Fujian Hongrun resumes production at PS plant

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Fujian Hongrun has brought on-stream its polystyrene (PS) unit following a maintenance turnaround, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the company has resumed operations at the unit on August 22, 2019. The plant remained under maintenance for about seven weeks.

Located in Quanzhou, Fujian, China, the plant has a production capacity of 60,000 mt/year.

We remind that, as MRC informed before, Jiangsu Lvan Qingfeng has brought on-stream its PS unit, following a maintenance turnaround. The company resumed operations at the unit, on July 24, 2019. The plant was shut for maintenance on July 7, 2019. Located in Jiangsu, China, the plant has a production capacity of 150,000 mt/year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- US refineries have cut the volume of crude processed so far this year, but stocks of gasoline and distillates remain ample, highlighting the slack demand for transportation fuels, reported Reuters.

Fuel consumption has stalled, part of a worldwide slowdown in oil demand associated with the slackening of manufacturing and freight activity.

US refineries have reduced crude input by an average of 247,000 barrels per day since the start of the year compared with the same period in 2018, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Year-to-date processing rates have fallen for the first time since 2011 and by the most since the recession of 2008/09 (“Weekly petroleum status report”, EIA, Aug 21).

Refinery crude consumption has fallen by around 56 million barrels so far compared with the same period in 2018.

Refineries cut processing sharply during the regular maintenance season in March and April and have never made up the shortfall.

Processing has remained at or below prior-year rates throughout the summer driving season, normally the highest demand of the year.

Philadelphia Energy Solutions’ 335,000 bpd refinery on the East Coast has been shut since a fire and explosion on June 21, which may have contributed to the loss of crude processing.

But processing was already running below prior-year rates before the plant exploded and has been below 2018 rates for 13 out of the last 16 weeks since the start of May.

Refiners on the East Coast have cut processing by an average of almost 120,000 bpd so far this year (mostly due to the Philadelphia explosion).

But they have also reduced processing by 87,000 bpd in the Midwest, 15,000 bpd along the Gulf Coast and 45,000 bpd on the West Coast.

Despite the reduction in processing, there has been no shortage of either gasoline or distillate fuel oil, with gasoline stocks level with last year and distillates comfortably above it.

Fuel consumption is broadly unchanged compared with 2018, with the volume of gasoline supplied to domestic customers flat so far this year and distillate consumption down slightly.

Forward refining margins for gasoline and distillates delivered at the end of year do not provide refiners with any significant incentive to boost processing compared with normal seasonal patterns.

Fuel consumption is stuck in the doldrums and unlikely to accelerate much until the domestic and international economies improve.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- McDermott International, Inc. announced the beginning of commercial operation with Train 1 by joint owners Sempra LNG, LLC, Total, Mitsui & Co., Ltd. and Japan LNG Investment, LLC., following its substantial completion, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

"This is a significant milestone for the Cameron LNG project," said Mark Coscio, McDermott's Senior Vice President for North, Central and South America. "Congratulations to the McDermott project team whose steadfast commitment to outstanding project quality has been going strong since its award in 2014."

McDermott and its joint venture member on the project, Chiyoda, have been providing the engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning for the project since it began. The project includes three liquefaction trains with a projected export capacity of more than 12 million tonnes per annum of LNG, or approximately 1.7 billion cubic feet per day.

As MRC wrote previously, in early November 2018, Sempra Energy announced that Cameron LNG had initiated the commissioning process for the support facilities and first liquefaction train of Phase 1 of its Hackberry, La., liquefaction-export project. And in mid-April 2019, Sempra Energy announced that Cameron LNG had begun pipeline feed gas flow to the first liquefaction train of the liquefaction-export project as it prepares to begin production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) at the facility in Hackberry, La.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Univar Inc., a global chemical and ingredient distributor and provider of value-added services, announced its Board of Directors has approved a Certificate of Amendment of the Certificate of Incorporation of the Company, to officially change the corporate name from Univar Inc. to Univar Solutions Inc., effective September 1, 2019, said the company.

"This name change marks another completed milestone as we progress on the integration of the legacy Univar and Nexeo chemical, ingredient and distribution businesses," said David Jukes, Univar Solutions president and chief executive officer. "I'm pleased to see our integration consistently moving forward as we combine the best of the best and deliver increased value to our customers and suppliers."

The shares of common stock of the Company will continue trading under the ticker symbol UNVR on the New York Stock Exchange, and the Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures (CUSIP) number assigned to the Company's common stock will remain the same. The name change also will not affect the rights of the Company's stockholders.

Univar Solutions is a leading global chemical and ingredient distributor and provider of value added services to customers across a wide range of industries. With the industry's largest private transportation fleet and North American sales force, a vast supplier network, deep market and regulatory knowledge, world-class formulation and recipe development, unparalleled logistics know-how, and industry-leading digital tools, Univar Solutions is a committed ally to customers and suppliers, helping them anticipate, navigate, and leverage meaningful growth opportunities.
MRC