Israels Oil Refineries Q1 profit falls, refining margins up

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Israel’s Oil Refineries (ORL) reported lower quarterly net profit, saying timing differences on the value of its inventory offset higher refining margins, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

ORL, Israel’s largest refining and petrochemicals group, earned ГЫВ63 million in the third quarter, down from USD74 million a year earlier.

Its adjusted refining margin was USD7.7 a barrel in the quarter, compared with Reuters’ quoted Mediterranean Ural Cracking Margin of USD3.6 a barrel and USD5.5 a year earlier.

Revenue fell to USD1.57 billion from USD1.65 billion.

ORL is controlled by Israel Corp, which holds a 33.1 percent stake.

As vMRC informed earlier, in May, Oil Refineries (ORL) said its chief executive, Yashar Ben Mordechai, will step down at the end of the month, citing personal reasons.

Oil Refineries Ltd is an Israel-based oil refinery company. The Company is engaged in three areas of operation: Refining, Petrochemicals and Trade segment. The Company mainly deals in the production of crude oil products, polymers used as raw materials in the plastics industry, aromatic materials for the chemical and petrochemical Industries and basic oils and waxes used as raw materials in the production of other products.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mexican ratings agency HR Ratings forecast an impact of below 1% on the ratio of Mexico’s federal debt to gross domestic product (GDP) derived from the cost of building the new Dos Bocas oil refinery, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Other ratings agencies and investors have expressed concern that the refinery, due to be built by state oil firm Pemex, will damage the nation’s finances and could run well past the $8 billion Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador says it will cost.

As MRC informed earlier, Mexican government will invite four companies to bid in a restricted tender to build the new Dos Bocas refinery for state oil company Pemex.

HR Ratings de Mexico, S.A. de C.V. assesses creditworthiness of securities issued in the areas of finance, corporate, financial institutions, and infrastructure in Mexico. HR Ratings de Mexico, S.A. de C.V. was founded in 2007 and is based in Mexico City, Mexico.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- McDermott International, Inc. announced that it has been awarded a sizeable technology contract by Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited (CPCL), a group company of IndianOil, for the license, basic engineering design and proprietary catalyst supply for a 475 KTA (Kilo Tons per Annum) polypropylene (PP) plant in Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu, India, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The plant will use Lummus' proprietary Novolen reactors and proprietary NHP® catalyst and will have the capability to produce a full range of leading PP products for the Indian and regional markets.

"This license award is our fourth recent polypropylene technology award in India, and places Novolen technology number one for licensed PP capacity in India, with a total capacity of 3,100 kilo tons per annum," said Leon de Bruyn, Senior Vice President of McDermott's Lummus Technology business. "The unique compactness of the Novolen reactor technology and resulting efficiencies in capital investment and operating costs allow our clients to be more competitive in the global polypropylene markets."

McDermott's Lummus Technology is a leading licensor of proprietary petrochemicals, refining, gasification and gas processing technologies, and a supplier of proprietary catalysts and related engineering. With a heritage spanning more than 100 years, encompassing approximately 3,100 patents and patent applications, Lummus Technology provides one of the industry's most diversified technology portfolios to the hydrocarbon processing sector.

This award was reflected in McDermott's first quarter 2019 backlog.

McDermott defines a sizeable contract as between USD1 million and USD50 million.

As MRC reported previously, in December 2018, McDermott International, Inc. announced that it had been awarded a sizeable technology contract by HPCL Rajasthan Refinery Ltd. (HRRL) for the license and basic engineering design of two 490 KTA polypropylene plants in Pachpadra Tehsil, Barmer District, Rajasthan, India.

McDermott's Lummus Technology is a leading licensor of proprietary petrochemicals, refining, gasification and gas processing technologies, and a supplier of proprietary catalysts and related engineering. With a heritage spanning more than 100 years, encompassing approximately 3,100 patents and patent applications, Lummus Technology provides one of the industry's most diversified technology portfolios to the hydrocarbon processing sector.
This award was reflected in McDermott's third quarter 2018 backlog.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Valero Energy Corp’s 180,000 barrel per day (bpd) Memphis, Tennessee, refinery was knocked out of production by a Diamond Pipeline malfunction, said sources familiar with plant operations, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Severe weather interrupted operations on the Diamond Pipeline, and the crude supply from the pipeline fell below the needed amount to operate the refinery late on Thursday morning, the sources said.

Most of the units at the Memphis refinery are on circulation, kept at operating temperature and moving a specialized feedstock in a loop through the individual units which would enable to units to restart quickly, the sources said.

A Valero spokeswoman did not reply to a request for comment about operations at the Memphis refinery on Thursday. The Valero refinery is the primary supplier of jet fuel to the Memphis International Airport, where FedEx Corp has its hub for global operations.

The outage, along with data from Genscape showing a 1.5 million-barrel weekly increase in crude stocks sent prices lower at the Cushing, Oklahoma, hub, traders said.

U.S. Midwest gasoline cash differentials rose on Thursday. Chicago CBOB gasoline gained 2.00 cents a gallon to trade at 1.50 cents per gallon above the gasoline futures benchmark on NYMEX. Group Three gasoline rose three-quarters of a penny to trade at 5.25 cents per gallon below futures.

The 20-inch Diamond Pipeline can transport up to 200,000 bpd in crude oil 440 miles (708 km) from the Cushing oil hub to the Memphis refinery. The pipeline is a joint venture between Valero and Plains All-American.

On Monday, Valero shut the 65,000-bpd gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracking unit for an overhaul scheduled to last at least two months.

Also, Valero had cut back production on the 110,000 bpd East Crude Distillation Unit by at least 25 percent because the shut FCCU could not take the feedstock the crude unit provides.

The two Valero Memphis CDUs do the primary refining of crude oil, providing feedstock for all other units at the refinery, as well as producing unfinished motor fuels.

AS MRC informed earlier, Valero Marketing and Supply de Mexico, S.A. de C.V., an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Valero Energy Corporation, has announced that it has signed long-term agreements to directly supply refined products into northern Mexico from its Corpus Christi and Three Rivers, Texas, refineries via a pipeline and terminal expansion in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, recently announced by NuStar Energy.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- IVL Dhunseri Petrochem Industries has undertaken an unplanned outage at its polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plant at Panipat, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in India informed that the company has halted operations at the plant in mid-April, 2019 owing to a shortage of feedstock. Further details on duration of the shutdown could not be ascertained.

Located at Panipat in India, the PET plant has a production capacity of 216,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed earlier, in June 2018, Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited (IVL), a global chemical producer, announced that it has entered into a joint venture agreement with Dhunseri Petrochem Ltd. (Dhunseri) to acquire its Egyptian Indian Polyester Company S.A.E. (EIPET) PET facility located in Ain Sokhna free trade zone, North West of the Gulf of Suez in Egypt.

Dhunseri Petrochem Ltd. is one of the largest producers of PET resin in India and among the top ten in the world. The company manufactures the finest bottle grade PET resin, for packaging of drinking water, carbonated soft drinks, edible oil, pharmaceuticals and many more. Dhunseri Petrochem Limited is the Petrochem division of Dhunseri Petrochem & Tea Limited.
MRC