Chevron and Noble Midstream Partners LP complete merger transaction

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chevron Corp. and Noble Midstream Partners LP have announced that the companies have completed the previously announced acquisition, which resulted in Noble Midstream becoming an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of Chevron, said Hydrocarbonengineering.

Noble Midstream’s common units will no longer be listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, and it will cease to be a publicly traded company.

"We are pleased to fully integrate Noble Midstream’s people, operations, and unitholders into Chevron,” said Colin Parfitt, Vice President of Chevron Midstream. “By combining our businesses, the acquisition streamlines governance and strengthens our leading positions in the DJ and Permian basins."

As MRC informed earlier, Chevron Phillips Chemical (CP Chem) halted production at its cracker in Sweeny (Old Ocean, TX, USA) on February 15 due to cold weather. Extreme cold and instability of power supply and fuel gas supply systems led to shutdowns of existing cracking units No. 22, 24 and 33 and the production of polyethylene (PE). The company's total ethylene production capacity in Sweeney is 1.975 million tonnes per year of ethylene, 165 thousand tonnes of propylene, 500 thousand tonnes of HDPE and 500 thousand tonnes of LDL.

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.

Honeywell UOP is a leading international supplier and licensor of process technology, catalysts, adsorbents, equipment, and consulting services to the petroleum refining, petrochemical, and gas processing industries. Honeywell UOP is part of Honeywell’s Performance Materials and Technologies strategic business group, which also includes Honeywell Process Solutions, a pioneer in automation control, instrumentation and services for the oil and gas, refining, petrochemical, chemical and other industries.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Valero Energy chartered an oil products' tanker for storage in the US Gulf Coast on Friday amid a cyber attack that shut the Colonial pipeline, the biggest US fuel pipeline, reported Reuters with reference to two sources familiar with the matter.

The tanker, called the Nave Titan, is currently in the Mississippi River in southern Louisiana, according to Refinitiv Eikon shipping data. Nave Titan can hold up to 330,000 barrels of oil, according to the tanker data.

Other Gulf Coast refiners were looking to book tankers for storage this weekend as the outage affected shipments of refined products to the East Coast, according to the sources.

Valero did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

As MRC informed earlier, 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) -- US refiner Marathon Petroleum Corp has reported a smaller-than-expected first quarter loss helped by a jump in refining margin and COVID-19 vaccine rollouts, which drove a rebound in fuel demand, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The mass public vaccinations and easing travel restrictions over the last few months have helped fuel demand tick up from the record lows hit last year, lifting the outlook for refiners.

Marathon, which generated positive adjusted core earnings in its refining and marketing business for the first time since the pandemic began, saw its refining and marketing margins grow over 66% to USD10.16 per barrel from the previous quarter.

Rivals Phillips 66 and Valero Energy also saw their refining margins surge sequentially in the first quarter. However, Hennigan added that the industry continued to struggle with effects of the pandemic in the reported quarter.

The company's crude capacity utilization stood at 83% while total throughput or the amount of crude it processed in the quarter was 2.6 million barrels per day (bpd), up from 2.5 million bpd.

Marathon sees throughput of 2.68 million bpd in the second quarter.

As MRC reported earlier, most units were shut on Sunday night and Monday morning (15-16 February) at Marathon Petroleum Corp's 585,000 barrel-per-day Galveston Bay Refinery in Texas City, Texas, as temperatures plunged due to a Arctic cold front reaching the Gulf Coast. They resumed operations in the first half of March.

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) -- BP has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with materials major CEMEX to decarbonise the concrete industry, said the company.

BP is partnering with Cemex to reduce carbon emissions from the cement industry, one of the hardest sectors to decarbonize globally.

The British oil major on Thursday said it signed a memorandum of understanding with the Mexico-based cement giant to develop solutions to decarbonize the cement production process and transportation. Potential solutions include using low-carbon power and transport, improving cement production’s energy efficiency and using carbon offset and carbon capture and storage to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“We're proud to collaborate with a global company that shares our goal to transition to a more sustainable future,” Angelica Ruiz, BP's senior vice president for Latin America said in a statement. “Our collaboration with Cemex is another step towards our ambition to be a net-zero company by 2050 or sooner and help the world to get to net-zero."

Oil companies are under increasing pressure to lower harmful greenhouse gas emissions not only from their own operations, but from other fossil-fuel intensive industries such as cement manufacturing, commercial aviation and maritime transportation. Cement manufacturing is one of the world’s largest producers of carbon dioxide, emitting the greenhouse gas both from the burning of fossil fuels and as a byproduct of the production process.

Other oil majors have partnered with their clients to tackle the global problem of climate change. Chevron last month said it signed a memorandum of understanding with Toyota North America, headquartered in Plano, to develop hydrogen fuel stations and storage facilities to expand the market for hydrogen vehicles.

Cemex, whose North American headquarters is in Houston, said it expected the world will continue to rely on concrete even as societies shift toward a low-carbon future. Concrete is the primary building material for residential and commercial construction and highways and roads.

As per MRC, Rosneft, the largest state oil company in the Russian Federation, was the first Russian oil company to decide to develop its hydrogen business. British BP will act as a partner. Together they will study the prospects for new projects using renewable energy sources (RES), as well as the use of technologies for capturing, utilizing and storing CO2. Earlier in Russia, Gazprom and Novatek spoke about their intention to create a hydrogen business and new technologies for the disposal of harmful emissions.

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.

BP plc (until May 2001 - British Petroleum) is a British oil and gas company, the second largest publicly traded oil and gas company in the world.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL) will use Honeywell UOP technology to produce cleaner-burning diesel fuel in compliance with India’s BS-VI emission standards and increase crude oil conversion, said Hydrocarbonengineering.

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 tpy to 9.0 million tpy 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.”

UOP Unionfining technology provides flexible solutions to gas oil conversion for ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel and kerosene production. UOP has licensed more than 370 Unionfining units globally.

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.

NRL, one of the four refineries in oil- and gas-rich Assam, was set up at Numaligarh in Golaghat district of Assam in accordance with the provisions made in the historic Assam Accord signed on 15 August 1985. It was created as a vehicle for speedy industrial and economic development of the region.

As per MRC, Honeywell announced that Lotte GS Chemical Corp. will use Honeywell UOP Q-Max, Phenol 3G, and Evonik MSHP technologies to produce more than 565,000 metric tons per year of phenol and acetone at its petrochemicals facility in Yeosu, Korea. UOP is providing a license for the technology, in addition to basic engineering design services, key equipment, catalysts and adsorbents and technical services.

Along with phenol, acetone is largely used to produce bisphenol A (BPA), which, in its turn, is used in the production of plastics such as polycarbonate (PC) and 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).
MRC