Explosion at Pemex de Agua Dulce, Veracruz, leaves 19 injured

An explosion resulting from work to control an ethane leak in a Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) pipeline has left at least 19 people injured in the Mexican municipality of Agua Dulce, in the state of Veracruz, said Fireengineering.

As detailed in a statement by the area’s Civil Protection Secretary, Guadalupe Osorno, the number of injured people has risen from 11 to 19, although most have only first-degree burns, for which they are being treated in medical centers.

The explosion took place at 3:00 p.m. (local time) on Tuesday during the maneuvers carried out by workers from Pemex, State Civil Protection and the Mexican Army, who were trying to cover a leak in the gas pipeline, until it later exploded, reported ‘The universal’.

Until now, the fire is still active and is in the process of being controlled by the Mexican authorities who have been on the scene since the start of the leak.

We remind, Pemex reported its third quarter net loss narrowed to USD2.58 billion (52.0 billion pesos), but said it had suffered from increased sales costs as well as currency exchange losses as the peso weakened against the dollar.
The company posted a net loss of 52.0 billion pesos for the three months through September, compared with a loss of 77.2 billion pesos in the same period of 2021. The red ink came despite a 56.5 percent jump in revenue, to 602 billion pesos, thanks to higher energy prices and strong demand.

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Anellotech is pleased to announce that it is offering drum-quantity product samples of aromatics produced from recycled mixed waste plastics, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The recycled benzene, toluene and xylenes (BTX) will be available to current and potential commercial partners.
The samples are made at Anellotech’s TCat-8 facility — a fully automated, 30-meter-tall pilot plant located inside Trecora’s Silsbee, Texas facility— during ongoing studies demonstrating Anellotech’s Plas-TCat catalytic pyrolysis technology. TCat-8 can operate 24/7 and converts a representative mixed waste plastics feedstock — including all major plastic types, with the exception of PVC, into BTX, light olefins and paraffins.

“Anellotech can offer BTX samples made directly from mixed waste plastics to potential commercial partners to encourage engagement with our program” says David Sudolsky, President and CEO of Anellotech. “Unlike thermal pyrolysis, Plas-TCat makes BTX and other chemicals in one reactor, providing true 100-percent recycled BTX (not mass balance approach) for studies today and eventual future commercial use."

Based on a proprietary catalyst and fluid bed reactor-regenerator system, Plas-TCat provides a new, direct route to light olefins and aromatics from plastic waste streams — such as polyolefins, polyamides (nylon), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polycarbonate and polystyrene — without the need for steam cracker furnaces. The resulting output of benzene, toluene and xylenes, as well as ethylene, propylene and butylene (light olefins), are suitable after separation for plastics manufacturers to produce a wide range of virgin plastics.

We reind, Honeywell has signed an MoU with Egypt’s Environ Adapt for Recycling Industries with the aim of advancing plastics recycling in the country. The two organizations will explore the development of the first chemical recycling facility in Egypt that would be equipped with Honeywell’s advanced technology, capable of converting waste plastic into valuable recycled polymer feedstock (RPF).

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Exports fell for a second consecutive month in November while Korea's trade balance was negative for an eighth month as energy imports remained high and semiconductor exports dropped dramatically, said Koreanherald.

Strikes by truckers and railway workers could make the situation worse. According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on Thursday, Korea’s exports in November fell 14 percent year-on-year to USD51.9 billion.

Through November, Korea's exports for the year totaled USD629.1 billion, up 7.8 percent on year and a record.
Imports last month grew 2.7 percent year-on-year to USD58.9 billion. Imports have been growing for 12 consecutive months.

The trade deficit for November was USD7 billion. “The prices of semiconductors, which is a key export item, have continued to fall,” said Moon Dong-min, deputy minister of trade and investment. “The base effect of a 31.9 percent year-on-year increase in exports in November 2021 also affected last month’s export drop.”

The trade ministry official noted that the truckers strike has also played a significant role. “Basically there has been a significant decline in export cargos carried in and out of our ports,” Moon said. “This indicates that export activities are not operating normally.”

The official said at this point it is difficult to give a specific figure for the damage that had been caused by the trucker strike or quantify the impact. While the deputy minister stressed Korea has fared relatively well, with exports set to break last year’s record, the biggest risk factor is the trucker strike.

“On top of the difficult situation that our exporters are facing amid global economic stagnation, an impact on exports will be inevitable for December if the truckers continue to refuse to deliver,” Moon said. Semiconductor exports fell 30 percent year-on-year to USD8.5 billion. Chips are Korea's biggest export category.

Ship exports declined 68.2 percent to USD1.1 billion, while computer exports fell 50.1 percent and petrochemical exports were down 26.5 percent. Steel export fell 10.6 percent. Automobile exports grew 31 percent to USD5.4 billion, and petroleum goods exports were up 26 percent to USD4.9 billion.

By market, exports to the United States continued for the 27th straight month, rising 8 percent to USD8.8 billion.
Exports to the EU rose 0.1 percent to USD5.3 billion. Exports to China fell 25.5 percent to USD11.4 billion, while exports to Asean shrunk 13.9 percent to USD9 billion. Exports to Japan dropped 17.8 percent to USD2.3 billion.

Energy continued to be a major contributor to the increase in imports. Last month, imports of crude oil, gas and coal totaled USD15.5 billion, which is a 27.1 percent increase on year.

The accumulated import total for the three energy sources in the first 11 months was USD174 billion, a 75 percent increase.

We remind, SK Innovation announced on the company’s official homepage that it would further boost the global Net Zero leadership by introducing an Internal Carbon Pricing System. The core of the Internal Carbon Pricing System is to set internal carbon prices to reflect changes in future carbon prices and use them in investment deliberations.

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North American chemical rail traffic fell by 3.2% year on year to 40,467 railcar loadings for the week ended 26 November – marking a 10th consecutive decline, said Association of American Railroads (AAR).

An increase in Canada was more than offset by declines in the US and Mexico. The four-week average for North American chemical rail traffic was at 45,860 railcar loadings.

Despite the 10th decline in a row, for the first 47 weeks of 2022 ended 26 November North American chemical railcar traffic was still up 1.2% year on year to 2,155,420 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, nonmetallic minerals, and oil and oil products rose for the first 47 weeks, while shipments in all other freight railcar categories fell.

In related news, the US House of Representatives on Wednesday adopted a resolution aimed at averting a rail strike.

We remind, for the week ending November 19, 2022, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 491,794 carloads and intermodal units, down 3.2 percent compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending November 19 were 235,887 carloads, down 0.6 percent compared with the same week in 2021, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 255,907 containers and trailers, down 5.6 percent compared to 2021.

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Malaysian state-owned Petronas on November 30 reported a near doubling of profit in the July-September (Q3) quarter on the back of higher product prices, as per Reuters.

The company reported a profit of 30.8bn ringgit (USD6.93bn) in Q3, compared with a profit of 16.3bn ringgit in the same quarter a year ago, an increase of 88.9%. Revenue was up 61% year/year to 99.2bn ringgit.

Looking ahead, Petronas expects oil and gas prices to remain volatile, influenced by intensifying geopolitical and economic headwinds.

The company said it will continue to invest responsibly towards ensuring energy supply security whilst pursuing its growth strategy and net zero carbon emissions target by 2050 (NZCE 2050).

Petronas earlier this month announced its NZCE 2050 pathway to accelerate and advance groupwide actions and commitment towards achieving net zero future ambitions.

The company’s short-term target for 2024 is to cap its greenhouse gas emissions at 49.5 mtCO2e for scope 1 and scope 2 emissions in Malaysia. By 2025, the target is to achieve a 50% reduction in methane emissions from the natural gas value chain.

We remind, the new methanol plant in Sarawak will almost double Petronas Chemical Group's current production in Malaysia. The new Sarawak Petchem Methanol Project, located in the coastal city of Bintulu, in the Sarawak region of Malaysia, will represent an important step forward in the methanol production capacity of Petronas Chemical Group, which is already the main producer in Asia-Pacific and the fourth in the world, processing an additional 1.75 million tons per year to the 2.4 MMt it’s already capable of producing.
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