Pucheng Clean Energy restarts CTO plant

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Pucheng Clean Energy Chemical Company has resumed operations at its Coal-to-olefins (CTO) plant, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the company has completed turnaround at the plant in early-June, 2019. The plant was shut for maintenance on May 13, 2019.

Located at Weinan, Shaanxi, China, the CTO plant has an ethylene production capacity of 300,000 mt/year and propylene capacity of 400,000 mt/year.

As MRC reported earlier, on May 28, 2018, Pucheng Clean Energy restarted its PP plant following an unplanned shutdown. The plant remaind off-line for around one week owing to technical issues. Located at Shaanxi province in China, the plant has a PP production capacity of 400,000 mt/year.

Besides, Pucheng Clean Energy shut this PP plant for an unplanned maintenance from 21 October to 12 November, 2018.
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Oil jumps 2% as possible delay of U.S. tariffs on Mexico boosts equities

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Oil prices jumped more than 2%, reversing course after falling to near five-month lows in the previous session, following a report that the United States could postpone tariffs on Mexico, reported Reuters.

Brent crude futures settled at USD61.67 a barrel, gaining USD1.04, or 1.7%. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures settled at USD52.59 a barrel, up 91 cents, or 1.8%. The benchmarks both rallied more than 2% in post-settlement trade.

US stocks, which oil prices tend to follow, spiked after Bloomberg News reported the United States is considering a delay in the tariffs as talks continue.

"There’s talk now that the US might not put on the Mexico tariffs, and that’s pushed equities up, and you’ve got a little bit of short covering based on that statement," said Dominick Chirichella, director of risk management and advisory services at EMI DTN in New York.

Prices had been near flat most of the session as sentiment remained dim on fresh signs of a stalling global economy and ongoing concerns about US crude supply growth.

On Wednesday, Brent and WTI hit their lowest levels since mid-January at USD59.45 and USD50.60, respectively, after US crude production hit a new record high and stockpiles hit their highest since July 2017.

Both Brent and US crude are in bear-market territory, having lost more than 20% from peaks reached in late April.

Signals of slowing global economic activity have increased in recent months, fueled by trade tensions between the United States and China, the world’s top two energy consumers.

US President Donald Trump, in his latest public comments about the trade war, said he would likely decide on more China tariffs at the end of June, which followed his overnight threat to put tariffs on “at least” another USD300 billion worth of Chinese goods.

Prices rallied strongly in the first five months of the year to a high of nearly USD75 a barrel, supported by supply curbs by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and some allies including Russia. Supply has also been limited by US sanctions on oil exports from Iran and Venezuela.

Members of the OPEC+ group are set to discuss whether to extend their supply curbs further later this month.

President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia had differences with OPEC over what constituted a fair price for oil but said Moscow would take a joint decision with OPEC colleagues on output at a policy meeting in the coming weeks.
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SIBUR and the Silk Road Fund sign agreement to enhance cooperation

MOSCOW (MRC) -- SIBUR and the Silk Road Fund entered into an agreement to enhance cooperation. The signing ceremony was attended by Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China, and Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, said the producer on its site.

The agreement was signed by Dmitry Konov, Chairman of the Management Board at SIBUR Holding, and Wang Yanzhi, President at Silk Road Fund Co, Ltd.

Under the arrangement, the parties will be looking into investment opportunities to develop relations between Northeast China and Russia’s Far East, sharing information about market opportunities in Central Asia, Middle East and other regions, and coordinating efforts for potential joint investments in petrochemical projects.

"The agreement testifies to the strong investment appeal of petrochemistry as an industry that creates cutting-edge and green materials for construction, healthcare, car making, food, and other areas. Enhanced cooperation with the Silk Road Fund will help to grow economic ties between Russia and China," said Dmitry Konov, Chairman of the Management Board at SIBUR Holding.

As MRC wrote before, in June 2018, SIBUR said its plans to build a gas chemical complex in Russia's Far East will require preliminary investments of up to USD8 billion and it is still looking for Asian partners. SIBUR said a year ago that it had been in talks with a number of Chinese investors about participating in the project to build the complex in Amur.

SIBUR is a uniquely positioned vertically integrated gas processing and petrochemicals company. We own and operate Russia’s largest gas processing business in terms of associated petroleum gas processing volumes and are a leader in the Russian petrochemicals industry. As of 31 March 2014, SIBUR operated 27 production sites located all over Russia, had over 1,400 large customers engaged in the energy, chemical, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), automotive, construction and other industries in approximately 70 countries worldwide and employed over 27,000 personnel.
MRC

ExxonMobil prepares for shutdown refinery in France over strike

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Exxon Mobil Corp said that its Fos-sur-Mer refinery in France is preparing to shut down units after two unions called for a strike action over pay and bonus disputes, reported Reuters.

"For safety reasons the refinery is preparing the shutdown process," the company said, adding shutdown may take a few days.

Fos-sur-Mer refinery has a capacity of 140,000 barrels per day, according to the company’s website.

As MRC wrote 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

BP signs long term contract with IEnova for use of its refined oil terminals in Mexico

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BP has entered into an agreement with IEnova for a long term contract to use its gasoline and diesel reception, storage and distribution terminals in Mexico, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

These terminals are being newly developed by IEnova in the cities of Manzanillo, Colima, and Guadalajara, the capital of Mexcian state Jalisco. With this agreement, BP will be able to store more than 1 million bbl in these terminals to supply over 150 BP service stations located in the western region of the country.

In the Manzanillo terminal, BP will have 740 000 bbl of storage, which represents 50% of the terminal’s capacity. In the Guadalajara terminal, the agreement will allow up to 290 000 bbl of gasoline and diesel storage.

Last September, BP announced that it will utilise 50% of the storage capacity of IEnova’s Baja Refinados terminal in Ensenada, Baja California, which is currently under development.

This new agreement to use the Manzanillo and Guadalajara terminals will allow BP to enhance its supply options, improve logistics, and increase fuel delivery reliability, which will contribute to energy security in Mexico’s central-western region.

Subject to executing certain agreements, BP will have the option to acquire between 20% and 25% of the equity in these projects once they reach commercial operations.

As MRC informed before, in February 2018, Chief Executive Bob Dudley said that British oil and gas company BP said it would increase investment in the United States after the lowering of tax rates under President Donald Trump. BP invested USD90 billion in the United States over the past decade, excluding $65 billion in fines and clean up costs over the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, making it the country's biggest investor in the energy sector, Dudley added.
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