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MOSCOW (MRC) -- U.S. refiner
HollyFrontier Corp has outlined plans to nearly double its capital expenditure
in 2021, boosting its renewables investment and counting on an expected recovery
in fuel demand after the coronavirus pandemic tanked consumption, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.
The
refiner said it plans to spend between USD1.05 billion and USD1.15 billion next
year, up from the USD475 million to USD550 million slated for 2020. This year
the coronavirus pandemic slashed driving and sent the global economy into a
tailspin, leading refiners to decrease output and figure out how to stay
profitable in a year of little demand.
U.S. refiners’ utilization rate is
still down more than 10 percentage points from the same time last year, Energy
Information Administration data showed. Including its unit Holly Energy Partners
LP, the company expects to spend between USD1.09 billion and USD1.21 billion in
2021.
The Dallas, Texas-based refiner said it would spend around $500
million to USD530 million on its renewables business next year, compared with
USD130 million to USD145 million in 2020.
The coronavirus pandemic has
decreased demand for traditional fuels like gasoline and diesel and in some
instances has accelerated refiners’ plans to increase investments in renewable
fuels. HollyFrontier was one of a handful of refiners earlier this year to
announce a move toward renewable diesel, made from feedstock such as used
cooking oil from fast-food restaurants.
With renewable diesel, refiners
can take advantage of incentive programs, in particular California’s Low Carbon
Fuel Standard, in which refiners can generate tradable credits with production
of lower carbon-intensive fuels. Refiners can sell the credits to other fuel
producers for profit.
Meanwhile, Democratic President-elect Joe Biden has
pledged to move the United States to a zero-carbon emissions scheme by 2050, and
legislation supporting demand for products like renewable diesel could garner
bipartisan support.
Earlier this year, HollyFrontier converted a
52,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Cheyenne into a renewable diesel plant and
said it plans to spend about USD650 million to USD750 million over the next 18
months to expand its renewables portfolio.
Ethylene and propylene are
feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report,
Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,760,950 tonnes in the first ten
months of 2020, up by 3% year on year. Only high density polyethylene (HDPE) and
linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments increased. At the same time,
PP shipments to the Russian market reached 978,870 tonnes in
January-October 2020 (calculated using the formula: production minus exports
plus imports minus producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of
exclusively of PP random copolymer increased. |
