Motiva commences restart of Port Arthur cracker

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Motiva Chemicals is beginning startup operations at its Port Arthur, Texas cracker, reported S&P Global with reference to the company's statement sent to a Texas Commission on Environmental Quality regulatory filing late Monday.

The company said it will begin startup operations of its Light Olefins Unit, or LOU, on or about December 10 "following the unplanned shutdown of the LOU which occurred on November 25."

The company was not immediately available for comment on operations.

Motiva acquired the previously Flint Hills' cracker on October 31, according to the filing.

The unit has a capacity of 634,000 mt/year, according to S&P Global Platts data. The cracker is a mixed-feed facility that can process ethane, propane, and butane.

In August, 2019, as MRC informed earlier, Motiva Enterprises signed an agreement to buy Flint Hills Resources chemical plant. The deal would extend Saudi Aramco's push to grow its petrochemical operations in Texas and elsewhere.

Moreover, in April 2019, Houston-based Motiva announced it would refurbish two empty, historic buildings in downtown Port Arthur for use as offices. It also has filed documents with the state to build a USD5 billion steam cracker that would produce ethylene.

Besides, the company is evaluating opportunities to build a new polyethylene (PE) line within its proposed steam cracker and aromatics project in Jefferson County, Texas. The new PE capacity will be located at the company’s Port Arthur Refinery Complex in Jefferson County, Texas. The planned capacity of the unit was not specified, while the value of the project is reportedly estimated at around USD3.1 billion.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,724,670 tonnes in the first ten months of 2019, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market in January-October 2019 totalled 1,066,520 tonnes, up by 7% year on year. Supply of block copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymer) and homopolymer of propylene (homopolymer PP) increased, demand for statistical copolymers (PP random copolymer) decreased.

Motiva Enterprises, LLC, is a fully owned affiliate of Saudi Refining Inc. and headquartered in Houston, Texas, United States with revenue of USD24 billion. Previously, it was a 50–50 joint venture between Shell Oil Company (the wholly owned American subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell) and Saudi Refining Inc. (controlled by Saudi Aramco).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- INEOS Styrolution has partnered with post-consumer plastics recycling company Agilyx to build a polystyrene (PS) chemical recycling facility in Channahon, Illinois, US, said Packaging-gateway.

Designed to process 100t of post-consumer PS every day, the new facility will convert the waste into styrene material suitable to use in new polystyrene product manufacturing.

The new facility will use Agilyx’s proprietary chemical recycling technology to break down polystyrene to its molecular base monomers.

With Agilyx’s chemical recycling process, contaminated polystyrene can also be transformed into new, food-grade plastic products or packaging. This encourages circular recycling economy.

INEOS Styrolution Americas Standard Products vice-president Ricardo Cuetos said: “This is an incredibly exciting time to be in this industry.

"Agilyx’s chemical recycling technology is a game-changer to advance the circular recycling pathway of plastics. A benefit of chemical recycling is there is no degradation over multiple cycles. The polymers can continue to create new products over and over again of the same purity and performance of virgin polystyrene.

"This plant will dramatically increase recycling rates in the greater Chicago area, dispelling the myth that polystyrene cannot be recycled. We are thrilled to partner with Agilyx on this project."

Agilyx successfully completed the development programme for INEOS Styrolution with the selection of post-consumer polystyrene feedstock. The styrene product meets INEOS specifications.

The project’s next phase involves the engineering and design of the facility.

As per ICIS-MRC Price Report, Ineos Styrolution"s general purpose polystyrene (GPPS) imports into Russia increased in the first ten months of 2019 by 2 times year on year to 10,600 tonnes. This figure was 4,900 tonnes in January-October 2018. Ineos Styrolution is the largest GPPS supplier to Russia. European material accounted for 45% of the total GPPS shipments over the stated period versus 30% in the first ten months of 2018. However, October Styrolution"s GPPS shipments to the Russian market decreased by more than 2 times to 700 tonnes from 1,500 tonnes a month earlier, the company"s imports into the country were 700 tonnes in October 2018.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- France’s hard-left CGT union said strikes had entered a second day at five refineries, and that while production was not impacted there were no deliveries being made from the affected facilities, reported Reuters.

"We have not called for the halt in production at the refineries. That could happen early next week," Emmanuel Lepine, Secretary General of the CGT petrol branch told Reuters.

As MRC wrote earlier, staff at seven of France's eight refineries joined a general strike Thursday, affecting oil product deliveries. Thus, Total reported difficulties in accessing its terminals at the Gonfreville, Grandpuits, Donges and Feyzin refineries and La Mede biofuels plant Thursday morning. In addition, access had been difficult to the terminals at Portes-les-Valence and Puget-sur-Argens. Total said, with 200 oil terminals in France, supply to its retail stations had not been affected, despite the blockades. At the same time, ExxonMobil, which operates the Gravenchon refinery near Le Havre and the Fos-sur-Mer plant in the south, said Gravenchon had not been hit by the strike, but there had been a minor impact on road traffic due to external blockades around the site.

We also remind that France's Feyzin refinery was in the process of halting units and the steam cracker was running at reduced rates on 9 October, 2019. Local media had reported earlier that the refinery had been halting operations since Monday, 7 October, due to a strike. The company said it regrets the decision by labor unions to call a strike while discussions were ongoing with refinery staff about a planned indefinite closure of a unit due to lower product demand.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,724,670 tonnes in the first ten months of 2019, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market in January-October 2019 totalled 1,066,520 tonnes, up by 7% year on year. Supply of block copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymer) and homopolymer of propylene (homopolymer PP) increased, demand for statistical copolymers (PP random copolymer) decreased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Devon Energy has agreed with chemicals major Dow to jointly develop a portion of Devon’s STACK oil and gas acreage in central Oklahoma, said US energy company.

Under the agreement, Devon will monetise half of its working interest in 133 undrilled locations in exchange for about USD100m, over the next four years, it said.

"Devon’s returns associated with this agreement are expected to be enhanced by lower well costs from focused infill development drilling and midstream incentive rates that lower per-unit operating costs for each new well brought online," it added.

"Dow is a world-class organisation and this mutually beneficial agreement will help us bring forward value in the STACK, while delivering carry-enhanced returns that compete effectively for capital within our portfolio," added Devon CEO Dave Hager.

Devon anticipates no change to its production targets or capital spending outlook in 2020 as a result of this agreement. Activity in 2020 will start with the development of two drilling units in northern Canadian County, where drilling operations are expected to commence mid-year.

With this agreement, Devon will retain 100 percent of its production and cash flow from existing operations in the STACK play. Devon will serve as operator and is responsible for capital allocation and project timing with this agreement.

Vinson & Elkins LLP acted as legal advisor to Devon. Latham & Watkins LLP acted as legal advisor to Dow.

As MRC reported before, Dow Chemical's propylene dehydrogenation (PDH) unit in Freeport, Texas, was offline in October - November, 2019, for a turnaround, said US olefin market participants. Sources said the PDH unit went offline for scheduled maintenance September 26, and the work was expected to last 45-60 days. Originally, sources expected the turnaround to begin in early September, but then learned it had been delayed.

Propylene is a feedstock for the production of polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall PP production rose to about 1,163,200 tonnes in the first ten months of 2018, up by 1.3% year on year. Three producers out of seven reduced the capacity utilisation.

The Dow Chemical Company is an American multinational chemical corporation. Dow is a large producer of plastics, including polystyrene, polyurethane, polyethylene, polypropylene, and synthetic rubber.

Devon Energy Corporation is a leading independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company. Devon's operations are focused onshore in the United States.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Aramco shares will start trading on Dec. 11, the Saudi securities exchange Tadawul said in a statement on Friday, reported Reuters.

Saudi Arabia’s state oil giant priced its initial public offering at 32 riyals (USD8.53) per share on Thursday, raising USD25.6 billion and beating Alibaba Group Holding Ltd’s record USD25 billion listing in 2014.

The Aramco IPO was launched to raise funds to help diversify the kingdom away from reliance on oil and create jobs for a growing population.

Aramco shares will trade using the symbol 2222 and will have a daily 10% plus or minus fluctuation limit, Tadawul said on its website.

"On the first day of trading only, the opening auction for the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) will be extended for 30 minutes," it added.

As MRC informed before, Saudi Aramco, which temporarily lost half of its oil production following the September 14 attacks on two key oil facilities, is running its local refineries at full capacity and is forging ahead with plans to start up new refineries. The company is also starting up a joint venture refinery in Malaysia next year. According to Aramco's bond prospectus released in April, the refining and petrochemical joint venture with Petronas - the Malaysian national oil company - collectively known as PRefChem, was supposed to start this year.

The PRefChem joint venture includes a 300,000 b/d refinery, an integrated steam cracker with capacity to produce 1.3 million mt of ethylene located in Johor, Malaysia. Aramco was supposed to provide a significant portion of PRefChem's crude supply under a long-term supply agreement. Jazan and PrefChem will help Aramco reach a gross refining capacity of 5.6 million b/d, it said in the prospectus. The company currently owns and has stakes in four refineries abroad with a total refining capacity exceeding 2 million b/d.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,724,670 tonnes in the first ten months of 2019, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market in January-October 2019 totalled 1,066,520 tonnes, up by 7% year on year. Supply of block copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymer) and homopolymer of propylene (homopolymer PP) increased, demand for statistical copolymers (PP random copolymer) decreased.

Saudi Aramco is an integrated oil and chemicals company, a global leader in hydrocarbon production, refining processes and distribution, as well as one of the largest global oil exporters. It manages proven reserves of crude oil and condensate estimated at 261.1bn barrels, and produces 9.54 million bbl daily. Headquartered in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, the company employs over 61,000 staff in 77 countries.
MRC