Chevron names new Finance Chief in management Shuffle

MOSCOW (MRC) --Chevron Corp. on Monday named Pierre Breber as chief financial officer amid a shift of senior executives, reported The Wall Street Journal.

Mr. Breber, who currently serves as executive vice president of downstream and chemicals, succeeds Patricia Yarrington, a 38-year veteran of the energy giant. Ms. Yarrington, who rose to the CFO position in 2009, is retiring, the company said. Mr. Breber begins his new post April 1.

Mr. Breber joined Chevron in 1989. Before his current position, he served in various roles, including president and treasurer, as well as executive vice president of gas and midstream.

"Pierre is uniquely qualified to be our next CFO, having served in senior finance roles and also in operating roles across our downstream, midstream and upstream businesses," Michael Wirth, Chevron’s chief executive, said in a prepared statement. "Pierre’s deep financial background and broad knowledge of our operations will be valuable in ensuring we remain financially strong and create lasting shareholder value."

Ms. Yarrington joined Chevron in 1980 as a financial analyst and rose through the ranks, with roles that included investor relations, strategic planning and vice president of policy, government and public affairs, according to the company’s website. She also served on the San Francisco Federal Reserve’s board of directors from 2009 to 2014, with a stint as chairman in 2013 and 2014.

Ms. Yarrington’s retirement is the second notable departure from the company’s top leadership in as many years. John Watson, the former CEO of Chevron who retired last year, joined the company in the same year and same position as Ms. Yarrington. Mr. Watson was replaced by Mr. Wirth, who joined the company in 1982.

In other moves, Chevron said that Mark Nelson would replace Mr. Breber as executive vice president of downstream and chemicals. Colin Parfitt will take over Mr. Nelson’s current position, vice president of midstream. Both appointments are effective March 1.

In 2018, the company reported USD14.8 billion in earnings, up from USD9.2 billion the previous year. Last year, Chevron production set a company record of about 2.9 million barrels a day, including new output from giant natural-gas export projects in Australia and increased production in North America.

As MRC informed previously, Chevron Corp has recently said it will pay USD350 million to buy a refinery in Pasadena, Texas, from Brazilian state oil company Petrobras. In addition to the 110,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery, Chevron will take ownership of a 466-acre (188.5 hectares) complex on the Houston Ship Channel that includes storage tanks with capacity for 5.1 million barrels of crude oil and refined products, as well as 143 acres of additional land, the company said.
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NEXT to sell renewable diesel to Shell Trading US

MOSCOW (MRC) -- NEXT Renewable Fuels, Inc. (NEXT) and Shell Trading (US) Company (Shell) have entered a long-term Purchase and Sale Agreement for the purchase of renewable diesel from NEXT’s planned Port Westward, Oregon facility, said the company.

Representing an investment of more than $1 billion (USD), NEXT continues to develop its Oregon renewable diesel facility with an expected annual processing capacity of 13.3 million barrels (600 million gallons). Scheduled to open in 2021, NEXT will supply Shell and other partners with its alternative liquid fuels, satisfying end-user demand while also meeting both federal and state environmental compliance and fuel security requirements.

"We are pleased to be working with Shell on bringing our advanced renewable fuels to their customers. Shell and NEXT share a vision for a greener world through the advancement of renewable transportation fuels, giving consumers greener fuel options,” said Lou Soumas, NEXT Renewable Fuels President. “We look forward to supplying Shell for many years."

NEXT renewable diesel is a second-generation advanced biofuel made from 100 percent renewable feedstocks including used cooking oils, animal tallows, and selected virgin seed and vegetable oils.

"As a drop-in fuel, NEXT’s renewable diesel is a perfect fit with our existing fuels business and will allow us to integrate this advanced fuel seamlessly into our supply chain," said Kate Andresen, Shell Biodiesel Trading Manager for the Americas.

NEXT selected the Port Westward site due to its strategic location at a deep-water site on the Columbia River, access to global feedstock supplies, and close transport to North American West Coast markets.

NEXT is focused on the development and production of second-generation advanced biofuels, including renewable diesel, renewable propane and renewable naphtha to supply contracted off-take agreements for customers in the western United States and Canada. NEXT’s fuels reduce life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80%, improving the environment and moving us forward to a greener future.

STUSCO operates in the U.S. as part of Shell Trading and Supply, one of the largest energy trading operations in the world, with its largest trading hubs located in London, Houston, Singapore, Dubai and Rotterdam, trading in crude oil, natural gas, LNG, electrical power, refined products, chemical feedstocks and environmental products. This global organization combines our network of trading companies, industry leading shipping and maritime capabilities, and integrated network of supply and distribution activities to act as the central nervous system for Royal Dutch Shell, adding value across Shell’s Upstream, Downstream and Integrated Gas businesses.
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BP 2018 profit doubles to five-year high as output soars

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BP joined its competitors in posting a strong 2018 performance, with a doubling of profits driven by strong growth in oil and gas output following a large U.S. shale acquisition, said the company.

Record utilisation of its oil and gas fields and refining capacity further helped BP seal what was a transformational year as the aftermath of the deadly 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster eased.

But while the London-listed firm's revenue beat forecasts, debt rose and the pace of its share buyback scheme slowed in the last quarter after it paid the first and largest tranche of the USD10.5 billion BHP acquisition.

BP shares rose more than 3.3 percent in early trade, hitting their highest since early December.

"We now have a powerful track record of safe and reliable performance, efficient execution and capital discipline. And we're doing this while growing the business," BP Chief Executive Officer Bob Dudley said in a statement.

Royal Dutch Shell, Exxon Mobil and Chevron all reported stronger-than-forecast earnings last week driven by higher production in U.S. shale basins where Oil Majors have invested billions in recent years.

The strong gains came despite a sharp drop in crude prices at the end of the year that wiped out most gains made in share prices throughout the year.
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Schneider Electric EcoStruxure process safety advisor delivers profitable safety for industry

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Schneider Electric, the leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, has announced EcoStruxure Process Safety Advisor, an IIoT-based digital process safety platform and service that enables customers to visualize and analyze real-time hazardous events and risks to their enterprise-wide assets, operations and business performance, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Safety Advisor is built on Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure SIF Manager application for tracking and validating safety instrumented function (SIF) performance over the life of a plant. It provides a single view into the health and status of the user’s safety instrumented functions, which helps to identify potential risks and their impact on operations performance.

Platform- and vendor-agnostic, Safety Advisor uniquely extends the functionality of SIF Manager. Using a secure, cloud-based infrastructure, Safety Advisor aggregates real-time data, analytics and insights from multiple sites and geographies into a single user interface so customers can create an accurate, enterprise-wide risk profile in real time. It also identifies the need to take corrective action via easy-to-understand performance dashboards and leading indicators for safety health and then documents the entire process using an embedded SIF audit trail that supports safety compliance.

“EcoStruxure Process Safety Advisor enables the industrial workforce to create a closed-loop safety model that validates actual performance against original design criteria,” said Sven Grone, safety services practice leader, Schneider Electric. “Because they can now accurately predict when safety risks will exceed acceptable thresholds, they are better able to avoid incidents and reduce downtime, while improving the efficiency, reliability and profitability of their operations. At the end of the day, Safety Advisor ramps up our customers’ ability to run safely, comply with safety regulations and drive measurable results to the bottom line."

EcoStruxure is Schneider Electric’s open, interoperable, IoT-enabled system architecture and platform. EcoStruxure delivers enhanced value around safety, reliability, efficiency, sustainability and connectivity for customers. EcoStruxure leverages advancements in IoT, mobility, sensing, cloud, analytics and cybersecurity to deliver Innovation at Every Level. This includes Connected Products, Edge Control, and Apps, Analytics and Services. EcoStruxure has been deployed in 480,000+ sites, with the support of 20,000+ system integrators and developers, connecting over 1.6 million assets under management through 40+ digital services.
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Celanese raises February VAM prices in Asia outside China

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Celanese Corporation, a global chemical and specialty materials company, has raised its February list and off-list selling prices for Vinyl Acetate Monomer (VAM) sold in Asia Outside China (AOC), as per the company's press release.

The price increase below is effective as of 31 January, or as contracts otherwise allow, and is incremental to any previously announced increases.

Thus, Celanese raised VAM list and off-list selling prices by USD50/mt for AOC.

As MRC reported earlier, Celanese last increased its prices for VAM sold in Asia on 21 December, 2018, as follows:

- by USD50/mt for AOC.

Celanese Corporation is a global technology leader in the production of differentiated chemistry solutions and specialty materials used in most major industries and consumer applications. Based in Dallas, Celanese employs approximately 7,600 employees worldwide and had 2017 net sales of USD6.1 billion.
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