Sasol changes to Group Executive Committee

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sasol announced today that Mr Stephan Schoeman, the Group Executive Committee (GEC) member responsible for, among others, Sasol's Lake Charles Chemicals Project in Louisiana in the United States (LCCP), will be retiring from the Company after 30 years of service, said the company.

Stephan joined Sasol in 1989 and has held various management positions in Sasol. He played a key role in our international expansion strategy when he was placed in Hong Kong and Germany. Stephan served as Managing Director of Sasol Infrachem from 2009 and was appointed Managing Director of Sasol Synfuels in 2011.

In 2014, he was appointed to the GEC as Executive Vice President (EVP): Technology. In 2016, Stephan took on responsibility for the LCCP and has since been instrumental in overseeing the engineering and construction works of the new plant.

With effect from 1 April 2019, project accountabilities for the LCCP will report to Mr Fleetwood Grobler in his capacity as EVP: Chemicals Business. The commissioning and operations of the LCCP already report to Mr Bernard Klingenberg, who is the EVP responsible for Sasol operations globally.

As announced on 8 February 2019, engineering and procurement activities were substantially complete at the end of December 2018, and construction progress was at 84%.
MRC

Curacao refinery gets court order for unloading Venezuelan oil

MOSCOW (MRC) - A Curacao refinery has received a court order requiring shippers to discharge a cargo of Venezuelan oil seized by maritime companies due to debts owned by Venezuela’s state-run company PDVSA, Refineria di Korsou said in a statement, as per Reuters.

Venezuela’s crude exports, which provide the bulk of its export revenue, have tumbled because of declining production, PDVSA mismanagement and U.S. sanctions aiming to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Maduro on Sunday opened the country’s maritime borders after closing them amid efforts by Venezuelan congress chief and self-declared president Juan Guaido to bring in U.S. humanitarian aid shipments from outside the country.

The 335,000-barrel-per-day Curacao refinery halted operations last spring after U.S. oil producer ConocoPhillips brought legal action to collect on a USD2 billion arbitration award. The refinery, which is owned by the island’s government and operated by PDVSA, began resuming processing last month and wants to discharge the oil so the tanker can return to Venezuela and pick up more crude for Curacao.

PDVSA restarted crude shipments to Isla in December ahead of Jan. 28 sanctions, but a cargo, on the tanker Icaro, was seized in Curacao’s waters at the end of that month by shipping firms Exotic Waves Marina SA based in Liberia and Ammon Shipping and Transport based in Jordan, according to local media reports.

"Our goal was to store the crude in onshore tanks so the Icaro could return to Venezuela to load crude bound for Curacao," the refinery said in a statement on Monday. The oil will remain under embargo until the dispute with shipping companies is solved, it said. Reuters did not have access to the court order issued in Curacao.

PDVSA did not respond to a request for comment. The parent company of Ammon Shipping did not immediately respond to an email seeking information. Exotic Waves Marina could not be reached for comment.

Several tankers with Venezuelan oil around the world have been retained by authorities or otherwise prevented from sailing because PDVSA has not paid bills for operation, hull cleaning, inspections and other marine services.

The crew of Venezuelan tankers Rio Arauca and Parnaso last week abandoned vessels that have remained anchored in Lisbon since 2017 over unpaid fees to managers Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM).

Curacao is selecting an operator to replace PDVSA when its contract expires late this year. Motiva Enterprises LLC, initially selected as preferred bidder, dropped out of the running in January. The status of two other firms involved in contract discussions has not been disclosed.

"The government of Curacao has requested the refinery to remain open so its jobs will be preserved," the statement said.
MRC

ExxonMobil Baytown large CDU overhaul may last two more months -sources

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A planned overhaul of the large crude distillation unit (CDU) at Exxon Mobil Corp's 560,500 barrel per day (bpd) Baytown, Texas, refinery may take another two months to complete, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing with reference to sources familiar with plant operations.

Exxon has called the overhaul on the 280,300 bpd Pipestill 8 CDU and associated units that began on Jan. 14 the largest in the history of the Baytown refinery.

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. 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

Exxon's Baton Rouge refinery CDU work to take 5 weeks

MOSCOW (MRC) - A planned overhaul of the second-largest crude distillation unit (CDU) at Exxon Mobil Corp’s 502,500-barrel-per-day (bpd) Baton Rouge, Louisiana, refinery is expected to continue for at least five weeks, said sources familiar with plant operations, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The 110,000-bpd PSLA 9 CDU was shut on Feb. 11 for the overhaul, the sources said. "The average time a unit may be down can range from several weeks to several months," said Exxon spokeswoman Megan Manchester. "We continue to meet contractual commitments."

In addition to PSLA 9, the refinery’s 22,500-bpd coker was shut for the work.

The Baton Rouge refinery’s three CDUs do the primary refining of crude oil into feedstocks for all other production units, as well as producing unfinished motor fuels.

Cokers refine residual crude oil received from distillation units into motor fuel feedstocks.
MRC

Unplanned outage reported at No. 1 methanol plant of Zagros Petrochemical

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Zagros Petrochemicals has undertaken an emergency shutdown at its No.1 methanol plant at Assaluyeh, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Iran informed that the company has taken its plant off-line last weekend owing to a technical glitch. The plant is likely to remain shut for around one week.

Located in Assaluyeh, Iran, the No. 1 plant has a production capacity of 1.65 million mt/year.

We remind that, as MRC informed before, in late January, 2019, Japanese refiners loaded Iranian oil onto a tanker, resuming imports after halting purchases because of sanctions by the United States.
MRC