European chlorine production remained low in April

MOSCOW (MRC) -- In April, the European chlorine production reached 600,389 tonnes. With 20,013 tonnes, the April 2023 average daily production was 2.0% higher than in the previous month (March 2023: 19,619 tonnes), but 15.3% lower than in April 2022 (23,619 tonnes), said Eurochlor.

With 293,686 tonnes, the April 2023 caustic soda stocks were 5.6% lower than in the previous month (March 2023: 311,070 tonnes) but 101,371 tonnes above the level of April 2022 (192,315 tonnes).

The following tables give the details of chlorine production and caustic soda stocks in the EU-27 countries plus Norway, Switzerland, and the UK in April 2023.

We remind, in March 2023, the European chlorine production stood at 608,195 tonnes. With 19,619 tonnes, the March 2023 average daily production was 10.4% lower than in the previous month (Feb 2023: 21,893 tonnes), and 17.5% lower than in March 2022 (23,793 tonnes). With 311,827 tonnes, the March 2023 caustic soda stocks were 1.9% lower than in the previous month (Feb 2023: 317,909 tonnes) and 101,305 tonnes above the level of March 2022 (210,522 tonnes).

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- The local governor of Russia's Pacific island of Sakhalin has invited companies from India and China to tap the region's energy resources following the departure of European and American oil and gas majors, said Reuters.

Russia has been forging closer political and economic ties with Asia since the start of what the Kremlin calls a special military operation in Ukraine last year and the resulting Western sanctions on Moscow. "We invite companies from China and India to projects of the energy complex. This is a good chance for them to fill the niche vacated by American and European companies in the oil and gas services market," Sakhalin's governor Valery Limarenko said on the government's website.

Shell and ExxonMobil withdrew last year from energy projects in Russia, writing off billions of U.S. dollars. The island is the location for the Gazprom-led Sakhalin-2 liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant and Sakhalin-1 oil project, in which Russia's largest oil producer Rosneft has a 20% stake.

India's ONGC Videsh Limited also already has an equal stake in the project. Limarenko also said that the Yuzhno-Kirinskoye gas field, which Washington placed under sanctions in 2015 for Moscow's role in Ukraine at that time, is due to start production as planned in 2025.

We remind, Russia agreed to extend its existing 0.5 million bpd curbs into 2024, Angola and Nigeria agreed to give up their unused quotas. The United Arab Emirates was allowed to boost its production quota by 0.2 million bpd to 3.2 million from 2024.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- ORLEN Group's PGNiG Upstream Norway has bought interests in two fields on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, said the company.

The deal is consistent with the Group's strategic goal of raising its own gas production volumes to improve Poland's energy independence and security. Under an agreement with Sval Energi AS, PGNiG Upstream Norway has purchased a 10% interest in licence PL211 CS, covering the Sabina and Adriana fields.

The licence area is situated in the Norwegian Sea, around 20 kilometres southwest of the Skarv production field, which is the primary centre of the Group's operations on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The new fields will be connected to the existing production infrastructure in the area through PGNiG Upstream Norway's Aerfugl field, situated near Skarv. This will guarantee higher profitability of output from the new fields, cut the cost and time of the development work while also lowering carbon emissions related to the process. Sabina is an oil and gas field, while Adriana contains gas and condensate. Both were discovered in 1Q 2021.

According to preliminary estimates, their overall recoverable reserves could range 38-88 mBoE. These volumes can be confirmed following the drilling of an appraisal well, which is set in 4Q 2023. The licence partners anticipate production from the Adriana and Sabina fields to begin in 2029 and 2033, respectively. This will permit PGNiG Upstream Norway to offset the natural fall in output from the existing producing fields.

The agreement between Sval Energi and PGNiG Upstream Norway is awaiting final approval from the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy. Once greenlit, PGNiG Upstream Norway's licence allies will be Petoro (35% interest), Aker BP (15% interest), and Wintershall DEA (40% interest, operator). The ORLEN Group's updated strategy, revealed in 1Q 2023, offers for raising the Group's own gas production volume in Poland and outside the country to nearly 12 bcm in 2030. Of that volume, 50% will come from fields positioned on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. For this purpose, PGNiG Upstream Norway will invest around $3 bn over the next five years.

PGNiG Upstream Norway has total oil and gas reserves of 346.6 M barrels of oil equivalent. It generates roughly 88,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day from 17 fields. Once the purchase of interests in licence PL211 CS is completed, the ORLEN Group will secure interests in 99 licences on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.

We remind, ORLEN Poludnie, a leading player in biofuels in Poland, has recently concluded the first year of operation of its BioPG plant, converting glycerol, a by-product of biodiesel production, into renewable propylene glycol (BioPG).

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Chemours Company (Wilmington, Del.) has announced that Sameer Ralhan, CFO, will resign effective June 19. Jonathan Lock, current senior vice present and chief development officer, has been appointed to the CFO role, effective June 6, said the company.

The company says Ralhan will work with Lock to ensure a “seamless leadership transition.” The company also announced that Matt Abbott, current vice president, digital and data analytics, has been promoted to senior vice president, chief enterprise transformation officer, which has responsibilities for information technology, cyber security, digital and data analytics and procurement.

Lock joined Chemours in 2018 as vice president of corporate development and investor relations; he was promoted to an officer role in 2021 and has helped lead the recent fuel cell joint venture with BWT/FumaTech and the divestiture of Chemours’ glycolic acid business. With Lock taking over the CFO responsibilities Kristine Wellman, senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary, will be responsible for the company’s sustainability efforts.

Abbott joined Chemours in 2017 and has held various roles across audit and controllership. Prior to serving as vice president, digital and data analytics, he served as chief audit executive and chief accounting officer and controller. Abbott has over 25 years of experience in the chemical industry.

Chemours president and CEO Mark Newman thanked Ralhan for his impact on the company: “[Ralhan] has … made significant contributions to the company’s success through his transformation of the finance function into a source of strategic insight and analysis. We wish him all the best in his future endeavors.”

This is third resignation within Chemours’ top executives in the last few months. Alisha Bellezza, president, thermal & specialized solutions, and Edwin Sparks, president, titanium technologies and chemical solutions business, resigned on May 31 and March 31, respectively.

We remind, Chemours Company, DuPont de Nemours, Inc. and Corteva, Inc. announced they have reached an agreement in principle to comprehensively resolve all PFAS-related drinking water claims of a defined class of public water systems that serve the vast majority of the United States population.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Biden administration will abandon a proposal to include the electric vehicle industry in the U.S. biofuel blending program and withdraw potentially billions of dollars worth of tradable credits that had been attributed to the scheme, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Reuters had first reported in early May that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was considering delaying the EV program over concerns the plan could trigger lawsuits. A final rule is set to be released later this month after review by the White House.

Scrapping the plan pushes the administration further away from allowing electric vehicles to generate nearly 2 billion credits under the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard over the next two years, something companies such as Tesla Inc have pushed for. The EV program would have been a boost to President Joe Biden's goal of electrifying the motor vehicle industry to fight climate change.

The EPA, which administers the RFS, said it was considering comments for a final rulemaking on biofuel blending mandates for the years 2023, 2024 and 2025 and could not comment further. The White House, which is currently reviewing a final rule on the biofuel mandates, declined to comment.

The EPA proposed last year the inclusion of EVs into the RFS, in what would have been a major overhaul of an often-contentious law that mandates that oil refiners must blend billions of gallons of biofuels into the nation's fuel mix or buy tradable credits from those that do.

Most credits generated under the RFS are for blending liquid fuels such as corn-based ethanol into gasoline. Adding credits for power generated from renewable gas and then used for charging EVs would take the program in a new direction.

In last year's proposal, the EPA foresaw EV manufacturers could generate as many as 600 million credits in 2024 and 1.2 billion of them by 2025. Those estimates were included within the cellulosic credit pool in the proposal. However, the EPA will remove those estimated volumes from a final rule that the agency is expected to release by June 14, the three sources said.

The EV plan represented the largest growth in the cellulosic credit pool in the RFS program history, roughly doubling the credits generated from 720 million this year to 2.13 billion by 2025, according to the proposal.

Those in the electric vehicle and renewable natural gas industries were hopeful that even with a delay, an EV program could still be passed by the end of the year.

We remind, Russia agreed to extend its existing 0.5 million bpd curbs into 2024, Angola and Nigeria agreed to give up their unused quotas. The United Arab Emirates was allowed to boost its production quota by 0.2 million bpd to 3.2 million from 2024.

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