Reuters the strikes staged by the CGT, historically one of France's more militant unions, would continue. They have disrupted operations at two ExxonMobil sites as well as at two TotalEnergies sites. Over roughly two weeks of industrial action, France's domestic fuel output has fallen by more than 60%, straining nerves across the country, as waiting lines grow and supplies have run dry.

Almost a third of France's petrol stations had problems getting deliveries of at least one fuel product on Sunday, up from 21% the day before, the office of the energy minister said. France has released strategic reserves and raised imports, Energy Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher said in a statement, adding these should mean the supply situation improves on Monday.

Speaking to BFM TV, she welcomed TotalEnergie's offer and said she expected a move from ExxonMobil's Esso France unit "so that the French people are not taken hostage by this social dispute and can go to work with confidence".

Esso France, ExxonMobil's local unit, said it would hold a new round of wage talks with unions on Monday "with the aim of enabling the group's refineries to resume operations as soon as possible." Wage talks have been underway for weeks at ExxonMobil, while the CGT at TotalEnergies said it has been trying to get the management to the negotiation table earlier than formal talks scheduled next month.

Workers at TotalEnergies are seeking a 10% pay rise starting this year after a surge in energy prices led to huge profits that allowed the company to pay out an estimated eight billion euros ($7.8 billion) in dividends and an additional special dividend to investors.

The company's CEO last week said "the time has come to reward" workers, but the company had refused to start negotiations. A CGT representative said the union would not make any official comment on TotalEnergie's offer before internal discussions and informing workers. The CFDT union, France's largest, which chose not to call for strikes despite demanding a similar pay rise, said in a statement it was prepared to start wage talks in October.

We remind, the Flemish government recently awarded TotalEnergies the contract to install 1,500 electric vehicle charging points in Antwerp. In the heart of Europe and in Belgium's most populous city, the company is reinforcing its commitment to offering and developing sustainable mobility, with the aim of becoming Belgium's leading company in the public charging market by 2024.

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