Shell brings Pernis oil refinery forward

MOSCOW (MRC) - Royal Dutch Shell said on Wednesday it would start large-scale maintenance of its Pernis refinery in the Netherlands in mid-April, more than two weeks earlier than previously planned, reported Reuters.

The maintenance would mean the 404,000 barrel per day refinery, Europe’s largest, would be shut temporarily, it said.

The previous maintenance plan involved starting on May 4 and was expected to last through May and June.

Shell said it would be taking precautionary measures during the turnaround like working in small teams and keeping a safe distance between workers to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.

It also said it had been able to almost halve the number of employees on site.

As MRC informed earlier, Shell Singapore restarted its naphtha cracker in Bukom Island in early December 2019, following a two months maintenance shutdown since the beginning of October 2019. Thus, this cracker was taken off-stream for the turnaround on 1 October 2019. The cracker is able to produce 960,000 tons/year of ethylene and 550,000 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 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) -- ExxonMobil Corp’s Baton Rouge, Louisiana, refinery is operating at two-thirds of its 502,500-barrel-per-day capacity because of demand destruction from the coronavirus pandemic, said sources familiar with plant operations, said Reuters.

The refinery’s two 110,000-bpd gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic crackers are operating and the refinery’s 23,000-bpd hydrocracker is undergoing maintenance that can be performed while the unit is operational.

Exxon spokesman Jeremy Eikenberry declined comment. Exxon shut the 80,000-bpd PSLA-7 crude distillation unit (CDU) at the Baton Rouge refinery on March 30.

PSLA-7 is one of four CDUs at the refinery doing the primary breakdown of crude oil into hydrocarbon feedstocks for all other production units. One of the other CDUs at the Baton Rouge plant is the same size as PSLA-7, and two have larger crude processing capacities.

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

1. Sasol cuts production, sales target on coronavirus impact

MOSCOW (MRC) -- South African petrochemicals giant Sasol Ltd cut its guidance for synthetic fuel production and liquid fuel sales for this financial year due to a three-week nationwide lockdown linked to coronavirus, said Hydrocarbonprocessing. Sasol is now expecting to produce approximately 7.3-7.4 million tons of synfuel against the previously guided range of 7.7–7.8 million tons, the company said in a statement to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. It is also targeting sales of 50–51 million barrels of liquid fuel for the financial year 2020, against 57–58 million barrels previously, it said.



MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Two workers at Valero's Port Arthur refinery have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to Houston Chronicle.

Valero, the second largest refinery company in the United States, cut nonessential work and related contractors this week after initiating temperature checks last week -- much later than than its peers in the industry, Reuters reported Tuesday.

As part of the company's privacy policies, Valero will not publicize COVID-19 cases. But company spokeswoman Lillian Riojas said Valero has developed a pandemic response plans in the case an employee or contractor tests positive.

"The health and safety of our workers and communities is critically important to us," Riojas said.

Valero's response measures include compliance and cooperation with the Center for Disease Control and local health authorities as well as deep cleaning or sterilization of affected areas, communicating with employees in "close contact" with the affected workers. The company also has developed quarantine and communications protocols, Riojas said.

Although Valero isn't confirming or publicizing cases, British oil major BP has taken a different approach. The company confirmed that several workers aboard one of its offshore rigs in the Gulf of Mexico tested positive for the disease.

Shortly after the incident, BP enacted new protocols that include a new "team-based" shift model where contact between teams is restricted.

As MRC reported before, in late March 2020, an employee at Valero Energy Corp’s Meraux, Louisiana, refinery tested positive for the coronavirus.

We also remind that Valero Energy Corp restarted the small CDU at its Port Arthur refinery after repairing a valve on 25 September 2019. And in late October 2019, Valero Energy Corp shut the small crude distillation unit (CDU) at its Port Arthur refinery. The 75,000-bpd AVU 147 CDU was shut to repair a heat exchanger.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 383,760 tonnes in the first two month of 2020, up by 14% year on year. High density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments increased due to the increased capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 192,760 tonnes in January-February 2020, down by 6% year on year. Homopolymer PP accounted for the main decrease in imports.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Russian linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) market remained the fastest growing market, demand for this polyethylene (PE) has almost doubled for the past nine years. In 2019, the main increase in demand for LLDPE was provided by manufacturers of film products, according to MRC's Annual report.

The year of 2019 was a successful one for Russian LLDPE consumers over the past few years. Domestic producers significantly increased their output, including that on metallocene catalysts, thereby reducing dependence on foreign suppliers. And LLDPE prices fell by more than Rb15,000/tonne in the second half of last year under pressure from the situation in foreign markets. Traditionally, in recent years, the main increase in demand for LLDPE has been provided by manufacturers of film products, but in 2019, demand from producers of large-sized items and cable and wiring products also increased.

Nizhnekamskneftekhim became the key LLDPE supplier to the Russian market last year, the Tatarstan producer managed to increase its output of this PE grade by 17%, reducing the dependence of local consumers on imports from the United States and the Middle East.

Also, another Tatarstan producer - Kazanorgsintez - significantly increased its share of LLDPE in PE production, including that on metallocene catalysts, in 2019. And in November 2019, ZapSibNeftekhim launched its own LLDPE production with a capacity of 700,000 tonnes per year.

Thus, Russia's overall LLDPE production rose to 254,000 tonnes from 175,400 tonnes in 2018. At the same time, imports decreased less significantly - from 183,400 tonnes in 2018 to 180,900 tonnes last year. And overall LLDPE production capacities in Russia exceeded 1,000,000 tonnes per year as of 1 January, 2020.

Prices of butene LLDPE were in the range of Rb91,000-93,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, in the Russian market in January 2019. Prices of Middle Eastern PE reached Rb98,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, in late May. But already in June, a gradual decrease in LLDPE C4 prices began partially because of a similar situation in the global markets, which lasted until the end of the year. Some sellers' LLDPE prices had reached Rb77,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, by December.

Films producers were the main driver of last year's demand for LLDPE, demand for film grade LLDPE exceeded 362,000 tonnes last year, showing more than a double growth over the past nine years. Stretch films producers were the key LLDPE consumers.

Large-seized items producers by rotational moulding was the second largest LLDPE consumption segment. Last year's demand for PE in this segment exceeded 18,000 tonnes.

Compounds and masterbatch producers closed the top three manufacturers.

A major increase in LLDPE production in Russia, along with a proportional rise in exports, is expected in 2020.
MRC