North America weekly chem rail traffic falls 1.8%

North American chemical rail traffic fell by 1.8% year on year to 44,684 railcar loadings for the week ended 15 October – marking a fourth consecutive decline, according to the latest freight rail data by the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

Increases in Canada and Mexico were more than offset by a 4.4% decline in the US. The four-week average for North American chemical rail traffic was at 46,194 railcar loadings.

For the first 41 weeks of 2022 ended 15 October, North American chemical railcar traffic was up 1.9% year on year to 1,893,950 railcar loadings.

In the US, chemical railcar loadings represent about 20% of chemical transportation by tonnage, with trucks, barges and pipelines carrying the rest. In Canada, producers rely on rail to ship more than 70% of their products, with some exclusively using rail.

Shipments of chemicals, coal, motor vehicles and parts, and nonmetallic minerals rose for the first 41 weeks, while shipments in all other freight railcar categories fell.

We remind, North American chemical rail traffic fell by 7.4% year on year to 42,061 railcar loadings for the week ended 8 October – marking a third consecutive decline. Loadings fell in the US (-8.3%) and Canada (-5.6%) but rose slightly in Mexico.
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BASF has extended the CEO term for current chief Martin Brudermuller and named Dirk Elvermann, leader of the company’s corporate finance division, as next in line to be CFO, said the company.

The Germany-headquartered chemicals producer’s supervisory board agreed to extend Brudermuller’s CEO term until the end of the 2024 annual shareholders meeting, after originally being scheduled to conclude at the close of 2023.

“I am pleased that Martin Brudermuller will continue to lead the company with prudence and determination in these difficult times,” said supervisory board chief and former company CEO Kurt Bock.

The board also selected Elvermann as the successor to current CFO Hans-Ulrich Engel, who is set to retire after the company’s 2023 annual shareholders meeting, slated for April next year.

Elvermann joined the company in 2003 and has been heading the corporate finance division since 2019, with previous roles including CFO of oil and gas arm Wintershall and managing director of the company’s Poland operations.

BASF has released preliminary figures for the third quarter of 2022. Sales, income from operations (EBIT) before special items and EBIT are slightly above average analyst estimates. Net income of BASF Group is expected to amount to EUR909 million. This is considerably below the prior-year quarter figure (Q3 2021: EUR1,253 million) and the average analyst estimates for the third quarter of 2022 ( EUR1,105 million). Net income contains non-cash-effective impairments on the shareholding in Wintershall Dea in the amount of about EUR740 million. These result from the partial write-down of Wintershall Dea’s participation in Nord Stream AG, which operates the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.

BASF is the world's largest chemical concern. The company's large portfolio of offers includes chemicals, plastics, special products, plant protection products, solutions for the agricultural sector, as well as oil and natural gas. The concern was founded on April 6, 1865. The headquarters is located in the city of Ludwigshafen, Germany.
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Clariant will create a second production line at its new CHF 60 million state of the art facility for Exolit OP halogen-free flame retardants currently under construction in Daya Bay, China, said the company.

This additional CHF 40 million investment will further expand access to innovative and sustainable fire protection solutions and related technical expertise to support the significant growth of engineering plastics applications in E-mobility and electrical & electronic segments.

“Brands and equipment manufacturers are increasingly switching to non-halogenated flame retardants to meet rising electrification needs and sustainability claims. And we see this in the rapidly growing demand for our Exolit OP flame retardants in China and other Asian markets. Offering local production and the support of technical experts at Daya Bay, alongside the development capabilities at the One Clariant Campus laboratories in Shanghai, will enable us to respond faster to local, regional and global supply needs and also work more closely with our customers to fulfill increasing safety regulations and technical performance requirements in E-mobility, 5G communications, transportation and beyond,” comments Jochen Ahrens, Clariant’s head of flame retardants business.

The new Daya Bay flame retardant plant will supplement the capacity of Clariant’s two Exolit OP plants in Knapsack, Germany and is beneficial to the global customer base. Despite the external challenges of COVID, logistical and supply chain issues, Clariant is still targeting its original timeline, i.e. commencing production in Daya Bay around mid-2023, with the second line due to come on stream within 2024.

Clariant will produce its global range of patent-protected organophosphorus flame retardants on site. The team at the Shanghai One Clariant Campus will support customers in the joint development and in-application testing of flame retarded solutions.

We remind, Clariant has been awarded a major contract by Wanhua Chemical Group to supply catalysts for its new maleic anhydride plant, which will be one of the largest in the world. Designed to produce 200 kilotons of maleic anhydride annually, the plant will rely on Clariant’s SynDane catalyst for the production process. The facility will be located in Yantai city, Shandong province, and is scheduled to commence operation in 2023. Also based in Yantai, Wanhua is one of the largest chemical producers in China and is among the top 30 chemical producers globally by 2020 sales.

Clariant AG is a Swiss chemical company and a world leader in the production of specialty chemicals for the textile, printing, mining and metallurgical industries. It is engaged in processing crude oil products in pigments, plastics and paints.

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Vietnam's Binh Son refinery has ramped up its production to meet domestic fuel demand and was operating at 109% of its designed capacity, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The 130,000-barrel-per-day facility, owned by Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical accounts for a third of Vietnam's demand for refined petroleum products. "The refinery could increase its operations further, to 110% of capacity, to stabilize the market," Binh Son deputy chief executive Cao Tuan Si said in a government statement.

It comes days after several filling stations in southern Vietnam closed or limited their sales, citing financial difficulties, according to state media. The government said the refinery in central province of Quang Ngai sold 5.8 MM cubic meters of fuel in the first nine months of this year, and its inventory is running low.

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Industry and Trade asked the State Bank of Vietnam to help local fuel traders have better access to foreign currencies to pay for imports, as they face steep increase in prices. Vietnam's refined fuel imports in the first nine months of this year rose 22.7% from a year earlier to 6.52 MMt, but the import value rose 131% to $6.8 B, according to government customs data.

We remind, Binh Son refinery will undergo major maintenance next year, its owner Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical said. The 130,000-barrel-per-day refinery has been in operation for 13 years and its equipment is facing risks of aging and erosion, the company said in a statement. It did not give an estimate for how long the maintenance might take.
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ExxonMobil Corp agreed to sell its Billings, Montana, refinery and related pipeline properties to Par Pacific Holdings Inc for USD310 MM, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The sale ends a years-long effort by the U.S. oil giant to further reduce its refining footprint and concentrate production on plants along the U.S. Gulf Coast and in the Midwest. It also has been selling oil producing properties to boost returns. "ExxonMobil is focused on investing in facilities where we can manufacture higher-value products such as lubricants and chemicals," said Karen McKee, the head of the oil company's product solutions unit.

The deal for the 63,000-barrel-per-day refinery is expected to close in the second quarter of 2023, Exxon said in a statement. Par Pacific was one of several independent refiners eying the plant and looking to invest some of this year's record refining profits to expand its assets, according to people familiar with the matter.

Profit margins for processing crude into gasoline, diesel and jet fuel hit five-year highs in the United States earlier this year, helping the sales appeal. Rising travel and fewer refineries from pandemic-shutdowns have pushed the average U.S. gasoline retail price to USD3.84 a gallon this week, up from USD3.36 a year ago.

Included in the sale are the Silvertip Pipeline, Exxon's interest in the Yellowstone Pipeline and Yellowstone Energy LP and its interests in products terminals in Montana and Washington. Under the deal, Par Pacific will continue supplying fuel to Exxon and Mobil-branded stations in the region.

Exxon put the Billings facility on the market under a plan to reduce its U.S. refining footprint to three Gulf Coast refineries - in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Baytown and Beaumont, Texas - and a 251,800 bpd refinery in Joliet, Illinois.

We remind, Cyclyx International, ExxonMobil and LyondellBasell announced they have signed an agreement to advance development of a first-of-its-kind plastic waste sorting and processing facility in the Houston area. The new facility addresses a critical missing link in the plastic waste supply chain by connecting community recycling programs to new and more advanced recycling technologies that have the potential to take a much wider variety of plastic materials.
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