MOSCOW (MRC) -- Based on data in EIA’s Monthly Energy Review, energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions dropped by 11% in the United States in 2020 primarily because of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.
US energy-related CO2 emissions fell in every end-use sector for the first time since 2012.
Within the US power sector, emissions from coal declined the most, at 19%. Natural gas-related CO2 rose by 3%. In 2020, as fossil fuel generation declined, generation from renewables continued to grow. Generation from wind and solar together increased by 17% in 2020.
This shift in the United States toward renewable generation sources helped to lower the carbon emissions per unit of electricity generated, also known as carbon intensity. In the country's end-use sector CO2 emissions series, emissions from the power sector are distributed to each sector based on the sector’s share of total electricity consumption.
Thus, industrial: Energy-related CO2 emissions fell by 8% in the industrial sector in 2020. Most of this decline came from a slowing of manufacturing operations because of responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Emissions from coal fell by 15%, from electricity by 15%, from petroleum by 8%, and from natural gas by 2%.
As MRC reported earlier, Russian oil producers reduced gas flaring only slightly last year and failed to reach a targeted level by a large margin, hampered by a lack of necessary infrastructure at new oilfields, a draft government document showed.
We remind that COVID-19 outbreak has led to an unprecedented decline in demand affecting all sections of the Russian economy, which has impacted the demand for petrochemicals in the short-term. However, the pandemic triggered an increase in the demand for polymers in food packaging, and cleaning and hygiene products, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company. With Russian petrochemical companies having the advantage of access to low-cost feedstock, and proximity to demand-rich Asian (primarily China) and European markets for the supply of petrochemical products, these companies appear to be well-positioned to derive full benefits from an improving market environment and global economy post-COVID-19, says GlobalData.
We remind that in December 2020, Sibur, Gazprom Neft, and Uzbekneftegaz agreed to cooperate on potential investments in Uzbekistan including a major expansion of Uzbekneftegaz’s existing Shurtan Gas Chemical Complex (SGCC) and the proposed construction of a new gas chemicals facility. The signed cooperation agreement for the projects includes “the creation of a gas chemical complex using methanol-to-olefins (MTO) technology, and the expansion of the production capacity of the Shurtan Gas Chemical Complex”.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 241,030 tonnes in January 2021 versus 217,890 tonnes a year earlier. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 141,870 tonnes in January 2021 versus 123,520 tonnes a year earlier. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.
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