Marathon Petroleum employees participate in unique fire exercise

Marathon Petroleum employees participate in unique fire exercise

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Marathon Petroleum Corp. (MPC) employees from the Catlettsburg refinery participated in a Trench Safety Stand Down exercise and demonstration with local officials from the Ashland Fire Department (AFD), Ashland-Boyd County-Catlettsburg Office of Emergency Management and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) at the AFD?Training Center in Ashland, Kentucky, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The event’s purpose was to help raise public awareness of trench safety and allow members of MPC’s Refinery Emergency Response Team and Ashland Fire Department to train in trench rescue.

The fire department hosted the event, which featured two trenches dug by the city of Ashland to allow the MPC Safety Department to present an exhibit on both safe and hazardous trenching practices.

“Working and training with our local emergency responders only makes us better, and our communities safer,” said Greg Gibson, Safety Supervisor, Catlettsburg refinery. “Especially during times of potential real emergency when we would need to be able to effectively communicate and align with our local agencies to ensure the best possible outcome.”

As MRC reported earlier, a portion of Marathon Petroleum Corp’s 363,000 barrel-per-day Carson refinery in California was shut following a fire in late February, 2020.

We remind that Marathon Petroleum shut down its catalytic cracking unit in Galveston Bay on 18 June, 2021, for a scheduled maintenance. Maintenance at the 250,000 tonnes of propylene per year cat cracking unit continued for 14 days.

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.

Marathon Petroleum was founded in 2005 as the oil transportation, refining and marketing division of Marathon Oil. In 2011, the division became completely independent from the parent company.
MRC

LyondellBasell restarting polymers, olefins units at La Porte plant

LyondellBasell restarting polymers, olefins units at La Porte plant

MOSCOW (MRC) -- LyondellBasell said it was restarting the polymers and olefins units at its La Porte, Texas, facility following an acetic acid leak last week that killed two people, reported Reuters.

Both units are located in other parts of the La Porte site, the company said in a statement.

The chemical leak at Lyondell's chemical plant in La Porte killed two workers and injured 30 others, marking one of the worst US petrochemical accidents since a 2019 Texas blast prompted the evacuation of thousands of people.

The company said that the investigation into the July 27 incident continues and it will take some time before a determination is made on the cause.

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

COVID-19 - News digest as of 03.08.2021

1. Italian Eni increases near-term crude oil price outlook as market recovery powers strong Q2 earnings

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Italy's Eni raised its near-term oil price outlook July 30 as the market rebound fueled strong second quarter earnings despite lower production volumes and negative refining margins, reported S&P Global. Eni said it is now assuming a near-term Brent price of USD65/b, up from USD60/b previously, to reflect a firming oil market scenario which helped its adjusted earnings more than treble from the previous quarter. Hydrocarbon production in the second quarter slipped 5% on the year to average 1.6 million boe/d due to higher maintenance activity in Norway, Italy and the UK, lower activity in Nigeria and mature fields declines. In the first half, start-ups and ramp-ups added 50,000 boe/d mainly due to the Merakes gas field in Indonesia, Berkine in Algeria, Agogo in Angola, and the Mahani gas project in the UAE's Sharjah Emirate.


MRC

Crude oil futures edge higher on bargain hunting following overnight slide

Crude oil futures edge higher on bargain hunting following overnight slide

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Crude oil futures ticked slightly higher during mid-morning trade in Asia Aug. 3 as investors sought to take advantage of lower prices following an overnight plunge, with a weaker US dollar providing further impetus to buy, reported S&P Global.

At 10:43 am Singapore time (0243 GMT), the ICE October Brent futures contract was up 9 cents/b (0.12%) from the previous close at USD72.98/b.

September light sweet crude contract was 13 cents/b (0.18%) higher at USD71.39/b.

The front-month ICE Brent and NYMEX light sweet crude markers had fallen 3.34% and 3.63% respectively on Aug. 2, as coronavirus fears tightened their grip on the market.

An increase in COVID-19 infections in several countries, driven by the highly transmissible delta variant, has brought back the specter of tighter and protracted lockdowns.

The market was rattled by outbreaks in the oil-consuming behemoth China, where millions of people have been placed under lockdown to curb rising infection numbers. Elsewhere, and especially in unvaccinated countries, the situation also looks grim.

"The short-term drivers are all negative: Brisbane's lockdown was extended, the CDC raised South Korea's travel advisory status one notch to Level 2, infections are spreading across China and the overall theme across much of Asia is for more restrictive measures," Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA said in a note.

However, some investors saw the overnight price fall as an opportunity to snap up crude oil contracts at a lower price, believing that oil demand can weather the pandemic storm. Analysts shared this belief, noting that at least for now, demand does seem to be holding up.

"The market should be comforted by data in other Asian countries that show rising cases haven't impacted demand," ANZ analysts said in an Aug. 3 note.

"Mobility data shows increased travel in India as it emerges from recent restrictions. Japan has also seen more traffic, despite rising cases and calls for Tokyo's state of emergency to be widened," they added.

Demand is also expected to have defied a rise in COVID-19 cases in the US, with analysts surveyed by S&P Global expecting crude inventories to have declined by 4 million barrels in the week ended July 30. The analysts also expected gasoline and distillate inventories in the country to haven fallen by 1.1 million barrels and 600,000 barrels respectively over the same period.

Crude futures also received some respite in mid-morning trade in Asia from the dollar, which has followed US Treasury yields lower, making dollar-denominated assets such as oil cheaper for buyers holding foreign currency. At 10.35 am Singapore time, the ICE Dollar Index was trading at 92.05, down 0.16% from the July 30 settle.

As MRC informed earlier, Saudi Arabia, the world's top crude oil exporter, will supply full contractual volumes of August-loading crude to at least five Asian customers. However, Saudi Aramco has turned down two of the buyers' requests for extra barrels.

We remind that Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), said in June he expects the company's deal with Saudi Aramco to materialise this year. Meanwhile, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, chairman of Saudi Aramco and the Governor of the Public Investment Fund, joined the board of Reliance as an independent director.

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

Essar Oil UK appoints Deepak Maheshwari as its new CEO

Essar Oil UK appoints Deepak Maheshwari as its new CEO

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Essar Oil UK Limited, operator of Britain's Stanlow oil refinery, appointed Deepak Maheshwari as its chief executive officer (CEO), reported Reuters.

Maheshwari succeeds Stein Ivar Bye who left the company in April this year due to personal reasons, shortly after joining in October 2020, a spokesperson for the company said.

Prior to joining Essar Oil UK, Maheshwari was CFO and head of strategy at Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited (APSE.NS), India's largest commercial multi-port operator, according to the statement. He was previously CFO of Essar Energy Limited.

As MRC informed earlier, in late September 2019, Essar resumed operations at its cracker in Stanlow, UK with the capacity of 45,000 mt/year of ethylene and 165,000 mt/year of propylene. It was shut on 11 September, 2019, due to the power outage at the site.

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