Shell, Chevron US Gulf Coast refineries monitoring weather

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas coastal refineries operated by Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Chevron Corp were monitoring a developing weather disturbance in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico that may produce heavy wind and rain later this week, reported Reuters with reference to company spokesmen's statement.

"We’re just closely monitoring the forecast and preparing for a potentially high-wind and heavy-rain event," Shell spokesman Ray Fisher said.

Shell operates refineries in Convent and Norco, Louisiana, and jointly operates a refinery in Deer Park, Texas, with Mexico’s national oil company Petroleos de Mexicanos (Pemex).

Chevron operates refineries in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and Pasadena, Texas.

As MRC wrote previously, in April 2019, Royal Dutch Shell’s US unit said that it had made one of its biggest oil discoveries in the Blacktip deepwater well in the US Gulf of Mexico. Blacktip, operated by Shell and co-owned by US oil giant Chevron Corp, Equinor ASA and Repsol, is the company’s second material discovery in the Perdido Corridor.

Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.
MRC

Reifenhäuser breaks ground on new production facility

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Extrusion machinery maker Reifenhauser Group has started construction on a new 3,000-square-meter production and assembly hall at its headquarters in Troisdorf, Germany, said Canplastics.

Scheduled for completion by spring 2020, the Troisdorf-based family-owned company is investing almost 7 million euros in the new building, which will house its newly founded Reifenhauser Extrusion Systems (RES) business unit, which supplies components for what the company calls “demanding” extrusion applications.

“From 2020, we will be producing 300 flat dies for plastic extrusion in the new production hall every year,” Uwe Gaedike, managing director of Reifenhauser Extrusion Systems, said in a statement.

The statement also said that Reifenhauser will invest an additional 10 million euros over the next five years on production machines and intelligent processes, to create conditions for Industry 4.0-capable manufacturing.

In total, the statement said, Reifenhauser is planning to invest between 40 to 45 million euros for growth measures at its German sites and at its North American headquarters in Wichita, Kansas.
MRC

Chevron Phillips Chemical, Qatar Petroleum announce plans to jointly develop U.S. Gulf Coast petrochemical project

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC and Qatar Petroleum announced they have signed an agreement to jointly pursue the development of a new petrochemical plant in the Gulf Coast region of the United States, said Plasticsnews.

The U.S. Gulf Coast II Petrochemical Project (USGC II) will include a 2,000 KTA ethylene cracker and two 1,000 KTA high-density polyethylene units. Qatar Petroleum has announced the selection of Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC as its partner in a new Petrochemicals Complex, which will be developed and constructed in Ras Laffan Industrial

The signing ceremony, hosted at the White House and witnessed by President Donald Trump and His Highness, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Amir of the State of Qatar, included Chevron Phillips Chemical President and CEO Mark Lashier and His Excellency Mr. Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the President and CEO of Qatar Petroleum. Chevron Corporation Chairman and CEO Michael Wirth and Phillips 66 Chairman and CEO Greg Garland also attended the ceremony.

Chevron Phillips Chemical would be the majority owner with a 51 percent share and Qatar Petroleum would own 49 percent of the project. Chevron Phillips Chemical would provide project management and oversight and be responsible for the operation and management of the facility. The preliminary cost of USGC II is approximately USD8 billion. Chevron Phillips Chemical and Qatar Petroleum expect a final investment decision (FID) no later than 2021, followed by full funding and the award of engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts, with targeted startup of the new facility in 2024.

At peak construction, USGC II would support an estimated 9,000 construction jobs and once operational, approximately 600 full time positions. The site’s location would be in the Gulf Coast region, where there is direct access to the significant shale natural gas liquid reserves of the Permian Basin.

His Excellency Mr. Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi said, “We are very pleased to sign this agreement, which is the second of its kind in as many weeks, with our trusted partner, Chevron Phillips Chemical, to further cement the strong partnership between our two companies and to complement Qatar Petroleum’s international portfolio in the United States, which is a core growth area for us as we believe it has great prospects and growth opportunities.”

“Qatar Petroleum is already a terrific partner of Chevron Phillips Chemical on petrochemical plants in Qatar and we look forward to expanding our relationship in the United States as we jointly seek to develop a new petrochemical facility along the U.S. Gulf Coast,” said Lashier. “Qatar Petroleum’s financial strength, its commitment to safety as a core value and shared belief in our strategy to build facilities located close to competitive feedstocks make this an ideal relationship."

In June 2019, Chevron Phillips Chemical and Qatar Petroleum announced a joint venture to pursue a world-scale petrochemical plant in Qatar at the Ras Laffan Industrial City. The companies currently operate Qatar Chemical Company Ltd. and Qatar Chemical Company II Ltd., as well as the Ras Laffan Olefins Company. These are some of the safest and most successful assets in Chevron Phillips Chemical’s global portfolio.
MRC

Tatneft, Slovnaft sign downstream cooperation agreement

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PJSC TATNEFT and Slovnaft announced they have signed a cooperation agreement for the development of joint projects in the downstream sector, said the company.

The agreement document identified possible areas for the development of joint projects aimed at the production of biocomponents for motor fuels, modified road bitumen and lubricants.

The areas of partnership in the Downstream sector have been determined during the meeting of the TATNEFT management with representatives of the MOL Group (which includes Slovnaft) at the site of the TANECO Refinery and Petrochemical Plants Complex in January of the current year.

Slovnaft is a crude oil refining enterprise located in Bratislava, Slovakia. The maximum annual refining capacity is 6 million tons of crude oil, which is primarily supplied via the “Druzhba” pipeline. The dominating place in the production portfolio belongs to motor fuel (about 4.5 million tons/year), chemicals (200 thousand tons/year) and primary plastic materials (400 thousand tons/year).

Slovnaft is one of the most technologically equipped oil refineries in Europe. One third part of the motor fuel produced is sold in Slovakia, and two thirds are exported mainly to the Czech Republic, Austria, Poland and Germany. Plastic materials are sold throughout Europe. The Slovnaft share of the wholesale motor fuels market in Slovakia accounts for more than 60%, while it is about 20% in the Czech Republic and Austria. Slovnaft operates 253 filling stations in Slovakia under the company’s own brand, while the total share in the retail market for the sale of petroleum products is about 35%. In addition to operating the oil refining and petrochemical production complex in Bratislava, the company is running the wholesale business in CEE, retail activities in Slovakia and Slovnaft also owns and operates the product pipeline and several trading terminals in Slovakia. The annual turnover of Slovnaft amounts to about 3-4 billion Euros. There are more than 3,400 employees on the company’s payroll.

As MRC informed earlier, Tatneft plans to invest around USD3.4 B in TANEKO's upgrade in 2017–2025 and is also considering plans to build the third production line at the refinery at some point, according to Alekhin and the company's documents.
MRC

Exports of U.S. light sweet crude jump at Louisiana port

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP) exported a record 283,333 barrels per day of light sweet crude last month, according to trade sources, as prices weakened against global Brent, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

LOOP, which exports mostly medium sour grades produced in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, last month exported more than twice the amount of light sweet from the prior month. Overall exports of U.S. crude hit a record 3.77 million barrels per day (bpd) one week in June, U.S. government data showed.

A decline in oil imports at the facility, stemming from record U.S. production, paved the way for exports from LOOP storage facilities, said Abudi Zein, chief executive of market research firm ClipperData.

Crude imports at the port dropped in June to about 56,667 bpd, from 174,194 bpd in May, data from Refinitiv Eikon showed. While nearly a dozen new oil-export ports have been proposed along the Gulf Coast, LOOP is the only U.S. oil terminal now capable of fully loading and unloading supertankers.

U.S. crude’s discount to Brent WTCLc1-LCOc1 widened in late May to minus $10.99 per barrel, the most in about a year, bolstering demand for U.S. oil. The spread was $6.42 per barrel on Tuesday.

Six tankers in June together carried a record 8.5 million barrels of light sweet crude from LOOP toward destinations in Asia and Europe, according to data from ClipperData and Refinitiv Eikon.

“If there were a lot of imports coming in, they wouldn’t have the space to push out all that crude,” Zein said. “Higher exports mean the pipe is pumping more out of the (storage) caverns."

LOOP spokesman Wade Tornyos declined to comment. Among the tankers exporting light sweet crude from LOOP in June was New Prime, chartered by Royal Dutch Shell Plc, which departed toward India, according to Refinitiv Eikon data and ClipperData.

Suezmax vessels Cap Felix and Amli Sky, last month departed LOOP for Greece and Italy, respectively, the data showed.

MRC