Fuel shortages become more acute on sixth day of top US fuel pipeline shutdown

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Fuel shortages worsened in the southeastern United States on Wednesday, as the shutdown of the largest US fuel pipeline network entered its sixth day and gasoline stations ran out of supply in some cities, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

A ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline last week halted 2.5 million barrels per day of fuel shipments in the most disruptive cyberattack on US energy infrastructure. The pipeline stretches 5,500 miles (8,850 km) from US Gulf Coast oil refineries to consumers in Mid-Atlantic and Southeast states.

In Washington, D.C., top Biden administration officials met to discuss the incident and were considering ways to alleviate gasoline supply shortages, the White House said. Congressional committee members have asked that a White House interagency task force provide a formal briefing to discuss the federal response to the cyberattack.

Privately owned Colonial Pipeline manually opened portions of the line to release needed supplies in Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey and the Carolinas. It has accepted 2 million barrels of fuel to begin a restart that would "substantially" restore operations by week's end, the company said.

Gulf Coast refiners that rely on the Colonial Pipeline to move fuel to market have cut processing. Total SE trimmed gasoline production at its Port Arthur, Texas, refinery, and Citgo Petroleum pared back at its Lake Charles, Louisiana, plant.

Citgo said it was moving products from its Lake Charles refinery and "exploring alternate supply methods into other impacted markets." Marathon Petroleum, another large refiner, said it was "making adjustments" to its operations due to the pipeline shutdown.

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) -- Occidental Petroleum post-market after reporting a smaller than forecast adjusted Q1 loss and a lighter than expected decline in revenues, helped by higher crude oil prices and improved fuel demand, said the company.

Pre-tax income rose from the fourth quarter because of higher pricing in most of the segment's product lines, the company said. The rise was partially offset by the disruptions caused by winter storm Uri in February.

OxyChem had temporarily shut down production because of the polar storm. Uri also disrupted sales and caused prices to raise for the company's raw materials, mainly ethylene and power. OxyChem did not provide commentary on its year-on-year performance.

The segment's pre-tax income of USD251m exceed the company's guidance of USD225m.

As per MRC, OxyChem, a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum Corporation (OXY), a major international petrochemicals manufacturer, plans to resume caustic soda, chlorine production in Convent, Louisiana, USA on May 3. OxyChem in the United States is reopening its 350,000 tonnes of chlorine and 392,000 tonnes of caustic soda plant in Convention, Louisiana after a year of downtime. The plant was closed for commercial reasons in the second quarter of 2020. According to market sources, due to the increased supply of chlorine, it is being restarted.

Earlier it was noted that the March production of sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) amounted to 118 thousand tons (100% of the main substance) against 98.4 thousand tons a month earlier. In the first three months of the year, the total production of caustic soda amounted to 329.4 thousand tons, which is 0.7% less than the same indicator of the previous year.

OxyChem makes polyvinyl chloride (PVC), vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) and caustic soda. OxyChem is part of the US-based oil and gas producer Occidental Petroleum.
MRC

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