MOSCOW (MRC) -- France's Feyzin refinery is in the process of halting units and the steam cracker is running at reduced rates, reported S&P Global with reference to Total's statement on Wednesday.
Local media reported earlier that the refinery has been halting operations since Monday due to a strike.
The company said it regrets the decision by labor unions to call a strike while discussions are ongoing with refinery staff about a planned indefinite closure of a unit due to lower product demand.
Feyzin is considering mothballing a visbreaker unit around 2021 as demand for heavy fuel is gradually declining and the unit currently works on average no more than three days per month. As a result of closing the position of a unit operator, seven people would lose their jobs, but would be offered different jobs within the organization, the company said.
But the strike has been called before the process of consultation with staff has been concluded, Total said, adding that the refinery hopes the talks will resume, since there would be no job losses as a result of the project.
Traders said they were currently uncertain about the market impact of the refinery's temporary closure due to the strike. Some dismissed any immediate impact, but others indicated that product availability would decrease.
As MRC informed earlier, in Septermber 2019, six world's major petrochemical companies in Flanders, Belgium, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and the Netherlands (Trilateral Region) have announced the creation of a consortium to jointly investigate how naphtha or gas steam crackers could be operated using renewable electricity instead of fossil fuels. The Cracker of the Future consortium, which includes BASF, Borealis, BP, LyondellBasell, SABIC and Total, aims to produce base chemicals while also significantly reducing carbon emissions. The companies have agreed to invest in R&D and knowledge sharing as they assess the possibility of transitioning their base chemical production to renewable electricity.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polyprolypele (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,255,800 tonnes in the first seven months of 2019, up by 9% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, the estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 796,120 tonnes in January-July 2019, up by 11% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.
Total S.A. is a French multinational oil and gas company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world with business in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia. The company's petrochemical products cover two main groups: base chemicals and the consumer polymers (polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene) that are derived from them.
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