Sasol says 2nd unit at LCCP starts production

MOSCOW (MRC) -- South African petrochemicals firm Sasol Ltd said that a second unit at its US ethane cracker project came online last week, reported Reuters.

The company’s Lake Charles Chemicals Project (LCCP), which will convert natural gas into plastics ingredient ethylene, said the plant started producing ethylene oxide on May 31.

As MRC informed before, in March 2019, Sasol Ltd., the world's biggest maker of fuel from coal, said the cost of its giant Lake Charles chemicals project in Louisiana will balloon to as much as USD12.9 billion, or about 50% more than initially planned.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Norwegian oil workers and their employers have extended their pay talks past a midnight deadline in a bid to avert a strike that would reduce the country’s oil and gas output, reported Reuters with reference to negotiators.

The Lederne trade union has threatened to strike at offshore fields operated by Equinor, Aker BP and others, which the oil firms said would curb production by some 440,000 barrels of oil equivalents per day.

The deadline for the wage talks had originally been set to midnight on Monday (2200 GMT).

As MRC informed before, in March 2018, Norway’s Statoil announced plans to change its name to Equinor, reflecting its commitment to become a broad energy company rather than one focused only on oil.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- France’s Total declared force majeure on the production of jet fuel at its Leuna refinery in Germany following the supply of contaminated crude from Russia, reported Reuters.

"We have declared Force Majeure on the jet fuel from the Leuna refinery," a Total spokeswoman said.

The spokeswoman said that due to ongoing problems with crude supply through the Druzhba pipeline, the Leuna refinery was still operating at a reduced rate using crude oil from stocks and alternative supply routes via Gdansk port."

"Total is making its best efforts to limit the effect on the supply of petroleum products to customers and service stations thanks to additional supply channels."

As MRC informed 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.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Four units are down at Cameroon’s only refinery, but the shortage will be covered by imports starting on Tuesday, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing with reference to the energy minister's statement.

As MRC informed earlier, the 42,000 barrel-per-day Sonara refinery in Limbe declared a force majeure on Saturday after a tank exploded, causing a fire that halted output.

"Flames consumed four of the 13 production units, stopping all the Sonara refining process," Minister of Water Resources and Energy Gaston Eloundou Essomba said. "The market will remain supplied by imports."

Sonara, which is almost entirely state owned apart from a 4% stake held by Total, has a capacity of 2.1 million tonnes of crude a year. It serves the whole country, so any delay in getting it back up and running has the potential to cause severe fuel shortages.

As MRC wrote before, 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.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- A fire broke out at a facility used for storing oil products at the Bandar Rajaee port on Iran’s Gulf coast, reported Reuters with referece to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).

Firefighters were on the scene combating the blaze, which was accompanied by explosions, according to IRNA.

IRNA did not provide any information on possible casualties.

The fire started at a machine used to lift containers at the port and spread to an area used for storing oil products, IRNA reported.

As MRC wrote before, in mid-September 2016, a fire broke out at Iran's Mobin Petrochemical refinery complex in southern port of Assaluyeh, leaving four people injured.Tthe fire caused no threat to the operations in the South Pars gas fields in Assaluyeh.
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