Mexico to delay construction of Dos Bocas refinery

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mexico will delay the construction of the Dos Bocas refinery and instead funnel the USD2.5 billion earmarked in 2019 for the project into state oil firm Pemex, Arturo Herrera, Mexico’s deputy finance minister, told the financial Times in an interview, reported Reuters.

As MRC informed earlier, this week, Mexican Energy Minister Rocio Nahle said the oil refinery that the new administration seeks to build will cost between USD6 billion and USD8 billion and could be ready in three years.

Pemex, Mexican Petroleum, is a Mexican state-owned petroleum company. Pemex has a total asset worth of USD415.75 billion, and is the world's second largest non-publicly listed company by total market value, and Latin America's second largest enterprise by annual revenue as of 2009. Company produces such polymers, as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS).
MRC

Total restarts gasoline unit at Port Arthur refinery

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Total SA has restarted the gasoline-producing unit and shut the gasoline hydrotreater at its 225,500 barrel per day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas, refinery, reported Reuters with reference to sources familiar with plant operations.

The 76,000 bpd gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracking unit (FCCU) was shut on Thursday for repairs, originally expected to take five days to complete.

The 50,000 bpd gasoline hydrotreater is being upgraded during the shutdown, the sources said.

As MRC wrote previously, in December 2017, Total inaugurated the new units at its Antwerp integrated refining & petrochemicals platform, which had progressively started up in the previous few months.

Total S.A. is a French multinational oil and gas company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world with business in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia. The company's petrochemical products cover two main groups: base chemicals and the consumer polymers (polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene) that are derived from them.
MRC

DowDuPont strengthens board of Directors

MOSCOW (MRC) -- DowDuPont announced two additional members of the future board of directors of Corteva Agriscience, Agriculture Division of DowDuPont, said the company.

They are Dr. Klaus Engel, former CEO of Evonik Industries, and Rebecca Liebert, who recently became senior vice president, automotive coatings at PPG after more than a decade in leadership roles at Honeywell International. With these additions, Corteva Agriscience has 11 members on its future Board.

Greg Page, non-executive chairman-elect of Corteva Agriscience and retired chairman and CEO of Cargill Inc., said, "Continuing to build a highly qualified board, with the right mix of diverse perspectives and experience, is a critical priority as we work with Corteva Agriscience’s leadership to position it to drive sustainable growth as a global leader in agriculture. With the deep expertise in science-based innovation and effective leadership of complex global businesses that Klaus Engel and Rebecca Liebert bring, our Board is even stronger and better positioned to work with management to oversee the successful execution of Corteva Agriscience’s strategy and deliver value for shareholders now and into the future."

"We’re delighted Klaus Engel and Rebecca Liebert are joining the future Corteva board,” said Jim Collins, Chief Executive Officer-elect of Corteva Agriscience. “Their strong backgrounds speak for themselves regarding their ability to advise management as we prepare to launch this pure-play agriculture company with its unique route to market and industry-leading new product pipeline."

DowDuPont remains on track to separate the Materials Science Division (Dow) on April 1, 2019, and the Agriculture (Corteva Agriscience) and Specialty Products (DuPont) Divisions on June 1, 2019.

In addition to Mr. Page, Dr. Engel and Ms. Liebert, Corteva Agriscience’s future Board of Directors includes: Jim Collins, COO of the Agriculture Division of DowDuPont and CEO-elect of Corteva Agriscience; Edward D. Breen, CEO of DowDuPont; Lamberto Andreotti, former Chairman and CEO of Bristol-Myers Squibb; Robert A. Brown, President of Boston University; Michael O. Johanns, retired U.S. Senator and former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture; Lois D. Juliber, former Vice Chairman of Colgate-Palmolive Company; Lee M. Thomas, former Chairman and CEO of Rayonier Inc.; and Patrick J. Ward, CFO of Cummins Inc.
MRC

TNSC acquires portion of Linde American US HyCO business and related assets

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Taiyo Nippon Sanso Corp. (TNSC), through its wholly-owned Matheson Tri-Gas subsidiary, has finalized the acquisition of a portion of Linde Gas North America's (Linde America) HyCO business and related assets in the US for about USD413-million, as per Apic-online.

The HyCO business provides large-scale supply of hydrogen and carbon monoxide to petrochemical and oil refining customers via pipeline. It has eight plants in five locations in the US.

Linde America's sale of the HyCO business was one of the conditions of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's approval of Linde's recent merger with Praxair.

TNSC is a consolidated subsidiary of Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corp.

As MRC reported before, in December 2017, Ube Industries, JSR Corp. and Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. (MCC) received European Commission (EC) approval for the planned integration of their acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) subsidiaries.
MRC

Rising output at SOCAR STAR oil refinery adds to sour shortage in Med

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Azerbaijan’s state-owned SOCAR is gradually increasing production at its STAR oil refinery in Turkey and actively purchasing Russia’s Urals crude oil to supply the plant, adding to shortages of sour grades in the Mediterranean, reported Reuters with reference to traders.

The 200,000-barrel-per-day STAR refinery has reached half of its planned processing capacity, three sources familiar with the refinery launch process told Reuters.

One source with direct knowledge of the refinery plans said SOCAR expects STAR to reach full capacity as early as April.

"The test period is always tricky, but the latest tests show good results," he said.

A SOCAR spokesman told Reuters: “We plan to reach full capacity soon.” He added the company could not give an estimate of operational capacity as different units at STAR were being tested separately.

While in testing mode, SOCAR can only supply STAR with two grades - Urals and Kurdistan’s KBT Blend, sources said.

Overall supplies of Urals to STAR so far in 2019 have exceeded 500,000 tonnes compared to 270,000 tonnes for all of 2018, Refinitiv Eikon flows data shows.

SOCAR buys Urals from Russia’s Rosneft under a long-term contract as well as in the spot market.

In February Rosneft supplied SOCAR with 140,000 tonnes of Urals under the long-term agreement and supplies will continue. Rosneft has a contract to supply STAR with 1 million tonnes of Urals per year, traders said.

SOCAR also bought a February-loading 100,000-tonne Urals cargo loading from Baltic Ust-Luga port in Surgutneftegaz’s spot tender for the first time in a long while.

SOCAR also purchased several Urals cargoes loading from Novorossiisk and Baltic ports in late January and February in a secondary market from Litasco and Trafigura, traders said.

"SOCAR is set to become an active player in Urals market, change is visible. Last year they bought just a couple of cargoes and this year they’re actively monitoring and buying, it certainly adds to support for Urals prices," a trader in the Mediterranean market told Reuters.

Urals differentials in the Mediterranean have traded at a premium to dated Brent for almost two months in January-February and reached the highest premium since 2013 in January due to limited exports of the grade and a shortage of sour grades due to a lack of Iranian crude caused by sanctions.

At full capacity STAR will be able to refine a variety of crude oil grades, but its main feedstock is planned to be heavy and sour oils, Reuters sources said.

As MRC wrote before, in February 2018, Maire Tecnimont S.p.A. announced that its main subsidiaries Tecnimont S.p.A. and KT-Kinetics Technology S.p.A. - had signed with the Client SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic) Heydar Aliyev Baku Oil Refineryan EPC contract (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) as an important part of the execution of the Modernization and Reconstruction works for the Heydar Aliyev Baku Oil Refinery, in Azerbaijan.

SOCAR, which is keen on expanding operations in the retail oil products market abroad, is involved in exploring oil and gas fields, producing, processing, and transporting oil, gas, and gas condensate, marketing petroleum and petrochemical products in the domestic and international markets, and supplying natural gas to industry and the public in Azerbaijan.
MRC