London introduces vehicle pollution levy in new blow to diesel

MOSCOW (MRC) -- London brought in a new levy on the oldest and most polluting cars entering the city centre from Monday, almost doubling how much motorists have to pay in the latest blow to diesel, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Drivers are already charged 11.50 pounds ($15) to enter the financial district and parts of west London under a congestion charge. But those driving petrol and diesel vehicles typically registered before 2006 will need to pay an additional 10 pounds.

Since the 2015 Volkswagen emissions cheating scandal, a number of major cities including Madrid, Paris and Athens have announced plans particularly focused on cutting diesel emissions including bans, fines and restrictions. The new charge could further encourage motorists to switch to greener models in one of Europe's biggest cities as Mayor Sadiq Khan hopes the new levy to reduce toxicity, known as the T-Charge, will help save thousands of lives each year.

"The air is bad, but it's also a killer," he told Reuters. "There are children in London whose lungs are underdeveloped. There are adults who suffer a whole host of conditions caused by the poor quality air from asthma to dementia to suffering strokes."

The tax will apply to up to 34,000 vehicles every month, according to Khan's office, a small proportion of the 535,000 vehicles which come into the area. But it sets the tone for future policies including an ultra low emission zone due by the end of 2020.

Although the T-Charge will also affect older petrol cars, diesel has been particularly maligned over the last few years, with sales down 14 percent this year in Europe's second-biggest car market as petrol demand continues to rise.

"There's a budget coming up and the government's got to step up and announce the diesel scrappage scheme to help families and businesses," said Khan, a politician from Britain's main opposition Labour Party. Britain's Conservative government said this year that sales of new diesel and petrol cars would be banned from 2040 but has stopped short of an immediate programme to incentivise drivers to trade in their old models.

Whether 40,000 Uber drivers, one in three of all private hire vehicles working in the British capital, continue to operate will also have a major impact on London's streets in the years ahead. The city's transport regulator shocked the Silicon Valley taxi app last month by stripping it of its licence. But the company can continue to operate until an appeals process is exhausted, which could take several years.

After discussions between Uber's global Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi and Transport for London (TfL) Commissioner Mike Brown this month, Khan said further talks could take place.

"If it's possible for the global CEO to continue discussions with the TfL commissioner of course that's a sensible course of action," he told Reuters. "Whenever you can avoid litigation, you should avoid litigation but I appreciate Uber are appealing the TfL decision. We'll have to wait and see how that pans out."
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil Chemical Company has announced that it has commenced production on the first of two new 650,000 tons-per-year high-performance polyethylene (PE) lines at its plastics plant in Mont Belvieu, Texas, said the producer on its site.

The full project, part of the company’s multi-billion dollar expansion project in the Baytown area and ExxonMobil’s broader Growing the Gulf expansion initiative, will increase the plant’s polyethylene capacity by approximately 1.3 million tons per year.

The Mont Belvieu plant capacity will total more than 2.5 million tons per year, making it one of the largest polyethylene plants in the world. These performance polyethylene products will deliver significant sustainability benefits enabling lighter weight higher performance packaging, lower energy consumption and reduced emissions.

A significant portion of Mont Belvieu polyethylene will be exported from the Port of Houston later this month. At peak, the site will ship more than 200 containers a day.

"The expansion of our Mont Belvieu facility further enhances our ability to meet growing global demand for high-performance polyethylene products around the world," said Neil Chapman, president of ExxonMobil Chemical Company. "The investments we’re making through our Growing the Gulf initiative will not only expand our existing manufacturing and export capacity, but will further stimulate local economic growth and create thousands of full-time jobs."

ExxonMobil is planning to invest more than USD20 billion over 10 years to build and expand manufacturing facilities in the U.S. Gulf region. These projects are expected to create more than 45,000 jobs, including more than 12,000 full-time jobs. The expansion covers 11 major chemical, refining, lubricant and liquefied natural gas projects along the Texas and Louisiana coasts.

As MRC reported 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.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Oil prices were flat on Friday in see-saw trade, under pressure from weak US demand but drawing support from a sharp decline in Iraqi crude exports due to tensions in the Kurdistan region, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

US light crude was 10 cents higher at $51.39. Brent crude was up 24 cents at USD57.47/bbl by 11:44 a.m. EST (1544 GMT). "We've continued to see signs that the market needs a steady drumbeat of positive information," said Gene McGillian, director of market research for Tradition Energy. "This week's DOE report where gasoline demand dropped to its lowest since March gave a little pause to that."

Oil exports from Iraq's Kurdistan via the Turkish port of Ceyhan were flowing at average rates of 216,000 barrels per day (bpd), down from the usual flows of around 600 Mbpd, a shipping source said. Iraqi troops regained control of two major oilfields northwest of Kirkuk from Kurdish Peshmerga forces this week, and the oil ministry in Baghdad expects to bring the fields back on stream on Sunday.

Russia's biggest oil company, Rosneft, has agreed to take control of Iraqi Kurdistan's main oil pipeline in a USD1.8 billion investment. Olivier Jakob, chief strategist at consultancy Petromatrix, said the deal with Rosneft "makes it a bit harder for Baghdad to do anything against those flows".

Analysts said the market was on a path toward rebalancing. "The oil market has moved into modest undersupply and we expect this will persist at least through the end of the year," US investment bank Jefferies said. U.S. commercial stocks of crude oil have dropped 15 percent from their March records, to 456.5 MMbbl, below levels seen last year.

Part of this drawdown has been due to rising exports as a result of the steep discount of US crude to Brent, which makes it attractive for American producers to export their oil. Crude oil for immediate use now carries a premium over forward futures, making it profitable to sell oil produced now rather than storing it for sale later.

Shipping data in Thomson Reuters Eikon shows that overseas U.S. crude oil shipments have soared from virtually zero before the government loosened export restrictions in late 2015 to around 2.6 MMbpd in October. "While outbound shipments recently approached 2 MMbpd, our math suggests that physical bottlenecks are unlikely to kick in until waterborne exports approach 3.2 MMbpd," RBC Capital Markets said.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- JG Summit has awarded Fluor an engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) contract for a petrochemical complex expansion in Batangas City, the Philippines, as per Apic-online.

The project will increase JG Summit's ethylene production by 160,000 t/y and propylene production by 50,000 t/y. Also included in the project are new and expanded downstream units. Completion is expected by the end of 2020.

Under the contract, for which a value was not disclosed, Fluor will be responsible for the utilities, offsites and infrastructure scope of work.

"JG Summit is the sole cracker operator in the Philippines and we are pleased to support their expansion program," noted Ken Choudhary, president of Fluor's Energy & Chemicals business for the Asia-Pacific region.

JG Summit announced earlier this year, as MRC informed before, that it was planning to invest USD700-million in five new petrochemical projects in the Philippines, which includes a new butadiene extraction plant, an aromatics unit, an expansion of its existing naphtha cracker and polypropylene facility, and a new bimodal polyethylene unit. Operations are scheduled to start by 2021.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has backed off a series of proposed changes to the nation’s biofuels policy after a massive backlash from corn-state lawmakers worried the moves would undercut ethanol demand, according to a letter from the agency to lawmakers seen by Reuters.

The letter could end uncertainty about the future of the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard under the administration of President Donald Trump that has roiled commodity and energy markets for months. The program, which requires refineries to blend increasing amounts of ethanol and other biofuels into the nation’s fuel supply every year, appeared on the verge of a massive overhaul.

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said in the letter dated Oct. 19 that the agency will keep renewable fuel volume mandates for next year at or above proposed levels, reversing a previous move to open the door to cuts. He said the EPA would not pursue another idea floated by EPA leadership that would have allowed exported ethanol to be counted toward those volume quotas.

Pruitt also said the EPA did not believe a proposal to shift the biofuels blending obligation away from refiners was appropriate. That plan is backed by representatives of a handful of independent refining companies. Those ideas would have eased the burden on some in the refining industry, who have argued that biofuels compete with petroleum, and that the blending responsibility costs them hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

But Midwestern lawmakers, including Republicans Charles Grassley and Joni Ernst, had vocally opposed all those ideas, calling them a betrayal of the administration’s promises to support the corn belt. They were concerned the moves would undercut domestic demand for ethanol, a key industry in the region that has supported corn growers.

In Pruitt’s letter, he said the EPA was prepared to work with Congress to examine the possibility of a waiver that would allow the sale of E15 gasoline, containing 15 percent ethanol, year-round - something currently not permitted during the summer due to concerns about smog.

Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Bob Dinneen said in a response to the letter on Friday morning that the U.S. ethanol industry was “grateful for Administrator Pruitt’s epiphany on the road to the RFS.”
MRC