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MOSCOW (MRC) -- A chemical unit has
been shut down at ExxonMobil’s 233,000-barrels/day Gravenchon refinery and
petrochemical complex in Port Jerome, France, with intermittent flaring expected
as a result, reported Chemweek with
reference to the company's statement.
The unplanned shutdown of the
unspecified unit was expected to start around midday local time on Wednesday,
with teams onsite to limit the duration of the works and flaring, ExxonMobil
said in a public alert statement. No further information was
disclosed.
ExxonMobil also operates a steam cracker at Gravenchon, which
is scheduled for a maintenance turnaround between April and May this year. The
maintenance program was set originally to take place last year, according to IHS
Markit data. The cracker has the capacity to produce up to 400,000 metric
tons/year of ethylene and other products including up to 80,000 metric tons/year
of butadiene.
OPIS is an IHS Markit company.
As MRC informed
earlier, last year, Exxon Mobil Corp announced it will lay off about 1,900
employees in the United States as the COVID-19 pandemic batters energy demand
and prices.
We remind that ExxonMobil 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 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 DataScope report,
PE imports to Russia decreased in January-November 2020 by 17% year on year and
reached 569,900 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the
greatest reduction in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia
increased by 21% year on year to about 202,000 tonnes in the first eleven months
of 2020. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase
in imports.
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. |
