AkzoNobel third quarter earnings miss

MOSCOW (MRC) -- AkzoNobel, the Dutch maker of Dulux paint, reported lower-than-expected third-quarter operating earnings of 383 million euros (USD451 million) on Wednesday, citing "headwinds" at its marine coatings business and margin pressures from rising raw material costs, said the company on its website.

It said earnings before interest and taxes for the year would now be about flat from 2016 -- its second warning since saying in July it was on track to meet the goal of 100 million euros in EBIT growth it had promised as part of its rationale for rejecting a 26-billion-euro takeover from PPG Industries in May.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected third-quarter earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) at 432 million euros, down from 442 million euros in the same period a year ago.

Akzo has struggled since refusing PPG's advances, seeing both its CEO and CFO resign for health reasons and saying in September that full-year EBIT would grow by less than 100 million euros after all. "EBIT for 2017 is now expected to be in line with 2016," said new CEO Thierry Vanlancker, citing "adverse foreign exchange, ongoing industry specific headwinds and supply chain disruptions, including the adverse impact of Hurricane Harvey in the US."

Akzo said on Wednesday that two other promises to shareholders -- a superdividend of 1 billion euros before the end of the year and the sale or IPO of its Specialty Chemicals arm by early next year -- are still on track.

MRC

ExxonMobil acquires crude oil terminal to serve Permian Basin production

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil Corporation has announced that it has acquired a crude oil terminal in Wink, Texas from Genesis Energy LP, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The terminal is located in the rapidly growing Delaware Basin, part of Permian Basin - one of the most prolific plays in the United States.

The terminal is strategically positioned to handle Permian Basin crude oil and condensate for transport to Gulf Coast refineries and marine export terminals. The facility is interconnected to the Plains Alpha Crude Connector pipeline system, and is permitted for 100,000 bpd of throughput with the ability to expand.

This acquisition marks ExxonMobil’s first terminal in the Permian Basin to be anchored by the corporation’s newly acquired Delaware Basin acreage, previously announced in January.

As MRC informed earlier, in November 2016, Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. announced it received a contract from ExxonMobil Chemical Company to provide engineering, design and construction management services as part of a new 650 kTa polyethylene facility to be located at ExxonMobil’s Beaumont polyethylene plant.

ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world's oil and about 2% of the world's energy.
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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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S.Korea plan to ease oil-blending rules to take effect from Thurs

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

Storm in western Canada temporarily disrupts crude pipelines

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.
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