Celanese/Mitsui methanol plant in Texas fully operational after Harvey

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The 1.3 million mt/year Celanese/Mitsui methanol plant in Clear Lake, Texas, has successfully restarted following its shutdown August 26 amid a process trip associated with Hurricane Harvey, as per Apic-online with reference to the company's statement.

"Celanese has a standard practice of not commenting on the operational status of its global manufacturing facilities," spokesman Travis Jacobsen said. "However, given the extenuating circumstances resulting from Hurricane Harvey, yes, I can confirm that Celanese has restarted its methanol unit at its Clear Lake, Texas, facility."

The methanol facility in Clear Lake shut down after a process trip during heavy rainfall, the company said August 27 in a filing with state regulators. The shutdown also affected all downstream acetic acid and vinyl acetate monomer units at the site, sources said.

"Startup will be executed following standard operating procedures to minimize flare emissions," the company said in its August 27 filing. "Based on information from previous startups, a methanol unit startup can take up to 10 days."

Market participants had started to suggest the Clear Lake facility may have come back online as late as last week, sources said. Company comment was not available at that time.

As MRC informed before, Celanese Corporation, a global technology and specialty materials company, has increased list and off-list selling prices for Vinyl Acetate Monomer (VAM) in the Americas. The price increases below was effective October 1, 2017 or as contracts otherwise allow. Thus, VAM prices were raised, as follows:

- by USD200/mt - for South America;
- by USD0.12/lb - for USA and Canada.

Celanese Corporation is a global technology leader in the production of differentiated chemistry solutions and specialty materials used in most major industries and consumer applications. Based in Dallas, Celanese employs approximately 7,300 employees worldwide and had 2016 net sales of USD5.4 billion.

Mitsui Chemicals is a leading manufacturer and supplier of value added specialty chemicals, plastics and materials for the automotive, healthcare, packaging, agricultural, building, and semiconductor and electronics markets. Mitsui Chemicals is a Japanese Chemicals company, a part of the Mitsui conglomerate. The company has a turnover of around 15 billion USD and has business interests in Japan, Europe, China, Southeast Asia and the USA. The company mainly deals in performance materials, petro and basic chemicals and functional polymeric materials.
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MOSCOW (MRC) — Saudi Arabia made no firm pledge on Thursday to extend a deal between OPEC, Russia and other producers on cutting supplies but said it was "flexible" regarding Moscow's suggestion to prolong the pact until the end of 2018, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih was speaking in a television interview a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin said the supply reduction deal that is due to expire in March could run to the end of next year.

"In the kingdom, we have to keep all options open, President Putin agreed with us on this and expressed his readiness to extend until the end of 2018 if this is agreed, and if this is the best option," Falih told Al Arabiya television.

He said he welcomed the "flexibility" shown by Russia on the issue and said the Saudi government aimed to "be flexible in leading the producing countries in and outside of OPEC to a consensus that takes the market to where we want it to be."

Saudi Arabia and Russia helped secure a deal between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and 10 rival suppliers to cut output until the end of March 2018 in an effort to reduce a glut. Oil rose above USD56 a barrel on Thursday, supported by expectations of an extension to the supply cut pact. But prices are still half their mid-2014 levels.

Climbing US shale production has kept a lid on price gains, but Falih said inventories were still falling. "Shale coming in and happening again in 2018 doesn't bother me at all. The market can absorb it," Falih said, speaking alongside Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak on a panel at an energy forum in Moscow.

"We have seen a steady reduction in inventories. We see as we enter the fourth quarter that supply is less than demand and inventories are declining around the world," Falih said.

Novak said he was satisfied with oil prices and Moscow would welcome other producers joining the deal to curb output.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) — PBF Energy and Royal Dutch Shell Plc were preparing their Louisiana refineries to keep running during Tropical Storm Nate, which is forecast to make landfall in the state on Sunday, sources familiar with plant operations said on Thursday, said Reuters.

Preparations were under way at PBF's Chalmette, Louisiana, refinery and at Shell's Louisiana plants in Convent and Norco, the sources said. PBF spokesman Michael Karlovich declined to discuss operations at the 190,000-bpd Chalmette refinery on the east side of New Orleans.

Chevron Corp spokesman Braden Reddall said the company's 340,000 bpd Pascagoula, Mississippi, refinery was closely monitoring the storm's progress. Shell spokesman Ray Fisher said the company's Gulf Coast refineries and chemical plants were monitoring the storm.

Sources at the company's 227,586 bpd Convent and 225,800 bpd Norco refineries, which are west of New Orleans, said early preparations to securing loose equipment within the refinery were under way.

Exxon spokeswoman Charlotte Huffaker said the company's 502,500 bpd Baton Rouge, Louisiana, refinery was monitoring the weather. Sources familiar with operations at the facility said it was not yet making preparations for Nate's possible arrival.

Operations at Phillips 66's 247,000 bpd Alliance, Louisiana, refinery have not been impacted by the weather, a spokeswoman said. A spokesman for Marathon Petroleum Corp's 543,000 bpd Garyville, Louisiana, refinery declined to discuss operations at the plant.

Forecasts for Nate have shifted dramatically in the past 24 hours. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) had forecast on Wednesday that the storm would make landfall in the Florida panhandle on Sunday.

On Thursday, the NHC forecast Nate would cross the southern tip of Louisiana, formed by the southern end of the Mississippi River, before hitting the Mississippi coast on Sunday.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) — Oil markets opened cautiously in Asia on Friday as traders monitored a tropical storm heading for the Gulf of Mexico and as China remained closed for a week-long public holiday, said Reuters.

But the prospect of extended oil production cuts led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) helped support prices. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were trading at $50.73/bbl at 0016 GMT, down 6 cents from their last close.

Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, were down 6 cents at USD56.94 a barrel. Oil market activity was subdued on Friday, due to the ongoing Golden Week holiday in China and because traders were monitoring tropical storm Nate, which is threatening to disrupt the oil industry in the Gulf of Mexico just weeks after several hurricanes pummeled the region, knocking out many oil producing and processing facilities.

The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP), one of the country's most important fuel handling facilities in the Gulf of Mexico, said early on Friday that it had suspended operations until the weather improves. Nate is currently off the coast of Nicaragua and heading northwest into a region of the Gulf of Mexico populated by offshore oil platforms which pump more than 1.6 MMbpd of crude, about 17% of US output, according to government data.

BP and Chevron were shutting production at all Gulf platforms, while Royal Dutch Shell and Anadarko Petroleum suspended some production and drilling activity in the Gulf. ExxonMobil, Statoil and other producers have withdrawn personnel from their platforms.

Despite this, markets were not far off their closing levels from the previous day, when prices rose by around 2% on the prospect of an extended production cut deal lead by OPEC and Russia. King Salman of Saudi Arabia, OPEC's de-facto leaders, met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday to discuss, among other things, oil policy.

Saudi Arabia made no firm pledge to extend a deal between OPEC, Russia and other producers on cutting supplies but said it was "flexible" regarding Moscow's suggestion to prolong the pact until the end of 2018. "The visit raised the possibility of the current production cut agreement being extended if the crude oil inventories remain stubbornly high," ANZ bank said.

A deal to cut around 1.8 MMbpd in production has been in place since January and is currently due to expire at the end of March 2018.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- AkzoNobel Aerospace Coatings has announced that it is expanding its distribution network by partnering with distributor Hisco, through their announced acquisition of Florida-based distributor Aero Colors, making AkzoNobel its preferred paint line, according to Market Watch.

This is an expansion of the partnership AkzoNobel announced last month with HiscoMex, a division of Hisco, to distribute AkzoNobel aerospace products throughout Mexico. With the announced acquisition of Aero Colors, AkzoNobel aerospace products will be available for order through Hisco within the United States and Mexico.

"We are proud to partner with Hisco and HiscoMex, which operates ten AS9120 Certified warehouses. This is a strategic agreement for AkzoNobel that will allow us to provide industry-leading technical support to our customers within the regions," says Tami Swearingin, Sales Manager, North America, for AkzoNobel Aerospace Coatings.

With the partnership, AkzoNobel's entire Aerospace product line will be available through Hisco, including AkzoNobel's industry-leading Aerodur Base Coat/Clear Coat system, Eclipse topcoat, and the full line of Alumigrip products.

"We are excited about the expanded partnership with AkzoNobel. The acquisition of Aero Colors was very strategic for us as it positions Hisco with a world class manufacturer of aerospace coatings. We see a significant opportunity to create value for AkzoNobel and for our customers throughout North America," says Bob Dill, President and CEO of Hisco.

As MRC wrote previously, in December 2016, AkzoNobel finalized the acquisition of BASF’s global Industrial Coatings business, which supplies a range of products for industries including construction, domestic appliances, wind energy and commercial transport, strengthening its position as the global number one supplier in coil coatings. The transaction includes relevant technologies, patents and trademarks, as well as two manufacturing plants in the United Kingdom and South Africa. Approximately 400 employees from BASF’s Industrial Coatings business join AkzoNobel, bringing expertise to innovate and serve an expanded customer base worldwide.

Akzo Nobel N.V., trading as AkzoNobel, is a Dutch multinational, active in the fields of decorative paints, performance coatings and specialty chemicals. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the company has activities in more than 80 countries, and employs approximately 55,000 people.
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