Dow produces hand sanitizer for donation in Germany

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Dow Inc. has started producing hand sanitizer at its manufacturing site in Stade, Germany, for donation to pharmacies and hospitals in Germany, reported MORNINGSTAR.

The company is also repurposing an existing US facility to produce hand sanitizer.

Dow said it has committed USD3 million to coronavirus relief efforts, with USD2 million slated for immediate support that includes help for nonprofits and World Health Organization efforts, plus USD1 million "to build community resilience in the recovery phase."

As MRC informed previously, Dow Chemical began major maintenance on the LHC 1 cracker at Terneuzen, Netherlands from 9 September, 2019. LHC stands for Light Hydro Carbons, or hydrocarbons. The cracker splits naphtha - a derivative of crude oil - into hydrocarbons such as ethylene and propylene. These are the raw materials for the other Dow factories that make chemicals and plastics from them. Together with two other naphtha crackers, LHC 1 forms the heart of the Terneuzen Dow site.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 215,390 tonnes in the first month of 2020, up by 23% year on year. Shipments of all grades of high density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) increased due to higher capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 127,240 tonnes in January 2020, up by 33% year on year. ZapSibNeftekhim's homopolymer PP accounted for the main increase in shipments.

The Dow Chemical Company is an American multinational chemical corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. Dow is a large producer of plastics, including polystyrene (PS), polyurethane, polyethylene, polypropylene, and synthetic rubber.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Italy, which has become a major hotspot in the COVID-19 pandemic, has given its plastics machinery making sector the green light to continue building machines, said Canplastics.

A decree of the Italian President of the Council of Ministers (DPCM) issued on March 22 gives all Italian manufacturers of plastics and rubber machinery permission to continue their activity, since they belong to a production chain defined as necessary.

But as noted by the Italian trade association Amaplast, such factories will have to comply with a protocol signed on March 24 both by Government and social parties that lists all the measures that hinder and limit the spread of COVID-19 infection inside and outside the work sites and keeping the safety and the health of people involved in the production cycle as a priority.

"Moreover, companies are asked to give a sign of discontinuity as compared to the past, thus limiting production activity only to those units which activity is really essential,” Amaplast said in a March 23 statement. “As a consequence, workshifts will also have to be re-scheduled, based on real necessities."

"As for the supply of materials and components, a few delays are now being registered but – at the moment – they are not affecting the the standard execution of production,” Amaplast said. “Similarly, deliveries of machinery and customers’ assistance are going on as usual."

As of March 23, Italy has reported a total of 6,077 deaths from the coronavirus, with a total of 63,928 cases of infection reported across the country.

As MRC infromed earlier, Italian oil major Eni continues to operate its domestic refineries and power plants in northern Italy normally. Despite sending home staff at its headquarters in Milan as local coronavirus cases mount. All Eni employees based in the company's San Donato Milanese and central Milan offices were asked on Wednesday to work home until February 28, the spokesman said. He declined to say if any actual or suspected cases of coronavirus has been identified at the sites.

As MRC informed earlier, Italy’s Versalis (part of Eni) took its cracker in Dunkirk, France offline in early September, 2019, due to a fire which broke out at the company’s petrochemical plant. Local media sources also reported that the fire was brought under control with no reported injuries. The cracker has a production capacity of 380,000 tons/year of ethylene and 95,000 tons/year of propylene.

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) -- US Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst of Iowa have asked the Trump administration not to appeal a court ruling that would slash the use of small refinery biofuel waivers, but have not heard back yet on its decision, reported Reuters with reference to Grassley's statement.

"We haven’t been told one way or another officially," he told reporters on a conference call.

The US Renewable Fuel Standard requires oil refiners to blend billions of gallons of biofuels like ethanol into the nation’s fuel pool, a boon to US corn country.

But the Environmental Protection Agency that administers the program grants waivers to small refineries that can prove compliance would cause them financial strain.

The Trump administration has roughly quadrupled the number of waivers EPA has granted, infuriating the biofuel industry and its representatives who say they hurt demand.

A court in January ruled that the EPA had been overusing the waivers in a decision that could gut the program.

A group of Texas lawmakers has been urging the Trump administration to appeal the decision, arguing it could cost countless blue-collar jobs in the refining industry.

As MRC wrote before, the Trump administration has recently decided to drastically scale back the US Environmental Protection Agency's program exempting small oil refineries from the country's biofuel regulations after a court case cast doubt on the legitimacy of the program.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The summer startup of a major oil refinery in the Caribbean is no longer assured after a construction employee tested positive for the coronavirus, reported Reuters with reference to the head of Limetree Bay Refining's statement Monday.

Once the world’s largest refinery, the Limetree Bay Refinery on St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, is undergoing a USD2 billion overhaul expected to finish this summer. Its former owners had shuttered the plant in 2012, and the facility was acquired by Arclight Capital Partners and Freepoint Commodities four years later.

The worker who took ill was part of a team of 3,000 people involved in an overhaul that aims to refurbish and restart a portion of the Caribbean island’s former Hovensa refinery. About 1,400 construction workers live onsite at the St. Croix plant, which also has a nearby 34-million-barrel oil storage terminal.

"I’m not going to predict a start date under these circumstances," Brian Lever, chief executive of Limetree Bay Ventures, told Reuters in an interview. "We’ve seen in other situations that this starts off slow and accelerates quite quickly."

The company recently was aiming for a June or July start of commercial processing operations after a new delay caused by greater-than-expected corrosion discovered during the overhaul.

As MRC informed before, an employee at Valero Energy Corp’s Meraux, Louisiana, refinery also tested positive for the coronavirus.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 215,390 tonnes in the first month of 2020, up by 23% year on year. Shipments of all grades of high density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) increased due to higher capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 127,240 tonnes in January 2020, up by 33% year on year. ZapSibNeftekhim's homopolymer PP accounted for the main increase in shipments.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Phillips 66 is delaying three sizeable scheduled shutdowns at its refineries this year, the company said, because of concerns that coronavirus could spread among the refineries' workers if the maintenance goes ahead, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The scheduled shutdowns, also known as turnarounds, are for plant maintenance, repairs and upgrades, and often last several months. The company did not identify which U.S. refineries would be affected.

The company also said its first-quarter refinery utilization should be around the low-to-mid 80% range, adding it was nearing minimum crude rates at "many" of its refineries. Company executives, speaking on a conference call on Tuesday, declined to elaborate on the expected shutdowns.

Fuel demand around the globe has dropped precipitously as people stay indoors and avoid cars and airplanes in response to the growing pandemic, which has sickened more than 377,400 people and killed more than 16,500, according to a Reuters tally. Research firm Rystad Energy expects global road fuel demand to fall 8.5% in 2020, and more than 20% in April.

That, and the global price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia, have pushed prices to levels not seen in nearly 20 years, with U.S. crude lately trading at USD23 a barrel.

Phillips 66 said it had concerns about a lack of available labor force to perform work on refineries, in addition to fears about the possibility of contractors catching the virus, executives said the conference call. It came as the company cut its expected capital expenditures by roughly 18% for 2020.

The refiner did not say how low individual refineries could cut their output before having to shut units or idle plants. It signalled that a 60% utilization level would be too low for a plant to maintain operations. Executives on the call said that with refineries running at reduced rates, catalysts are not being burned as quickly, allowing the company additionally to delay some work on gasoline-producing units.

Several other refiners are delaying turnarounds on coronavirus concerns including Citgo's refinery in Lemont, Illinois, and BP Plc and Husky Energy Inc's joint-venture refinery in Lima, Ohio.

Phillips 66 shares were up 5.8% at USD44.52 at midday on Tuesday.

As it was said earlier, Phillips 66 and Trafigura Group Pte. Ltd announce they have formed a 50/50 joint venture, Bluewater Texas Terminal LLC (“Bluewater Texas”), to develop an offshore deepwater port project located approximately 21 nautical miles east of the entrance to the Port of Corpus Christi.

Phillips 66 is a diversified energy manufacturing and logistics company. With a portfolio of Midstream, Chemicals, Refining, and Marketing and Specialties businesses, the company processes, transports, stores and markets fuels and products globally. Phillips 66 Partners, the company’s master limited partnership, is integral to the portfolio. Headquartered in Houston, the company has 14,500 employees committed to safety and operating excellence. Phillips 66 had USD59 billion of assets as of Dec. 31, 2019.
MRC