Reduced refinery activity puts upward pressure on gasoline and diesel prices

Since early January 2024, U.S. refinery utilization has decreased 11%, falling as low as 81% during the two weeks ending February 9 and February 16, and briefly dropped below the five-year (2019–23) low, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Although U.S. retail average prices for gasoline and diesel are below 2023 prices for this time of year, decreasing regional inventories for the major U.S. refining regions increased retail prices for both fuels last month, according to our Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update.

The sharp decline in refinery utilization is the result of reduced plant operations in both the Midwest and Gulf Coast regions and more intense seasonal patterns. The decline is also affecting inventories.

The U.S. Gulf Coast (PADD 3), the area with the largest drop in refinery utilization, has been the primary source of overall reduced U.S. refinery runs. Since the first week of January, U.S. Gulf Coast four-week average refinery utilization has decreased 14%, falling below 80% for the past two weeks. The reduced refinery runs are likely the result of weather-related issues stemming from cold temperatures, as well as planned maintenance. Weatherization against extreme cold is less common on the Gulf Coast compared with other regions, such as the Midwest, and a lack of winterization can contribute to power outages or damage to instruments, resulting in temporary shutdowns.

The current Gulf Coast refinery maintenance started earlier than normal and has had a larger impact on refinery operations. Trade press indicates maintenance shutdowns are underway at the Motiva Port Arthur and Marathon Galveston Bay refineries, which together account for about 7% of total U.S. capacity, or more than one million barrels per day of processing capacity. Planned refinery maintenance is typically seasonal and generally peaks during late February and March.

In the Midwest (PADD 2), bp’s refinery in Whiting, Indiana, (the largest refinery in the Midwest) was taken offline because of an unplanned outage. This outage is also a major source of reduced utilization nationwide and the driving force behind a 10% drop in Midwest regional refinery utilization since the first week in January.

We remind, Crude oil processing, or refinery runs, in China averaged 14.8 MM bpd in 2023, an all-time high. The record processing came as the economy and refinery capacity grew in China following the country’s COVID-19 pandemic responses in 2022. China has increased refinery capacity more than any other country in recent years, partially to meet the country’s transportation fuel needs but also to produce feedstocks for its petrochemical industry.

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South Korea's SK Chemicals Co. is targeting the US medical packaging market with its circular recycling materials, said Kedglobal.

Circular recycling is SK Chemicals' unique chemical recycling technology that involves turning discarded plastic into raw materials through depolymerization and then manufacturing recycled plastic using these materials.

SK Chemicals announced on Thursday that it will participate in the Medical Design & Manufacturing West (MD&M) 2024, a medical equipment and manufacturing exhibition held in Anaheim, California, from Feb. 6 to 8. MD&M is one of the major exhibitions in the US medical device and manufacturing industry.

At this exhibition, SK Chemicals will showcase not only copolyester, which has been applied to packaging used in medical settings such as mask shields and medical equipment storage containers but also materials with circular recycling technology, such as SKYPET CR and ECOTRIA CR.

In particular, the company aims to respond to the increasing demand for recycled plastics in the medical device industry by strengthening collaboration with Pacur LLC, a US medical packaging company. In the future, SK Chemicals and Pacur plan to develop products based on recycled materials such as SKYPET and ECOTRIA series.

"Pacur is a leading company in the US medical packaging sector, and this collaboration will be a cornerstone for enhancing sustainability in the medical packaging market," said Kim Eung Soo, Head of Green Materials Business at SK Chemicals.

"We will make more efforts to expand the supply of recycled materials in the market," he added.

We remind, South Korea's SK Chemicals Co. unveils recycled plastic LP records. The company announced on Thursday it has jointly developed the EcoRecord, an LP record made from 100% recycled plastic with Germany-based global music production company Sonopress.

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Crude oil processing, or refinery runs, in China averaged 14.8 MM bpd in 2023, an all-time high. The record processing came as the economy and refinery capacity grew in China following the country’s COVID-19 pandemic responses in 2022, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

China has increased refinery capacity more than any other country in recent years, partially to meet the country’s transportation fuel needs but also to produce feedstocks for its petrochemical industry. Petrochemicals are the essential building blocks to produce plastics, resins, and fibers widely used in consumer goods, packaging, and textiles. In recent years, capacity additions in China have been integrated with petrochemical facilities, increasing production of petrochemical feedstocks such as naphtha and liquefied petroleum gases (LPG), which include propane and butane.

Naphtha is a light hydrocarbon that is further processed to blend into motor gasoline in essentially all U.S. refineries. Much of the petrochemical feedstock for U.S. petrochemical producers comes from ethane and LPG, which can be separated and sold from natural gas processing plants.

In contrast, many petrochemical producers in Europe and Asia use mostly naphtha (rather than ethane) and LPG as petrochemical feedstocks. Naphtha, LPG, and ethane are used to produce industrial chemicals such as ethylene, propylene, and paraxylene, which are ultimately converted into intermediate or end-use products. Developing integrated refining and petrochemical complexes provides flexibility for these facilities to shift production toward either transportation fuels or petrochemical feedstocks, depending on market conditions.

China’s growing petrochemical sector has made the country one of the world’s largest petrochemical producers. As a result, China’s petrochemical manufacturers need the increased naphtha and LPG produced from China’s refineries, even as China continues to import the two feedstocks.

We remind, Lotte Chemical Corp. announced that it has established artificial intelligence (AI) organizations tailored to the characteristics of its basic materials and advanced materials businesses to strengthen data-based research.

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South Korea’s top chemicals maker LG Chem Ltd. and food and biotechnology firm CJ CheilJedang Corp. have agreed to launch an eco-friendly bio-nylon joint venture to create a new revenue source and cut carbon emissions, said Kedglobal.

The two companies said on Thursday that LG Chem Chief Executive Shin Hak-cheol and CJ CheilJedang CEO Choi Eun-seok have signed a head of agreement (HOA) to build a JV plant to produce eco-friendly nylon based on bio-materials, called PMDA, which are produced by fermenting corn, sugarcane and other crops.

Once up and running, the JV will be Korea’s first bio-nylon project to produce both raw materials and finished products, according to LG.

Under the agreement, CJ will produce PMDA with its microbial precision fermentation technology while LG will polymerize or combine raw materials to produce bio-nylon, also known as bio-polyamide, and sell products.

LG said bio-nylon produced from bio-based materials has the same heat resistance and durability as petroleum-based nylon, making it ideal for use in a wide range of products, including textiles, automobiles and electronic devices, while also significantly reducing carbon emissions.

We remind, LG Chem Ltd. striving to become a leading global battery materials player broke ground on its first-ever cathode plant in the US, expected to be the biggest of its kind in the world’s third-largest EV market.

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South Korea’s CJ CheilJedang Corp. announced on Tuesday that it has developed a packaging material using biodegradable material polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), said Kedglobal.

PHA is a polymer that accumulates in microorganisms and decomposes in most environments, including soil and oceans.

CJ CheilJedang created the packaging material using only biodegradable materials like PHA, eliminating the use of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) commonly used in traditional plastic packaging.

The new packaging material exhibits similar properties to regular plastic and is durable and suitable for shipping packages, even for heavy or sharp-edged items.

Additionally, it has been recognized for its opacity, ensuring the contents are not visible, and its adhesive property, preventing shipping labels from coming off.

CJ Olive Young has introduced this packaging for its same-day delivery service “Dream Delivery Today.”

Currently, it's being used in two logistics centers in Gyeonggi Province for nearby Onul Drim deliveries, with plans for potential expansion being considered.

We remind, Korean food giant CJ CheilJedang Corp. is seeing major success with its "K-Street Food" line, a selection of iconic Korean street snacks with global appeal. In May last year, the company’s brand Bibigo named six foods to its K-Street Food lineup: tteokbokki, South Korean-style corn dogs, gimbap (seaweed roll), gimmari, bungeobbang (fish-shaped snack filled with red bean paste) and hotteok (sweet pancakes).

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