Friday, February 8, 2019
Energy, Petrochemicals and Plastics 4
1 Petrobras sets aside $622M in case it has to pay up for Vantage rig contract termination
https://www.offshoreenergytoday.com/petrobras-sets-aside-622m-in-case-it-has-to-pay-up-for-vantage-rig-contract-termination/
Brazilian oil company Petrobras has set aside $622 million plus interest in case it is forced to pay Vantage Drilling for wrongful termination of a 2015 drillship contract.
2 Falling oil-by-rail shipments could hurt Alberta’s plan to clear backlog
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/crude-by-rail-oilpatch-imc-suncor-cn-cp-1.5007949
The push by oil companies in Western Canada to ship oil by rail has lost its momentum, which could undermine the Alberta government’s attempts to clear the backlog of crude in the province.
3 Oil and economy poised between growth and recession: Kemp
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-oil-economy-kemp-idUSKCN1PW1QD
Policymakers and analysts who claim the outlook is “unusually uncertain” are normally overstating their own forecasting problem and understating the difficulties faced by their predecessors.
4 Oil falls as U.S. inventories weigh on supply outlook
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-oil-idUSKCN1PW03Z
Oil fell more than 2 percent on Thursday as the market confronted concerns that global demand growth would lag in the coming year.
5 Oil Major Total Evacuates Staff From Venezuela After U.S. Sanctions | OilPrice.com
https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Oil-Major-Total-Evacuates-Staff-From-Venezuela-After-US-Sanctions.html
France’s oil and gas major Total has pulled out all its personnel from Venezuela following the U.S. sanctions on Venezuelan state oil firm PDVSA, which also blocked Total’s accounts in the Latin American country, CEO Patrick Pouyanné said on Thursday.
6 Uncertainty Continues For LNG Markets | OilPrice.com
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Uncertainty-Continues-For-LNG-Markets.html
‘King Coal’ dominated the energy mix during the industrial revolution of the 19th century. The replacement of the steam engine by the internal combustion engine made oil the most important source of energy. However, industrialisation’s fallout effect, global warming, has increased the importance of environmentalism. Natural gas is one of the few sources of energy which is relatively clean and able to supplement renewables.
7 Global polyolefins giant LyondellBasell Industries posted higher sales but lower profit in 2018
https://www.plasticsnewseurope.com/article/20190205/PNE/190209950/global-polyolefins-giant-lyondellbasell-industries-posted-higher-sales-but-lower-profit-in-2018
The firm, which is based in Houston and London, rang up sales of just over $39 billion in 2018, up 13 percent vs. 2017. But annual profit slipped almost 4 percent to just under $4.7 billion.
8 How U.S. sanctions on Venezuela have left a dozen oil tankers idling with no place to go
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/venezuela-oil-sanctions-1.4990879
The sanctions the U.S. slapped on Venezuelan oil last week are playing havoc with the tankers that ship crude around the world, and throwing energy prices off-kilter in the process.
9 The United States expands its role as world’s leading ethane exporter – Today in Energy
https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=38232
U.S. exports of ethane have increased from nearly nothing in 2013 to an average of 260,000 barrels per day (b/d) through the first 10 months of 2018, accounting for about one-sixth of U.S. hydrocarbon gas liquids exports. Ethane is a key feedstock for petrochemical manufacturing. The United States became the world’s top exporter of ethane in 2015, surpassing Norway, the only other country to ship ethane internationally. In 2014 and 2015, all U.S. ethane shipments went to Canada, but in 2018 the United States sent ethane to 10 countries.
10 In squeezed oil industry, some rethink hunt for new barrels
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-oil-exploration-analysis-idUSKCN1PU1AJ
New partnerships are emerging in the global hunt for oil discoveries, with some explorers essentially offering an outsourcing service for the riskiest part of the energy business.
Central to this new strategy are efforts to find an ally earlier in the process of discovering new fields, and on a larger scale, in order to save money as budgets remain tight after the oil price slump of 2014.
11 Microplastics finally on their way out?
https://www.plasticsnewseurope.com/article/20190204/PNE/190209982/microplastics-finally-on-their-way-out
The European Chemicals Agency ECHA as submitted a restriction proposal for microplastic particles that are intentionally added to mixtures used by consumers or professionals. The scope covers a wide range of uses in consumer and professional products in multiple sectors, including cosmetic products, detergents and maintenance products, paints and coatings, construction materials and medicinal products, as well as various products used in agriculture and horticulture and in the oil and gas sectors.
