MOSCOW (MRC) -- The White House has been speaking with U.S. oil and gas producers in recent days about helping to bring down rising fuel costs, according to two sources familiar with the matter, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.
Energy costs are rising worldwide, in some cases leading to shortages in major economies like China and India. In the United States, the average retail cost of a gallon of gas is at a seven-year high, and winter fuel costs are expected to surge, according to the U.S. Energy Department. Oil-and-gas production remains below the nation's peak reached in 2019.
"We are closely monitoring the cost of oil and the cost of gas Americans are paying at the pump. And we are using every tool at our disposal to address anti-competitive practices in U.S. and global energy markets to ensure reliable and stable energy markets," a White House official said, without addressing whether it has been in touch with the industry.
U.S. crude oil recently hit $80 a barrel for the first time in seven years, as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies known as OPEC+ restrict output. The average retail price of a gallon of gasoline has risen to USD3.29, according to AAA figures. The U.S. Energy Department said on Wednesday that household heating costs are expected to rise dramatically this winter for all fuels, but particularly for heating oil and propane.
U.S. oil production has been slow to rebound from 2020, when output dropped during the coronavirus outbreak. Production hit a record of nearly 13 million barrels per day (bpd) in late 2019, but the U.S. Energy Department said Wednesday that output will only average 11 million bpd in 2021, rising to 11.7 million bpd in 2022. Natural gas prices are up sharply this year, the result of supply shortages and stronger-than-expected demand in Europe and Asia.
President Joe Biden's administration has been conducting internal discussions about rising fuel costs, one of the two sources added. U.S. shale producers, who are responsible for the boom in crude oil output in the last 10 years, have been less willing to drill for more oil after years of weak financial performance, and have instead focused on cutting spending to boost returns for investors.
As per MRC, ExxonMobil Synthetics (ExxonMobil) announced it is responding to customer needs and has confirmed plant feasibility to significantly increasing high viscosity metallocene polyalphaolefin (High Viscosity mPAO) synthetic base stock production. The demonstration of higher production capability is a result of a successful plant trial and planned subsequent expansion of the Baytown manufacturing facility in Texas, USA that has been serving customers for 100 years. This resulted in a proven run rate of approximately 20% over design basis and would move the capacity to 60 kilo-tons of High Viscosity mPAO production per year for the plant.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,396,960 tonnes in January-July 2021, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 841,990 tonnes in the first seven months of 2021, up by 29% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymers (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.
MRC