BASF oil JV Wintershall DEA to slash almost one in four jobs

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Wintershall DEA, the planned oil and gas joint venture between BASF and LetterOne, will cut almost one out of four jobs once the merger is approved and completed some time during the first half of the year, said Reuters.

Around 1,000 full-time positions, out of a pro-forma total of 4,200, will be eliminated in a “socially compatible manner,” BASF’s Wintershall unit said in a statement on Thursday.

About 800 of the job cuts will be in Germany and about 200 in Norway, it added.
MRC

Pertamina plans investment increase to double refinery capacity

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Indonesian state energy company PT Pertamina is planning capital expenditures of USD4.2 billion this year and will raise it to USD7 billion in two years as part of plans to double its oil refinery capacity, reported Reuters with reference to chief executive Nicke Widyawati.

Pertamina is under pressure from the government to expand its downstream production to reduce imports of refined oil products, which creates a trade deficit that weighs on the Indonesian rupiah.

"Starting from 2021, we will invest around USD7 billion per year as these refineries (developments) are in progress," Widyawati said in a meeting with journalists late on Thursday.

Pertamina plans to double its refining capacity to 2 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2026 from around 1 million bpd currently, Widyawati said, to meet national fuel demand of around 1.4 million bpd.

Pertamina expects to import 351,000 bpd of gasoline this year, up from 324,000 bpd in 2018, according to a company presentation during the meeting.

The company is currently working on at least seven refinery projects, including the new Bontang and Tuban refineries and the upgrading of the Balikpapan and Cilacap plants.

To finance the investment, Finance Director Pahala Mansury said Pertamina has the capacity to raise funds through borrowing, but the company is actively looking for partners for certain projects.

"We are looking for investment partners. These are big investments and the return may take a while," Widyawati said.

Meanwhile, Pertamina is targeting USD58.85 billion in revenue in 2019, up from USD56.06 billion in 2018.

As MRC informed earlier, in September 2018, Eni and PT Pertamina (Persero) signed in Porto Marghera, at Eni Green Refinery, a Memorandum of Understanding further expanding the relationship into green refinery.

Pertamina is an Indonesian state-owned oil and natural gas corporation based in Jakarta. It was created in August 1968 by the merger of Pertamin (established 1961) and Permina (established 1957). Pertamina is the world's largest producer and exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
MRC

Aruba asks US to lift sanctions affecting refinery financing

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Aruba is asking the United States to lift financial sanctions blocking a Citgo Petroleum Corp oil refinery from financing an overhaul project, which has led to job cuts on the Caribbean island, reported Reuters with reference the nation’s prime minister.

Prime Minister Evelyn Wever-Croes said at a media briefing that the United States initially ruled out a relaxation of sanctions, which this month led to a halt on a USD685 million renovation project that was started in 2016.

The island government is expecting a final answer this week on its request to allow between USD15 million and USD20 million be invested in the project, Wever-Croes said, adding that the money would allow for the recall of the workers.

Citgo, as a unit Venezuela’s state-run oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA, is subject to financial sanctions imposed by the United States on the country’s government and PDVSA, designed to oust Venezuela’s socialist president, Nicolas Maduro.

Citgo Aruba Refining signed a 15-year lease with the government of Aruba, agreeing to refurbish and reopen an idled 209,000-barrel-per-day refinery. That work was halted earlier in February and employees laid off because of the US sanctions.

A Citgo Petroleum spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A first round of sanctions on Venezuela and PDVSA in 2017 had caused delays to the project.

As MRC informed before, in late January 2019, Citgo Petroleum Corp idled the small gasoline-producing unit at its 157,500-barrel-per-day (bpd) Corpus Christi, Texas, refinery for economic reasons. The 13,000-bpd FCCU 1 was shut for "non-operational reasons" the company said in a notice filed with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The sources said FCCU 1 was not profitable for the refinery to operate.
MRC

Fire put out at small oil refinery in Russia's Irkutsk region

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A fire broke out at a small oil refinery in the Russian region of Irkutsk on Sunday, but was put out within quarter of an hour, reported Reuters with reference to the local Emergency Ministry.

The fire at the refinery in the Siberian city of Angarsk broke out at 1544 local time (0744 GMT) and was extinguished by 1558 (0758 GMT).

There was an oil spill covering an area of 50 square metres which led to a fire at the facility’s primary crude refining unit, the ministry said.

The refinery was not owned by Russian oil giant Rosneft and was a separate, small facility, a local official said.

We remind that, as MRC wrote before, Russia's largest oil producer Rosneft, which owns downstream assets in Germany including stakes in a number of oil refineries, plans to invest around EUR600 million (USD690 million) in the German downstream market.
MRC

KBR to provide services for crude expansion project at ExxonMobil’s Refinery

MOSCOW (NRC) -- KBR, Inc. announced it has been awarded a reimbursable contract by ExxonMobil to provide detailed engineering, procurement, and construction services for the offsites and interconnecting units as part of the recently announced crude expansion project in Beaumont, Texas, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

"KBR is proud to continue our relationship with ExxonMobil through our partnership on this project," said Farhan Mujib, KBR President, Hydrocarbons - Delivery Solutions. "This project showcases KBR's long history of executing projects on the U.S. Gulf Coast and our ability to deliver projects in operating facilities safely and efficiently."

KBR has successfully executed some of the world's largest, most technically complex projects. Backed by a 100-year legacy of engineering innovation, hands-on knowledge and technical expertise, we create solutions to customers' challenges that deliver the impossible on a daily basis.

As MRC reported before, 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. 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.

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