BP to shut oil refinery in Australia this month

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BP plc has stopped importing oil for its refinery in Western Australia, the country’s largest, and is on track to decommission the plant by the end of March, reported Reuters with reference to a spokesman's statement.

BP announced last October it would shut the loss-making Kwinana plant, capable of processing 146,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil, and turn it into a fuel import terminal. It said at the time operations would wind down over six months.

“Crude imports have stopped, and all processing at the plant is in the shutdown phase which will be completed by the end of March 2021,” a BP spokesman said in an emailed comment.

The Kwinana refinery is the first of Australia’s remaining four refineries set to shut, despite offers of incentives from the government to keep refineries open for national security.

ExxonMobil Corp said in February, as MRC reported earlier, that it also plans to shut its 90,000-bpd Altona refinery, the country’s smallest plant.

Ampol Ltd, Australia’s top fuel supplier, is considering the future of its Lytton refinery in Queensland.

Viva Energy is the only company that has accepted short-term payments from the federal government to keep its Geelong refinery open and said it hopes the plant will stay open with the help of long-term incentives now under negotiation.

We remind that in early February, 2021, Rosneft Oil Company and BP signed a Strategic Collaboration Agreement focused on supporting carbon management and sustainability activities of both companies. The agreement builds on years of partnership between the two companies and formalises key elements of their collaboration on sustainability and work to identify carbon reduction activities and low carbon opportunities.

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

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. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market reached 1 240,000 tonnes in 2020 (calculated using the formula: production, minus exports, plus imports, excluding producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively PP random copolymer increased.

BP is one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, serving millions of customers every day in around 80 countries, and employing around 85,000 people. BP’s business segments are Upstream (oil and gas exploration & production), and Downstream (refining & marketing). Through these activities, BP provides fuel for transportation; energy for heat and light; services for motorists; and petrochemicals products for plastics, textiles and food packaging. It has strong positions in many of the world's hydrocarbon basins and strong market positions in key economies.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Specialty chemicals company Lanxess has announced a price increase for engineering plastics in the EAME region with immediate effect or as contracts allow due to rising raw material, logistics, and energy costs, reported Chemweek.

The nominated rise in prices “is unavoidable as the costs for raw materials, logistics, and energy have once again raised significantly and - for the most part - exceed the levels that existed prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic,” it says.

Prices for its Durethan brands of unreinforced nylon-6,6 and nylon-6 will rise by EUR0.80/kilogram (USD0.95/kg) and EUR0.50/kg, respectively, while its reinforced nylon-6,6 and nylon-6 products prices are nominated to increase by EUR0.70/kg and EUR0.40/kg, respectively. Unreinforced and reinforced polybutylene terephthalate and blends will rise by EUR0.80/kg and EUR0.70/kg, it says.

The announced increases are in addition to price adjustments announced in December 2020, and higher adjustments may be necessary for individual materials, it adds.

As MRC informed earlier, Lanxess is also raising its prices for 1,6-hexanediol (HDO) globally with immediate effect. The increase amounts for EUR 800 per metric ton. HDO is an important precursor for high performance coatings, fibers, adhesives, polyurethanes, polycarbonate (PC) diols, and as reactive diluent for epoxy resins.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall consumption of PC granules (excluding exports from Belarus) totalled 8,100 tonnes in January 2021, up by 20% year on year (6,800 tonnes a year earlier).

Lanxess is a leading specialty chemicals concern, which employs approximately 15,400 people in 33 countries. Currently, the concern includes 60 manufacturing enterprises. Lanxess core business is the development, production and marketing of chemical intermediates, additives, specialty chemicals and plastics. The concern is included in the lists of the world's leading sustainability indices: the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI World and Europe) and FTSE4Good.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Epsilyte (The Woodlands, Texas) has announced a further rise in its prices for all grades of expandable polystyrene (EPS), citing increased cost volatility and current global EPS market supply dynamics, according to Chemweek.

The price of its EPS grades will increase by 7 cents/pound (cts/lb), effective 15 March 2021 or as contracts permit, it says.

The company raised its EPS prices by an additional 12 cts/lb on 1 March due to continued increases in feedstock costs, on top of a previously planned increase for 1 March of 5 cts/lb.

It also implemented price rises in January and February this year citing similar reasons.

EPS is a rigid form of polystyrene (PS) used in insulation foams for the construction industry as well as for packaging.

According to ICIS-MRC Price report, under the pressure of a major increase in monomer prices in foreign markets, Plastik, Uzlovaya raised its EPS prices by Rb15,000/tonne this month. Prices of Plastik, Uzlovaya's EPS reached record highs and were in the range of Rb141,000-143,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT. Prices of SIBUR-Khimprom's EPS will also increase. The plant's March prices still remained at the negotiation stage, the producer plans to announce them to market participants this week.

Epsilyte is owned by private equity firm Balmoral Funds (Los Angeles, California).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The largest US refinery, Motiva Enterprises’ 607,000 barrel-per-day Port Arthur, Texas, plant, returned to normal operations, reported Reuters with reference to sources familiar with plant operations.

The refinery was shut on Feb. 15 when freezing temperatures, rarely seen on the US Gulf Coast, knocked out steam supply.

Motiva began restarting the refinery on Feb. 24.

Motiva did not reply to a request for comment.

As MRC informed earlier, Motiva Chemicals has also resumed operations at its mixed-feed cracker in Port Arthur, USA. The process of restart of this cracker with the capacity of 635,000 mt/year of ethylene and 340,000 mt/year of propylene began on 27 February, 2021, and was expected to finish late last week. The cracker wa shut along with the refinery at the same site on 14 February, 2021, because of the deep freeze.

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

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. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market reached 1 240,000 tonnes in 2020 (calculated using the formula: production, minus exports, plus imports, excluding producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively PP random copolymer increased.

Motiva Enterprises, LLC, is a fully owned affiliate of Saudi Refining Inc. and headquartered in Houston, Texas, United States with revenue of USD24 billion. Previously, it was a 50–50 joint venture between Shell Oil Company (the wholly owned American subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell) and Saudi Refining Inc. (controlled by Saudi Aramco).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PQ Group reported a fourth-quarter net loss of USD216.7 million, compared with a net profit of USD27.2 million in the year-ago quarter, mainly due to goodwill impairment and tax charges, said Chemweek.

Adjusted net income totaled USD82.5 million, or 61 cents/share, easily beating analysts’ consensus estimate of 11 cents/share, as reported by Refinitiv (New York, New York). Sales were down 0.7% year-on-year (YOY), to USD281.5 million.

Refining services segment sales declined 2.3% YOY, to USD103.2 million, while segment adjusted EBITDA was down 2.9%, to USD40.7 million. Lower refinery run rates drove the declines, although North American gasoline demand partly recovered in the second half of 2020 and was about 10% below 2019 levels by the end of the year, PQ says.

Catalysts segment sales fell 10.3% YOY, to USD20.9 million, while Zeolyst joint venture sales fell 38.9%, to USD28.9 million. Segment adjusted EBITDA was down 47.9% YOY, to USD14.8 million. Demand growth was positive for polyolefin catalysts, but this was offset by lower methyl methacrylate sales.

Performance chemicals segment sales were up 1.8% YOY, to USD158.2 million, while segment adjusted EBITDA increased 7.6%, to USD35.5 million. PQ announced a USD1.1-billion deal to sell its performance chemicals business, which produces sodium silicates and related products, to a partnership established by Koch Minerals and Trading and private equity firm Cerberus Capital, on 1 March.

The sale of performance chemicals positions PQ as a catalysts and refining services company. “As the economy begins to turn the corner, we are now positioning to be a high growth pure-play catalyst and services company that enables customer transitions to cleaner fuels and a circular economy for plastics,” says PQ Group chairman and CEO Belgacem Chariag.

As per MRC, PQ Group Holdings Inc., a leading, global provider of specialty catalysts, materials, chemicals and services, announced an agreement with INEOS Polyolefin Catalysts to commercialize certain polyethylene catalysts to customers of selected processes.

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

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. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market reached 1 240,000 tonnes in 2020 (calculated using the formula: production, minus exports, plus imports, excluding producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively PP random copolymer increased.
MRC