DuPont partners with FedEx, Department of Health to speed Tyvek garment delivery on coronavirus spread

MOSCOW (MRC) -- DuPont has launched “Operation Airbridge,” with the US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and FedEx to speed production and delivery of medical garments made from DuPont’s Tyvek material, reported Chemweek.

Operation Airbridge will enable expedited shipping of Tyvek garments critical to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) relief via air, instead of sea. FedEx Express will transport Tyvek roll goods from DuPont’s Richmond, Virginia, production plant to garment manufacturers in Vietnam. They will then return to the US with finished Tyvek garments to be added to the US Strategic National Stockpile.

"Since the COVID-19 crisis began, DuPont employees have been working 24/7 to provide protection to those that are protecting us through the pandemic,” says David Domnisch, global business leader, DuPont Personal Protection.

As MRC informed earlier, DuPont, which operates one of the Richmond region’s largest manufacturing plants, confirmed last Monday that five local employees have tested positive for the coronavirus, but the company’s local manufacturing operations are still functioning.

We also remind that an employee at the Port Arthur Total refinery has tested positive for the coronavirus. The company confirmed Tuesday that the employee who tested positive is in self-quarantine and hasn't been at the site since March 26. Total says it has 'implemented its pandemic response in the case of a positive COVID-19 test, which includes disinfecting and sanitation of the potentially-affected areas.'

In November 2019, Total disclosed that it is evaluating construction of a new gas cracker at its Deasan, South Korea, joint venture (JV) with Hanwha Chemical.

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 TANECO refining company, owned by Russia’s mid-sized oil producer Tatneft, has begun production of hand sanitizers, as part of efforts to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, the company said, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

On Tuesday, Russia reported 2,774 new cases of the coronavirus, a record daily rise, bringing its overall nationwide tally to 21,102, the country’s coronavirus response center said. The coronavirus death toll was 170.

In common with many countries, Russia faces shortages of medical masks and sanitizers following a spike in demand from hospitals and individuals.

TANEKO is located in Russia’s Volga river region some 1,000 km (620 miles) east of Moscow.

Its director general Ilshat Salakhov said on the company’s website it had started to produce 2.5 tonnes of hand sanitizers per day with capacity to increase it to 7.5 tonnes per day.

Earlier this month, Russia’s second-largest oil producer Lukoil, began producing antiseptics at its facilities in western Siberia to cleanse streets, transport and infrastructure.

Demand for the oil products refineries normally deliver meanwhile has plummeted as tough restrictions on movement across the globe to try to limit the spread of the coronavirus have destroyed fuel demand.

We also remind that the COVID-19 outbreak has led Shell Chemical to temporarily suspend construction on the massive plastics and petrochemicals site it's building in Monaca, Pa, USA.

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) -- China’s crude oil imports in March rose 4.5% from a year earlier, according to official customs data, as refiners stocked up on cheaper cargoes despite falling domestic fuel demand and cuts in refining rates caused by the COVID-19 disease outbreak, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

China, the world’s top crude oil importer, took in 41.1 million tons of oil, according to the official data from the General Administration of Customs. That is equal to 9.68 million barrels per day (bpd). The official March figure in bpd compared to an average of 10.47 million bpd for the first two months of the year. Imports in the first quarter rose 5% from a year earlier to 127.19 million tons, customs said, equal to 10.2 million bpd.

Reuters reported a higher import number earlier for March based on quarterly figures released in a customs statement and data from previous months. In the official data set, the customs department gave a lower figure for the quarterly imports.

Refiners, including state majors and private plants, began slashing crude throughput in February as fuel demand collapsed amid a nationwide lockdown to contain the novel coronavirus. But independent plants, also known as “teapots”, started cranking up production rates in March, as a plunge in oil prices triggered by the Saudi-Russia price war boosted margins.

“Teapots started to book crude oil from late February when domestic virus transmission was easing. Some of the vessels have arrived in March and more will come in April,” said Li Yan, senior analyst at Longzhong Information Group.

Li also expected an increase in oil imports in late April and May as Chinese refineries scrambled to purchase cheap energy after oil prices collapsed. Chinese fuel demand has started to recover as companies resume operations and travel curbs are eased, although analysts expect demand across the full year to fall 19.1% from 2019 in what would be the steepest drop since at least 2004.

Chinese companies also shipped 7.26 million tons of refined fuel products overseas in March, 0.7% above the year-earlier level, the customs data showed. In the first three months, China exported a total of 18.02 million tons of fuel products, up 9.6% from the same period last year.

Customs will release detailed export data by product later in the month. Gasoline and aviation fuel led the growth in product exports in the first two months of year, with a year-on-year increase of 32% and 21%, respectively. Natural gas imports, including piped and liquefied natural gas (LNG), in the first quarter were 24.66 million tons, up 1.8% from a year earlier, customs said.

In March, imports were 6.92 million tons, down 0.2% from a year earlier, according to the customs data. PetroChina, China’s top gas importer, cancelled some contracts in early March, including piped gas from Central Asia and LNG shipments, as a seasonal plunge in demand adds to the impact on consumption from the coronavirus outbreak.

As MRC informed earlier, Shandong Lihuayi Group, has planned to take off-stream its No. 1 Bisphenol A (BPA) unit for a maintenance turnaround. A source in China informed that, the company is likely to undertake a planned shutdown at the unit on April 15, 2020. The unit is likely to remain off-line for about one month. Located in Shandong, China, the No. 1 BPA unit has a production capacity of 120,000 mt/year.

BPA is the main feedstock for the production of polycarbonate (PC).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall consumption of PC granules (excluding exports from Belarus) totalled 6,700 tonnes in January 2020, up by 43% year on year (4,300 tonnes a year earlier).

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A U.S. federal court rejected a challenge from two oil refining companies to its January ruling that the Environmental Protection Agency had been handing out biofuel waivers inappropriately, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

In a major blow to the refining industry, the ruling effectively forces the EPA to reduce the number of waivers it can grant to refiners exempting them from their obligations under the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard.

Under the RFS, refineries must blend billions of gallons of ethanol into their gasoline each year or buy credits from those that do - a policy that has expanded the market for corn but which the oil industry says costs them a fortune.

Before the ruling, the Trump administration’s EPA had sought to ease the regulatory burden on refiners by granting dozens of small facilities exemptions from the RFS.

But the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in January that such Small Refinery Exemptions can only be used as extensions for refineries that had secured them continuously each year since 2010. That standard would exclude all but two refineries from consideration for future waivers.

Oil refiners HollyFrontier and CVR Energy, both of which had received waivers the court considered inappropriate, had sought a rehearing in the case but were denied on Tuesday, according to court filings reviewed by Reuters.

The EPA said it was holding off on deciding on pending waiver requests until the court case is ended. The agency is expected to apply the court’s ruling nationally, effectively gutting the exemption program, but is also considering other measures to ease the regulatory burden on refiners like limiting prices for blending credits.

As MRC reported earlier, South Africa’s largest refinery SAPREF will “minimize” maintenance to critical activities, a spokeswoman said, as a national lockdown looms to contain the spread of coronavirus. SAPREF, situated near Durban along the east coast, is a 50/50 joint venture between BP and Shell with a refining capacity of around 8.5 million tons a year. It accounts for 35% of the refining capacity in Africa’s most advanced economy, which is a net importer of petroleum products.

We also remind that the COVID-19 outbreak has led Shell Chemical to temporarily suspend construction on the massive plastics and petrochemicals site it's building in Monaca, Pa, USA.

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) -- Shell lifted a force majeure on exports of Nigeria’s Forcados crude oil after the pipeline transporting it reopened, reported Reuters with reference to the company's statement.

The removal of force majeure followed the reopening of the Trans Forcados pipeline by operator Heritage Energy Operational Services Limited, a spokeswoman for the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria said on Monday.

The pipeline was shut down on April 4, Shell said in a previous statement. It declared force majeure on April 6.

Forcados exports were set at roughly 245,000 barrels per day (bpd) in May and 283,000 bpd in April.

As MRC wrote previously, a contractor working at Shell's Pulau Bukom manufacturing site in Singapore has contracted the new coronavirus. The Bukom manufacturing site in Singapore houses Shell's biggest wholly-owned refinery. The company said earlier it had sent some staff home from its main office at Metropolis in western Singapore after discovering another employee had been in contact with a carrier.

We also remind that 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 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.

Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.
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