Total Executive Committee appointments

MOSCOW (MRC) -- As of August 1, 2019, Jean-Pierre Sbraire is Chief Financial Officer and member of the Total Executive Committee, following Patrick de La Chevardiere’s retirement, said Investegate.

As of August 19, 2019, Helle Kristoffersen is President, Strategy & Innovation and a Total Executive Committee member. The position was previously held by Philippe Sauquet, now focusing on his responsibilities as President, Gas Renewables & Power.

Total’s Executive Committee now consists of:

Patrick Pouyanne, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
Arnaud Breuillac, President, Exploration & Production.
Helle Kristoffersen, President, Strategy & Innovation.
Momar Nguer, President, Marketing & Services.
Bernard Pinatel, President, Refining & Chemicals.
Philippe Sauquet, President, Gas Renewables & Power.
Jean-Pierre Sbraire, Chief Financial Officer.
Namita Shah, President, People & Social Responsibility.

"Our diversity of backgrounds drives innovation and progress at Total. So I’m very pleased to welcome the new members to the Executive Committee, which now includes two women," commented Patrick Pouyanne, Total’s Chairman & CEO. Total set a target in late 2018 to have women account for more than 20% of the positions on business segment and large operational division Management Committees.

Total is a major energy player that produces and markets fuels, natural gas and low-carbon electricity. Our 100,000 employees are committed to better energy that is safer, more affordable, cleaner and accessible to as many people as possible. Active in more than 130 countries, our ambition is to become the responsible energy major.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- US propylene stocks rose to 4.117 million barrels in the week ended August 23, reported S&P Global with reference to US Energy Information Administration data.

The increase also represented a second consecutive weekly increase for propylene inventory.

The uptick comes on the heels of lower stockpiles, with levels having reached the lowest level of 2019 as recently as the week of August 9.

Non-fuel use propylene stocks rose 114,000 barrels from a week earlier, though this week's inventory was still up by 958,000 barrels from the same time a year earlier.

The week-on-week increase in US propylene stocks came alongside slightly lower refinery utilization rates, which dropped 0.7% to 95.2% on the week.

There have not been any disruptions to propylene production in the last two weeks with one propylene trader stating that "heavy cracking has had a hand in increasing production."

Propylene is the main feedstock for producing polyprolypele (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, the estimated consumption of PP in the Russian market totalled 694,210 tonnes in January-June 2019, up by 14% year on year. The supply of propylene block copolymers (PP-block) and propylene homopolymers (PP-homo) increased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Slovnaft refinery has completed its historically largest turnarounds on 21 production units, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The refinery is in full operation after modernization and maintenance. Maintenance on three other petrochemical production units in the refinery will follow in the autumn.

This year’s regular turnarounds finished in the summer, they were the largest in the history of the refinery. SLOVNAFT Group employees and almost 2,000 external workers participated in their preparation and following maintenance and inspection. Total investments on the turnarounds reached EUR75 million.

Several new projects were also implemented during the regular turnarounds. They are expected to contribute to the more efficient, reliable and safe operation of the refinery.

Almost 1000 larger and smaller tasks is planned during turnarounds in autumn. This will mostly involve maintenance and inspection, as well as activities resulting from legislative requirements. Part of projects will focus on reducing nitrogen emissions into atmosphere and on modernization as well.

As MRC wrote before, in July 2019, Tatneft and Slovnaft announced they had signed a cooperation agreement for the development of joint projects in the downstream sector.

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).

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polyprolypele (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption was 1,081,100 tonnes in the first half of 2019, up by 8% year on year. Deliveries of all PE grades increased. Meanwhile, the estimated consumption of PP in the Russian market totalled 694,210 tonnes in January-June 2019, up by 14% year on year. The supply of propylene block copolymers (PP-block) and propylene homopolymers (PP-homo) increased.

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.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The former chief executive officer of Philadelphia Energy Solutions is seeking to purchase the 335,000 barrel-per-day PES refinery, which was shut after a June fire, reported Reuters with reference to the group's statement.

Philip Rinaldi, who retired from PES in 2016, formed Philadelphia Energy Industries (PEI) as a vehicle to pursue the purchase, the statement said.

"We can reinvigorate the site as an economic juggernaut that generates billions of dollars of revenue and provides thousands of high-paying jobs for our skilled professional and labor workforce," he said in the statement.

PEI and RNG Energy Solutions, LLC have entered into a mutual cooperation agreement for the prospective development of renewable fuels and other projects together with the restart of the refinery site "should PEI be ultimately successful in its acquisition efforts," the statement said.

"My focus and drive in pursuing this acquisition is to revitalize, modernize, and develop the site and the strategic refinery business that has existed there for decades to their full potential," said Rinaldi.

Rinaldi has spoken with the leadership of the refinery’s local union about the plan to acquire the refinery, the largest and oldest on the U.S. East Coast.

For the second time in less than two years, PES filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on July 21, exactly a month after fire and blasts destroyed an alkylation unit at the PES plant.

PES shut its final crude unit in late July, and roughly 1,000 workers were laid off without severance pay or the option for continued health insurance.

As MRC informed before, the alkylation unit involved in a massive fire on Friday at Philadelphia Energy Solutions Inc's oil refinery was completely destroyed, which hampered the supply of gasoline from the US East Coast's largest refinery.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Penoplex, Russia's largest producer of extruded polystyrene foam, plans to resume general purpose polystyrene (GPPS) production at its Kirishi plant on 5 September, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

This plant with a capacity of 50,000 tonnes of GPPS per year was shut for maintenance on 5 August 2019.

There was an acute shortage of material, including GPPS, in the Russian polystyrene (PS) market in late August, which was partially caused by the outage at the Kirishi plant.

In addition, the resumption of Gazprom neftekhim Salavat's GPPS production after a scheduled turnaround was delayed for several weeks. The plant’s production capacities were taken off-stream for maintenance in July, and premium GPPS grades had not yet entered the market as of the end of last week.

Penoplex is a large Russian producer of polymer-based building and decorative materials. The company began its activity in 1998 with the launch of Russia's first line for the production of heat-insulating materials from extruded polystyrene foam under the PENOPLEX trademark. The company has eight production sites, seven of which are located in Russia and one - in the Republic of Kazakhstan (Almaty region), with a total production capacity of 4 million cubic metres.
MRC