Dow Chemical restarting its petrochemical complex in Louisiana after Hurricane Ida

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Dow Chemical, one of the largest US petrochemical companies, has begun bringing operations back online "as third-party utility balances and raw materials availability allow," reported S&P Global with reference to a company statement Sept. 8.

Dow said its Taft operations were "making progress" toward restarting, and the company expected to have a clearer timeline for resumption of production in the coming days based on repairs and as access to power and raw materials allow.

According to sources familiar with the company's' operations the restarts would be gradual, as Dow's complexes involve multiple plants that have to be restarted one by one while checking for any storm-related, as-yet-undiscovered damage.

At Plaquemine, Dow has two crackers and multiple polyethylene plants.

Thus, Dow Chemical operates here 1 million mt/year and 500,000 mt/year crackers; 750,000 mt/year high density polyethylene (HDPE); 184,000 mt/year and 350,000 mt/year low density polyethylene (LDPE) and 544,000 mt/year linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) plants.

As MRC wrote earlier, Dow Chemical began the process of restarting operations at its cracker No.7 in Freeport (Freeport, TX, USA) on 19 July, 2021, after a technological disruption on 4 July, 2021.

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 1,176,860 tonnes in the first half of 2021, up by 5% year on year. Shipments of exclusively low density polyethylene (LDPE) decreased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 727,160 tonnes in the first six months of 2021, up by 31% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased. Supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.

Dow Chemical is an American diversified chemical company headquartered in Midland, Michigan. It is a major manufacturer of polymer products, including polystyrene, polyurethane, polyethylene, polypropylene and synthetic rubbers. The company produces more than five thousand products at 188 production facilities in 37 countries.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Oil rose on Monday, supported by concerns over shut output in the United States because of damage from Hurricane Ida, with analysts expecting prices to remain rangebound in a stable market over the coming months, said Hydrocarbonproceesing.

Brent crude rose 55 cents, or 0.8%, to USD73.47 a barrel by 1222 GMT and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up 64 cents, or 0.9%, at USD70.36. Brent has held between USD70 and USD74 a barrel over the past three weeks.

"Oil prices may not have much room to rise in the near term, but at the same time are not expected to crash soon," said Stephen Brennock of broker PVM. A U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) last week said it expected Brent prices to remain near current levels for the remainder of 2021, averaging USD71 a barrel during the fourth quarter.

"Markets still need clarity on the virus impacts beyond the very near term; and until we get that, it seems like most assets, including oil, may continue to drift sideways," said Howie Lee, an economist at Singapore's OCBC bank. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on Monday trimmed its world oil demand forecast for the last quarter of 2021, citing the Delta coronavirus variant and saying a further recovery would be partially delayed until next year.

The producer group said in a monthly report that it expects oil demand to average 99.7 million barrels per day (bpd) in the fourth quarter of 2021, down 110,000 bpd from last month's forecast. Prices still found some support from Hurricane Ida's impact on U.S. output. About three quarters of the offshore oil production in the Gulf of Mexico, or about 1.4 million bpd, has remained halted since late August.

"Hurricane Ida was unique in having a net bullish impact on U.S. and global oil balances - with the impact on demand smaller than on production," Goldman Sachs analysts said in a note dated Sept. 9. Further disruption from bad weather could be around the corner, with tropical storm Nicholas in the Gulf of Mexico and expected to strengthen into a hurricane in the coming days, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

However, the number of rigs in operation in the United States grew in the latest week, energy service provider Baker Hughes said, indicating production could rise in coming weeks.

Supply risks remain from China's planned release of oil from strategic reserves while the hope of fresh talks on a wider nuclear deal between Iran and the West was raised after the U.N. atomic watchdog reached an agreement with Iran on Sunday about the overdue servicing of monitoring equipment to keep it running. China on Monday said it will announce details of planned crude oil sales from strategic reserves in due course.

As per MRC, most of the nine Louisiana refineries shut by Hurricane Ida have restarted or were restarting, nearly two weeks after the powerful storm came ashore, a Reuters survey showed. Refiners are coming back faster than oil production, a reverse of past storm recoveries. Just three of the nine refineries were completely idled, accounting for about 7% of Gulf Coast refining, compared to shut-ins of two-thirds of oil output.

As MRC informed earlier, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, one of the largest operators in the Gulf of Mexico, declared force majeure on some oil deliveries due to damage from Hurricane Ida, which has crippled U.S. offshore oil production. More than three-quarters of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico's offshore oil output remained shut following Ida. Crude buyers said the full restart of production remained unclear due to extensive damage to various facilities. The hurricane was one of the most devastating for offshore producers since back-to-back storms in 2005 cut output for months.

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 1,176,860 tonnes in the first half of 2021, up by 5% year on year. Shipments of exclusively low density polyethylene (LDPE) decreased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 727,160 tonnes in the first six months of 2021, up by 31% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased. Supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Linde announced it has signed a long-term agreement with one of the world's largest semiconductor manufacturers for the supply of industrial gases to a new multi-billion dollar manufacturing facility in Phoenix, Arizona, said the company.

Linde will build, own and operate a complex of on-site plants to supply ultra-high-purity nitrogen, oxygen and argon to the customer. These plants are designed to meet the most stringent requirements of the semiconductor industry while maintaining world-class reliability and operating efficiency. Linde’s total investment will be approximately $600 million. The first plants and supporting infrastructure are due to start up in the second half of 2022.

"We are proud to have been selected as supplier to this major new facility,” said Dan Yankowski, President Linde Gases North America. “Our technology is designed to provide a secure and reliable supply of high-purity gases to this world-leading semiconductor facility, supporting the significant expansion of our customer’s manufacturing capacity in the U.S."

As MRC informed earlier, Linde will construct a proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyser plant in Niagara Falls to produce green hydrogen for the state – and the company says it will be operational in 2023. The project, expected to start production in two years, has a USD17.3 million price tag and includes two parallel systems to maximize daily production of emission-free hydrogen, using the hydropower generated by Niagara Falls.

As it was earlier reported, BASF SE (Germany), Sabic (Saudi Arabia) and Linde (Germany) signed an agreement to develop electrically heated cracking furnaces. Steam cracking units require significant amounts of energy to break down hydrocarbons into olefins and aromatics.

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 1,176,860 tonnes in the first half of 2021, up by 5% year on year. Shipments of exclusively low density polyethylene (LDPE) decreased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 727,160 tonnes in the first six months of 2021, up by 31% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased. Supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.

Linde is a leading global industrial gases and engineering company with 2020 sales of $27 billion (€24 billion). We live our mission of making our world more productive every day by providing high-quality solutions, technologies and services which are making our customers more successful and helping to sustain and protect our planet.
MRC

1. Linde to build green hydrogen plant in New York

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Linde has said it will construct a proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyser plant in Niagara Falls to produce green hydrogen for the state – and the company says it will be operational in 2023, said Gasworld. The project, expected to start production in two years, has a USD17.3 million price tag and includes two parallel systems to maximize daily production of emission-free hydrogen, using the hydropower generated by Niagara Falls. The hydrogen is produced through electrolysis, with an electric current splitting water into its hydrogen and oxygen components, without pollution. Water and heat are the byproducts. "By providing an emission-free fuel that can be used for hard-to-electrify industrial and other power needs, Linde’s project will also reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support the State’s climate goals, as well as fulfill the WNYREDC’s focus on innovation and sustainability in its tradable sector of advanced manufacturing,” said Kevin Younis, COO and executive deputy commissioner at Empire State Development.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Crude oil futures were higher in midmorning Asia trade Sept. 13 on concerns about tight US supply in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida and as Tropical Storm Nicholas is expected to begin moving up the Texas coast Sept. 13, reported S&P Global.

At 11:25 am Singapore time (0325 GMT), ICE November Brent futures was 43 cents/b (0.59%) higher at USD73.35/b while the NYMEX October WTI contract was up 45 cents/b (0.65%) at USD70.17/b.

"US oil industry struggles to get back on its feet following Hurricane Ida. More than 1m b/d of capacity are still offline, nearly two weeks after the storm hit the Gulf of Mexico," ANZ analysts said Sept. 13.

As of Sept. 10, 1.207 million b/d, or 66.36%, of US Gulf of Mexico crude oil production remained offline, according to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.

Further, Tropical Storm Nicholas was seen churning through the US Gulf Coast Sept. 12, heading for an expected landfall along the Texas shoreline by late-Sept. 13.

Nicholas is forecast to approach the middle of Texas coast as a strong tropical storm, and it could be near-hurricane intensity if it moves to the right of the forecast track and remains over water longer, according to a Sept. 12 note from the National Hurricane Center.

NYMEX October RBOB was up 1.77 to settle at USD2.1717/gal, and October ULSD rose 1.15 cents to USD2.1575/gal.

Elsewhere, market watchers were observing the situation in Libya, where protests brought about by a power struggle between Oil Minister Mohamed Oun and the chairman of state-owned National Oil Corporation Mustafa Sanalla threatened to take a large chunk of capacity offline.

The outages have already seen large inventory drawdowns, with US stockpiles falling 1.53 million barrels the previous week.

Stocks data from the US Energy Information Administration released Sept. 9 reflected the Ida impact in the near term. Crude inventories fell 1.53 million barrels to 423.87 million barrels for the week ended Sept. 3, around 6% below the five-year seasonal average, while gasoline stocks saw a 7.2 million-barrel drop to 220 million barrels, leaving inventories 4% below the five-year seasonal average.

As informed earlier, Shell said it observed damage from Hurricane Ida to its transfer station West Delta-143 offshore facilities in the Gulf of Mexico. West Delta-143 serves as the transfer station for all production from its assets in the Mars corridor in the Mississippi Canyon area of the Gulf of Mexico to onshore crude terminals. Shell said it is not yet safe to send personnel offshore to learn the full extent of the damage and estimate the effect on production.

We remind that in late August, 2021, US crude stocks dropped sharply while petroleum products supplied by refiners hit an all-time record despite the rise in coronavirus cases nationwide, the Energy Information Administration said. Crude inventories fell by 7.2 million barrels in the week to Aug. 27 to 425.4 million barrels, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 3.1 million-barrel drop. Product supplied by refineries, a measure of demand, rose to 22.8 million barrels per day in the most recent week. That's a one-week record, and signals strength in consumption for diesel, gasoline and other fuels by consumers and exporters.

We also remind that US crude oil production is expected to fall by 160,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2021 to 11.12 million bpd, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a monthly report, a smaller decline than its previous forecast for a drop of 210,000 bpd.
MRC