Singapore middle distillates stocks near 6-month high despite exports

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Singapore's middle distillates inventories hit a near six-month high, official data showed on Thursday, as jet fuel/kerosene net exports were little changed despite rising gasoil net exports week-on-week, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Inventories of gasoil and jet fuel/kerosene held at key storage hub Singapore climbed by 4% week-on-week to 9.1 million barrels in the week ended Sept. 13, the data added. Jet fuel/kerosene net exports were almost unchanged from last week, as a surge in imports offset higher exports.

Imports into Singapore came mostly from Malaysia, while some volumes headed to the West such as Mexico contributed to the increments in exports. Congestion at the Panama Canal, which has made it more lucrative for buyers to seek cargoes from Asia instead of the U.S., could have been one of the reasons drawing cargoes from Asia to Latin America, two shipping sources said.

Around 11,200 metric tons of jet fuel were bound for Pemex Rosarito, Kpler shiptracking data showed. Gasoil exports to Mexico - slightly more than 26,000 tons - were also evident for the week, the data showed.

Total exports of gasoil more than doubled from a week ago, with majority of volumes still bound for regional destinations especially Malaysia, Bangladesh and Vietnam - limiting overall stock gains in Singapore.

Exports to Australia for the week fell to almost zero, with some trade sources attributing it to potential supply recovery soon after a refinery outage at Viva Energy's site earlier this year. Regional gasoil demand is likely to remain steady until the fourth quarter, supporting the steady cargo flows out Singapore, one Singapore-based analyst said.

Below are the top contributor countries for gasoil exports in the week and their respective volumes (in tons): On the import front, volumes from China, India and South Korea continued in line with earlier expectations. Volumes from Taiwan also emerged after a three-week hiatus, the data showed.

We remind, Maersk has teamed up with its majority owner to form a new company to produce "green methanol", the shipping company said on Thursday, as it held a naming ceremony for the world's first container vessel powered by the low-carbon fuel. Green methanol, produced either from biomass or captured carbon and hydrogen from renewable power, can reduce carbon dioxide emissions from container ships by 60% to 95% compared with conventional fossil fuels.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chevron U.S.A., through its Chevron New Energies division, has closed a transaction with Haddington Ventures to acquire 100 % of Magnum Development and thus a majority interest in ACES Delta, which is a joint venture between Mitsubishi Power Americas and Magnum Development, said Process-worldwide.

ACES Delta is developing the Advanced Clean Energy Storage project in Delta, Utah. The Advanced Clean Energy Storage project plans to use electrolysis to convert renewable energy into hydrogen and will utilize solution-mined salt caverns for seasonal, dispatchable storage of the energy. The first project, designed to convert and store up to 100 metric tons per day of hydrogen, is under construction and is expected to enter commercial-scale operations in mid-2025 to support the Intermountain Power Project’s “IPP Renewed” initiative.

Several other opportunities for the project to produce and supply hydrogen to customers in the utility, transportation and industrial sectors in the western region of the United States are in development. As part of broader efforts to pursue lower carbon energy solutions, Chevron New Energies is working to enhance demand for lower carbon intensity hydrogen – and the technologies that support cost-effective supply – as a commercially viable alternative in the transportation, power, and industrial sectors where greenhouse gas emissions are hard to abate.

“Reaching this milestone in the development of our hydrogen project will not only have significant benefits to the western U.S. population, but it will also serve as a blueprint for future hydrogen opportunities,” said Michael Ducker, senior vice president of Hydrogen Infrastructure for Mitsubishi Power. “With Chevron New Energies’ involvement, we expect to expand hydrogen supply more quickly. Together, we are investing in the future of hydrogen, helping to create a viable, cost-competitive market for emerging lower carbon solutions.”

We remind, Chevron Phillips Chemical, Technip Energies and LyondellBasell are collaborating on the design, construction and operation of a demonstration unit for Technip Energies’ electric steam cracking furnace technology, designed to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the olefins production process.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Volkswagen's attempt to avoid being penalized twice for the same offence in the dieselgate scandal will depend on whether the wrongdoing is identical or just similar, as per Reuters.

An Italian court will have the final say based on the reference provided by the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).

The case centred on Volkswagen's challenge against a 5-million-euro ($5.4 million) Italian antitrust fine levied in 2016 for its misleading advertising about cars fitted with illegal emissions control devices.

The German carmaker said it should not be sanctioned twice for the same offence after it separately paid a 1 billion euro German fine in 2018. The diesel emissions scandal has cost Volkswagen more than 32 billion euros in refits, fines and legal costs so far.

The Italian court in its 2019 ruling dismissed Volkswagen's appeal, saying there was no double jeopardy involved as the Italian fine derived from a different legal basis. The company took its case to the Italian Council of State which then sought advice from the CJEU.

Double jeopardy "may apply only where the facts to which the two sets of proceedings or the two penalties at issue relate are identical; it is therefore not sufficient that those facts be merely similar," CJEU judges said.

We remind, Russia loaded the second oil cargo for delivery to Brazil in September, two traders said and LSEG data showed. A tanker Apus loaded 100,000 tons of Varandey oil sourced by Lukoil in the Arctic port of Murmansk on Sept. 10, LSEG data shows. The vessel is expected to arrive in Brazil's Pernambuco area at the end of the month, according to LSEG data.


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MOSCOW (MRC) - Maersk has teamed up with its majority owner to form a new company to produce "green methanol", the shipping company said on Thursday, as it held a naming ceremony for the world's first container vessel powered by the low-carbon fuel, as per Reuters.

Green methanol, produced either from biomass or captured carbon and hydrogen from renewable power, can reduce carbon dioxide emissions from container ships by 60% to 95% compared with conventional fossil fuels. With more than 100 container vessels capable of sailing on methanol on order, the shipping industry, which accounts for 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions, hopes the greener fuel will help it achieve a goal of net zero emissions by 2050.

Maersk took delivery of the world's first such container vessel in July, when it began its debut journey from South Korea to Europe.

At a ceremony at the harbor outside Maersk's headquarters in Copenhagen, the 172-meter-long vessel capable of carrying 2,136 twenty-foot containers was named Laura Maersk by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, after the first ship to sail with Maersk's white star on blue logo in 1886.

The number of methanol-fueled vessels is expected to exceed 200 by 2028, up from 30 this year, consultancy DNV forecasts. However, production of green methanol is lagging behind demand.

On Thursday, Danish industrial group A.P. Moller Holding (APMH), majority-owner of Maersk, said it had formed a new company C2X that will pursue large-scale green methanol projects near the Suez Canal in Egypt and the port of Huelva in Spain, as well as in several other locations.

"To successfully transition away from fossil fuels we must jointly address the next big challenge and that is to enable and scale the world's supply of green fuels," Maersk Chairman Robert Maersk Uggla said.

C2X is majority owned by APMH while Maersk holds a 20% stake, the companies said. It was not immediately clear how much capital had been raised by the new venture.

We remind, CIMC Enric and its subsidiaries have announced a strategic partnership with Maersk to launch a biomass green methanol pilot project. The project will facilitate the landing of Maersk's first generation of green container vessels. The two sides have signed a MoU online to explore long-term cooperation in the clean energy field with a focus on green methanol.

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MOSCOW (MRC) - The sustainable mobility unit of Italy's Eni and petrochemicals maker LG Chem have teamed up to explore the potential development of a biorefinery in South Korea, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Eni believes biofuels made from vegetable oil, waste cooking oil and grease will play a key role in decarbonizing the truck, aviation and shipping sectors in the next few years. The Italian group, which already operates two biorefineries at home, recently said it also wanted to develop plants in Asia and the United States.

The new project, which is designed to process around 400,000 tons of bio-feedstocks per year, aims to meet growing demand for both sustainable fuels and plastics produced through low-carbon processes. It will have the flexibility to process renewable bio-feedstocks and produce multiple products including sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), and bio-naphtha.

A final decision for the investment is scheduled to be made by next year and the plant is set to be completed by 2026 at LG Chem's existing integrated petrochemical complex in Daesan, southwest Seoul.

Eni will provide the South Korean biorefinery with sustainable feedstock mainly sourced from waste and residue from the processing of vegetable oils, used cooking oil, and also vegetable oils from drought-resistant crops.

The Italian group recently signed several agreements with African and Asian countries to develop farming ventures able to produce these crops in degraded, semi-arid or abandoned soils not used for food production.

We remind, Nigerian state oil firm NNPC Ltd says a subsidiary of Italy's Eni did not obtain its consent prior to announcing a deal to sell onshore oil assets to local firm Oando PLC, a failure that could have breached terms of a joint operating agreement. The letter casts doubt on the speed of the transaction, announced on Monday, and underscores the difficulty international oil majors have faced in their years-long efforts to sell onshore oil and gas assets in Nigeria.

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