tyb
U.S. refiners planning major plant overhauls in second quarter
HOUSTON (Reuters) - U.S. oil refiners are planning a heavy slate of plant overhauls in the second quarter, with total production this month off 8.5 percent compared with the start of the year, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Early spring and winter traditionally are heavy periods for U.S. refinery maintenance. But refiners are planning more upgrades than usual in the first half of 2019 to avoid fall and winter shutdowns as they prepare to meet coming low-sulfur standards.
This year’s maintenance schedule and higher crude prices helped push U.S. gasoline prices to a national average of $2.83 a gallon last week, up 26 percent since the start of the year, according to data from the American Automobile Association. U.S. crude futures rose 32 percent in the first quarter.
International Maritime Organization (IMO) 2020 is a standard for maritime diesel that takes effect on Jan. 1 and is designed to reduce air pollution. Refiners have been revamping their plants to make IMO 2020 compliant fuel.
“They will push (winter) turnarounds later into 2020 to take advantage of that margin bump from the switch to IMO 2020,” said Susan Bell, a senior associate at energy consultancy IHS Markit.
Most U.S. refiners typically ramp up production of motor fuel during the second quarter to build inventories for the summer driving season. But Bell said an average of 1 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil refining capacity could be offline through the second quarter.
Work on refiners’ crude distillation units (CDUs) and catalytic crackers helped send volumes down to 15.85 million bpd in the last week of March, from 17.5 million bpd in the first week of January, the EIA said. CDUs generate feedstocks for fuel processing units such as catalytic crackers.
Among the refiners scheduling major maintenance this month are Valero Energy Corp and BP Plc. Valero’s Memphis, Tennessee, refinery will shut its 65,000 bpd gasoline producing fluidic catalytic cracking unit for a 60-day overhaul the last week of April.
BP is shutting one of two small CDUs at its 413,500 bpd Whiting, Indiana, refinery on Monday for 30 days of work. The Whiting refinery is BP’s largest in North America.
Work also is continuing this month on a planned overhaul of the 112,000 bpd gasoline-producing residual catalytic cracking unit at Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s 218,200 bpd Norco, Louisiana, refinery. That unit is expected to restart in the first full week of May.
Two other major overhauls finished during the switchover between the quarters.
Exxon Mobil Corp recently finished CDU overhauls at two plants: its 560,500 bpd Baytown, Texas, refinery wrapped up work on its largest CDU in late March and the company’s 502,500 bpd Baton Rouge, Louisiana, refinery restarted its second-largest crude unit on Monday.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-refinery-overhauls-idUSKCN1RV0NV
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Venezuela congress to weigh 2020 PDVSA bond payment next week
CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s opposition-controlled National Assembly expects to vote on making a $71 million bond interest payment when it meets next week, a lawmaker and a member of state-run oil company PDVSA’s ad-hoc board of directors said.
Payment would protect U.S. refiner Citgo, PDVSA’s crown jewel overseas asset, from potential seizure by creditors. But it was not immediately clear how the opposition-aligned ad-hoc board, which does not control PDVSA’s day-to-day operations, would make the payment or what funds it would use.
Alejandro Grisanti, an economist appointed to the ad-hoc PDVSA board by the National Assembly last week, said the board was “sparing no effort” to make the payment on PDVSA’s 2020 bond, which is backed by half the shares in Cigto.
The bond payment would be part of National Assembly leader Juan Guaido’s effort to protect PDVSA’s overseas assets. Guaido in January invoked the country’s constitution to assume an interim presidency on the basis that President Nicolas Maduro’s 2018 re-election was illegitimate.
Maduro, who says Guaido is attempting to oust him in a coup, still controls the day-to-day options of PDVSA within Venezuela. The United States and most Western countries have recognized Guaido as Venezuela’s rightful leader, and the board he has appointed to Citgo controls the company.
“We are working on making that decision,” Guaido told Reuters on Friday, referring to the interest payment.
Failure to pay the bond, one of the few that cash-strapped Venezuela has remained current on while defaulting on some $8 billion in debt, could allow bondholders to seize Citgo shares as compensation.
PDVSA has a 30-day grace period following the April 27 payment deadline.
Efforts by any Maduro-linked institution to pay could run afoul of U.S. sanctions, which restrict dealings with PDVSA by U.S. entities.
Opposition lawmaker Stalin Gonzalez, the National Assembly’s’ vice president, said congress would debate the payment next week.
Grisanti said approval would allow PDVSA to request a license from the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which enforces sanctions, to make the payment. The National Assembly is the only Venezuelan government body recognized as legitimate by the United States.
Grisanti said the board could use funds from PDVSA crude sales to pay, without detailing where those funds were held. Guaido’s allies have said they have no plans to use Citgo’s funds.
Neither PDVSA nor Venezuela’s Information Ministry responded to requests for comment.
https://www.oann.com/venezuela-congress-to-weigh-2020-pdvsa-bond-payment-next-week/
(yea that 'ought to go well…NOT)
ty BV
BP and partners sanction Caspian Sea project worth $6 billion
The $6 billion worth Azeri Central East (ACE) project, the next stage of development of the giant ACG field in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea, has been sanctioned.
The investment decision follows an agreement with the Government of Azerbaijan to extend the life of the ACG field until 2049. ACG is a super-giant field and to date more than 3.5 billion barrels (474 million tonnes) of oil have been produced from the field. The oil is exported to world markets, primarily via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and Western Route Export pipelines.
The project has been sanctioned by the Steering Committee for the development of the Azeri and Chirag fields and the Deep Water portion of the Gunashli (ACG) field – including SOCAR, BP, Chevron, INPEX, Equinor, ExxonMobil, TPAO, ITOCHU, and ONGC Videsh.
The $6 billion development includes a new offshore platform and facilities designed to process up to 100,000 barrels of oil per day. The project is expected to achieve first production in 2023 and produce up to 300 million barrels over its lifetime, BP said on Friday.
The sanction is the first major investment decision by the ACG partnership since the extension of the ACG production sharing agreement (PSA) to 2049 was agreed in 2017. More than $36 billion has been invested into the development of the ACG area since the original PSA was signed in 1994.
Construction activities to create up to 8,000 jobs
Construction activities, which will start this year and run through mid-2022, will take place in-country utilizing local resources. It is expected that, at peak, construction activities will create up to 8,000 jobs.
Rovnaq Abdullayev, president of SOCAR, said: “Today’s sanctioning marks yet another important milestone in the development of ACG for the benefit of the nation, which began 25 years ago with the signing of the Contract of the Century.
“For decades, SOCAR has been reinvesting Azerbaijan’s oil revenues in the development of a highly qualified workforce and modern industrial facilities in our country.”
He added: “Looking forward, we expect more than 3 billion barrels of additional oil production from ACG. This strategic decision supports Azerbaijan’s increasing role as an energy supplier for the regional and global markets.”
BP chief executive Bob Dudley said: “Working together over the past 25 years, this remarkable partnership has turned these world-class assets into tremendous benefits for the people of Azerbaijan. The ACE extension builds on that legacy and helps ensure that the next quarter century will be just as bright.”
Gary Jones, BP’s regional president for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, added: “Today’s announcement supports the long-term production plans we set for ACG when we extended the PSA. It demonstrates our commitment to work with SOCAR and Azerbaijan’s Government to continue to unlock ACG’s resources more efficiently and competitively.”
The Azeri Central East (ACE) project is centered on a new 48-slot production, drilling and quarters platform located mid-way between the existing Central Azeri and East Azeri platforms in a water depth of approximately 140 meters. The project will also include new infield pipelines to transfer oil and gas from the ACE platform to the existing ACG Phase 2 oil and gas export pipelines for transportation to the onshore Sangachal Terminal.
In addition, there will be a water injection pipeline installed between the East Azeri and ACE platforms to supply injection water from the Central Azeri compression and water injection platform to the ACE facilities.
https://www.offshoreenergytoday.com/breaking-bp-and-partners-sanction-caspian-sea-project-worth-6-billion/
> patriots not included .
ty for making that distinction anon.
have seen many moar people renting van's/uhaul's etc. At least 10 moar home's up for sale in the last 2 week's
o7