U.S. EPA 'very likely' to finish E15 gasoline rule by summer

MOSCOW (MRC) - U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said he had been reassured by his counterpart at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that the agency would “very likely” finish its rule allowing year-round sales of higher ethanol blends of gasoline in time for summer driving season, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Perdue had told a Congressional hearing earlier in the day that EPA would probably fail to complete the rule in time, something that could have proven a setback for the agriculture industry keen to boost its sales of corn-based ethanol. "Today he told me he thought it was very likely that they could get it done and would do so if at all possible," Perdue told reporters in Washington, referring to EPA Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler.

EPA said in a statement that is was working “expeditiously” to finish the rule by June 1 and would have a draft proposal ready later this month. President Donald Trump had announced in October he was directing the EPA to allow year-round sales of E15 before summer in a win for the powerful corn industry which supplies ethanol.

E15 gasoline contains 15 percent ethanol, versus the 10 percent found in most U.S. gasoline. The summer-time ban had been imposed over concerns that E15 contributes to smog in hot weather, though recent studies have shown its impact on air quality may not be significantly different than E10. The EPA had initially planned to release a draft of the rule in early February but ran into delay due to the 35-day partial government shutdown that began in late December.

The rule is also meant to include simultaneous measures the EPA promised the oil industry to curb speculation of biofuel credits, known as Renewable Identification Numbers or RINs. Under the U.S. Renewable Fuels Standard, oil refiners have to blend increasing volumes of biofuels into the nation’s gasoline and diesel each year, or purchase RINS from those who do.

Oil companies have complained speculation in the credit market has inflated prices and cost them hundreds of millions of dollars - one of a long list of complaints by the industry about U.S. biofuel policy. Biofuel backers have argued that coupling E15 with the more complicated trading reforms have slowed things down.

"We have no doubt that the so-called RIN reforms sought by oil refiners are bogging this rulemaking down. Thus, I reiterate the request we formally made last month to split RIN reform and year-round E15 into two separate rulemakings and expedite the E15 rule," Geoff Cooper, head of the Renewable Fuel Association said.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Husky Injection Molding Systems has named John Hafferty to the position of chief financial officer, leading the Bolton, Ont.-based company’s global finance organization, as per Canplastics.

Hafferty has more than 35 years of financial and business experience with global companies. Prior to joining Husky, Hafferty was CFO for ElectroRent, a global rental equipment company that rents and sells test and measure equipment. He has also served as CFO for BlueLine Rental and has held numerous CFO positions with global transportation and logistics companies. He has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration Degree with the major being in accounting from Kansas State University.

"John brings a wealth of global financial experience to Husky and has a record of strong leadership," John Galt, Husky’s president and CEO, said in a statement. "I am pleased to have John join our team and look forward to working closely with him as a strategic business partner. His past experience will serve us well as we continue to grow the business."
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Trump administration is comfortable that there is enough oil in the global market months into its program of unilaterally re-imposing sanctions on OPEC-member Iran, reported Reuters with reference to the State Department’s energy envoy.

US law requires that the Energy Information Administration, the statistics arm of the Energy Department, studies whether oil market supplies are ample enough to carry out the sanctions. The Trump administration re-imposed sanctions on Iran’s crude oil exports in November over its nuclear program and influence in Syria and other countries in the Middle East.

The sanctions have roughly halved Iran’s oil exports from last April to about 1.25 million barrels per day.

"We’re quite comfortable ... given that EIA continues to on a monthly basis to adjust their forecasts ... upward," Frank Fannon, the energy envoy, said at the Center for Strategic & International Studies. "I think that’s a pretty powerful signal."

Fannon and other US officials have said the Trump administration’s goal is to push Iran’s oil exports to zero. But actually doing so could prove difficult amid strong oil demand, especially in China and India.

Oil output is rising quickly in the United States, the world’s top petroleum consumer, helping to keep global oil markets balanced. US crude oil production has risen by more than 2 million barrels per day over the past year to a record 12 million barrels per day.

In November, the United States granted waivers to China and seven other importers, allowing them to continue importing Iranian oil as long as they cut the purchases significantly. The administration is set to decide whether it will renew waivers to oil-consuming countries on May 4.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Zhongyuan Petrochemical (part of Sinopec) has restarted operations at its No. 2 polypropylene (PP) plant in Henan, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the company had shut operations at the plant on November 5, 2018 owing to shutdown of its upstream MTO unit. The company has resumed operations at the MTO plant over the weekend of February 16-17, 2019. The plant was shut on November 5, 2018 owing to bearish market conditions. The No.2 PP plant was brought back on-stream recently.

Located in Henan, China, the No.2 PP plant has a production capacity of 110,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote before, Sinopec Corp shut down its largest refinery for maintenance throughout May 2018, and at least four independent oil plants had started overhauls that month, curbing China's crude oil demand.

China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation, or Sinopec Limited is a Chinese oil and gas company based in Beijing, China. It is listed in Hong Kong and also trades in Shanghai and New York . Sinopec is the worlds fifth biggest company by revenue.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Aramco has added Goldman Sachs as a bookrunner for a planned bond which will help finance its purchase of a stake in Saudi Arabian Basic Industries Corp (SABIC), two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The US investment bank flew out a team of senior executives including partner Dina Powell, a veteran of the administration of US President Donald Trump, to pitch for the deal, the sources said.

Saudi Aramco did not respond to queries for immediate comment. Goldman Sachs declined to comment.

The state oil giant had already picked a group of banks including JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Citi, HSBC and Saudi Arabia’s National Commercial Bank to help with the financing, Reuters reported on Feb. 14. JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley were appointed joint global coordinators and, together with the other banks, joint bookrunners.

Aramco, the world’s top oil producer, plans to issue its first international bonds, likely worth about USD10 billion, in the second quarter of 2019, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said last month.

Sources previously told Reuters it could borrow as much as USD50 billion from international investors to fund the purchase of all, or nearly all, of the 70 percent stake in SABIC held by the Public Investment Fund, the kingdom’s top sovereign wealth fund.

Goldman Sachs has won a slew of mandates in the kingdom recently, including one to advise Riyad bank on merger talks with National Commercial Bank.

It also advised Abu Dhabi’s state oil firm ADNOC on the sale of a stake in its refining unit.

As MRC reported before, a proposed reshuffle of state assets would allow Saudi Arabia to delay the listing of national oil giant Aramco until 2020 or beyond while still spending on economic development projects. In the second half of July 2018, Aramco confirmed a Reuters report that it was working on a possible purchase of a "strategic stake" in local petrochemicals maker Saudi Basic Industries Corp from the Public Investment Fund (PIF), the kingdom’s top sovereign wealth fund.

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.
MRC