Motiva Enterprises shuts crude units at largest US refinery due to Colonial Pipeline shutdown

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The largest US refinery shut two crude distillation units because of the Colonial Pipeline outage, according to Reuters with reference to people familiar with the matter.

Motiva Enterprises LLC's 607,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas, refinery shut the 195,000-bpd VPS-4 CDU and the 80,000-bpd VPS-2 CDU along with the 49,000-bpd reformer and 19,200-bpd lube oil hydrocracker, the people said.

Temporary idling production on the two CDUs reduces production at Motiva's refinery by 45%. Motiva's refinery has three CDUs. The largest of the three, the 325,000-bpd VPS-5, remained in operation on Monday, the sources said. CDUs break down crude oil into the feedstocks for all other units in the refinery.

Motiva declined to discuss the status of individual units at the Port Arthur refinery.

As MRC reported previously, in early March, 2021, Motiva Chemicals was resuming 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 is expected to finish in the first week of March 2021. 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 the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 576,270 tonnes in the first three month of 2021, up by 4% year on year. Low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 410,890 tonnes in January-March 2021, up by 56% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.
MRC

1. Sadara first quarter profit surges on chemical prices increase

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sadara Basic Service’s first-quarter profit jumped year on year on the back of firmer pricing and debt re-profiling, the Saudi-based joint venture producer said. Sadara Chemical Company (Sadara) announced its first quarter financial performance for 2021, stating that the company’s revenues reached more than SR4.4 billion — 30.5% higher compared to the previous quarter in 2020 and an increase of more than 80% compared to the same quarter last year. For the first time in its history, Sadara’s net profits after Zakat & Tax in this first quarter exceeded SR1.6 billion compared to net losses of more than SR1.27 billion and SR24 million in the same quarter of 2020 and last quarter, respectively.


MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Oil futures prices fell in midmorning London trading May 13 on news that the key Colonial Pipeline in the US has restarted operations following a cyberattack on May 7, reported S&P Global.

At 11:04 am London time (1004 GMT), the ICE July Brent contract was down USD1.74/b (2.5%) from the May 12 settle at USD69.32/b while the NYMEX June light sweet crude contract was down USD1.79/b cents/b (2.7%) at USD66.10/b.

"Following this restart, it will take several days for the product delivery supply chain to return to normal," Colonial said in a statement. "Some markets served by Colonial Pipeline may experience, or continue to experience, intermittent service interruptions during the start-up period. Colonial will move as much gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel as is safely possible and will continue to do so until markets return to normal."

As MRC informed earlier, Colonial had halted all pipeline operations May 7 because of a ransomware attack. The halt restricted flows of gasoline and other refined products for much of the US South and East Coast, preventing the pipeline from delivering more than 100 million gallons/d of fuel and heating oil. The shutdown and subsequent market reaction raised gasoline prices above USD3/gallon - the highest level since 2014.

While Colonial's announcement was an "encouraging development," the pipeline will take several days to completely return, and "there is significant panic buying in the United States (even in locations not served by the pipeline) which exacerbates the impact of the shortfall," according to S&P Global Platts Analytics.

We remind that Marathon Petroleum, the largest US refiner, can meet its supply commitments for now but is working to find alternative ways to ship motor fuels to the eastern United States if the Colonial Pipeline shutdown is extended.

Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 576,270 tonnes in the first three month of 2021, up by 4% year on year. Low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 410,890 tonnes in January-March 2021, up by 56% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- LyondellBasell, the world's largest polyolefins producer, has declared a force majeure (FM) on shipments of some polypropylene (PP) grades from its Ferrara plant in Italy as of May 3, according to NCT with reference to a source familiar with the issue.

This plant is able to produce 285.000 tons/year of PP.

At the time of press, no details were shared regarding the reason or duration of the FM.

The company could not be reached for confirmation.

As MRC reported earlier, in the first week of December 2020, LyondellBasell (Rotterdam, the Netherlands) declared force majeure on PP supplies from France. The reason for the force majeure was not disclosed at the time of press.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 410,890 tonnes in January-March 2021, up by 56% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.

LyondellBasell is one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world. Driven by its 13,000 employees around the globe, LyondellBasell produces materials and products that are key to advancing solutions to modern challenges like enhancing food safety through lightweight and flexible packaging, protecting the purity of water supplies through stronger and more versatile pipes, and improving the safety, comfort and fuel efficiency of many of the cars and trucks on the road. LyondellBasell sells products into approximately 100 countries and is the world's largest licensor of polyolefin technologies.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Honeywell has announced Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL), a public sector undertaking under the Indian Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, will use UOP technology to produce cleaner-burning diesel fuel in compliance with India’s BS-VI emission standards and increase crude oil conversion, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The Numaligarh Refinery Expansion Project (NREP) will facilitate economic development in the north-eastern states of India by expanding the region’s crude processing capacity from the present 3.0 million metric tons per year (MMtpy) to 9.0 MMtpy in Numaligarh, located in the Indian state of Assam.

The UOP Distillate Unionfining process will enable NRL to produce diesel that complies with India’s BS-VI emission standards, which were implemented last year. The process removes impurities to improve the quality of middle distillate feedstocks that meet increasingly stringent regulations for fuels such as diesel.

“This project with Numaligarh marks the first-ever UOP licensed process unit in an NRL refinery, and it’s the first grassroots diesel hydrotreating unit in India using a latest-generation UOP catalyst,” said Mike Banach, Managing Director, UOP India. “The Unionfining technology will help NRL increase crude processing capacity and comply with ever-stricter standards for diesel production.”

The NREP expansion is part of the Government of India’s Hydrocarbon Vision 2030 for the northeast Indian states. It also is integrated with a new crude oil pipeline from Paradip in Odisha to Numaligarh in Assam, and a product pipeline from Numaligarh to Siliguri in West Bengal where NRL has its own marketing terminal for product distribution.

As MRC reported earlier, in March 2021, Honeywell announced that Hengli Petrochemical Co. Ltd. successfully used Callidus burner technology from Honeywell UOP to minimize nitrogen oxide (NOx) and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions in China, and reduce the impact of these emissions while ensuring safe and stable operations.

Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 576,270 tonnes in the first three month of 2021, up by 4% year on year. Low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 410,890 tonnes in January-March 2021, up by 56% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.
MRC