MOSCOW (MRC) - Mexican state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos will take control of the Deer Park refinery in Houston, Texas on Jan. 20, reported Reuters with reference to three sources with knowledge of the matter.
Royal Dutch Shell had agreed in May to sell its majority stake in the Deer Park refinery, which can process up to 340,000 barrels per day (bpd), to Pemex, its long-time partner in the plant, for about USD596 million.
"Next Thursday, the payment and transfer of the asset will happen," said a Pemex source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "The refinery will then be operated directly by Pemex".
Pemex has reached an agreement with personnel already working in the refinery, the source added.
The operators would be the same to guarantee stability, but they would no longer be working for Shell, the source said.
A Pemex delegation, including Chief Executive Officer Octavio Romero, will travel to Texas to finalize the deal on Thursday, a second source added.
Pemex did not immediately respond to a request for comment and a Shell spokesman did not immediately confirm the delivery date.
A third source close to the talks said there are still final transition activities pending, but added that he expected the deal to complete in the next few days.
Conversations had accelerated in recent days in order to complete the entire purchase operation before Feb. 1, the third source said.
As MRC informed previously, Royal Dutch Shell plc. said in November that its petrochemical complex of several billion dollars in Western Pennsylvania is about 70% complete and in the process to enter service in the early 2020s. The plant's costs are estimated to be USD6-USD10 billion, where ethane will be transformed into plastic feedstock. The facility is equipped to produce 1.5 million metric tons per year (mmty) of ethylene and 1.6 mmty of polyethylene (PE), two important constituents of plastics.
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 2,265,290 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2021, up by 14% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,363,850 tonnes in January-November, 2021, up by 25% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.
Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.
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