MOSCOW (MRC) -- U.S. climate envoy John Kerry will headline the second day of the world's largest oil and gas conference, along with Big Oil executives trying to make the case for their importance even as panelists at CERAWeek focus on how the industry will aim to reduce carbon emissions, said Reuters.
The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the transition to renewable fuels and electrification of key elements of energy use. Global majors have been playing catch-up, responding to demands from investors to reduce production of fuels that contribute to global warming.
Kerry will try to address how the United States will reclaim its position as a global leader on climate change. President Joseph Biden, who appointed Kerry, is bringing the nation back into the Paris Climate Agreement which is aimed at reducing emissions.
Biden, in his first weeks as president, cancelled a presidential permit that would have allowed the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada, and is taking steps to limit new oil and gas development.
Some oil industry executives have criticised those moves, and several will also speak on Tuesday, including the CEOs of U.S. majors Exxon Mobil and Chevron Corp. CERAWeek was canceled last year due to the coronavirus pandemic which stopped billions of people from traveling and wiped out one-fifth of worldwide demand for fuel.
As MRC wrote before, ExxonMobil's recent operational shutdowns include polyethylene (PE) facilities amid power outages prompted by the deep freeze that has enveloped the US Gulf Coast. "This event has caused widespread power outages across Texas and Louisiana" Feb. 15," the letter, dated Feb. 16, said. "As a consequence, several ExxonMobil Chemical operations have experienced loss of power and other key utilities, impacting our ability to resume full operations." ExxonMobil operates three PE units in Mont Belvieu, Texas, with combined capacity of 880,000 mt/year, according to S&P Global Platts Analytics.
Exxon is among many petrochemical producers that shut Feb. 14 and subsequent days because of sustained extreme sub-freezing temperatures in the region. ExxonMobil previously confirmed Feb. 16 that the company had shut all refining and chemical operations at its Baytown and Beaumont, Texas, complexes. Ethylene produced at Baytown feeds the Mont Belvieu PE operations.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,220,640 tonnes in 2020, up by 2% year on year. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) 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.
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