Motiva shuts Port Arthur olefins plant ahead of storm

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Motiva Chemicals at Port Arthur, Texas, began shutting down light olefin operations Monday to prepare for the arrival of Tropical Storm Laura, reported Chemweek with reference to the company's statement in a midday report to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Emissions from the controlled shutdown of the olefins unit are seen lasting five days, according to the filing.

Motiva filed a similar shutdown report on Monday covering its nearby oil refinery at Port Arthur, with a capacity of 607,000 b/d the largest refinery on the Gulf Coast and in the US. Emissions from the refinery shutdown are seen lasting two days, the filing says.

ExxonMobil was also reportedly considering a precautionary shutdown of its 369,024-b/d refinery at nearby Beaumont, Texas, and Total's 225,500-b/d Port Arthur refinery was reported to have begun taking operating rates to minimum levels to weather the storms. Market talk about Valero's 335,000-b/d Port Arthur refinery included accounts of both shutdown and no plans for shutdown.

In response to OPIS queries about the reports, ExxonMobil said only that it was preparing for severe weather, and downstream operations are currently normal. A Total spokesperson declined to comment on operations at the refinery.

Reports of slackening refinery operations bolstered US Gulf Coast spot gasoline values and extended the nearly 5-cents/gallon lift of October RBOB futures, the reference month for Gulf Coast spot trading.

Tropical Storm Marco, closing in on southeastern Louisiana as of 14.00 ET, was weakening, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported. Maximum sustained winds were at 40 mph and all tropical storm warnings and watches had been discontinued. Total rain accumulations were seen at 2-4 inches, with isolated maximums of 7 inches possible across parts of the northeast and north-central Gulf Coast through Tuesday.

Tropical Storm Laura, still in the Caribbean, is being more closely watched due to NHC forecasts for intensification to hurricane strength. According to Jeff Masters, a meteorologist whose blog appears on the Yale Climate Connections website, Laura could make landfall along the Texas or Louisiana coastlines as a Category 2 or stronger hurricane. In addition, the storm "will likely grow into a larger-than-average storm capable of generating a very large storm surge," he wrote in a Monday post.

Refiners in or near the path of Tropical Storm Laura represent the country's largest concentration of crude oil processing. The 26 refineries can process a total of 7,359,375 bbl of crude per calendar day, or 39.5% of total US capacity. Capacity by region is 2,474,846 b/d for the New Orleans area; 813,500 b/d in western Louisiana; 1,536,524 b/d in Beaumont/Port Arthur; and 2,534,505 b/d in the Houston area.

Phillips 66's Sweeny refinery in Texas and its plants at Belle Chasse and Lake Charles, Louisiana, "continue with their hurricane planning processes," based on the current path projections of the storms, the company said in an emailed statement to OPIS. "At this time, there is no impact on refinery operations nor other assets in the Gulf Coast region," the statement said.

CITGO made a similar statement about its Gulf Coast operations, which include a 167,500-b/d refinery at Corpus Christi, Texas, and a 418,000-b/d refinery at Lake Charles.

OPIS notes that the 135,500-b/d Calcasieu Refining plant in the Lake Charles region was idled at the beginning of August for at least one month due to fuel demand significantly weakened by fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Further downstream, Placid Refining notified customers that the Opelousas Buckeye terminal would close the rack at midnight Monday ahead of Tropical Storm Marco. Another Placid notification went out regarding product unavailability at the Phillips 66 Lake Charles terminal beginning at noon on Wednesday "in anticipation of hurricane impacts." Downtime of 24 hours was expected, depending on damage and power availability.

As MRC informed previously, in late 2019, Motiva Enterprises acquired 100% of Flint Hills Resources chemical plant, adjacent to its Port Arthur, Texas, oil refinery. The Flint Hills plant operates a 1.57 billion-pound-per-year ethylene cracker, a unit producing nylon component cyclohexane, and a network of pipelines and storage caverns. Saudi Aramco, in its IPO prospectus, said the cash payment will be determined as per the project value at SAR 7.13 billion (USD1.9 billion).

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing 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.

Motiva Enterprises, LLC, is a fully owned affiliate of Saudi Refining Inc. and headquartered in Houston, Texas, United States with revenue of USD24 billion. Previously, it was a 50–50 joint venture between Shell Oil Company (the wholly owned American subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell) and Saudi Refining Inc. (controlled by Saudi Aramco).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Novozymes says that with the inauguration ceremony of the new biomass-based block at the Asn's Power Station, all energy to Novozymes in Kalundborg, Denmark, comes from sources other than oil and coal, reported Chemweek.

This has become possible through an agreement among Novozymes, Novo Nordisk, Kalundborg Forsyning, and Orsted to phase out coal from Denmark's largest coal-fired power station unit, the Asn's Power Station, which is owned and operated by Orsted, and replace it with wood chips, the company says. Novozymes sources steam from the power station, it says.

"Today, we complete a circle of investments into energy efficiency and sustainability. Now, our entire supply of electricity, heat, and steam in Kalundborg comes from other sources than coal and oil,” says Thomas Videbk, executive vice president and COO at Novozymes. “This new agreement gives us a stable supply of green steam at competitive terms. In this way, it also supports an efficient production in Kalundborg with good jobs."

Novozymes uses electricity, heat, and steam as energy sources for its production operations in Kalundborg. The company has made significant investments over the years to increase energy efficiency and reduce environmental impact, it says. Prior to the addition of the new biomass-based block at the Asn's Power Station, steam was the only remaining energy source it used that was not based on renewables, Novozymes says.

As MRC wrote earlier, in 2012, BASF, Cargill and Novozymes signed an agreement to develop technologies to produce acrylic acid from renewable raw materials. Presently, acrylic acid is produced by the oxidation of propylene derived from the refining of crude oil. BASF – The Chemical Company, Cargill and industrial biotechnology company Novozymes were tol develop bio-based technologies to produce acrylic acid from renewable feedstocks.

We remind that BASF-YPC, a 50-50 joint venture of BASF and Sinopec, undertook a planned shutdown at its naphtha cracker on 30 April 2020. The company initially planned to start turnaround at the cracker on April 5, 2020. The plant remained under maintenance unitl 18 June, 2020. Located in Jiangsu, China, the cracker has an ethylene capacity of 750,000 mt/year and propylene capacity of 400,000 mt/year.

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- LyondellBasell, one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world, has announced that it has declared a dividend of USD1.05 per share, to be paid September 8, 2020, as per the company's press release.

The dividend will be paid to shareholders of record August 31, 2020, with an ex-dividend date of August 28, 2020.

As MRC reported earlier, LyondellBasell came out with quarterly earnings of USD0.71 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of USD0.61 per share. This compares to earnings of USD2.75 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.

We remind that in early August, 2020, China’s Bora LyondellBasell Petrochemical, a JV between the privately owned Bora Enterprise Group and the world's petrochemical major - LyondellBasell, started up its new steam cracker at the Panjin complex in northeast China. The steam cracker, when fully operational, is able to produce up to 1 mln mt/year of ethylene.

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.

LyondellBasell is one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world. Driven by its 13,000 employees around the globe, LyondellBasell produces materials and products that are key to advancing solutions to modern challenges like enhancing food safety through lightweight and flexible packaging, protecting the purity of water supplies through stronger and more versatile pipes, and improving the safety, comfort and fuel efficiency of many of the cars and trucks on the road. LyondellBasell sells products into approximately 100 countries and is the world's largest licensor of polyolefin technologies.
MRC

1. China imports record high PVC from India in June amid nationwide lockdown

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China imported a record-high 27,207 mt of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) from India in June - more than five times compared to 5,174 mt recorded in May - as India accelerated PVC exports amid pandemic-related nationwide lockdown, reported S&P Global with reference to the latest statistics data. It is a rare move as the Indian PVC market is net short by close to 2 million mt/year. India started its nationwide lockdown on March 25 and it was initially scheduled to be lifted on May 3, but the government extended the lockdown by another two weeks with new restrictions.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Energy companies are weighing production cuts at U.S. Gulf Coast oil refineries after shutting half the area’s offshore crude oil output ahead of back-to-back storms aiming for the coast this week, reported Reuters.

Tropical Storms Marco and Laura, a rare double-team approach to the US Gulf Coast, threaten days of heavy rains and strong winds this week. Firms had shut wells accounting for 1 million barrels per day of oil on Sunday, as one storm is forecast to become a damaging Category 2 hurricane.

Oil prices on Monday rose 1% to USD44.83 a barrel on hopes for a COVID-19 vaccine and despite lackluster demand for fuels amid economic declines from the pandemic. The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, the largest Gulf Coast oil-export facility, halted operations at its marine terminal.

At least one top refiner is weighing a shutdown for the larger and potentially more damaging Storm Laura, which is forecast to strike the Texas/Louisiana coast by Thursday as a Category 2 hurricane with 105 mile per hour (169 km/h) winds and heavy rain. Some meteorologists say the storm could strengthen to a major hurricane before it makes landfall.

Operators including Exxon Mobil, Valero and Royal Dutch Shell are planning to maintain operations at Louisiana plants as the first cyclone arrives Monday, sources familiar with plans at those refineries said. Storm Marco is expected to drop up to 5 inches (12.7 cm) of rain along the Louisiana coast.

Refineries in east Texas including those operated by Exxon, Valero, Total and Motiva are weighing plans for Storm Laura when it hits the Texas-Louisiana border.

Motiva Enterprises may shut the largest crude oil refinery in the United States, people familiar with plant operations said. Its 607,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, could be drenched by both storms, the people said.

During 2017’s Hurricane Harvey, which occurred three years ago this week, five feet (1.52 meters) of rain fell on east Texas, forcing Motiva to halt operations for nearly two weeks and others to take shorter shut-downs.

That storm led Motiva, which is owned by the world’s top oil producer Saudi Aramco, to cancel plans to expand the refinery.

As MRC informed earlier, Motiva is evaluating opportunities to build a new polyethylene (PE) line within its proposed steam cracker and aromatics project in Jefferson County, Texas. The new PE capacity will be located at the company’s Port Arthur Refinery Complex in Jefferson County, Texas. The planned capacity of the unit was not specified, while the value of the project is reportedly estimated at around USD3.1 billion.

Besides, in late 2019, Motiva Enterprises acquired 100% of Flint Hills Resources chemical plant, adjacent to its Port Arthur, Texas, oil refinery. The Flint Hills plant operates a 1.57 billion-pound-per-year ethylene cracker, a unit producing nylon component cyclohexane, and a network of pipelines and storage caverns. Saudi Aramco, in its IPO prospectus, said the cash payment will be determined as per the project value at SAR 7.13 billion (USD1.9 billion).

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing 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