US bill aims to eliminate corn ethanol volume mandate

US bill aims to eliminate corn ethanol volume mandate

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A bipartisan group of US senators introduced legislation that would eliminate a national mandate requiring oil refiners to blend corn-based ethanol into their fuel mix - a proposal that would slam corn growers and is likely to face vehement opposition from the farm lobby, reported Reuters.

Republican Senator Pat Toomey from Pennsylvania and Democratic Senator Bob Menendez from New Jersey, part of the group introducing the bill, represent states with oil refineries that claim the mandates are expensive and threaten refinery jobs.

Lawmakers from both states have been pushing the Biden administration to relieve refineries of their obligations under the US/ Renewable Fuel Standard, which was enacted to expand the market for US renewable fuels and boost energy independence.

Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein from California and Republican Senator Susan Collins from Maine joined Toomey and Menendez in introducing the bill. They say that other biofuels have lower greenhouse gas emissions, though ethanol proponents argue the product is a good option to help fight climate change now.

The senators claim the bill would help reduce carbon emissions from transportation fuels by removing volume requirements for corn ethanol, while leaving in place obligations for other biofuels and biodiesel.

Under the RFS, refiners must blend some 15 billion gallons of ethanol into their fuel each year - a huge boost to the corn industry - along with billions of gallons of other types of biofuels.

As MRC informed before, earlier this month, Royal Dutch Shell agreed to sell its stake in eastern German refinery PCK Schwedt, the latest in a string of refinery disposals as part of the Anglo-Dutch company's energy transition strategy. Shell said in a statement that it will sell its 37.5% share in the refinery for an undisclosed sum to Vienna-based Alcmene GmbH, part of the Liwathon Group, an integrated logistics and investment business headquartered in Estonia. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2021, pending approval by cartel authorities and its partners, Russia's Rosneft and Italy's Eni.

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 953,400 tonnes in the first five months of 2021, which virtually corresponded to the same figure a year earlier. High denisty polyethylene (HDPE) shipments decreased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 607,8900 tonnes in January-May 2021, up by 33% year on year. Shipments of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whereas deliveries of PP random copolymers decreased.
MRC

SK Innovation sees refining margins to gradually improve in Q2 on stronger demand

SK Innovation sees refining margins to gradually improve in Q2 on stronger demand

MOSCOW (MRC) -- SK Innovation Co Ltd, the owner of South Korea's top refiner SK Energy, said refining margins were likely to gradually improve in the second quarter due to recovering demand as the impact of COVID-19 eases, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The company posted an operating profit of 503 billion won (USD444.88 million) in the January-March quarter, compared with an operating loss of 1.8 trillion won in the same period a year earlier.

Revenue declined 16% to 9.2 trillion won from a year earlier. That compares with the 9.9 trillion won forecast of analysts in the Refinitiv SmartEstimate. "Despite the resurgence of COVID-19 in some regions and countries, as vaccinations in the United States and Europe continue, expectations about demand recovery are growing," Lee Dong-yeol, the head of SK Energy's corporate planning office, said in a earnings conference call.

Lee added that refining margins, especially for gasoline, are expected to improve backed by the start of the US driving season in May, while refining margins of jet fuel and diesel are expected to recover in the second half of the year when the United States is set to achieve a 50% vaccination rate.

SK Innovation, which has a total refining capacity of 1.115 million barrels per day (bpd) at plants in Ulsan and Incheon, said it operated at 63% of capacity on average in the first quarter, down from 89% during the same period a year earlier.

As MRC reported earlier, SK Advanced managed to produce on-specification polypropylene (PP) at its new plant in Ulsan, South Korea in the week ending 9 April, 2021. The construction works were nearly completed in late January 2021. The initial start-up date was 20 March, but the company delayed tha launch of the new plant by 3 days until 23 March, 2021. The PP unit is a joint venture between PolyMirae and SK Advanced, using the “Spheripol” process of LyondellBasell, and have an annual output of 400,000 tons/year. The unit is utilizing the propylene output from SK’s 600,000 tons/year propane dehydrogenation (PDH) unit at the same complex.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, PP shipments to the Russian market were 607,8900 tonnes in January-May 2021, up by 33% year on year. Shipments of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whereas deliveries of PP random copolymers decreased.
MRC

Haldor Topsoe, Yanchang to build methanol catalyst facility in China

Haldor Topsoe, Yanchang to build methanol catalyst facility in China

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Haldor Topsoe and Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum Group Co., Ltd. (Yanchang) formed a joint venture with the aim of delivering locally produced MK-151+ methanol synthesis catalysts to the Chinese market, said the company.

The joint venture will secure fast delivery to local customers, who demand high-performance catalysts for energy-efficient methanol production. Together, the two companies will build a production facility in Shaanxi Fupin in China to produce methanol synthesis catalysts.

Topsoe and Yanchang have designed the plant and ordered long lead time equipment and therefore plan on starting up beginning of 2022. The joint venture will produce methanol synthesis catalysts for the Chinese market.

"Yanchang is well-positioned in the oil and gas value chain and a very experienced methanol producer. With this joint venture we combine Topsoe’s world-leading methanol catalyst technology and Yanchang’s outstanding production capabilities to produce our high-performance methanol synthesis catalysts that Topsoe will sell directly to our Chinese customers, enhancing our presence in the Chinese market,” says Amy Hebert, Chief Commercial Officer at Topsoe.

Forming of the joint venture and building of the catalysts facility will be the first step of a long-term strategic cooperation between Topsoe and Yanchang. Kaijia Yu from Topsoe has been appointed General Manager of the joint venture.

As per MRC, Haldor Topsoe will build a 15,000-tpy hydroprocessing catalyst plant at the company’s existing Bayport production site in Pasadena, Harris County, Texas. The plant will increase production capacity of Topsoe’s TK catalyst family to meet increasing demand, both in traditional refining and for use with Topsoe’s HydroFlex technology for production of renewable diesel and jet fuel. The plant is expected to be fully operational in the first half of 2023.

In 2019, Nizhnekamskneftekhim (NKNKH, part of the TAIF Group) and Haldor Topsoe signed a memorandum of intent to implement a methanol production project.

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 953,400 tonnes in the first five months of 2021, which virtually corresponded to the same figure a year earlier. High density polyethylene (HDPE) shipments decreased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 607,8900 tonnes in January-May 2021, up by 33% year on year. Shipments of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whereas deliveries of PP random copolymers decreased.

MRC

United States lead global petroleum and natural gas production in 2020

United States lead global petroleum and natural gas production in 2020

MOSCOW (MRC) -- More petroleum and natural gas was produced in the United States than in any other country during 2020 (a trend that began in 2014), despite year-on-year declines from the record-high production in 2019, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

US petroleum and natural gas output in 2020 totaled 66.9 quadrillion British thermal units (quads), which was more than both Russia’s 45.5 quads and Saudi Arabia’s 26.5 quads of petroleum and natural gas production.

Petroleum and natural gas production fell in all three countries in 2020 following a rapid decline in demand during the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent crude oil price declines, particularly in the first quarter of 2020. Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed to reduce their crude oil production as part of an OPEC+ agreement, but in the United States, reduced production was largely the result of a price-induced fall in tight oil investments and, to a lesser extent, unplanned outages.

Petroleum production includes several types of liquid fuels, including crude oil and lease condensate, natural gas plant liquids (NGPL), and bitumen. US petroleum production decreased from 31.8 quads in 2019 to 30.4 quads in 2020. Crude oil and condensate accounted for the largest share of the decrease, at 1.9 quads. In contrast, NGPL production in 2020 grew by 0.4 quads, boosted by an increase in domestic ethane consumption and in ethane exports.

COVID-19-driven decreases in demand affected natural gas production far less. In Russia, natural gas production fell in response to milder-than-normal temperatures during the 2020–2021 winter and to increases in renewable electricity generation in the EU. Natural gas production in Russia fell by 2.1 quads, nearly equal to its decline of 2.3 quads in oil production.

As MRC wrote previously, US crude oil production is expected to fall by 290,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2021 to 11.02 million bpd, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in May, 2021, a steeper decline than its previous forecast for a drop of 270,000 bpd. US 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 in April.

We remind that in May, 2021, Marathon Petroleum Corp, the largest US refiner, said its board had approved the conversion of the Martinez refinery in California to a renewable diesel plant. Besides, the company made a final investment decision regarding this project. Martinez, once complete, will be one of the largest renewables facilities in the country.

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 953,400 tonnes in the first five months of 2021, which virtually corresponded to the same figure a year earlier. High denisty polyethylene (HDPE) shipments decreased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 607,8900 tonnes in January-May 2021, up by 33% year on year. Shipments of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whereas deliveries of PP random copolymers decreased.
MRC

LyondellBasell investigates cause of chemical leak at its site in La Porte

LyondellBasell investigates cause of chemical leak at its site in La Porte

MOSCOW (MRC) -- An All Clear alarm sounded Wednesday after last night's deadly chemical leak at the LyondellBasell facility in La Porte. Now that the situation is officially under control, the company says site personnel can investigate the cause of the leak, according to local media outlet KHOU-11.

Officials said the incident left two contractor workers dead and put six others, including five contractors and an employee, in the hospital with burns.

LyondellBasell said Wednesday at least 30 people were injured; a majority of them have been hospitalized after breathing in toxins.

Emergency crews responded to the facility around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at 1515 Miller Cut-Off Road. They said the leak happened in the acetyls unit of the plant.

The Harris County Fire Marshal's Office said there was a small chemical release that was contained just to the plant. They said the chemicals involved were used to make medical supplies and food-grade vinegar.

The Texas Commission of Environmental Quality described the chemical as a mixture of catalyst, acetic acid, methyl iodide, and hydrogen iodide. LyondellBasell said up to 100,000 pounds of acid was released during the incident.

La Porte Office of Emergency Management confirmed the leak was contained to the facility, and there is no threat to the surrounding public.

Harris County Pollution Control is at the scene conducting air monitoring. They said the leak has been isolated, and air monitoring at the facility perimeter indicates no offsite impact.

They also said there is no active shelter-in-place order. HCFMO determined there was no explosion nor fire, so the investigation has been turned over to Harris County Pct. 8 Constable.

LyondellBasell released the following statement Wednesday on the deadly incident: "The LyondellBasell La Porte Complex gave the ‘all clear’ for the incident involving its acetyls unit leak. Our response team acted quickly to isolate and contain the leak. Approximately 100,000 pounds of a mixture which includes acetic acid was released. Cleanup is continuing at this time. Air monitoring conducted during the incident did not indicate actionable levels and monitoring is ongoing. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Chemical Safety Board were all notified of the incident. A thorough investigation into the cause of the incident is underway, and we are cooperating fully with authorities."

The complex produces 544,000 tonnes/year of acetic acid and 385,000 tonnes/year of vinyl acetate monomer (VAM).

As MRC informed earlier, LyondellBassel's La Porte, Texas, cracker was heard to be offline again after a short-lived restart, reported S&P Global with reference to sources familiar with operations' statement on July 23. The cracker had been confirmed as back online July 20, but, according to one market source, it was shut again not long after.

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 953,400 tonnes in the first five months of 2021, which virtually corresponded to the same figure a year earlier. High density polyethylene (HDPE) shipments decreased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 607,8900 tonnes in January-May 2021, up by 33% year on year. Shipments of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whereas deliveries of PP random copolymers decreased.

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