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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). |
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