On June 30th, following clearance from the European Commission, Outotec completed the year-long merger of Metso’s Minerals business with Outotec via a partial demerger of Metso. The newly formed company, Metso Outotec, will focus on leadership in sustainable minerals and metals processing and recycling technologies. Headquartered in Finland, Metso Outotec employs over 15,000 professionals in more than 50 countries and its combined sales for 2019 were e4.2 billion.
US crude production dropped rapidly during April and May, but figures released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed that this had plateaued and there have been some well reactivations and drawdowns from crude stocks. Total production curtailments in North America were more than 2.5 million bbl/d in May. ConocoPhillips Chairman and CEO Ryan Lance said in remarks to the media that a return to pre-outbreak production levels of 13 million bbl/d looked “pretty difficult”, although a recovery to 11 million bbl/d or possibly as high as 12 million bbl/d would be possible, depending upon OPEC moves. About one third of the company’s production was shut in as of the start of June – some 400,000 bbl/d. Lance argued that low cost shale oil resources still exist in the US, but there will be pressure on companies to reduce capital spending. The Covid19 outbreak has had a major impact in investment announcements, with a large number of project delays in the US due to uncertainty over future demand levels. Planned US exploration and production expenditure is down by 50% for the second half of 2020, while the rig count was down 60% on February.
Air Products and Haldor Topsoe have signed a global alliance agreement. Under the terms of the agreement the two companies will use their combined market network for developing potential projects and the combination of their expertise on large-scale ammonia, methanol and/or dimethyl ether (DME) plants to be developed and built globally. It gives Air Products access to Topsoe’s technology licenses and the supply of engineering design, equipment, high-performance catalysts and technical services for ammonia, methanol and DME plants that are built, owned and operated by Air Products. It also allows for the integration of Topsoe’s technology into many Air Products’ technologies including gasification of various feedstocks, and synthesis gas processes.
ICL Group has launched an interactive online advisory forum for farmers and agronomists.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) forward oil prices for May dropped into negative territory during mid-April, on fears of lack of storage capacity to deal with the excess production. Forward prices for June were also nosing to equally unprecedentedly low levels.Elsewhere, Brent Crude spot prices dropped to $20/bbl, a fall of $50/bbl from the start of 2020.
Nutrien has temporarily shut down one of the four ammonia plants at its Trinidad production site.
The Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) has awarded two EPC contracts with a total value of more than $1.65 billion for the offshore Dalma sour gas development, 190 km northwest of Abu Dhabi city. Dalma is one of the fields in the offshore Ghasha ultra-sour gas concession, which ADNOC views as central to the UAE achieving self-sufficiency in domestic gas supplies.
The UK’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has awarded £28 million ($36 million) of government funding to five demonstration projects for low carbon hydrogen production, as part of a larger stimulus package to cut industrial carbon emissions. The projects targeted for funding include:
The grave economic and human health consequences of the global spread of coronavirus (Covid-19) deepened in March.
Canadian Press reports in December have highlighted concerns that the new tighter IMO rules on sulphur content of marine fuels, which came into force on January 1st, could lead to reduced demand for oil sands bitumen and syncrude. Canadian oil output has been steadily increasing over the past two decades, mainly due to expanded bitumen recovery, which now accounts for 50% of Canada’s 4.6 million bbl/d of oil production. However, the discount for Western Canadian Select bitumen blend crude prices versus North American benchmark West Texas Intermediate could almost double to $30/bbl in January, according to consultancy Wood Mackenzie, averaging US$23-24/bbl for most of 2020, as US and other refiners use less heavy, sour oil and switch to lower sulphur feeds to try and optimise low sulphur fuel oil (LSFO) production. However, reduced output from Canada’s competitors Mexico and Venezuela is currently helping to mitigate this. Oil sands producers with refineries or upgraders are expected to benefit as the new standards will increase demand for refined low-sulphur fuels. For example, Husky Energy has expanded its Lloydminster Upgrader to produce an extra 4,000 bbl/d of diesel, and reconfigured its Lima refinery in Ohio to use more heavy oil.