ExxonMobil chemical plant in Baytown back to normal after upset

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Exxon Mobil Corp’s Baytown, Texas, chemical plant returned to normal operations on Tuesday after a malfunction in the polypropylene (PP) production area, reported Reuters with reference to sources familiar with plant operations.

Exxon spokeswoman Sarah Nordin declined to discuss the status of individual units at the Baytown complex, but said the company continues to meet its contractual commitments.

Exxon’s adjoining 560,500-barrel-per-day (bpd) Baytown refinery was unaffected by a transformer malfunction in the chemical plant, the sources said.

As MRC wrote previously, on 24 September 2019, ExxonMobil Corp shut its 369,024 barrel-per-day (bpd) crude oil refinery in Beaumont, Texas, because of flooding from Tropical Storm Imelda. Exxon earlier that day shut the Beaumont chemical plant, which adjoins the refinery. The company operates a cracker with a capacity of 830,000 mt of ethylene and 195,000 mt of proplyelen per year, low density polyethylene (LDPE) plant with a capacity of 236,000 mt per year and linear low density polyethylene plant with a capacity of 727,000 tonnes per year.

We also remind that in September 2019, ExxonMobil announced plans to spend GBP140 million over the next two years in an additional investment program at its Fife ethylene plant (UK), which has a capacity of more than 800,000 t/y.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,589,580 tonnes in the first nine months of 2019, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 976,790 tonnes in January-September 2019, up by 4% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.

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

MOSCOW (MRC) - Senege New Polymers Plant resumed PET production in early November after a period of planned shutdown, as per ICIS-MRC Price Report.

Earlier it was reported that scheduled maintenance works at this enterprise with a capacity of 100,000 tonnes/year started on 8 October.

Price offers for spot buyers from the producer last week ranged roubles (Rb) 86,000-88,000/tonne, CPT Moscow, including VAT.

Spot prices of PET from the producer in October were at the level of Rb84,000-86,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT.

Senege (part of the Europlast group) is one of four Russian food PET plants. The total capacity of the plant is 100,000 tonnes/year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PBF Energy began restarting the cat feed hydrotreater at its 190,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) Chalmette, Louisiana, oil refinery, a day ahead of schedule, reported Reuters with reference to sources.

PBF had planned to begin the restart of the 45,000-bpd cat feed hydrotreater, which was shut on Oct. 7 for a catalyst change, on Tuesday, the sources said.

The catalyst change on the hydrotreater is running about a week behind schedule, the sources said.

PBF spokesman Michael Karlovich declined on Monday to discuss operations at the refinery.

PBF continues to raise the production level on the 10,000-bpd Coker 1 that the company restarted last week for the first time in nine years, the sources said on Monday.

As MRC informed before, in September 2019, ExxonMobil announced plans to spend GBP140 million over the next two years in an additional investment program at its Fife ethylene plant (UK), which has a capacity of more than 800,000 t/y.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,589,580 tonnes in the first nine months of 2019, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 976,790 tonnes in January-September 2019, up by 4% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.

PBF Energy Inc. is a petroleum refiner and supplier of unbranded transportation fuels, heating oils, lubricants, petrochemical feedstocks, and other petroleum products. Headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey, the company's refineries include facilities in Chalmette, Louisiana, Toledo, Ohio, Port of Paulsboro in Gibbstown, New Jersey, the Delaware City Refinery in Delaware City, and the former ExxonMobil refinery in Torrance, California. PBF produces a range of products including gasoline, ultra-low-sulfur diesel (ULSD), heating oil, jet fuel, lubricants, petrochemicals and asphalt
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ClearSign Combustion Corporation, an emerging leader in industrial combustion technologies that improve energy and operational efficiency while dramatically reducing emissions, has announced that the company has received a Purchase Order from ExxonMobil to perform early engineering and installation planning regarding a trial installation of the company’s ClearSign Core process burners at one of their Gulf Coast refineries, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

This order is the next step in the process for the Company to showcase ClearSign Core technology’s best-in-classNOx emissions and for ExxonMobil to assess applicability across its process heater fleet. The engineering follows the previously announced qualification program that the Company performed at their State-of-the-Art Seattle R&D facility. That testing was an evaluation over a broad range of typical conditions, including variations in fuel heating values, turndown, and excess air.

"We are delighted and encouraged by this highly significant order, and the ongoing engagement and interest from ExxonMobil," said Jim Deller, Ph.D, CEO of ClearSign. "This engineering order is one of the final steps prior to qualifying our ClearSign Core process burner technology for use in an ExxonMobil refinery, and is a significant milestone for our company in the process of demonstrating our technology with a supermajor at their facility. This is a culmination of months of thorough evaluation and coordination between our team and the Research and Engineering team at ExxonMobil. The specific site and location has been selected and we look forward to continuing to support ExxonMobil’s evaluation of our ClearSign Core technology."

As MRC informed before, in September 2019, ExxonMobil announced plans to spend GBP140 million over the next two years in an additional investment program at its Fife ethylene plant, which has a capacity of more than 800,000 t/y.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,589,580 tonnes in the first nine months of 2019, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 976,790 tonnes in January-September 2019, up by 4% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine supported on 12 November banning the sale of plastic bags up to 50 microns thick and oxo-biodegradable plastic bags in Ukraine from 1 January, 2022 iin its first reading the bill No. 2051-1 of nine deputies of the “Servant of the People” coalition faction, according to Interfax-Ukraine.

For the adoption of such a decision, 365 deputies voted on Tuesday with the required minimum of 226 votes. "Biodegradable bags are the main alternative to plastic bags in the world. However, insufficient legislative regulation in Ukraine has led to a conflict when consumers are misled, believing that the bag they buy does not harm the environment," the explanatory note to the document said.

According to the document, the ban does not apply to ultralight bags (up to 15 microns thick) up to 225 mm wide (without side folds), up to 345 mm deep (with side folds) and up to 450 (with handles) long, used as primary packaging for fresh fish, meat and products from them, bulk products and ice. It also will not touch on biodegradable packages, however, the bill provides for their mandatory labeling in accordance with the National Standard DSTU EN 14995: 2018, DSTU EN 13432: 2015.

The bill provides for the introduction of fines for the sale of plastic bags or oxo-degradable bags under the guise of bio-packages, as well as for inclineation to purchase them in the amount of 100 to 200 tax-free minimum incomes of citizens (nmdg, now 17 UAH - IF), with repeated violation - from 200 up to 500 nmdg.

The authors in the explanatory noted that Ukraine has the necessary capacities for the production of bio-packages, but there is no demand for them yet.

As MRC reported, a group of 60 deputies of the Verkhovna Rada of the last convocation in January this year already registered a similar bill (No. 9057), which implied a gradual refusal to sell plastic bags from 1 January, 2021, but this document was not even included on the agenda.
MRC