SIBUR gets certified against ISO standard for compliance management

MOSCOW (MRC) -- SIBUR has passed an independent audit that certified its compliance with the international standard ISO 19600:2014 – Compliance Management Systems, said the company.

Including SIBUR, only three Russian companies have so far been certified against this standard, which testifies to the Company’s high standards for operating excellence. The certification audit was conducted by an international team of analysts at Bureau Veritas Certification Rus. The compliance certificate is valid until 2021 and will require annual surveillance audits.

ISO 19600 provides guidelines for establishing a compliance management system or improving an existing one. The certificate confirms that SIBUR’s compliance management systems are in line with international standards in combating corruption, preventing insider trading, identifying and managing conflicts of interest, preventing antitrust law violations, and implementing procedures for gifts and hospitality.

Alexey Kozlov, Managing Director and Member of SIBUR’s Management Board, said: "Certification against the ISO standard once again highlights SIBUR’s commitment to principles of responsible business and ethics."
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Exxon Mobil, BP pull staff from Gulf ahead of Hurricane Michael

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BP and Exxon Mobil on Monday began evacuating personnel from US Gulf of Mexico oil and gas production platforms as forecasters predicted Hurricane Michael would become a major hurricane this week, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The National Hurricane Center upgraded the storm on Monday and forecast it would become at least a Category 3 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale as its moved through the center of the Gulf of Mexico. Category 3 storms have sustained winds of 111 to 129 miles (178 to 208 km) per hour.

Michael was tracking through the Gulf’s energy-producing area and was expected to make landfall near the Florida Panhandle. The storm’s current track takes it away from refinery-heavy areas of the central and western Gulf Coast.

BP said it has shut in production at four production productions and drilling rigs are taking steps to evade the storm. The platforms evacuating personnel and shutting in production include its Atlantis, Mad Dog, Ka Kika and Thunder Horse facilities, the company said.

Exxon also removed staff from its Lena production platform, but said it did not expect the staff reduction to affect output.

Royal Dutch Shell was monitoring the storm but has not made any changes to its deep water facilities, said spokeswoman Kimberly Windon.

Offshore production in the Gulf accounts for 17 percent of total US crude oil output, according to the US Energy Information Administration. Natural gas production from Gulf offshore operations provides 5 percent of the US total.

Over 45 percent of U.S. refining capacity is located along the Gulf Coast, along with 51 percent of the nation’s natural gas processing plant capacity, the EIA said.

Production platforms are permanently attached to the sea floor and cannot be moved. Rigs, used for exploration, can be towed out of harm’s way during a storm.

As MRC reported earlier, in October 2017, ExxonMobil Chemical Company 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.

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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Explosion and fire shut Irving Oil refinery in Canada

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A major incident occurred at Irving Oil’s Saint John refinery in New Brunswick on Monday morning, reported Reuters with reference to the company's statement on Twitter.

Residents in the area reported an explosion and fire at the refinery, local media reported.

Irving Oil Corp shut its Saint John refinery in the Canadian province of New Brunswick after an explosion and a major fire that followed.

"We can confirm that a major incident has occurred at our Saint John refinery this morning. We are actively assessing the situation at this time and will share more information when available," The company shared on Twitter.

The company operates the 320,000 barrel-per-day refinery at this site.

As MRC wrote before, in July 2018, the sale of a remote Canadian refinery was scuttled as two former oil traders running the company locked horns over the value of the plant. The partners, former traders Neal Shear and Kaushik Amin, sought to sell the 130,000 barrel-per-day refinery in Come By Chance, Newfoundland last year to privately held Canadian refiner Irving Oil, which was seen as the leading bidder.
MRC

Shenhua Baotou resumes PP production

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shenhua Baotou has restarted a polypropylene (PP) plant following a maintenance turnaround, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the company has completed turnaround at the plant in end-September, 2018. The plant was shut for maintenance on September 1, 2018.

Located at Baotou City, China, the PP plant has a production capacity of 300,000 mt/year.

Shenhua Baotou also runs linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) plant at the same site. The company conducted maintenance at its LLDPE plant from 12 September to late September, 2017. Located at Baotou City, China, the plant has a production capacity of 300,000 mt/year.
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Jakub Kosmowski is appointed the new Marketing Director of the Unipetrol

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Jakub Kosmowski has been appointed the new Marketing Director of the Unipetrol Group. Jakub Kosmowski has thirteen years of experience in marketing. In 2010, he founded the JFK Studio marketing and graphic design company based in Krakow, said the company.

In 2016 and 2017, he worked as marketing manager for the Krakow branch of Mercedes-Benz Polska.
Jakub Kosmowski (31) is also a former athlete. In 2008, he was the Polish windsurfing champion, and he fought his way into the European championship finals in the same year. He was born in Krakow, Poland. He is married and has two children. He is a graduate of the University of Management and Banking in Krakow.

"My objective is the intensive coordination of marketing activities of all the subsidiaries of our group and the profiling of the brand with regard to the fact that the current majority owner of Unipetrol, the Polish petrochemical giant PKN Orlen, is becoming its 100% owner," explained Jakub Kosmowski, Director of the Marketing Division of the Unipetrol Group, adding: "It is great for me to come to such an amazing team. I aim to combine both creativity and efficient use of our resources when planning and implementing our marketing activities."

The Marketing Division of the Unipetrol Group consists of the wholesale marketing and retail marketing departments and ensures the marketing activities of the Unipetrol Group and its subsidiaries, including the promotion of the wholesale brands Spolana, Liten, Mosten, Spolsan and Chezacarb, and the retail brands Benzina, Verva, Efecta, Stop Cafe, Paramo and Mogul.

The Unipetrol Group is the largest refinery and petrochemical company in the Czech Republic. It focuses primarily on crude oil processing, distribution and sale of fuel and petrochemical products — particularly plastics and fertilisers. In all these fields, the group is a key player on both the Czech and Central European market. The Unipetrol Group includes refineries and production plants in Litvinov and Kralupy nad Vltavou, Paramo with the Mogul brand in Pardubice and Kolin, Spolana in Neratovice, and two research centres in Litvinov and Brno. Unipetrol also owns the Benzina network of petrol stations with 406 stations, which is the largest chain in the Czech Republic. Unipetrol is one of the largest companies in the Czech Republic in terms of turnover. The group created revenue of over CZK 122 billion last year and employs more than 4600 people. In 2005, Unipetrol became part of the PKN Orlen Group, the largest crude oil processor in Central Europe.
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