US oil ports, refiners and producers plan reopenings after Nate

MOSCOW (MRC) — Some oil ports, producers and refiners in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama that shut facilities ahead of Hurricane Nate were planning reopenings as the storm moved inland on Sunday, away from most energy infrastructure on the US Gulf Coast, as per Reuters.

The storm, which weakened to a tropical depression and was moving inland toward Alabama and Tennessee, killed 30 people in Central America before speeding across the central US Gulf of Mexico, where more than 90% of oil output remained shut.

Oil producers Chevron Corp and Royal Dutch Shell began on Sunday to redeploy personnel, assess facilities and restore oil output in the Gulf of Mexico, including platforms, pipelines and terminals shut ahead of Nate, the companies said in statements.

Chevron also said it was assessing the impact of Nate on its 340,000-bpd Pascagoula refinery in Mississippi. About eight flares and limited steam were visible on Sunday at Chevron's refinery, indicating activity. Energy intelligence service Genscape said Chevron shut the facility on Saturday, but the company did not confirm the information.

Nate has forced the closure of more than triple the volume of Gulf offshore crude production than Hurricane Harvey did from late August to early September, with 92.6% of total oil output shut, according to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE).

About 1.62 MMbpd of oil and 2.5 Bcfd of natural gas output remained offline on Sunday at 298 evacuated offshore platforms, almost unchanged from Saturday, the BSEE said. Vessel traffic and port operations at New Orleans resumed on Sunday afternoon, the US Coast Guard said. "New Orleans has reopened all waterways without restrictions," it said in a statement where it also warned about shoaling, storm debris, and other hazards that may exist after the storm.

In Alabama, the port of Mobile remained closed on Sunday and no estimated reopening date had been officially set, although no damage to the terminal and port had been reported, said Mike Forister, assistant terminal manager at Arc Terminals.

Forester said it was not much of a setback "because we are getting down to slower season," he said. Mobile's navigation channel could remain shut until Tuesday because of rough conditions, said Mike Buckley, operations manager at Alabama Bulk Terminal Company, whose facilities did not sustain damage.

About 18 oil tankers were sheltered on Sunday along the Mississippi River near New Orleans, half of them loaded with crude or refined products. Several container ships and cruise ships were also waiting for the port to allow disembarking.

In Mobile, two tankers were near the port, according to the Reuters data.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Evonik is raising the prices for its isophorone diamine, offered under the brand name VESTAMIN IPD by 10% on a global basis, as per the company's press release.

Due to significant higher costs attributed to geographical supply and demand imbalances this unavoidable increase will come into effect from 1st November 2017. All existing contracts will be honored.

By maximizing its global manufacturing infrastructure, and providing its customers with superior quality and excellent service, the Crosslinkers Business Line will continue to help customers grow in their respective markets and regions.

As MRC informed previously, Evonik Resource Efficiency will invest in a capacity expansion of its performance foams business at its production site in Darmstadt, Germany. The investment will increase the output of the facility by about 20% as a first step. The Group will be adding production equipment to its operations complex that manufactures products marketed under the Rohacell brand. The expanded production capacity is expected to be operational by the second half of 2017.

Evonik, the creative industrial group from Germany, is one of the world leaders in specialty chemicals. Its activities focus on the key megatrends health, nutrition, resource efficiency and globalization. Evonik benefits specifically from its innovative prowess and integrated technology platforms. Evonik is active in over 100 countries around the world.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) — Royal Dutch Shell and Varo Energy have ended talks on Varo’s potential acquisition of Shell’s 37.5% stake in the 220,000 bpd PCK refinery in Schwedt, Germany, Varo said, as per Reuters.

The two companies announced last December that they had entered advanced talks on the stake sale, but the negotiations have been “discontinued,” a spokeswoman for Varo told Reuters.

The spokeswoman would not provide details about why the talks had ended.

Varo Energy, a JV between the world’s biggest oil trader Vitol and private equity firm Carlyle Group, owns a refinery in Cressier in Switzerland and the Bayernoil refinery in Germany.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) — Ecopetrol S.A. announces that has signed a contract to supply refinery-grade propylene (RGP) to its subsidiary Compounding and Masterbatching Industry Ltda (Comai Ltda) from October 2017 to August 2022, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The estimated value of this contract is USD160 MM, for the approximate supply of 315,000 t during its lifetime.

Entering into this long-term agreement is a significant boost to the development of the country's petrochemical industry, while at the same time generating value for the Ecopetrol Group.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mexican state oil company Pemex aims to finalize the first shipment of crude oil for export later on Monday since restarting operations at its Salina Cruz terminal in southwest Mexico, reported Reuters with reference to a company official's statement on Monday.

The first shipment from the Salina Cruz terminal would be Maya crude for export to the west coast of the United States, said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly.

The information from the official confirmed Reuters data tracking oil tanker movements around the Salina Cruz terminal, where operations were put on hold following a massive earthquake off the southwestern coast of Mexico on Sept. 7.

Salina Cruz is also the site of Mexico’s biggest refinery. Pemex has said it expects refining operations to begin again at Salina Cruz in the third week of October.

As MRC wrote previously, in early August 2017, Pemex was planning to begin restart of propylene production at two of its refineries the following week as it brought the key processing units back online. Pemex planned to restart a fluid catalytic cracker the following week at its Salina Cruz refinery in Oaxaca, which had been shut following a June 14 fire. Pemex's Minatitlan refinery in Veracruz saw the first of two FCC units come back online August 5, and the second unit restarted on August 12. The Minatitlan units had been offline for maintenance, the source previously said.

Pemex, Mexican Petroleum, is a Mexican state-owned petroleum company. Pemex has a total asset worth of USD415.75 billion, and is the world's second largest non-publicly listed company by total market value, and Latin America's second largest enterprise by annual revenue as of 2009. Company produces such polymers, as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS).
MRC