December 19, 2020:

Layoffs of hourly workers at Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s shuttered Convent, Louisiana, refinery are scheduled to begin on the last day of February, said sources familiar with plant operations.  The next round of layoffs is scheduled for March 31, the sources said.  A Shell spokesman did not reply to a request for comment.  About 350 hourly workers will leave jobs they have performed for years at the 211,146 barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery located 46 miles (74 km) west of New Orleans.  Dwindling numbers of workers will remain at the refinery into the third quarter of 2021, sources have told Reuters.  Initially, they will be engaged in clean-up and preparation of units for an extended outage as Shell continues offering the plant for sale. 

By mid-February, workers being laid off at Convent will know if they have been picked to fill open positions at the company’s refinery in Norco, Louisiana, or chemical plant in Geismar, Louisiana, the sources said.  The United Steelworkers union (USW), representing hourly workers, and Shell agreed in late November that employees will be paid three weeks for every year of service with a minimum of 12 weeks and a maximum of 78 weeks, sources familiar with the agreement told Reuters in November. 

Shell completed the final shutdown of the refinery on Sunday.  Shell announced on Nov. 5 it would be shuttering the refinery after attempts to sell the plant between July and October were unsuccessful.  The refinery became unprofitable as COVID-19 spread across the United States in the late winter and spring, cutting demand for motor fuels as auto and air travel was reduced to a trickle.

By Reuters

December 19, 2020:

The communities of South Durban are deeply disappointed and concerned. After our communities were exposed to a threat to their lives, the management of the Engen Refinery has not seen fit to address the affected communities directly. We demand that the people responsible for the management of, and for this disaster make themselves publicly accountable to the people whose lives they have threatened through the failure to manage the facility safely.

The communities of South Durban demand that the management of the Engen Refinery set up, and participate in a public meeting – to acknowledge the damage they have caused, to share with these communities how they will be responding to this crisis and will make sure that this does not happen again. 

Bongani Mthembu

SDCEA’s Air Quality and GIS Office

By Southlands Sun

December 19, 2020:

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has decided to review all its greenfield expansion projects under refining segment in view of the Covid-19 pandemic, which affected the existing fuel demand in the country, Barauni Refinery executive director (ED) Shukla Mistry said on Friday. She also said the company is planning to increase its petrochemical production in order to avoid the market risks owing to the current volatile situation. Mistry was interacting with local media persons online to brief them about the recent developments, involving IOC as well as the Barauni Refinery which is its only crude oil refining unit in the state. “The global fuel demand is set to register decline, or at best may reach up to the pre-Covid level till the year 2035. In comparison, the oil demand in the country is expected to increase consistently till 2050. However, the company has set its eyes on the opportunities expected due to increased use of electric vehicles in the country in future. To tap it, the company is working towards establishing charging points at its retail outlets,” Mistry said. “The company is also minutely evaluating many advanced battery technologies, which will help in establishment of the manufacturing of metal air batteries for electric vehicles,” she added.

Mistry claimed that Barauni Refinery has successfully completed all its projects under BS-VI, enabling it to produce clean fuel and also run its operations more efficiently. “The first half of the financial year 2020-2021 remained harsh for Barauni Refinery as well as Indian Oil as a whole as all the units had to be run well under capacity owing to steep fall in demand due to the pandemic. Yet, there was rise in demand of domestic fuel across the country and the company successfully managed to tackle this exceptional situation,” she said. “The capacity expansion project and aviation turbine fuel (ATF) production project based indigenous technology under Aatmnirbhar Bharat scheme are well on track and expected to meet the scheduled time frame,” Mistry claimed.  She also claimed that Barauni Refinery helped local health workers by distributing all kinds of desired kits during the pandemic under its corporate social responsibility scheme.

By Times of India

December 19, 2020:

Egypt’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources signed two grant agreements with the US Trade and Development Agency on Thursday worth US$1.4 million enabling the Amreya Petroleum Refining Company (APRC) and Suez Oil Processing Company (SOPC) to conduct feasibility studies to modernize each company’s refinery. US Ambassador to Egypt Jonathan R. Cohen said that, “These grant agreements underscore the mutual focus of Egypt and the United States on expanding the robust trade and investment relationship between our countries. They will also help Egypt achieve its goal of becoming a regional energy hub, which is also a priority for the United States.” Egypt’s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek al-Molla added “Today’s signing is a remarkable example of the continuous strategic partnership between Egypt and the United States. I am confident that these agreements are another step in our continuous path of modernizing Egyptian refineries, opening new horizons towards upgrading and development of projects with the Egyptian refineries in line with the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources’ vision and will be a building block in our mutual cooperation for the benefit of both countries.” And the USTDA’s Chief Operating Officer Todd J. Abrajano said  “These grants are a part of the USTDA’s ongoing collaboration with the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resource to make Egypt a leading energy hub.”

“These grants to APRC and SOPC will increase the efficiency and profitability of their refineries, while reducing environmental impacts. USTDA’s involvement will also create significant business opportunities for American firms,” Abrajano added. A statement from the US embassy in Cairo said that the APRC study aims to improve overall the efficiency and profitability of the APRC refinery by up to 25 percent and reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 20 percent. It added that the SOPC study is also intended to increase gasoline production and production capacity, as well as enhance gasoline quality from the SOPC refinery to meet more stringent current fuel standards. SOPC has selected Illinois-based UOP to carry out its study. 

By Egypt Independant 

December 18, 2020:

Nearly 200 refinery workers represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in St. Paul Park, Minnesota, voted last week to authorize a strike if they cannot agree on a new contract with Marathon Petroleum by the end of 2020, the union said on Thursday. A strike could affect operations at Marathon’s 102,000-barrel-per-day refinery in St. Paul Park. “We do not anticipate supply disruptions in Minnesota or the Midwest region and expect to continue meeting our customer commitments,” said a Marathon spokesman. The company added that while it is committed to reaching an agreement, it has “appropriate contingency plans in place” and is prepared to safely operate the refinery in the event of a work stoppage. No progress has been made in negotiations between the union and Marathon after nearly daily talks that have been ongoing since the end of November, union representatives said on a call with investors and media on Friday. Talks will continue for three days next week and throughout the rest of December.

The union mainly disagrees with Marathon’s position to hire subcontractors for work typically performed by unionized members at the refinery, representatives said. They confirmed that the refinery is not running at 100% capacity due to the COVID-19 pandemic but are unclear what rate the plant is running at.

By Reuters