Lyondell refinery not affected by nearby accident

MOSCOW (MRC) - Operations at Lyondell Basell Industries 263,776 barrel-per-day (bpd) Houston refinery were unaffected by a nearby industrial accident on Saturday, a company spokeswoman said, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The refinery was informed about the accident at about 3 p.m. local time (2100 GMT) on Saturday, said Lyondell spokeswoman Chevalier Gray.

Two people working on a pipeline near the refinery were injured, according to local media. One worker was injured after a piece of pipe went through his back and abdomen and another was burned, according to KPRC-TV and KHOU-TV.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Dear readers of MRC!

We congratulate you on Christmas and New Year!

Please accept our sincere good wishes and many happy returns for the year to come!

On this special day, we wish you happiness, prosperity and success, hoping that we continue our association through many more wonderful years ahead! HappyNewYear!

Best wishes,

MRC staff.

mrcplast.com

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A new partnership that spans three continents will manufacture new fully electric, hybrid, and hydraulic blow molding machines for the North American market, as per Canplastics.

The partnership involves extrusion blow molding machine maker R&B Plastics Machinery LLC, headquartered in Saline, Mich.; Sika, a custom blow molding machine maker in Taiwan; and Seecor, a technology company based in South Africa.

The new shuttle and accumulator head machines, which will be sold and engineered under the R&B Plastics Machinery brand, will expand the company’s portfolio of blow molding machinery for the consumer packaging, automotive and industrial markets. The launch of the new machinery also marks R&B’s entry into the all-electric blow molding machine segment.

“This partnership will result in the development of a new series of machine platforms that will incorporate R&B technology, engineering and know-how,” R&B Plastics president Fred Piercy said in a statement. “This business arrangement will significantly expand our machine portfolio and enable us to compete with larger rivals, particularly in the all-electric market.”

R&B will combine modern and efficient blow molding technology and marketing approaches to offer the R&B Sika Shuttle line (RBS series) and accumulator machines (RBA series) throughout the North American market. The all-electric machines will consist of shuttle platforms ranging from 350- to 1250-mm long stroke in single- and double-sided machine configurations.

As a partner, Sika will manufacture systems and components that will be shipped to R&B Plastics’s manufacturing facility in Michigan for final assembly and customer trials. Seecor, meanwhile, will provide technology support, including manufacturing guidance and design, primarily at Sika in Taiwan.

Under the new partnership, Piercy said, R&B Plastics has already sold multiple new shuttle machines in the U.S.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- World vehicle sales in November declined for a third consecutive month in year-on-year (y/y) terms owing to a steep contraction in auto sales in China, a weakening of economic conditions in Western Europe, and a slow, but steady, decline in purchases in the U.S, said Canplastics.

According to a new report from Scotiabank, November’s 7% y/y decline in global auto sales brings the year-to-date total sales on par with the figure recorded during the same period in 2017. Vehicle purchases in Canada in November fell below 1.9 million annualised units for the first time since late-2016, Scotiabank’s latest Global Auto Report said; sales are, however, still on track for their second-highest year on record in 2018.

In November, Canadian vehicle purchases fell just below 1.9 million annualised units for the first time since late-2016 owing to a decline of 4.5% month-over=month (m/m) in seasonally-adjusted terms. “Sales also posted their sharpest year-on-year drop since 2009, at 9.4% y/y, although this drop follows the third highest-ever monthly total last November,” Scotiabank said. The new auto market’s year-to-date (ytd) contraction of 2.3% y/y is driven by particularly poor sales of Fiat-Chrysler (FCA) automobiles, Scotiabank said, which have fallen by close to 15% y/y ytd compared to a rest-of-the-market decline of 0.5% y/y ytd. “Furthermore, across the totality of the market, rising fleet vehicle sales have offset a bigger decline of 2.5% y/y ytd in retail purchases so far in 2018.”

In the U.S., despite a 0.5% m/m fall in auto sales, November’s sales of 17.4 million annualised units prolonged a strong three-month string of 17.4+ million deliveries on the back of robust fleet demand and end-of-year offers. “However, last month marked the first November year-on-year decline since 2009 in the U.S., at 0.7% y/y.” Scotiabank said. “We expect sales to fall below 17 million annualised units in the last month of 2018 for an annual average of 17.1 million tied with 2017’s second-highest-ever total.”

Scotiabank forecasts U.S. vehicle sales to fall from 17.1 million in 2018 to 16.8 million in 2019 owing to moderating employment gains and rising borrowing costs. “Although we project the U.S. economy to continue to expand at a solid, above-potential, rate of 2.4% in 2019 – aided by late-cycle fiscal stimulus by the Trump administration – labour markets have approached full employment with the jobless rate at its lowest point since the late 1960s. Bank lending rates on new autos have also edged up to a seven-year-high near the 5% mark.”

In Mexico, Scotiabank said, market weakness persists, as double-digit auto lending rates and broader policy uncertainty continue to discourage auto sales in 2018 with purchases down 5.4% y/y in November for a ytd decline of 6.7% y/y. “We expect new auto sales to decline further in 2019, as interest rates and still-high inflation price would-be buyers out of auto dealerships and toward the used car market,” Scotiabank said.

The economic slowdown in China brought on by a government-led crackdown on excessive lending and, more recently, the economic uncertainty boiling from U.S. trade tensions has led to a severe slump in auto sales in the country. Vehicle purchases in China fell by 13.9% y/y in November for a total year-to-date decline of 1.8% y/y ytd. “We forecast auto deliveries in China to contract by close to 2% in 2018 for their first annual decrease since 1999, before posting only a mild expansion next year on the back of stimulative economic policies by the Chinese government and still relatively-low vehicle penetration in smaller non-coastal urban centres,” Scotiabank said.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Aramco has announced the creation of the Saudi Aramco Retail Company (RetailCo), a wholly-owned subsidiary established to cater for fuel retailing, creating a sustainable and profitable business that integrates across the hydrocarbon value chain, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The company is chartered with owning Saudi Aramco’s fuel retailing, delivering Saudi Aramco brand positioning, innovating retail experience for fuel and associated non-fuel activities and creating an agile business unit that can adapt to retail market’s changing dynamics.

"Integrating fully across the hydrocarbon value chain is key to capturing maximum value from our resources. We are very excited with the establishment of RetailCo. It will leverage synergies in our business model and position us to actively participate in the customer-facing segment of the downstream value chain," said Abdulaziz Al-Judaimi, Saudi Aramco Senior Vice President of Downstream.

RetailCo’s core business and operations will take a phased approach to expand its network of domestic fuel retail stations to cover the Kingdom.

Al-Judaimi added: "By instituting a customer focus culture, combined with premium fuels and services, RetailCo will strive to exceed its customer’s expectations, thereby ensuring its business is sustainable for the long-term. Kingdom consumers will experience the hallmarks of Saudi Aramco’s brand essence which promises quality, reliability and safety, ensuring a vibrant and enriching stopover experience at our network of fuel retail stations. This will uplift the sector standards and provide an enhanced customer experience that will add to ‘Quality of Life’ programs in line with Vision 2030," he said.

This announcement marks the commencement of a series of initiatives and transactions in RetailCo’s journey to become a full-fledged downstream retail entity of Saudi Aramco.

As MRC informed before, Saudi Aramco’s potential acquisition of a stake in petrochemicals maker SABIC would affect the timeframe of its own planned initial public offering, the firm’s chief executive, Amin Nasser, said in a TV interview in late July 2018.

Saudi Aramco, officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, is a Saudi Arabian national oil and natural gas company based in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Aramco"s value has been estimated at up to USD10 trillion in the Financial Times, making it the world"s most valuable company. Saudi Aramco has both the largest proven crude oil reserves, at more than 260 billion barrels, and largest daily oil production.
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