Exxon faces lawsuit over air pollution from petrochemical fire

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Exxon Mobil Corp was hit with a lawsuit over pollution from a fire at the company's Baytown Olefins Plant, according to an attorney for Harris County, Texas, which filed the suit, reported Reuters.

The fire was being investigated by federal and state agencies. The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) were at the scene to determine the cause of a blaze that raged for hours on Wednesday and raised a column of black smoke over the area.

The suit by Harris County, which includes Baytown, is the second lawsuit against the company involving fires at the plant this year.

The suit seeks court orders to prevent future fires at Exxon's giant Baytown refining and petrochemical complex, said Rock Owens, managing attorney for the environmental practice in the Harris County Attorney's Office.

"It's disappointing to me for a company to have these kinds of problems with the potential for some kind of disaster," he said.

Exxon did not reply to a request for comment on the lawsuit. In a statement on Thursday, spokesman Sarah Nordin said the fire has been extinguished and all employees affected by the fire were cleared to return to work.

Because of the fire, production at Exxon's 560,500 barrel-per-day (bpd) Baytown refinery remains cut back, the company confirmed. It did not say by how much production was affected.

Exxon said earlier that 66 workers had been examined at a clinic for possible injuries, though not all had required treatment. Of those, 37 were treated for injuries including minor burns, Jason Duncan, manager of the Baytown Olefins Plant, said on Wednesday.

Officials ordered Baytown residents to remain indoors with their air conditioning turned off for about four hours after an explosion set off the fire.

Harris County officials are asking a state court to order an investigation to determine the root cause of the fire in a propylene recovery unit, and to order Exxon to take steps to prevent similar fires from happening in the future, Owens said.

Harris County is seeking similar orders in connection with a lawsuit filed in March over a hydrotreater fire in the Baytown refinery, he said.

As MRC informed before, in late July 2019, ExxonMobil said it started production on a new high-performance polyethylene line at its Beaumont, Texas polyethylene (PE) plant. The expansion increases plant production capacity by 65 percent or 650,000 tons per year, bringing site capacity to nearly 1.7 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

ABB to modernize Shymkent oil refinery, supporting digitalization of Kazakhstan

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ABB has won a multi-million-dollar order to modernize a major oil refinery in Kazakhstan, as the Republic’s ‘Digital Kazakhstan’ program seeks to elevate economic sectors including the oil, gas and chemicals industry and accelerate growth nationally with digital technology, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

ABB will leverage ABB Ability™, the company’s unified, cross digital offering, in delivering solutions to modernize the Shymkent oil refinery in Kazakhstan. Sensors, data and advanced analytics will monitor and assess the real-time health of the plant’s assets, with operator PetroKazakhstan Oil Products (PKOP) to gain critical, real-time insights into their assets and production processes.

The order win is against a wider backdrop, as the government-led ‘Digital Kazakhstan’ program focuses on accelerating growth and elevating economic sectors including the oil, gas and chemicals industry throughout the Republic through digitalization, with a goal of creating a future digital economy by 2022.

At Shymkent oil refinery, digital transformation enabled by ABB is expected to increase productivity and lower operational costs, with operators empowered to make better informed decisions based on accurate and live data and reporting. As a technology leader, ABB is strategically positioned to support businesses, as well as wider societal efforts, to offer digital solutions for tomorrow’s world.

“With our leading technologies and deep-domain knowledge, we can help operators across the energy industry move forward confidently towards digital transformation,” said Kevin Kosisko, Managing Director, ABB Energy Industries.
“ABB is uniquely positioned to drive and support the digital transformation of the chemical and refining industry in Kazakhstan, and it is exciting to contribute to the modernization of Shymkent oil refinery."

Using ABB Ability™ Asset Performance Management solutions, the company’s maintenance strategy will progress from an hourly-based maintenance system to prescriptive-based maintenance. ABB will extend the current maintenance annual turnaround intervals at the refinery to a three-year plan. This will be achieved through early identification of when assets might need repair or replacement - well ahead of potential failure – supporting operators to prioritize maintenance based on actionable insights.

ABB will also provide a business consultancy service to PKOP to support the lifecycle of the project and promote culture change in adopting digital practices at the plant. This will include assessing current work processes, leveraging opportunities to increase efficiency and resilience, recommending improvements and providing expert training.

The Shymkent project site was first commissioned in 1970 and is in the Sayramskiy region of Kazakhstan Shymkent. It is operated by PetroKazakhstan Oil Products (PKOP), as a joint venture between China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and KazMunayGas (KMG), the national oil and gas company of Kazakhstan.
MRC

Valero profit beat projections due to higher gasoline prices, lower-than-expected costs

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Valero Energy Corp on Thursday beat analysts' estimates for quarterly profit, driven by a rebound in gasoline prices and as the independent US refiner processed more crude at lower-than-expected costs, reported Reuters.

The beat comes at a time when US refiners have been facing a lack of low-cost heavy crude in the market following mandatory production cuts by Canada's Alberta government and the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries as well as sanctions on Venezuela and Iran.

"We saw a strong rebound in gasoline cracks in all regions in the second quarter," Chief Executive Officer Joe Gorder said in a statement.

Gasoline prices rose due to supply concerns in the quarter, as refiners planned more downturns and upgrades than usual, while flooding in the US Midwest added to the gains.

Credit Suisse analyst Manav Gupta flagged higher-than-expected earnings at all refining units of the company. Valero's total throughput was 2.6% above the brokerage's estimates, while operating expenses per barrel was 6.2% lower than its estimates.

Throughput volumes, or the total volume of crude oil processed, rose 2.4% to 2.97 million barrels per day (bpd) in the quarter ended June 30.

The San Antonio, Texas-based company's refining margins fell to USD9.56 per barrel in the quarter, from USD11.12 a year earlier, with operating cost per barrel climbing 1.3%.

Adjusted net income attributable to Valero shareholders fell 32.2% to USD629 million. The company earned USD1.51 per share in the quarter, beating analysts' estimates of USD1.37 per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Valero's refineries ran at a utilization rate of 94% in the quarter, compared with 93% a year earlier.

Valero is the first major US refiner to announce results for the quarter, with Phillips 66 set to report on Friday and Marathon Petroleum next week.

Shares of Valero marginally rose to USD86.83 in premarket trading.
MRC

Evonik carves out MMA, PMMA business as Röhm

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Evonik Industries AG has carved out its methyl methacrylates (MMA) and polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) business with the €3bn sale of the unit to US private equity firm Advent International, said Plasticsnewseurope.

Named after Otto Rohm, Evonik's founding member and the founder methacrylate chemistry, Rohm GmbH will represent “quality and a pioneering spirit,” said the newly appointed chief executive Michael Pack in a 1 Aug statement. Now owned by Advent International, Rohm GmbH has average annual sales of EUR1.9bn and EBITDA of about EUR350m.

The company employs 3,900 people across 15 production sites in Germany (Worms, Darmstadt, Weiterstadt, Wesseling, Hanau), China, the US, Russia, and South Africa. “It is our goal to keep driving the growth of our business and to further strengthen leading market positions through investments and targeted expansion,” said Pack.

Advent has also revealed plans to further invest in technologies and Rohm production sites. “We see great potential to establish Rohm as a global market and technology leader in methacrylate chemicals,” said Ronald Ayles, managing partner and global head of chemicals at Advent International. “In partnership with the management and employees, we will continue to develop Rohm through investments and expansion.”

Rohm has a comprehensive product portfolio of products for a wide range of applications in the automotive, electronics, and construction industries. The company’s Plexiglas-branded PMMAs are used in cars, airplane windows, screens & displays or as building glazing.

In addition to being used as PMMA precursors, Rohm’s MMAs are also used in the production of varnishes & paints, floor coatings, adhesives, and other materials. Evonik started the carve-out activities in July last year.

In spite of its sales of roughly €1.9bn, Evonik defined the business as “outside the company's growth area.”

In an interview with PNE last October, Ralf Duessel, general manager high-performance polymers, said the decision was made due to the business’s cyclical nature, its cash-intensiveness as well as the fact that MMAs are standard chemicals, as opposed to specialty chemicals.


MRC

Evonik and thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions grant license for HPPO Technology to China

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Evonik and thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions have agreed to grant a license for HPPO Technology to Zibo Qixiang Tengda Chemical Co. to produce propylene oxide, as per Evonik's press release.

Corresponding agreements were signed by the parties in Guangzhou in China. In addition, Evonik has licensed the production of hydrogen peroxide for the exclusive supply of the propylene oxide plant to Qixiang Tengda. Furthermore, the companies have entered into a long-term agreement for the supply of the respective HPPO catalyst.

Propylene oxide is used mainly for the production of polyurethane foams, which are used in automotive parts, furniture upholstery, thermal insulation, coating materials, sports shoes, and other sports equipment. The global market for polyurethane is expected to grow with China being one of the most important growth markets. Tightening environmental regulations support the strategic focus of the Active Oxygens Business Line of Evonik, to further promote and expand the green HPPO Technology, including through licensing, on top of developing the traditional hydrogen peroxide business.

Claus Rettig, Chairman of the Board of Evonik Resource Efficiency segment, explains: “We’re proud of having gained Qixiang as a new strategic partner. With environmental awareness on the rise in China, HPPO is the technology of choice for sustainable production of propylene oxide because it produces no major byproducts apart from water,”

In the next few years Qixiang Tengda will construct a plant complex at the Zibo site (in China’s Shandong province), where up to 300 kmt of propylene oxide and the amount of H2O2 required for the HPPO process will be produced annually. The initial planning phase will start by the middle of August 2019. The plant is expected to come on stream in the first half of 2022.

HPPO stands for “hydrogen peroxide to propylene oxide”, a process in which propylene oxide (PO) is obtained directly from hydrogen peroxide and propylene. What makes this possible is an HPPO catalyst based on titanium silicalite (TS-1) developed by Evonik especially for the process. Compared to conventional production processes for propylene oxide, the HPPO process requires a significantly lower investment volume and is more profitable. In addition, it is very environmentally friendly, since it is characterized by a high selectivity and no significant amounts of byproducts occur other than water.

The chemical company Qixiang Tengda is part of the Cedar Holdings Group. The company, with a workforce of more than 2,000, possesses a high degree of expertise and has many years of experience in C4 chemistry. Last year it generated sales of more than 3.5 billion euros (27.9 billion CNY).

As MRC reported earlier, Evonik Industries AG combined its isophorone chemistry and epoxy curing agents business in the new Crosslinkers Business Line effective July 1, 2017. The newly formed Business Line, headed by Min Chong, is part of the Resource Efficiency Segment,

Evonik, the creative industrial group from Germany, is one of the world leaders in specialty chemicals. Its activities focus on the key megatrends health, nutrition, resource efficiency and globalization. Evonik benefits specifically from its innovative prowess and integrated technology platforms. Evonik is active in over 100 countries around the world.
MRC