Vitol: China remains the main driver of global oil demand despite energy transformation
The global head of Vitol’s research department said that China will continue to play a major role in the global oil market because it is focused on petrochemicals, even though fuel consumption for road transport in China peaks during energy transition. The No. The world's No. There is no doubt about it, this will be the driving force for oil demand in China as well as globally.
Eni, Italy's energy company, will see 2.5 billion euros in net proceeds from its disposals by 2025
Francesco Gattei, the Chief Transition & Finance Officer of Italian energy giant Eni, said that it expects to receive net proceeds of 2.5 billion euros ($2.7billion) from further disposals next year. Eni announced Thursday that U.S. Investment Group KKR will buy 25% of Enilive, its biofuel unit for 2.9 billion Euros as part of Eni’s strategy to spin…
Survival of the fittest: petrochemical manufacturers battle global glut
The survival mode of petrochemical producers is on in Europe and Asia. Years of capacity building in China, the top market for petrochemicals, and high energy prices in Europe have pushed margins down two years in a row. The weakness of the sector is concerning for an oil industry that looks to petrochemicals as a way to maintain profits in future years when transportation fuel demand will fall with the energy shift.
The Case for 3D Printing Downhole Tools
Advanced design software supports growth of additive manufacturing applications in the oil and gas industryAdditive manufacturing (AM, aka 3D printing) is beginning to impact product-development strategies in the oil and gas industry just as it already has in many other industries—by shifting the production paradigm in unexpected ways.Particularly in the case of downhole tools…
BP to Sell Petrochemicals Business to Ineos for $5B
British oil major BP will sell its global petrochemicals business to Ineos for $5 billion, a transaction delivering BP's divestments target a year earlier than originally scheduled.Brian Gilvary, BP’s chief financial officer, said: “With today’s announcement we have met our $15 billion target for agreed divestments a full year ahead of schedule, demonstrating…
Sinopec Starts Up $6B Zhanjiang Refinery Complex
Top Chinese state refiner Sinopec Corp said on Tuesday it had started up a $6 billion new refinery and petrochemical plant in south China, making it the country's third integrated complex to start operations in the past 18 months or so.The Sinopec venture, situated in coastal city of Zhanjiang, comprises a 200,000 barrel per day (bpd) crude oil refinery and an 800,000 tonne-per-year ethylene facility, built at a cost of 44 billion
OMV Sees Hope for Oil Price Recovery in Second Half 2020
Austrian energy group OMV sees hope for a recovery in oil prices in the second half of 2020 helped by increased fuel demand and output cuts by producers such as Saudi Arabia, its chief executive said.The spread of the coronavirus has knocked global demand and weighed on crude prices and oil companies' profits.But the willingness of producers such…
More Disruption and Uncertainty in Store for Petrochemicals
The impact of the coronavirus lockdowns on the oil, gas and chemicals industries’ integrated value chains is radically shifting relationships and profitability.It is also making planning virtually impossible, as BASF suggested last week.The environment around refining and chemical margins remains challenging, Shell CEO Ben van Beurden also said this…
Texas Petrochemical Fire Continues to Burn
Three workers were injured in a massive explosion on Wednesday that sparked a blaze at a Texas petrochemical plant, the latest in a series of chemical plant accidents in the region.An initial blast at a TPC Group complex in Port Neches, Texas, was followed by secondary explosions that shattered windows, blew locked doors off their hinges and prompted officials to evacuate homes within a half-mile radius of the facility…
Three Injured in TPC Port Neches Explosion
Three workers were injured in an early Wednesday explosion that sparked a blaze at a petrochemical plant in Port Neches, Texas, the latest in a series of chemical plant accidents in the region.An initial explosion at the TPC Group plant was followed by secondary blasts, shattering windows and blowing locked doors off their hinges in homes near the facility…
Shell Appoints New Head of Refining
Royal Dutch Shell has appointed Huibert Vigeveno to head its downstream businesss, the refining operations that are to become a key pillar for the oil and gas company as it transitions to cleaner energy.Vigeveno, 50, previously led Shell's global commercial business and rose to prominence when he oversaw the integration of smaller rival BG Group after…
ExxonMobil Profit Halves
Exxon Mobil Corp's third-quarter profit nearly halved, hit by lower oil prices and weaker margins in refining and chemicals, with its three major business reporting lower year-over-year profit.Earnings fell to $3.17 billion, or 75 cents per share, in the quarter, from $6.24 billion, or $1.46 per share, a year earlier, the company reported on Friday.It beat analysts' recently reduced expectations for earnings of 67 cents per share.
Fire Erupts at Exxon's Baytown complex; 37 Hurt
Exxon Mobil Corp said it was fighting a fire that erupted on Wednesday at its Baytown, Texas, refining and chemical plant complex injuring 37 people and sending nearby residents indoors.As many as 37 people were being treated for non-life threatening injuries amid efforts to put out the fire, according to Exxon spokeswoman Sarah Nordin. Available air monitoring information showed "no adverse impact at this time…
Does the Answer to Our Energy Problems Lie in Tiny Microbes?
Such are the dire predictions about climate change these days that there seem to be only two courses open for human society: either we fail to act and the planet keeps heating up, or we restrict ourselves, leave our cars at home, give up hamburgers and stop flying on vacation.Either way, it would seem, the future is dead set on making our children’s lives worse than ours.But there is a third way and it lies in new forms of energy.
SENER Names Álvaro Lorente as MD
Spanish engineering and technology group SENER has appointed Alvaro Lorente, former Operations Manager in the energy division as Managing Director.He graduated in Industrial Engineering from the Pontificia Comillas University (ICAI), majoring in Electrical Engineering, and joined SENER in 1991. Among other posts, he has been head of SENER's Mechanics Section…
Natural Gas Liquid Market to Cross 14 mbl/day by 2025
Global Natural Gas Liquid Market is poised to cross 14 million barrels per day by 2025, said a study.Japan natural gas liquid market is projected to surpass an annual consumption of 0.2 mbl/day said the latest study by Global Market Insights.Accelerating funding’s toward chemical industry along with the manufacturing of high value-added petrochemicals will augment the industry growth.In addition…
AAL's Mega Size MPV Delivers 22 Modules
Specialist breakbulk and project heavy lift carrier AAL has successfully shipped 22 petrochemical plant modules from the Wilson Heavy Industry Company in Nantong, to the Ethylene Glycol II Expansion Project in Point Comfort, Texas on behalf of the Pacific Ocean Group Limited.The shipment of 22 modules – 26,000 cbm in total and weighing 1,280 t – was…
As Renewables Soar, BP sees China Hitting Brakes
Global demand for renewable power will soar at an unprecedented pace over the coming decades, BP said in a benchmark report on Thursday, while China's energy growth is seen sharply decelerating as its economic expansion slows.Still, China is set to remain the largest energy consumer by a long stretch into 2040 although India should overtake it in terms of demand growth beginning in the next decade…
McDermott Awarded Contract for CB&I Storage Tanks
McDermott International, the fully integrated provider of technology, engineering and construction solutions to the energy industry, announced a contract award for CB&I storage tanks from Nan Ya Plastics Corporation.McDermott's scope of work includes the engineering, procurement, fabrication and construction of four internally framed stainless-steel umbrella roof tanks in Point Comfort, Texas.
BP Targeted with First Shareholder Resolution on Climate Goals
Pressure on oil companies to tackle climate change is growing after an activist group for the first time filed a shareholder resolution urging BP to set hard targets for reducing overall carbon emissions.Follow this, a Dutch organization that spearheaded a number of climate shareholder resolutions at Royal Dutch Shell's AGMs over the past three years…
