Crude oil futures down as Colonial Pipeline resumes operations after cyberattack

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- U.S. crude oil production is expected to fall by 290,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2021 to 11.02 million bpd, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said, a steeper decline than its previous forecast for a drop of 270,000 bpd, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

U.S. oil producers have been gradually increasing drilling activity as oil prices have rebounded but output growth has been muted as investors pressure companies to rein in spending and focus on returns. In 2022, output is expected to rise by 820,000 bpd to 11.84 million bpd, unchanged from the EIA's estimate last month.

"Because the average price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil remains above USD55 per barrel in our forecast, we expect producers will drill and complete enough wells in the coming months to offset declines at existing wells," the agency said in a monthly forecast.

The EIA said it expects U.S. petroleum and other liquid fuel consumption to rise 1.39 million bpd to 19.51 million bpd in 2021, compared with a previous forecast for a rise of 1.32 million bpd. The agency expects that gasoline consumption in the United States will average almost 9 million bpd this summer, between April and September, which is 1.2 million bpd more than last summer but almost 600,000 bpd less than summer of 2019.

For 2022, U.S. consumption is forecast to rise 1.02 million bpd to 20.53 million bpd, higher than its previous estimate for an increase of 980,000 bpd.

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) -- Technip Energies has signed its first catalyst supply agreement with LanzaJet Inc. (LanzaJet), a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) producer, for its proprietary Hummingbird ethanol-to-ethylene catalyst, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.

LanzaJet’s SAF delivers more than 70% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions on a lifecycle basis, compared to conventional fossil jet fuel. The catalyst will be used in LanzaJet’s first commercial demonstration scale integrated biorefinery at its Freedom Pines Fuels site in Soperton, Georgia, USA.

Technip Energies was awarded its first commercial License for the Hummingbird Ethanol-to-Ethylene technology by LanzaTech in 2019, founder and investor in LanzaJet.

Hummingbird is a second generation, low-cost process for dehydrating ethanol to produce ethylene. It gives ethylene derivative producers an option to produce ‘niche’ renewable products from sustainable bioethanol sources. A key feature of Hummingbird is its proprietary catalyst operating at a lower temperature, higher pressure and producing a polymer grade ethylene with over 99% selectivity.

As MRC informed before, Technip Energies has also provided the proprietary technology and process design for Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Chemical Co. Ltd.’s (Hengli) mega 1,500 kta(1) liquid ethylene plant in Dalian, Liaoning Province, China. The plant successfully started up at the beginning of 2020 to reach its capacity shortly after the start-up, and despite COVID-19 context, passed all performance guarantees and the final acceptance test in the fourth quarter.

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