Firefighters battle explosion and fire at Chevron refinery in El Segundo

MOSCOW (MRC) -- An explosion and fire rocked the Chevron Refinery in El Segundo on Tuesday night, prompting a call for residents to shelter in place as thick black smoke billowed into the sky, as per FireNewsFeed.

The blast occurred about 10:45 p.m. on the west side of the refinery complex along Grand Avenue near Vista del Mar. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

El Segundo police officers advised residents to shelter in place and close their windows. No evacuations occurred. Vista Del Mar Boulevard was shut down between 45th Street and Grand Avenue, according to the El Segundo Police Department.

Flames reportedly burned some power lines, causing big electrical flashes and sending some of the lines falling to the ground.

Firefighters from El Segundo, Los Angeles city and county, Redondo Beach and Manhattan Beach were battling the flames. Television helicopters showed firefighters pouring water and foam onto the flames.

By 11:30 p.m., the fire appeared to be out, but firefighters were continuing to pour water on it.

The flames came close to storage tanks on the Chevron property, but firefighters kept them from spreading.

The Chevron refinery, just south of Los Angeles International Airport, is the largest refinery on the West Coast. It has the capacity to produce 290,000 barrels of gasoline per day. About 150 storage tanks greater than 30 feet in diameter are located on the property, according to its website.

As MRC informed earlier, in July 2016, USD36.8bn expansion of the Tengiz oilfield in Kazakhstan, the largest investment by private sector oil companies this decade, has been given the go-ahead by Chevron of the US, bucking the trend of delays and cancellations resulting from the slump in crude prices since mid-2014.

Chevron is the second-largest US oil group by production and market capitalisation, after ExxonMobil. Chevron Phillips Chemical (part of Chevron), headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas (north of Houston), US,l is one of the world’s top producers of olefins and polyolefins and a leading supplier of aromatics, alpha olefins, styrenics, specialty chemicals, piping, and proprietary plastics. Chevron and Phillips 66 each own 50% of Chevron Phillips Chemical.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- South Korea said on Wednesday that its plan to ease blending restrictions at oil storage terminals would come into effect on Thursday, as the government continues its push to boost international oil trading in the country, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The world's fifth-largest oil importer in April approved legislation to loosen restrictions on companies blending refined fuels at oil terminals, but the exact start date was not released at that point.

Previously, international oil traders with storage tanks in South Korea were only allowed to mix oil products in bonded areas like tank terminals to export, according to an energy ministry statement and a ministry official. But the new regulations allow them to trade their blended products locally through oil importers.

The energy ministry said in the statement that the move would help expand the country's oil trading business and transform its Yeosu and Ulsan ports into a Northeast Asian trading hub.

South Korea currently has 24 MMbbl of storage capacity at its tank terminals in Ulsan and another 8.2 MMbbl in Yeosu, Korea National Oil Corp says on its website.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Two crude oil pipelines in western Canada were shut down temporarily on Wednesday, the day after stormy weather caused power outages in parts of Alberta and Saskatchewan, reported Reuters.

TransCanada Corp's 590,000-bpd Keystone pipeline, which delivers crude from Hardisty, Alberta, to Steele City, Nebraska, was shut down for a few hours and is now back to operating as normal, spokesman Terry Cunha said.

Market sources said the Keystone shut down was due to a power outage caused by the weather.

Inter Pipeline Ltd's 82,000 bpd Mid Saskatchewan crude oil pipeline, which delivers light and heavy crude into Kerrobert, Saskatchewan, lost power following the storm and restarted on Wednesday afternoon.

"Power has been restored to Inter Pipeline’s MidSask system and we have resumed normal operations," Inter Pipeline spokeswoman Breanne Oliver said.

Fierce windstorms across much of Alberta and Saskatchewan on Tuesday caused widespread power outages and fanned fast-moving prairie fires in some areas.

As MRC wrote before, TransCanada Corp has recently said it expects to take a CUSD1 B charge in the current quarter after deciding to abandon its Energy East and Eastern Mainline pipeline projects, after intense scrutiny by Canada's energy regulator. The termination comes after the National Energy Board (NEB) expanded the scope of its review of Energy East in August, saying it would consider the pipeline's indirect greenhouse gas contributions. Energy East's importance has somewhat diminished for TransCanada since US President Donald Trump this year signed an order reviving the company's Keystone XL pipeline, which would run from Alberta's oil sands to US refineries.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- January-September imports of expandable polystyrene (EPS) decreased by 5% in Russia to 15,07 tonnes from 16,5 tonnes a year earlier, according to MRC's DataScope report.

About a half of the total shipments were imported by traders. September EPS imports dropped to 1,700 tonnes from 2,300 tonnes a month earlier.
Styrochem's imports were 570 tonnes last month versus 680 tonnes in August, Loyal's shipments decreased to 330 tonnes from 600 tonnes a month earlier, whereas Styrolution's imports were 340 tonnes versus 310 tonnes. Shipments from China fell to 630 tonnes in September from 990 tonnes a month earlier and accounted for 37% of the total EPS imports for the month versus a 42% stake in August. In the total imports structure by producers, Styrochem's shipments rose to 5,400 tonnes from 4,400 tonnes a year earlier, which accounted for 34% of the total imports versus a 27% stake in January-September 2016.

Loyal's share dropped to 21% (3,400 tonnes) from 25% (4,100 tonnes). Styrolution accounted for 14% (2,200 tonnes) versus 13% (2,100 tonnes), LC Chem - for 8% (1,200 tonnes) versus 6% (1,000 tonnes) in the first nine months of last year.

Imports of Chinese EPS dropped by 12% year on year in the first nine months of 2017 to 5,200 tonnes from 5,900 tonnes a year earlier.


MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The United States issued a long-awaited permit covering a 3-mi segment of Enbridge Inc’s Line 67 crude oil pipeline on Monday, allowing the company to nearly double capacity on the cross-border conduit, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The permit from the US State Department for the so-called Alberta Clipper line will allow Calgary-based Enbridge to ship 890,000 bpd of Canadian crude from Edmonton, Alberta, to Superior, Wisconsin, up from 450,000 bpd currently. Enbridge said it welcomed the issuance of the permit after a nearly five-year review process.

“Line 67 currently operates under an existing Presidential Permit that was issued by the State Department in 2009 and the 2017 permit authorizes Enbridge to fully utilize its capacity across the border," the company said in a statement. All cross-border crude oil pipelines require presidential approval.

Enbridge first filed for the expanded Alberta Clipper permit in 2012. But like TransCanada Corp’s Keystone XL, the company ran into delays obtaining the permit from the administration of then President Barack Obama.

In 2014, the company hatched a workaround plan to circumvent the delay. It connected the Alberta Clipper to its existing Line 3 pipeline on each side of the Canada-US border, and put oil from Clipper on Line 3 to cross the international boundary.

The permit from President Donald Trump’s pro-business administration, which also approved Keystone XL earlier this year, was widely expected, said AltaCorp Capital analyst Dirk Lever, and will help relieve pressure on other parts of the Enbridge system.

Enbridge’s Mainline pipeline network carries the bulk of Canada’s 3 MMbpd of crude exports to the United States and operates at close to capacity.

"This is great news for Canadian producers because it will effectively allow us to move more volumes on the system,” said Nancy Berard-Brown, manager of oil markets and transportation at the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers. “Line 67 is the backbone of the Enbridge system."

Enbridge shares closed up 0.4% on the Toronto Stock Exchange at CUSD52.01.
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