Chevron sends 300 British employees home as coronavirus precaution

MOSCOSW (MRC) -- Chevron Corp asked about 300 British employees to work temporarily from home after an employee in its Canary Wharf office in London reported a flu-like illness, said the Financial Times.

Traders, exploration and refining unit staff were assigned to work remotely until test results can determine whether the worker has coronavirus, said a person familiar with the matter.

“Chevron continues to monitor the situation very closely, utilizing the guidance of international and local health authorities,” said a Chevron spokeswoman. "Our primary concern is the health and safety of our employees and we are taking precautionary measures to reduce their risk of exposure. It is our policy to not provide details of our employees."

The employee was sent for testing over the coming days to assess whether the virus was present, according to sources.

Chevron staff, including traders, downstream analysts and office staff, have been told to work from home until the test results are known.

The company said it would “continue to monitor the situation very closely, utilising the guidance of international and local health authorities” and it was “taking precautionary measures to reduce their risk of exposure”.

The company said it would not provide personal details of the employee. Chevron’s office is in Westferry Circus in Canary Wharf, a dense business district that is also the location of a host of banks including Citi, HSBC and Barclays. Its daily working population is about 120,000 people.

Only 13 people in the UK have tested positive for the coronavirus while more than 6,500 people have tested negative, said the Department of Health on Monday.

Italy has locked down 11 towns in northern provinces after the virus flared in the areas in recent days. The government said 11 people in the country had died from the coronavirus, with another case detected in one person in southern Italy.

More than 80,000 people globally have been confirmed infected with the coronavirus and more than 2,700 have died.

As MRC informed earlier, Chevron conducted a planned start-up at the fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit in Pasadena, Texas, US. Chevron conducted an air shutdown at the FCC unit on 17 February.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,093,260 tonnes in 2019, up by 6% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. PE shipments rose from both domestic producers and foreign suppliers. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,260,400 tonnes in January-December 2019, up by 4% year on year. Supply of almost all grades of propylene polymers increased, except for statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- World No. 1 oil producer Saudi Aramco has gained unconditional EU antitrust approval for its USD69 billion bid for a 70% stake in petrochemicals group Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC), according to an EU filing, said Reuters.

Aramco announced the deal in March last year, a move key to its diversification into refining and petrochemicals.

The European Commission cleared the deal on Thursday, a filing on its site showed. Reuters reported on Feb. 21 that the deal was heading for unconditional EU clearance.

As MRC wrote earlier, in October 2019, McDermott International announced that it had been awarded a contract by Saudi Aramco and Total Raffinage Chimie (Total) for their joint venture (JV) Amiral steam cracker project at Jubail, Saudi Arabia. Amiral is a JV in which Aramco holds 62.5% and Total the rest. The plant, designed to produce 1.5 million metric tons/year (MMt/y) of ethylene, will be one of the world's largest mixed-feed crackers.

Aramco and Total launched their USD5-billion Amiral JV project in October 2018. The steam cracker will be fed with a mixture of 50% ethane and refinery off-gases. It will supply ethylene to a downstream 1 MMt/y polyethylene manufacturing complex and other petrochemical products. The project aims to fully exploit operational synergies with the adjacent refinery, owned by Satorp, another JV between Aramco and Total. Third-party investors, including Daelim and Ineos, will locate plants at the value park adjacent to Amiral with a combined investment of USD4 billion. A final investment decision is expected in 2021.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,093,260 tonnes in 2019, up by 6% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. PE shipments rose from both domestic producers and foreign suppliers. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,260,400 tonnes in January-December 2019, up by 4% year on year. Supply of almost all grades of propylene polymers increased, except for statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers).

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Solvay’s stock fell more than 3.5% after poor fourth-quarter earnings, said the company.

Underlying EBITDA was stable over the year, in line with expectations. Positive forex impact offset a modest decrease on an organic basis.

Double digit volume growth in Composite Materials, higher pricing in Performance Chemicals and strong focus on cost discipline helped mitigate demand headwinds in the automotive, electronics and oil & gas markets throughout the year.

Underlying EBITDA margin maintained at 23% for 2019, reflecting the resilience of Solvay's businesses in a challenging market environment.

Strong demand for composites from aerospace customers contributed to delivery of a record performance in 2019, despite an anticipated slowdown in the fourth quarter due to reduced 737MAX build rates.

Specialty Polymers significantly impacted by market headwinds, particularly in automotive and electronics; despite headwinds, maintained leading position across all key markets.

Resilient performance in coatings, agro, personal care, flavors and fragrances offset by softer mining environment and increasingly challenging conditions in the oil & gas market.
Cost measures partly mitigated the impact of lower volumes.

In a supportive market environment, higher prices were achieved in soda ash and peroxide leading to a strong full year performance.
Solvay's Advanced Materials division was hurt by the current slowdown in the automotive industry as well as the ongoing crisis at US aviation major Boeing and the production halt for its 747MAX aircraft.

The company's Advanced Formulations division was the worst performer and took the biggest hit following a slow down in the downstream mining and oil and gas sectors.

The equity analysts for chemicals at Germany’s Baader Bank said Solvay’s commodity chemicals business had “surprised positively” in 2019, but warned that its good performance may come to an end by next year.

“Earnings mix worse at second glance... As we fear that the earnings (and in particular FCF [free cash flow]) power of Performance Chemicals might fade (due to coming capacities in H2 2021). We are sceptical on the sustainable earnings run rate of this division,” said Baader.

As it was written earlier, Solvay introduced Solef polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) AM filament. This new material is intended for fused filament fabrication (FFF) methods. It can be obtained on Ultimaker's market to allow optimized 3D printing on Ultimaker printers. Solef PVDF AM filament MSC NT 1 delivers long-term performance of as much as 120 degC, including outstanding chemical resistance and exceptional UV, oxidation and weathering resistance.

Solvay is an advanced materials and specialty chemicals company, committed to developing chemistry that addresses key societal challenges. Solvay innovates and partners with customers worldwide in many diverse end-markets. Its products are used in planes, cars, batteries, smart and medical devices, as well as in mineral and oil and gas extraction, enhancing efficiency and sustainability. Its lightweighting materials promote cleaner mobility, its formulations optimize the use of resources, and its performance chemicals improve air and water quality. Solvay is headquartered in Brussels with around 24,500 employees in 61 countries. Net sales were EUR10.3 billion in 2018, with 90% from activities where Solvay ranks among the world’s top 3 leaders, resulting in an EBITDA margin of 22%.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Linde announced it has started up a new Air Separation Unit (ASU) effectively doubling the production capacity of its existing plant at Mims, Florida, reported Kemicalinfo.

"The expansion is in response to rapidly growing contracted demand for space launch activity," the company said in its statement.

The new plant will increase production to more than 500 tons per day. The plant will also meet growing demand from healthcare, manufacturing, food processing and water treatment customers in the area.

"We are seeing a notable increase in demand for our products, not just from aerospace, but across the board. The increased production capacity of our merchant atmospheric gases will enable us to better support our growth in the region," said Todd Lawson, Vice President East Linde Gases US

Linde worked closely during project planning and execution with Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), the largest energy company in the United States as measured by retail electricity produced and sold, and a leading clean energy company.

As MRC informed before, in H1 February 2020, Linde PLC commissioned a new air separation unit (ASU) in Freeport, Texas, as part of a long-term agreement to supply MEGlobal Americas Inc.’s new monoethylene glycol (MEG) plant at Oyster Creek petrochemical complex in Freeport. The new ASU will supply oxygen and nitrogen to MEGlobal Oyster Creek for use in its MEG manufacturing process. The ASU also will supply Linde’s industrial gas pipeline system, adding new argon capacity, Linde said.

We remind that MEGlobal Americas officially began production at its 750,000 ton per year MEG plant in October last year to meet the growing demand for ethylene glycol products in the US and Asia-Pacific markets, as well as its strategy to expand globally.

MEG is one of the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, the estimated consumption of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in Russia decreased by 16% year on year in December 2019. Russia's overall estimated PET consumption totalled 696,810 tonnes in 2019, up by 1% year on year (690,130 tonnes in 2018).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Exxon Mobil Corp restarted the largest crude distillation unit (CDU) at its 502,500 barrel-per-day (bpd) Baton Rouge, Louisiana, refinery for the first time since a Feb. 12 fire, reported Reuters with reference to sources familiar with plant operations.

Exxon began restarting the second-largest CDU at the Baton Rouge refinery on Monday, the sources said. The Feb. 12 fire knocked out the natural gas supply that fuels the boilers on the refinery’s four CDUs.

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 polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,093,260 tonnes in 2019, up by 6% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. PE shipments rose from both domestic producers and foreign suppliers. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,260,400 tonnes in January-December 2019, up by 4% year on year. Supply of almost all grades of propylene polymers increased, except for statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers).

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