ExxonMobil announces emission reduction plans, expects to meet 2020 goals

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil said it plans further reductions in greenhouse gas emissions over the next five years to support the goals of the Paris Agreement and anticipates meeting year-end 2020 reductions, said the company.

ExxonMobil plans to reduce the intensity of operated upstream greenhouse gas emissions by 15% to 20% by 2025, compared to 2016 levels. This will be supported by a 40% to 50% decrease in methane intensity, and a 35% to 45% decrease in flaring intensity across its global operations. The emission reduction plans, which cover Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions from operated assets, are projected to be consistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement. The company also plans to align with the World Bank’s initiative to eliminate routine flaring by 2030.

“These meaningful near-term emission reductions result from our ongoing business planning process as we work towards industry-leading greenhouse gas performance across all our business lines,” said Darren Woods, chairman and chief executive officer of Exxon Mobil Corporation. “We respect and support society’s ambition to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, and continue to advocate for policies that promote cost-effective, market-based solutions to address the risks of climate change.”

ExxonMobil’s plans will leverage the continued application of operational efficiencies, and ongoing development and deployment of lower-emission technologies.

The plan is the result of several months of detailed analysis and includes input from shareholders.

Since 2000, the company has invested more than USD10 billion researching, developing and deploying lower-emission technologies, including nearly USD3 billion at cogeneration facilities that more efficiently produce electricity and reduce related emissions.

In 2018, ExxonMobil announced plans to achieve by year-end 2020, a 15% decrease in methane emissions and a 25% reduction in flaring, compared with 2016 levels. The company anticipates meeting both by year end. Detailed emissions performance is reported in annual publications, including the Energy and Carbon Summary.

The company has supported the Paris Agreement from its inception and continues to support US government participation in the framework. ExxonMobil assesses its business strategy and plans against a range of scenarios, including those that meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement, which assume progress in technologies, infrastructure and government policies related to climate change.

The company supported the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative’s announcement to reduce methane and carbon intensity for upstream operations. It also deployed new technologies throughout its operations to reduce flaring and methane emissions, while working to test new technologies to detect and measure fugitive emissions. ExxonMobil publicly supports the regulation of methane from new and existing sources and issued a methane regulatory framework for governments to consider as they draft new policies.

As MRC reported earlier, ExxonMobil underttook a planned shutdown at its cracker in Singapore. The company halted operations at the cracker for maintenance on September 14, 2020. The cracker was 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 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.

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Ineos Automotive has acquired the manufacturing facility at Hambach from Mercedes-Benz and will start to build its Grenadier 4x4 there in late 2021, said the company.

The acquisition secures the future of the site and safeguards many jobs that might otherwise have been lost. Hambach is the ideal facility for production of the Grenadier.

One of Europe’s most modern automotive manufacturing sites, it is home to a highly experienced and capable workforce, has an excellent track record amongst Mercedes plants for the quality of its output, and recently benefited from a major investment to enable the production of larger vehicles. Additionally the site’s location on the German-French border, only 200km from Stuttgart, gives excellent access to supply chains, automotive talent and target markets. Manufacturing at Hambach ensures that INEOS remains on track to meet its plans to deliver the Grenadier to customers in early 2022.

Under the terms of the acquisition, Mercedes-Benz will contract INEOS to continue to produce the smart EQ fortwo and some Mercedes-Benz components at Hambach. When combined with INEOS's plans for the Grenadier, this translates into some 1,300 jobs at Hambach, including commitments to onsite suppliers.

Dirk Heilmann, Chief Executive Officer of INEOS Automotive, commented: "This acquisition marks our biggest milestone yet in the development of the Grenadier. Alongside the exhaustive testing programme that our prototype vehicles are now undergoing, we can now begin preparations at Hambach to build our 4x4 from late next year for delivery to our customers around the globe."

As MRC informed earlier, Ineos Oxide, an Ineos subsidiary, has declared force majeure on propylene output from one of the two steam crackers at Dormagen. This declaration was not confirmed by Ineos. There are two steam crackers at Dormagen, one with a capacity of 670,000 metric tons/year and another with a capacity of 530,000 metric tons/year.

Propylene is the main feedstock for the production of polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, 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.

Ineos Group Limited is a privately owned multinational chemicals company consisting of 15 standalone business units, headquartered in Rolle, Switzerland and with its registered office in Lyndhurst, United Kingdom. It is the fourth largest chemicals company in the world measured by revenues (after BASF, Dow Chemical and LyondellBasell) and the largest privately owned company in the United Kingdom.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Air Liquide Engineering & Construction has signed an agreement with Doosan Heavy Industries to support the construction of a liquid hydrogen plant in Changwon, South Korea, accoring to Chemweek.

To be built within the grounds of Doosan’s site in the city, once complete, the plant will be able to produce five tonnes of liquid hydrogen per day to service hydrogen stations nationwide.

In a statement released today (14th Dec), Air Liquide said it will provide the engineering and procurement of the hydrogen liquefier.

David Maloney, Vice-President and Chairman of Air Liquide Engineering & Construction commented, “We are proud to partner with Dooosan and contribute to the development of the liquid hydrogen plant in South Korea to support the country’s transition to a low-carbon economy.”

“Drawing on our more than 50 years of experience in hydrogen, we provide our customers with state-of-the-art technologies and solutions that enable delivery of such important projects to contribute to the development of clean mobility and a more sustainable future.”

The first industrial hydrogen production is envisaged in early 2023.

As MRC informed earlier, in September 2020, Air Liquide finalised an agreement with Sasol to acquire the biggest oxygen production site in the world with a plan to reduce its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 30%. After the announcement on July 29, the international major industry gas company has now entered into a business purchase agreement with Sasol to acquire the oxygen production site in Secunda, South Africa.

We remind that Sasol's world-scale US ethane cracker with the capacity of 1.5 mln tonnes per year reached beneficial operation on 27 August 2019. Sasol's new cracker, the heart of LCCP, is the third and most significant of the seven LCCP facilities that came online and will provide feedstock to the company's six new derivative units at Sasol's Lake Charles multi-asset site.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing 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.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sempra Energy said on Wednesday it would buy the remaining stake in a Mexican unit in a deal valued at USD6.13 billion as it eyes new investments in renewables and energy storage amid growing global demand for cleaner fuels, said Reuters.

The company currently owns 66.43% of Infraestructura Energetica Nova SAB de CV (IEnova), according to Refinitiv Eikon data, and its all-share offer for the rest implies a 15.2% premium to the stock's closing price on the Mexican exchange.

The deal comes shortly after the Mexican government unveiled a second package of 29 infrastructure investments worth some 228 billion pesos (USD11.36 billion), aimed at lifting the nation's ailing economy.

The package included Costa Azul, a USD2 billion LNG export plant being built by a Sempra unit in the country's Baja California area. The proposed plant is one of the biggest privately funded energy projects in Mexico and is the only LNG export project to reach a final investment decision this year.

Oil and gas companies around the world have pushed back decisions on new LNG terminals this year after the coronavirus pandemic hammered energy demand and prices, ending a long run of rising LNG investments as Asian countries tried to meet their rising energy demand and diversify fuel sources.

Sempra shares will trade on the Mexican stock exchange following the deal, and the company will combine IEnova with its North American liquefied natural gas export infrastructure unit Sempra LNG, it said. The company said the new unit, Sempra Infrastructure Partners, would focus on the development and construction of North American LNG export and natural gas infrastructure alongside renewable energy generation.

We remind that PetroChina has nearly doubled the amount of Russian crude being processed at its refinery in Dalian, the company's biggest, since January 2018, as a new supply agreement had come into effect. The Dalian Petrochemical Corp, located in the northeast port city of Dalian, was expected to process 13 million tonnes, or 260,000 bpd of Russian pipeline crude in 2018, up by about 85 to 90 percent from the previous year's level. Dalian has the capacity to process about 410,000 bpd of crude. The increase follows an agreement worked out between the Russian and Chinese governments under which Russia's top oil producer Rosneft was to supply 30 million tonnes of ESPO Blend crude to PetroChina in 2018, or about 600,000 bpd. That would have represented an increase of 50 percent over 2017 volumes.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing 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.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- US oil refiner Phillips 66 on Monday set its 2021 capital budget at USD1.7 billion, around 43% lower than forecast for the previous year, as the energy industry struggles to recover from the blow of the COVID-19 pandemic, reported Reuters.

The coronavirus crisis and resulting lockdowns upended global travel and fuel demand, creating a supply glut that pushed US crude oil prices briefly into negative territory in April.

West Texas Intermediate crude futures have recovered much of those losses on the back of COVID-19 vaccine progress, although they have shed about 23% of their value so far this year.

Phillips 66 Chief Executive Officer Greg Garland on Monday warned that market conditions remain challenging, even as smaller rival HollyFrontier Corp last month outlined plans to double its spending next year, counting on an expected recovery in fuel demand.

Garland said the company's focus will be on cutting expenditures and for 2021, it will prioritize completion of projects in progress and renewable fuels, which have seen a demand surge this year.

Phillips 66 said its 2021 budget includes capital expenditures of USD776 million on the refining segment and USD610 million on midstream.

As MRC wrote before, in October 2020, US refiner Phillips 66 said it plans to reconfigure its refinery in Rodeo, California to produce renewable fuels from used cooking oil, fats, greases and soybean oils.

We remind that US-based Phillips 66 remains open to developing another ethane cracker for its Chevron Phillips Chemical (CP Chem) joint venture, the refiner's CEO said in March 2018.

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.
MRC