MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil Corp told employees it would begin suspending the employer match to retirement savings plans beginning in early October, said sources who received a message from the company, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.
"Given the current business environment, the corporation is taking steps to reduce costs," according to a copy of the message seen by Reuters. "The company intends to suspend the company match contribution to the U.S. Exxon Mobil Savings Plan for all employees covered by the Savings Plan, effective around Oct. 1, 2020."
Exxon spokesmen did not reply to messages seeking comment. On Friday, Exxon reported its first back-to-back quarterly loss in 36 years because of the drop in demand during the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Exxon Senior Vice President Neil Chapman said on Friday the company was planning both capital and operating expense cuts to defend its dividend, adding that investors “come to view that dividend as a source of stability in their income."
Under the plan the company matches a 6% contribution by an employee with a contribution equal to 7% of the employee’s pay. Exxon will suspend the contribution beginning in early October. "As business conditions continue to evolve, company match contributions to the savings plan will be reassessed," Exxon told employees on Tuesday.
At Exxon’s Baytown, Texas, refinery and chemical plant, the United Steelworkers (USW) local union plans file a demand to negotiate over the change in the savings plan, said four sources familiar with the matter. At Exxon’s refineries and chemical plants in Beaumont, Texas, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Billings, Montana, no decision had been made on how to proceed, said the sources who are familiar with the union’s plans.
As MRC informed before, boiler work at the ExxonMobil-operated 830,000-metric tons/year ethylene plant at Mossmorran, UK, was scheduled for completion in June, 2020. Two of the three boilers at the plant exploded in August 2019, resulting in the plant being taken offline until the end of February. OPIS sources said in May that the plant was currently able to operate at full capacity with two boilers in operation but that the third boiler would be working by June.
We remind that 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 DataScope report, PE imports to Russia dropped in January-June 2020 by 7% year on year to 328,000 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the main decrease in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia rose in the first six months of 2020 by 21% year on year to 105,300 tonnes. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.
MRC