Venezuela PDVSA to install ship-to-ship hub away from shore

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Venezuela’s state-run oil firm PDVSA is informing customers about a new hub for doing ship-to-ship transfers for exports in a location away from shore, a shift that could mean higher costs and less supervision, according to three sources, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

More than two-thirds of Venezuela’s oil exports leave from the Jose terminal on the country’s eastern coast, a large and heavily supervised facility with two monobuoys for exports and connected through pipelines to several crude upgraders. But with U.S. sanctions, PDVSA has since 2019 facilitated more crude exports via tanker transfers at Caquetios, an authorized ship-to-ship (STS) hub off the western coast near its Amuay refinery.

Some customers that were receiving Venezuela’s western crude grades off Amuay are now being directed to a spot about 12 miles north of Los Monjes islands in the Gulf of Venezuela, near the maritime border with Colombia and in front of the island of Aruba, according to the sources. It is not clear if the Caquetios STS area will remain in service.

PDVSA and Venezuela’s oil ministry did not reply to requests for comment. The nation’s maritime authority INEA did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The first vessel scheduled to receive crude at Los Monjes STS area is the Cape Bella V, which has remained outside Venezuelan waters waiting for a loading window, according to two of the sources and Refinitiv Eikon vessel tracking data.

It intends to load up to 1 MM barrels of Venezuelan Merey crude bound for an undisclosed destination, the sources added. Edge Maritime Inc, owner and commercial manager of the Cape Bella V, could not be reached for comment. Some of PDVSA’s customers have so far rejected the company’s proposal of moving their scheduled loading site from Amuay to Los Monjes because it is further from Venezuela’s shore, which increases the costs of tugboat services, maritime fuel and mandatory inspections, and also because is near the maritime border with Colombia, which could cause diplomatic conflict, the two sources said.

The Colombian government did not respond to a request for comment. But some shipowners not willing to load in Venezuelan waters might prefer this option to circumvent U.S. sanctions, the sources added.

The U.S. State Department and the U.S. Treasury Department, which oversees sanctions, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The U.S. measures have been tightened this year in a bid to force Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro out of power after his 2018 re-election was considered a sham by most Western nations. They drove PDVSA’s oil exports from June through August to their lowest levels in almost 80 years.

But shipments have picked up in recent weeks, pushed up by long-term customers lifting as many crude cargoes as possible before a deadline imposed by Washington to wind down trade with Venezuela and a myriad of mostly inexperienced firms receiving PDVSA’s oil, according to the Eikon data and company documents.

As MRC informed before, Russian state oil company Rosneft's decision to cease operations in Venezuela and sell its assets there to a Russian government-owned company was a "maneuver" made in reaction to collapsing oil prices, a US State Department official said earlier this year.

We remind that Angarsk Polymers Plant, part of Russian oil giant Rosneft, has resumed its low density polyethylene (LDPE) production after an unscheduled shutdown because of a technical issues at the ethylene unit. The plant"s customers said Angarsk Polymers Plant had brought on-stream its LDPE production by 28 August after the forced shutdown due to technical problems at its ethylene production. And the first shipments of polyethylene (PE) to customers began on 31 August. The outage lasted slightly over two weeks and began on 10 August The plant"s annual production capacity is about 75,000 tonnes.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, June estimated LDPE consumption in Russia grew to 55,260 tonnes from 45,490 tonnes a month earlier. Kazanorgsintez raised its PE output after a spring shutdown for a scheduled turnaround. Russia's estimated LDPE consumption rose to 291,270 tonnes in January-June 2020, up by 5% year on year. Russian producers raised their production, and LDPE imports also increased.

We also remind that Russia's overall PE production totalled 1,712,400 tonnes in the first seven months of 2020, up by 58% year on year. Linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) accounted for the greatest increase in the output. At the same time, overall PP production in Russia increased in January-July 2020 by 24% year on year to 1,063,700 tonne. ZapSibNeftekhim accounted for the main increase in the output.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Three dozen refinery workers represented by Toledo, Ohio’s local building trades union protested in front of their workplace in the city early Monday over BP’s hiring of non-union contractors from Texas to perform their work, reported Reuters.

BP is also considering using a mix of union and non-union labor for a multi-unit turnaround at the 155,000 barrel per day refinery in 2022, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The company plans to cut 15% of its workforce worldwide as part of chief executive Bernard Looney’s proposed shift to greater production of renewables away from oil and gas.

For the past two weeks non-union contractors have been working on an alkylation unit at the refinery, jointly owned by BP and Husky Energy, according to a source familiar with the matter. The work is expected to last two more weeks, the source said.

“BP is acting recklessly by bringing in out of state workers from Texas while we have high unemployment in the area,” said United Association Local 50 business manager Scott Lopez.

BP has traditionally employed local building trades laborers to perform refinery work in the region, Lopez said.

“The refinery is planning to invite qualified non-union contractors with proven safety and performance records to participate in sourcing activities for select refinery work,” according to BP spokeswoman Sarah Howell.

“We have a long history of providing thousands of good paying jobs to local workers and can only continue to do this if we have a competitive business,” Howell added.

As MRC wrote before, global oil demand may have already peaked, according to BP's latest long-term energy outlook, as the COVID-19 pandemic kicks the world economy onto a weaker growth trajectory and accelerates the shift to cleaner fuels.

Earlier this year, BP said the deadly coronavirus outbreak could cut global oil demand growth by 40 per cent in 2020, putting pressure on Opec producers and Russia to curb supplies to keep prices in check.

And in September 2019, six world's major petrochemical companies in Flanders, Belgium, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and the Netherlands (Trilateral Region) announced the creation of a consortium to jointly investigate how naphtha or gas steam crackers could be operated using renewable electricity instead of fossil fuels. The Cracker of the Future consortium, which includes BASF, Borealis, BP, LyondellBasell, SABIC and Total, aims to produce base chemicals while also significantly reducing carbon emissions. The companies agreed to invest in R&D and knowledge sharing as they assess the possibility of transitioning their base chemical production to renewable electricity.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall PE production totalled 1,712,400 tonnes in the first seven months of 2020, up by 58% year on year. Linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) accounted for the greatest increase in the output. At the same time, overall PP production in Russia increased in January-July 2020 by 24% year on year to 1,063,700 tonne. ZapSibNeftekhim accounted for the main increase in the output.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sika expanded its mortar production in China via commissioning a new facility in Chengdu, said the company.

Details on investment and plant capacity were not disclosed. Sika will benefit from strong demand in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province in southwestern China, as well as from the launch of new products and expansion of distributor network.

"Here in Chengdu we see a growing demand for Sika’s Building Finishing solutions due to large investments in the construction sector," Sika regional manager for Asia/Pacific Mike Campion said. "The strong business trend following the corona-related lockdown shows that we are on the right track: our mortar sales have increased significantly this year despite the crisis," Campion said.

"We will continue to expand the business and bring two additional plants onstream in the growing Chinese market over the next eighteen months," he added. Growth in China's construction industry amid the coronavirus pandemic will be backed by government investments in transportation and energy infrastructure, better intercity connections and reduction of environment pollution, Sika said.

Citing estimates, the company said construction in the world’s second-biggest economy is expected to grow 6.1% in 2021, with the average annual growth pegged at around 5% until 2029.

As MRC informed earlier, Sika is starting operations at a plant in Doha, Qatar, for the production of concrete admixtures. The country on the east coast of the Arabian peninsula is an attractive market thanks to large-scale infrastructure investment and a number of mega projects, both ongoing and planned.

According to MRC's DataScope report, Russian companies significantly raised their purchasing of PP in foreign markets in August partially because of a major increase in demand, imports were 21,200 tonnes versus 17,200 tonnes a month earlier. Thus, overall PP imports into Russia reached 143,200 tonnes in January-August 2020, compared to 120,100 tonnes a year earlier.

Sika is a specialty chemicals company with a leading position in the development and production of systems and products for bonding, sealing, damping, reinforcing, and protecting in the building sector and motor vehicle industry. Sika has subsidiaries in 101 countries around the world and manufactures in over 200 factories. Its more than 20,000 employees generated annual sales of CHF 7.09 billion in 2018.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- US oil giant ExxonMobil announced it plans to reduce its European workforce by up to 1,600 across the company's affiliates by the end of 2021 as part of its global review, reported Reuters.

Exxon said country-specific cuts will depend on the oil major's local business footprint and market conditions, after the COVID-19 pandemic hammered demand for its products and crude prices tanked.

Oil majors are axing jobs, lowering spending and curbing dividends in order to save cash amid a dismal outlook over energy prices which are expected to remain lackluster for years.

Last month, Exxon announced voluntary layoffs in Australia and said that job cuts will continue globally into 2021.

As MRC wrote previously, ExxonMobil, one of the world's petrochemical major, has undertaken a planned shutdown at its cracker in Singapore. The company halted operations at the cracker for maintenance on September 14, 2020. The cracker is expected to remain off-line till end-October, 2020. Located at Jurong Island, Singapore, the cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 1 million mt/year and a propylene production capacity of 450,000 mt/year.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall PE production totalled 1,712,400 tonnes in the first seven months of 2020, up by 58% year on year. Linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) accounted for the greatest increase in the output. At the same time, overall PP production in Russia increased in January-July 2020 by 24% year on year to 1,063,700 tonne. ZapSibNeftekhim accounted for the main increase in the output.

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. US refiners on course to digest excess diesel by March

MOSCOW (MRC) -- If they can maintain recent progress, US oil refiners should be able to bring stocks of diesel and other middle distillates close to normal levels in the first quarter of 2021, reported Reuters. Distillate inventories were still 20% above the five-year average last week, but the surplus was down from 22% at the end of August, 27% at the end of July and 29% at the end of June. Refining margins for distillate show tentative signs of recovery, based on futures prices for crude and ultra-low sulfur diesel delivered in March 2021, consistent with a normalization of stocks in the first quarter. Forward margins have turned slightly higher, albeit from a very low level, for the first time since June, when there were still hopes for a rapid recovery in oil consumption after the first wave of the novel coronavirus.


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