Trafigura consortium in talks to buy Exxon oil refinery in France

Rhone Energies, a consortium of commodity trader Trafigura and Entara LLC, is in exclusive negotiations with Exxon Mobil's ESSO SAF to acquire the Fos-sur-Mer refinery in southern France and the Toulouse and Villette de Vienne terminals, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Trafigura said in a statement on Thursday it would enter into a minimum 10-year exclusive crude oil supply and product offtake agreement, including ownership of crude oil and product stocks in tank. Fos-sur-Mer refinery has a crude oil processing capacity of 140,000 bpd.

Trafigura added that Rhone Energies would continue to supply ESSO SAF in the region. The deal's "completion is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected by the end of 2024. The financial terms of the proposed transaction are confidential," the company said.

This is the second major acquisition by Trafigura this year following an agreement to buy the European business of Greenergy, a UK-based supplier of road fuels and a biodiesel producer. Trading firms like Trafigura and rival Vitol are looking for acquisition opportunities globally after they raked in billions over the last two years due to the European energy crisis and market volatility caused by sweeping western sanctions on Russia.

Trafigura posted a record net profit of about $7.4 billion for last year, up 5% from 2022. ESSO shares are up 9.2% on Thursday, the highest since July 2008.

We remind, Russia's Orsk oil refinery, which has halted output after widespread floods, declared force majeure on fuel supplies from April 8. Russia's oil refineries were already struggling with Ukrainian drone attacks and technical outages, forcing the country to ban gasoline exports, with some exceptions, for half a year from March 1.

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Russia has begun diesel exports to Sudan as Moscow seeks new markets for its refined products after an EU embargo, LSEG data shows, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Since the full EU embargo on Russian oil product imports was imposed in February 2023, diesel supplies have been diverted to Brazil, Turkey, countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East as well as ship-to-ship loadings.

LSEG data shows that two fuel tankers - Pavo Rock and Conga - delivered a total of about 70,000 metric tons of ultra-low sulfur diesel to Sudan after it was loaded in February at the Russian Baltic port of Primorsk.

The cargoes discharged at Port Sudan Al Khair Terminal on April 2 and April 5 respectively, shipping data shows. Another vessel - the Marabella Sun - loaded in March at the Russian Baltic port of Vysotsk, is heading towards Port Sudan and should be discharged on April 17, LSEG data shows.

Sudan's petroleum ministry did not respond to a request for comment. Sudan needs about 45,000 bpd of diesel to meet local demand, one analyst said.

The country imports 60,000-70,000 metric tons of diesel a month, mainly from Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. Diesel arrivals in Sudan totaled about 116,000 metric tons in March, the LSEG data shows.

We remind, Russian oil producer Lukoil expects its damaged CDU-6 primary unit and catalytic cracker at the NORSI oil refinery to return to operations in the second quarter following seasonal maintenance. The source also said that the damaged CDU-5 unit at the Volgograd refinery was put back into work on Feb. 21 and was now working in line with its designed capacity.

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Chinese state-owned oil and gas giant Sinopec has started production at a 3 MMtpy PTA plant in eastern Jiangsu province, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The facility has the largest single unit PTA production capacity in the world and required an investment of more than USD691 mln, the company said.

China's refiners have invested heavily in petrochemical production capacity in recent years to cater to increased demand from high-end manufacturing industries.

PTA is a petroleum derivative product used to create polyester synthetic fibers used in the production of goods ranging from clothing to solar panels and EVs.

We remind, Sinopec and French oil major TotalEnergies have signed an agreement to produce SAF. The companies will jointly build and operate a SAF unit at one of Sinopec's refineries in China, with an annual production capacity of 230,000 metric tons per year.

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Zeon Corp. (Tokyo) signed a memorandum of understanding with California-based Visolis, Inc. to advance the commercialization of products, including bio-isoprene monomers and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), said Chemengonline.

Zeon had announced its investment in Visolis through its venture capital arm Zeon Ventures Inc. in February 2023, and the latest agreement will accelerate its efforts to realize a sustainable society. Bio-isoprene monomers are used as a raw material for products such as bio-isoprene rubber, bio-styrene-isoprene-styrene block copolymer (bio-SIS), and SAF.

Bio-isoprene monomers and SAF will be manufactured from biomass materials through a combination of biological catalysis (fermentation) and chemical catalysis drawing upon Visolis’ patented cutting-edge technology. In this context, Zeon recently accomplished a world first by synthesizing bio-SIS using bio-isoprene monomers produced through Visolis’ proprietary technology, while Visolis has concurrently achieved a 50-fold increase in its production capacity of bio-isoprene monomers.

Under this agreement, the two companies will investigate the feasibility of commercializing bio-isoprene monomers and SAF. Additionally, Zeon will begin providing evaluation samples to potential customers in markets with a high demand for bio-based materials like footwear, tires, etc

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Air Liquide continues to expand its capacities in biomethane, also known as Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) in the U.S., with the construction of two new production units, said the company.

These units, located in Center Township, Pennsylvania, and Holland Township, Michigan, will treat waste sourced from dairy farms. Following a circular economy approach, these units will contribute to the emergence of a low-carbon society.

These production units will produce biogas from manure feedstock in an anaerobic digester for a total production capacity of 74 GWh, and return the digested waste for the farms’ needs, promoting circular economy in waste management. Using Air Liquide’s proprietary gas separation membrane technology, the biogas will then be purified into RNG and injected into the natural gas grid.

Air Liquide has developed competencies throughout the whole biomethane value chain, starting with biogas production from waste, to its purification into biomethane to be injected into gas grids or compression/liquefaction with storage and transportation to customers. Air Liquide currently has 26 biomethane operational production units in the world for a yearly production capacity of about 1.8 TWh.

Armelle Levieux, member of Air Liquide’s Executive Committee and Vice President of Innovation: “With these two new biomethane production units, Air Liquide is reinforcing its presence in the U.S. RNG production market. These investments in the U.S. are in line with the priorities of our strategic plan ADVANCE for 2025, which inseparably links growth and a sustainable future. Biomethane is part of the portfolio of solutions developed by Air Liquide to support the decarbonization of its customers in the industry and transport sectors. ”

We remind, Air Liquide announces the divestiture to Adenia Partners Ltd of the Group’s activities in twelve countries in Africa representing a total annual sales of about 60 million euros. Air Liquide has signed an agreement with Adenia to sell its activities in the following twelve countries in Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Gabon, Ghana, Madagascar, Mali, Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal and Togo.

Air Liquide is a world leader in gases, technologies and services for industry and healthcare. Present in 72 countries with 67,800 employees, the Group serves more than 4 million customers and patients. Oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen are essential small molecules for life, matter and energy. They embody Air Liquide’s scientific territory and have been at the core of the Group’s activities since its creation in 1902.

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