Venezuela to blend domestic, imported oil to keep exports afloat

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Venezuela will stick to its plan of blending domestic and foreign crude to maintain and even increase oil production and exports in the face of sanctions prohibiting U.S. companies from buying the country's oil, oil minister Manuel Quevedo said, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

State-run oil company PDVSA in June began tests to focus exports almost entirely on the crude grade preferred by some Asian markets, Merey heavy crude, after shipments of oil and refined products fell in May following U.S. sanctions, according to internal documents seen by Reuters.

"Our plan is to recover. We have internal strategies... One of them is to continue blending (to produce) the product we export the most, Merey crude. We will continue blending our own crudes and will also import crude," Quevedo said on the sidelines of a meeting between OPEC and non-OPEC countries in Vienna.

Quevedo said sanctions imposed in late January have affected PDVSA's financial transactions, shipping and procurement, and have delayed a plan to boost Venezuela's crude output by 1 million bpd.

On top of sanctions, power outages in March also knocked down PDVSA's crude output to 400,000 bpd, Quevedo sad, also affecting exports to most PDVSA's customers.

"We have done nothing wrong. We don't deserve to have any country watching over us," he said.

Venezuela's oil exports recovered in June from a sharp drop the month before, helped by increased deliveries to China, which is now state-run oil firm PDVSA's primary destination for its crude, according to company records and Refinitiv Eikon data.

Washington in January imposed the toughest sanctions yet on PDVSA to pressure socialist President Nicolas Maduro to step down, after recognizing the head of congress, Juan Guaido, as the country's legitimate leader.
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Perstorp drives forward project to produce recycled methanol

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Perstorp, a global leader in the specialty chemicals market, will investigate the potential production of recycled methanol, using carbon dioxide and residual streams, at its Swedish facility in Stenungsund, as per the company's press release.

The Swedish Energy Agency (SEA) will partly finance this ambitious feasibility study.

Methanol is one of Perstorp’s major raw materials, used to produce polyols and formates, the building blocks of many consumer goods such as coatings and paints, composite materials, detergents, adhesives, cosmetics and synthetic lubricants. Methanol is also used for Perstorp’s next generation, phthalate free, plasticizer, Pevalen.

Industrially, methanol is mainly produced from fossil materials like natural gas or coal. This project not only aims to reduce process related carbon dioxide emissions but, at the same time, produce a more sustainable, recycled methanol to replace fossil methanol as a raw material in Perstorp?s production. The methanol would for example be used in Perstorp’s renewable, Pro-Environment products and solutions.

Funding from the Swedish Energy Agency is supporting Perstorp to undertake this feasibility study that will evaluate the concept, including: a new plant, the integration of raw materials, fuel, energy and residual streams and new logistical solutions for the methanol.

The methanol project will, if successful, significantly support Perstorp’s strive to contribute to, and be a part of, a sustainable society. In 2017 the company announced its ambition to become Finite Material Neutral which, in part, means shifting from using finite, fossil raw materials to renewable, reused or recycled ones.

Perstorp’s President and CEO, Jan Secher, said, "We have taken on a tough sustainability ambition. This methanol project is a development that supports the growing global demand from end consumers and brand owners for more sustainable products and materials. In the chemical industry, Perstorp is a leader in this transition and we are proud to have the support of the SEA in developing this important and innovative project."

In line with the ambition to become Finite Material Neutral, Perstorp has developed a unique product range of renewable, low carbon footprint Pro-Environment products and solutions. These are based on the same molecules as their fossil equivalents, but produced from renewable or recycled origin. The first products were launched in 2017. Since then the portfolio has extended and production has expanded from Sweden to Germany.

As MRC reported earlier, in December 2017, Perstorp announced world’s first portfolio of renewable alternatives to the essential polyols Pentaerythritol (Penta), Trimethylolpropane (TMP), and Neopentyl glycol (Neo).

Perstorp is one of the world leaders in various sectors of the specialty chemicals market, it's pioneer in formalin chemistry, plastics and surface materials. Perstorp was founded in 1881 and is controlled by PAI partners,a major European private equity company. The company has around 1,500 employees in with 22 production plants in Europe, Asia and North America.
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Husky Energy selects AVEVA to provide supply chain optimization

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Cambridge, AVEVA, a global leader in engineering and industrial software, has signed an agreement with Calgary-based integrated oil and gas company Husky Energy to deliver an end-to-end supply chain management solution for Husky’s downstream business, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The cloud-based solution will enable Husky to plan and schedule its enterprise value chain from crude supply to product distribution through a single and unified system.

"We have adopted our operating model to feature integrated optimization, increasing the total revenue and gross margin captured across the entire value chain," said Pat Conrath, Director of Optimization at Husky. "AVEVA’s technology provides an enterprise cloud solution that enhances collaboration, agility and transparency across our value chain, helping us make decisions that deliver added value to the integrated business."

Husky identified a need to automate business processes, including integrating and standardizing its value chain activities across the downstream business. AVEVA’s Spiral Unified Supply Chain Management solution will enable Husky’s team to plan and schedule its end-to-end downstream value chain.

"All too often, embedded process silos based on point solutions cost companies both time and profitability. AVEVA’s comprehensive software portfolio gives our clients the highest levels of efficiency and enables true value chain optimization," said Harpreet Gulati, Vice President of Planning and Operations at AVEVA.

AVEVA’s Spiral Unified Supply Chain Management is designed to address each component of the value chain, from feedstock data management, trading, production planning and network optimization, to scheduling and performance monitoring. Visit our website to learn more about Spiral Unified Supply Chain Management.

As MRC wrote before, Canadian machinery supplier Husky Injection Molding Systems won a major order from Russia’s Pascal Medical for 12 Husky systems, it was announced 1 November, 2017.
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Pemex study details severe air quality impact from Mexican refinery

MOSCoW (MRC) -- A flagship refinery planned by Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador would have a "severe" impact on air quality and emissions could spread to nearby towns, according to an environmental study produced by state oil company Pemex and reviewed by Reuters.

Large portions of the environmental impact assessment, which includes hundreds of pages of technical language, were blacked out in more than a dozen documents uploaded to a government website. However, Reuters was able to view an unredacted version.

The report drafted by Petroleos Mexicanos, as Pemex is officially known, was submitted on June 12 to Mexico’s oil industry environmental regulator ASEA, which has about three months to review it.

ASEA, whose director is a presidential appointee, could agree with Pemex’s findings or it could come to a different conclusion and then order changes to reduce the environmental impacts.

Pemex declined to comment. It referred questions to the energy ministry, which did not respond to messages seeking comment.

The USD8 billion refinery, to be located in the Gulf Coast port of Dos Bocas in Lopez Obrador’s home state of Tabasco, was a signature campaign promise of the left-leaning energy nationalist.

Lopez Obrador has said the facility would help Mexico wean itself off its growing reliance on fuel imports, the vast majority of which come from U.S. refiners.

In a summary of the report made public, Pemex’s overall environmental impact assessment was positive. It determined the refinery would moderately affect the environment but emphasized that those impacts "will be controlled, mitigated or compensated."

The redacted sections of the document showed that, while most environmental impacts were deemed to be moderate, a “severe” impact was expected on air quality once operations started at the refinery, which is expected to process up to 340,000 barrels per day of heavy crude oil.

The assessment said the estimated emissions of nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide “do not exceed the limits” set out under Mexican law.

Total emissions from the project would average 4,505.1 kilograms per hour (kg/h) of nitrogen oxides, 10,770.8 kg/h of carbon monoxide and 62,670.5 kg/h of sulfur dioxide, the redacted sections of the document said. The document does not provide

Daniel Basurto, head of the Mexican Academy on Environmental Impact research institution, described the estimated emissions as containing "high levels" of air contaminants.

He noted the emissions assessment is largely based on data from Pemex’s inland Tula refinery, which features very different atmospheric conditions than the coastal Dos Bocas site, meaning that expected emissions could be very different.

Basurto said ASEA should require Pemex to provide more and better data, adding that he has confidence Luis Vera, the Lopez Obrador-appointed ASEA chief, will run an independent process.

The redacted sections of the report said that if the refinery goes into operation, the carbon monoxide would extend over a nearly 15-square-mile (38-square-km) area, while the sulfur dioxide would spread over 43 square miles (112 square km). The latter figure is well within the range of the Tabasco state capital of Villahermosa.

An ASEA spokesman, who asked not to be identified due to the regulator’s press policy, said that Pemex had itself determined what it considers confidential about the refinery. He added that the facility’s environmental footprint should not be kept from the public.

In a statement on Tuesday, ASEA said it could oblige Pemex to make more information public from the assessment to promote "maximum transparency."

As MRC informed previously, Mexican national oil company Pemex is currently processing about 9% more crude oil at its domestic refineries than it did in 2017, said Chief Executive Officer Carlos Trevino in April 2018.

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).
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Petrobras aims to sell refinery this year, exit gas distribution

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Brazil’s state-controlled oil company Petrobras will leave the gas distribution business in Brazil, disposing of all of its assets in the area, reported Reuters with reference to Chief Executive Roberto Castello Branco's statement.

At a Sao Paulo stock exchange event, Castello Branco also said Petroleo Brasileiro S.A., as the company is formally known, planned to sell at least one refinery this year and was expecting to receive binding offers for its liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) distribution unit as soon as August.

Petrobras, which is selling tens of billions of dollars of assets to cut debt and refocus on deepwater offshore exploration and production, has already completed some major sales in gas distribution.

In 2016, Petrobras sold its NTS gas pipeline unit in southern Brazil to a consortium led by Brookfield Asset Management SA for USD5.2 billion. In April it sold its TAG unit in northern Brazil to France’s Engie SA for USD8.6 billion.

"We’re going to open up space, selling companies, getting out of transportation. We’ve already started this process, selling NTS and TAG," Castello Branco said. "We’re going deeper with pipeline sales. We’re getting out of gas distribution."

Regarding the company’s LPG distribution unit Liquigas, Castello Branco said Petrobras had already begun making a short-list from the non-binding offers it has received. The company had agreed to sell the unit in 2016 to Brazil’s Ultrapar Participacoes SA, but the deal was blocked by Cade, Brazil’s antitrust body.

"We hope to receive binding offers at the beginning of August," he said.

The company in April presented a plan to sell off eight refineries, in what is likely to be one of its largest ever divestments.

As MRC wrote previously, in H2 June, 2019, Petroleo Brasileiro SA said it had signed a deal with local antitrust regulator CADE regarding the proposed sale of some of its refining installations. According to a securities filing, the company said the agreement will allow for increased competition in Brazil’s refining sector, by attracting new players to the business.

Headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Petrobras is an integrated energy firm. Petrobras' activities include exploration, exploitation and production of oil from reservoir wells, shale and other rocks as well as refining, processing, trade and transport of oil and oil products, natural gas and other fluid hydrocarbons, in addition to other energy-related activities.
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