Valero expects more U.S. emergency oil releases, will keep buying

Oil refiner Valero Energy said it expects the Biden administration to continue releasing oil from the U.S. emergency reserve through year-end and will continue buying barrels, said Reuters.

President Joe Biden last week announced a plan to release 15 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) - part of a record 180 million-barrel release that began in May. The United States is ready to tap reserves again next year if needed, he said.

Reserves released in the early days of the program were primarily sour crude, or crude with higher sulfur content, but more recent sales included more low-sulfur, sweet oil.

Valero sees value in buying sweet crude for its refining system, President Lane Riggs said on Tuesday. The refiner currently tops the list of companies that have received barrels from the U.S. reserve.

Riggs added that he expects some restocking of the SPR next year. Biden announced a plan to replenish stocks when U.S. crude is around $70 a barrel, a level he said would still allow companies to profit while being a good deal for taxpayers. The U.S. benchmark was around USD85 on Tuesday.

Valero reported bumper profits that zoomed past Wall Street estimates, helped by discounts on high-sulfur, sour crude that boosted margins.

We remind, Valero Energy Corp plans to operate its 14 refineries between 90%-93% of their combined total processing capacity in the third quarter. The top end of the company's operational plans are near the 94% the company's refineries operated at in the second quarter when Valero saw billions in profits on increased demand because of the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic amidst reduced global refining capacity. Gary Simmons, executive vice president and chief commercial officer, said demand for motor fuels continued at a record pace in June.
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DOMO Chemicals, a leader in polyamide-based engineered material solutions and services, is set to present its entire range of high-performing TECHNYL solutions to a global audience for the first time at the upcoming K 2022 show in Dusseldorf, Germany, said the company.

Climate protection and the circular economy are key themes of K 2022, which takes place between October 19-26. The event will serve as a platform to share experiences with stakeholders across the entire value chain, and innovations that will help create a safer and more sustainable plastics and polyamides industry.

As well as exploring DOMO’s latest circular innovations, visitors to K 2022 will also be able to discover more about the company’s highly ambitious sustainability objectives and collaborations through their Xperience external pavilion OA Hall 4 in booth 04.3. In addition, DOMO will also be showcasing its innovative Service Hub simulation and testing capabilities.

We remind, Jindal Films has signed an agreement for the acquisition of 100% of the shares in Italy-based nylon film specialist DOMO Films Solutions (DFS) from DOMO Chemicals. DFS is a major European producer of nylon films (both biaxially-oriented BOPA and cast extruded CPA) for flexible packaging in food, pharma, medical, and other industrial sectors.

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Hexcel reported third-quarter net income up 197.8% year-on-year (YOY), to USD26.8 million, on net sales up 9.3%, to USD364.7 million, said the company.

Adjusted earnings totaled 33 cents/share, matching analysts’ consensus estimate, as reported by S&P Global Capital IQ. Composites demand remains solid, as aerospace builds recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, the company says.

Commercial aerospace segment sales grew 25.1% YOY, to USD209.1 million, as commercial aircraft build programs continued to ramp up. Space and defense segment sales decreased 1.6% YOY, to USD108.6 million, due to negative currency impacts. Industrial segment sales fell 16.4% YOY, due to negative currency impacts and lower sales in the wind energy market.

Hexcel is also narrowing its full-year guidance on the higher end of its previously announced range. Full-year 2022 sales are expected to total USD1.53-1.60 billion, compared with a forecast of USD1.50-1.60 billion previously. Full-year 2022 adjusted earnings are expected to total USD1.12-1.24/share, compared with a forecast of USD1.00-1.24/share previously.

As MRC informed earlier, Hexcel and Arkema have signed a strategic alliance to develop thermoplastic composite solutions for the aerospace sector combining the expertise of Hexcel in carbon fiber and that of Arkema in PEKK. The partnership announced today aims to develop carbon fiber-reinforced thermoplastic tapes to produce lightweight parts for future generations of aircraft. In addition to lightweighting, these new composites will provide lower cost and faster production speeds for customers in the aerospace and the space and defense sectors.

Hexcel Corporation is a leading advanced composites company. It develops, manufactures and markets lightweight, high-performance structural materials including carbon fibers, specialty reinforcements, prepregs and other fiber-reinforced matrix materials, honeycomb, adhesives, engineered core and composite structures for use in commercial aerospace, space and defense and industrial applications.
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Maire Tecnimont S.p.A. announces that NextChem, through its subsidiary MyRechemical, has kicked off the engineering phase of Hydrogen Valley in Rome, which is based on NextChem’s waste-to-chemical technology and has received the EU Commission grant within IPCEI HY2USE initiative, as already communicated, said the company.

NextChem has started, through MyRechemical, the engineering of waste conversion to Circular Gas™ that will be the feedstock for the ethanol and hydrogen production. In this framework, NextChem has awarded LanzaTech an engineering contract to deliver a process design package for a syngas fermentation unit to produce circular ethanol for sustainable mobility and chemicals based on its biocatalyst technology.

MyRechemical’s chemical conversion technology allows the recovery of waste that cannot be mechanically recycled as well as other types of non-recyclable dry waste. The engineering phase of the Hydrogen Valley is expected to be completed in 2023.

LanzaTech is a global leader in gas fermentation, making sustainable fuels and chemicals via biological conversion of waste carbon emissions, including industrial off-gases. LanzaTech’s expertise in fermentation scale up, reactor design, machine learning and synthetic biology has enabled the company to commercialize its recycling process and demonstrate production of 100 different chemicals.

We remind, Maire Tecnimont announced that its main subsidiaries Tecnimont, KT-Kinetics Technology and Stamicarbon have been granted new awards for a total amount of approximately EUR200 mln for licensing as well as engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) activities. These contracts have been awarded by leading international clients based in a wide spectrum of countries, from North America to the Far East.
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Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Co. turned to losses of SR812 million (USD216 million) in the third quarter of 2022, against profits of SR667 million during the same period last year, making it the company's largest loss since listing on Oct. 1, 2011, said Arabnews.

The petrochemical firm also recorded losses of SR453 million in the first nine months of 2022 on the back of higher feedstock costs and lower selling prices.

The losses were against profits of SR1.9 billion the homegrown petrochemical producer made in the same period a year earlier, according to a bourse filing.

In response to the earning announcement, shares of Kayan slipped 3.77 percent at SR13.80 to lead the fallers at 10:07 a.m. Saudi time.

Saudi Kayan attributed the losses to a rise in the average cost of feedstock and lower selling prices, despite a slight increase in sales to SR9.1 billion in the first nine months.

We remind, Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Company has appointed Metab Zaid Al-Shahrani as its new CEO, effective 24 July. Al-Shahrani has held various leadership positions at SABIC and was until recently CEO of Saudi Methanol Company (AR-RAZI). In his new role, he succeeds Omar Ali Al-Ruhaily, who will take on another position in SABIC’s manufacturing sector, Kayan said in a brief regulatory filing.
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