Preview Newsletter
PM ACC 30/8/17
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(ACC Mentioned) Resin Distributors Push for More in 2017
Aug 30, 2017 | Plastics News
By Frank Esposito
Many North American resin distributors were overachievers in the first half of 2017, topping sales data reported by the overall industry. -
Pruitt Six Months In: "Taking a Meat Ax to the Protections of Public Health and Environment and Then Hiding It"
Aug 30, 2017 | Environmental Defense Fund
By Martha Roberts
In Scott Pruitt’s six-month tenure as President Trump’s EPA Administrator, his administration has firmly established a reputation for secrecy and for glossing over conflicts of interest. -
CPSC to Finalise Rule That Could Ban Five Phthalates in Toys
Aug 30, 2017 | Chemical Watch
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission has agreed to finalise a rule by 18 October that could ban the use of five phthalates in children’s products. -
Canada Releases Survey Data on Seven Substance Groups
Aug 30, 2017 | Chemical Watch
The Canadian government has published information it received in response to mandatory surveys for seven groups of substances. -
Fallout From Harvey to Disrupt Energy Markets Around the World
Aug 30, 2017 | The Washington Post
By Alison Sider and Stephanie Yang
Tropical Storm Harvey is upending the flow of oil and petroleum all around the world—a consequence of the growing influence of the U.S. in the global energy industry. -
Shell, Exxon Say Some Pollution Released as Storm Hits Texas
Aug 30, 2017 | AP (In the Washington Post)
By David Koenig
Pollutants have been released from refineries operated by Exxon, Shell and other companies as torrential rains damaged storage tanks and other industrial facilities on the Texas Coast. -
Exxon Mobil Halts Operations at Beaumont Refinery
Aug 30, 2017 | Fuel Fix
By Jordan Blum
Exxon Mobil said Wednesday it is shutting down its large Beaumont refinery after Tropical Storm Harvey battered the area Tuesday night. -
Texas Chemical Plant in Critical Condition, Raising Possibility of Explosion
Aug 30, 2017 | The Washington Post
By Steven Mufson
A chemical plant in Crosby, Tex., was in critical condition Tuesday night after its refrigeration system and inundated backup power generators failed, raising the possibility that the volatile chemicals on the site would explode. -
Dozens of Refinery Leaks Reported; More Toxic Spills Likely
Aug 30, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Mike Lee, Corbin Hiar and Hannah Northey
Tropical Storm Harvey has already caused dozens of spills at refineries and chemical plants along the Gulf Coast and could threaten the integrity of toxic waste sites.
Industry and Association News
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(ACC Mentioned) Resin Distributors Push for More in 2017
Aug 30, 2017 | Plastics News
By Frank Esposito
Many North American resin distributors were overachievers in the first half of 2017, topping sales data reported by the overall industry.
Total third-party sales of polyethylene in the U.S. and Canada and of polypropylene in the U.S., Canada and Mexico in the first six months of the year were up only around 1 percent, according to the American Chemistry Council. That total includes material sold from resin makers to distributors and resellers.
But the picture was brighter with distribution executives who recently spoke with Plastics News about their industry. "We're up mid single digits in pounds and pricing is up in the upper single digits because of material tightness," said Ed Holland, president and CEO of M. Holland Co. in Northbrook, Ill.
"Our top revenue is up because prices are up, but we haven't seen huge jumps in volume," added John Moisson, president of Jamplast Inc. in Ellisville, Mo. "But most of our customers are doing well, and our overall business is steady."
Shawn Williams, senior plastics vice president with Nexeo Solutions in The Woodlands, Texas, said that "when we look at North America, we see a slight slowdown, but we expect the market to be more robust as we go into the second half."
"In general, we should see a slight rebound in the overall market," he added. "Exports should start to increase, and the market has shifted to more growth in the last few months."
At the PolyOne Distribution unit of PolyOne Corp. in Avon Lake, Ohio, officials "continue to see momentum build as we work together with our world-class supplier base, which is one of the most comprehensive in the industry," said President Scott Horn.
This year "has been great so far," said John Jorgensen III, co-owner of Coventus Polymers LLC in Parsippany, N.J. "We're a relatively new company [that opened in 2012], so our sales are up 50 percent this year, and the second half should be better than the first."
Osterman & Co. of Cheshire, Conn., is trying to match a record year in 2015 and the 10 percent growth of 2016. "We've seen some real exciting things but also some challenges," said David Dever, distribution sales vice president. "There was a lot of talk about innovations and new equipment earlier in the year. That's slowed down a bit, but we're confident growth will carry through the rest of the year."
This year has been "a very solid year, with a high level of activity and high single-digit growth" for Chase Plastics in Clarkston, Mich., President Kevin Chase said. PolySource LLC of Independence, Mo., is seeing 25 to 30 percent growth in both sales and volume in pounds, according to Bob Findlen, sales and marketing vice president.
"It's been a strong year," said Greg Boston, a partner at General Polymers Thermoplastic Materials in Clarkston, Mich. "There's still some apprehension about the economy, but so far so good."
Bamberger Polymers of Jericho, N.Y., has seen volume growth of 10 to 12 percent in 2017 after experiencing growth of 9 percent in 2016, according to North American Sales Vice President Mike Pignataro.Focusing on different resins
General Polymers launched late last year and has adopted the name of the previous iconic firm that later was acquired by Ashland Inc. GP is looking to do more business in engineered styrenics, nylon, polyester, acetal and is placing "a large focus" on urethanes and elastomeric materials, according to Boston, who added that thermoplastic elastomers "are still a growth business."
"No one projected the big [price] run-up in polypropylene and polyethylene and 25 to 30 cents [in increases] on engineering resins," said Dever at Osterman. "That blindsided some people." But, overall, sales of prime, branded resins have been "a bright spot" for Osterman for several years, he added, and that growth has continued into 2017.
Coventus has seen "a lot of success" with polysulfone and other high-performance plastics, Jorgensen said. Moisson at Jamplast said that engineering resin prices in 2017 "dropped, then stabilized and went back up." He added that supplies of ABS are "fairly snug."
"If you're asking about sales growth, polyethylene is a modified 'yes,'" said Ed Holland. "Supplies are still tight in spite of the expected onslaught of new capacity. We haven't seen it yet." He added that regional PP supplies have been more balanced in 2017, as they've been for the last three or four years.
Williams at Nexeo described the PE market as "a mixed bag," adding that PP "was slow, but now it's tightened."
"Overall, polyethylene is slightly up this year, while polypropylene is slightly down," he said.
Williams and Holland both said that Mexico has been a good growth market for their companies. M. Holland opened a warehouse in that country earlier this year.Markets in the spotlight
Distribution execs have been looking into every possible end market for growth in 2017.
"Flexible packaging is still quite active, and auto's doing well," Holland said. "We've added 14 people serving five major markets — flexible packaging, auto, medical and health care, rotomolding and color and compound." He explained that after doing market analysis on 60 end markets, those five were selected because of their good growth potential.
Holland was one of several distribution execs who cited automotive as a strong end market in 2017. That response might be surprising, with auto sales now declining after several years of growth.
Jamplast has seen growth in building and construction, housing, appliances, remodeling and decking. Moisson added that sales into auto "were strong but have been soft for the last couple of months."
Plastic sheet accounts also have been going strong for Jamplast, with many sales going into sheet used in recreational vehicles. "The RV market had been hit hard in the recession, but now it can't keep up," Moisson said.
Sales from biopolymers also have been a pleasant surprise for Jamplast, growing 15 to 18 percent so far in 2017. "Consumers and brand owners are choosing eco-friendly products," Moisson explained.
The health care market is "still expanding" for Nexeo, Williams said, with auto also seeing some growth. PolyOne "continues to see a healthy economy, with growth in nearly all segments that directly serve the consumer," Horn added.
"We're beginning to see some softness in passenger cars, but so far it's been mild," he said. "Our dedicated health care sales and application development team has been in place for the past decade and continues to see growth, as does the outdoor high-performance market segment."
For Coventus, growth has been seen across the board, with the exception of the firearms market, according to Jorgensen. "Oil and gas have bounced back, and electrical and health care have been strong," he said.
"Our sellers have been doing more than before in medical and auto in engineering resins," said Dever at Osterman. He added that rigid caps and closures have provided good growth, as has film used in specialty food packaging.
PolySource is benefiting from industrial and consumer activity, Findlen said, as well as from new auto applications. At Bamberger, Pignataro said that growth is coming from almost every market, including film and sheet, blow molding, injection molding and compounding.
But he singled out "packaging, packaging and more packaging," saying that "there are still more companies entering the packaging market."
Kevin Chase said that automotive growth for his firm came from metal to plastic conversion and new concept designs. "We're getting new parts on new vehicles, as opposed to share-shift," he explained, adding that nylon sales into office furniture remains "a good product line" for Chase Plastics.PE is here, more on the way
And then there's the little matter of billions of pounds of new PE resin capacity coming to North America as resin makers benefit from newfound supplies of shale-based natural gas. Several billion pounds are expected to be operational by the end of the year, mostly on the U.S. Gulf Coast, with billions more on the way in the 2018-2020 time period.
"We're expecting to have the new PE capacity in place but haven't seen so much yet," said Pignataro at Bamberger. "There will be some domestic growth, but a big portion of the new product is for export."
At Osterman, Dever said that "the new polyethylene is coming and everyone's trying to prepare for it." His firm "is preparing for a tremendous amount of growth. A lot is going to export and offshore, so we're looking at prime markets globally."
The impact of the new PE "all depends on the timing, how much and when the capacity actually comes on line," said Horn at PolyOne. However, he added, North American suppliers "are competitively advantaged, based on raw materials that will allow them to be efficient exporters of PE resin."
"Everyone is prepared for a dramatic increase in the supply of polyethylene," Nexeo's Williams said. "We're working with our customers and suppliers.
"A lot of it will need to find a home in exports," he added. "In time, there will be domestic demand growth, but there's not enough right now. We're investing in infrastructure and logistics to provide best-in-class service."
M. Holland already has signed on with two other firms on a resin supply center in the Chicago area to help handle the new material.
"Distribution has been gearing up to sell the new polyethylene into different markets and geographies," Holland said. "There's no way the U.S. and Canada can absorb it all, so we need to get it to markets that can absorb it."Consolidation slowing down?
Although some smaller deals have been made so far in 2017, the pace of mergers and acquisitions in the distribution sector seems to have slowed down.
"This year has been relatively quiet," said Moisson at Jamplast. "There hasn't been a lot of jockeying like there was 10 years ago."
Companies such as Ravago Group and Maroon Group have made deals in the specialty chemicals sector, including plastic additives. "Going into specialty chemicals because the margins are higher might be a general trend," said Kevin Chase.
"Overall, there's been a trend toward fewer resin distributors," he added. "Resin suppliers don't have eight to 12 distributors in the U.S. like they used to."
But some opportunities remain. Holland, whose company has been active in M&A in recent years, expects to see more consolidation throughout North America, including Mexico. "A lot of companies want to get bigger," he said. "People used to say you had to be a billion-pound producer to be in the market, but now you have to be a billion-pound distributor."
"When you look at the companies that have been bought up over the years, you still can see growth and potential acquisitions," said Dever at Osterman. "We're still working on new relationships."
Nexeo's Williams pointed out that market conditions are still right for more consolidation. "Access to capital is still relatively cheap," he said. "We're evaluating some opportunities, especially in bolt-on complements."
"Consolidations allow companies to get market share and reduce costs, so I see that continuing," said Findlen at PolySource. General Polymers' Boston added that consolidation "has opened up spaces in between" for his firm. "Consolidation gives us a chance to come in as a new supplier," he added.Hello, 2018
Distribution execs interviewed for this story said they're looking forward to the remainder of 2017 — and to bigger and better things in 2018.
Nexeo is looking to drive growth through its enhanced MyNexeo web portal, which Williams said will allow customers to track and trace their shipments, along with providing an easier-to-use way of placing and managing orders.
Bamberger also has a new website and the firm "is really proud" of the site's product finder tool, which Pignataro said will help customers find materials more quickly.
Sixteen trainees also are in place at Bamberger, giving the firm "a good mix of talent," he added, with older sellers mentoring new ones.
Coventus recently added a new sales rep in the Southeastern United States and has ambitious plans to add 20 more, which Jorgensen said will allow the firm to do more business in auto, aerospace and defense.
Osterman has added 10 sellers so far in 2017, Dever said, and has increased its business development marketing, which he added will allow the firm "to go after markets where resins can bring value."
General Polymers "is adding sales everywhere," Boston said, and is looking to add five or six more sales reps by the end of the year.
Boston added that he's noticed a trend of resin suppliers "not liking to see so many company names for the same resin on line card."
"I think a lot of [resin suppliers] feel like they need to re-think their distribution strategy," he said. "Instead of being one of five to 10 suppliers of the same material, they'd like to focus."
Chase Plastics has added five new positions this year, including an automotive business development manager. The firm, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in May, also is finding a new market in selling to makers of plastics filament used in 3D printing.
"We're always looking at new and innovative areas," Kevin Chase said.
http://www.plasticsnews.com/article/20170830/NEWS/170839990/resin-distributors-push-for-more-in-2017
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Aug 30, 2017 | Environmental Defense Fund
By Martha Roberts
In Scott Pruitt’s six-month tenure as President Trump’s EPA Administrator, his administration has firmly established a reputation for secrecy and for glossing over conflicts of interest.
This pattern of making decisions behind closed doors and stocking EPA with industry representatives is problematic for many reasons, but most importantly because so many of those decisions are putting our health at risk.
Former EPA Administrator Bill Ruckelshaus — appointed by Presidents Nixon and Reagan —described Pruitt’s tenure thus far:
[I]t appears that what is happening now is taking a meat ax to the protections of public health and environment and then hiding it.
Pruitt’s troubling pattern of behavior has even caught the interest of the EPA’s Inspector General, who recently opened an investigation into Pruitt’s repeated travel to Oklahoma at taxpayers’ expense. And one of Pruitt’s handpicked appointees, Albert Kelly, was just penalized by a federal banking agency for “unsound practices” in his previous position as a bank CEO.
Weakening safeguards across the board
As we’ve documented, Pruitt has a troubling record of attacking public safeguards without providing any opportunity for public input – including protections against toxic wastewater, oil and gas pollution, climate pollution, and safety risks at major chemical facilities.
Pruitt took aim at limits on smog that would prevent 230,000 childhood asthma attacks every year. He tried to unilaterally delay these standards without any public input on his decision, until eventually he backed down in the face of legal and public backlash.
Pruitt also suspended enforcement of existing standards for pollution from oil and gas facilities without any public input. Pruitt’s announcement did not even mention the harmful health impacts from halting implementation of pollution controls for 18,000 wells across the country. Earlier this month a federal appeals court overwhelmingly rejected Pruitt’s move as illegal after a panel decision that deemed Pruitt’s actions “unlawful,” “arbitrary,” and “capricious.”
Undermining enforcement that holds polluters accountable
A recent analysis of EPA’s enforcement program showed that penalties against polluters have dropped by a remarkable 60 percent since the Inauguration. Not holding companies responsible for their pollution has tangible impacts in the form of more pollution, more illness, and more avoidable, early deaths.
The Trump Administration’s proposed budget calls for a 40 percent cut to EPA’s enforcement office, which would further hamper EPA’s ability to hold polluters accountable. Meanwhile, EPA overall would face a 30 percent cut, which also puts public health at risk.
Pruitt sometimes tries to mask his focus on rolling back important EPA initiatives. For example, he claims to be concentrating on cleaning up contaminated land through EPA’s Superfund program, yet the Trump Administration’s budget proposal would cut Superfund by more than 30 percent.
Pervasive conflicts of interest
In Pruitt’s former role as Oklahoma Attorney General, he was exposed for cutting and pasting industry requests and sending them to EPA on his official stationary. He shamelessly responded by calling his conduct “representative government in my view.”
At EPA, Pruitt and his most senior advisors are now driving vital decisions about public health notwithstanding clear, severe conflicts of interest.
As just one example, Dr. Nancy Beck, the senior political appointee in EPA’s toxic chemicals office, recently left her prior position at the chemicals industry’s main trade association. In her current role at EPA, she has a key role in implementing the new reforms to the Toxic Substances Control Act passed last year. In this capacity, Dr. Beck is making decisions that directly affect the financial interests of companies she represented in her previous position on issues on which she advocated for the chemical industry as recently as earlier this year. The unsurprising result? Important protections are being weakened or reversed.
Pruitt’s lax approach to ethics may also extend to his travel schedule. Pruitt’s travel records show that he traveled repeatedly to Oklahoma at taxpayer expense, straining EPA’s limited resources. (Some sources have speculated that Pruitt’s extensive travel may be a run up to a future Pruitt campaign for political office in Oklahoma.) As we mentioned at the beginning of this post, EPA’s Inspector General has now opened an investigation into the matter
Pruitt’s appointment of Albert Kelly is another example of how he seems to tolerate behavior that other administrations would find unacceptable. Pruitt appointed the former banking CEO to lead a task force on Superfund cleanup sites. As we mentioned earlier, just this week Kelly was sanctioned by the FDIC, which issued a lifetime bar against his participation in any future banking-related activities and noted violations that involved Kelly's "willful or continuing disregard for the safety or soundness of the bank" where he was CEO. Nonetheless, Pruitt continues to entrust Kelly with the responsibility for leading efforts to reform management of the billion-dollar hazardous waste clean-up program.
Pruitt’s pattern of secrecy
This summer Pruitt won the Golden Padlock Award, given by investigative reporters and editors to recognize the most secretive U.S. agency or individual.
Robert Cribb, chair of the Golden Padlock committee, noted:
Judges were impressed with the breadth and scope of Pruitt’s information suppression techniques around vital matters of public interest.
Pruitt has overseen the elimination of important climate science resources that EPA previously made publicly available on its website. EDF recently received more than 1,900 items from EPA in response to a Freedom of Information Act request for climate-related information and data deleted from, or modified on, EPA websites.
Even the basics of how Pruitt spends his business hours, and with whom he spends them, are hidden from the public. Contravening a bi-partisan EPA transparency practice, Pruitt no longer makes senior management calendars — including his own — available to the public.
The start of Scott Pruitt’s term as EPA Administrator has been marked by continuous attacks on our public health safeguards and government transparency. Perhaps it’s not a surprise that Pruitt is keeping Americans in the dark about his actions, because the more we learn, the more we see reasons to be outraged. The American public deserves better from the senior leader in charge of protecting our health and welfare from dangerous pollution.
http://blogs.edf.org/climate411/2017/08/30/pruitt-six-months-in-taking-a-meat-ax-to-the-protections-of-public-health-and-environment-and-then-hiding-it/
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CPSC to Finalise Rule That Could Ban Five Phthalates in Toys
Aug 30, 2017 | Chemical Watch
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission has agreed to finalise a rule by 18 October that could ban the use of five phthalates in children’s products.
The agreement settles a lawsuit brought by NGOs which protested against the more than two-year delay in finalising the proposal, although the settlement specifies only the deadline for publishing the final rule, not its content.
Responding to the 2008 Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), the commission issued aproposed rule in late 2014 to ban five phthalates in children’s toys at levels greater than 0.1%. These are:
· diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP);
· di-n-pentyl phthalate (DnPP);
· di-n-hexyl phthalate (DnHP);
· dicyclohexyl phthalate (DCHP); and
· diisononyl phthalate (DINP).
The proposal was based on a 2014 report by the Chronic Hazard Advisory Panel (CHAP) which identified health concerns from the substances. The CPSC was required to publish the final rule within 180 days of the CHAP’s report on 14 January 2015, but failed to do so.
NGOs the Natural Resources Defense Council, Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform and the Breast Cancer Fund filed a lawsuit in December 2016 to compel action on the rule, alleging that the agency's failure to comply with statutory deadlines "exposes the public to serious health risks".
If the final version of the rule is unchanged, the five phthalates would join DEHP, DBP and BBP in being banned above de minimis levels in certain children's products. Interim bans are currently in place on DIDP, DnOP and DINP; the last of which would be made permanent by adoption of the proposed rule.
According to the decision filed on 18 August, the CPSC and the NGOs submitted a proposed agreement on 23 March that would require the commission to vote on a final rule by 18 October.
On 6 April, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) filed a motion to intervene, arguing that the NGOs had failed to show they suffered injury as a result of the delay because the phthalates in question are not currently used in children’s products.
The court, however, found that the NRDC provided sufficient evidence that at least some of the phthalates are contained in children’s products and that exposure to the substances poses "credible harm". The presiding judge then accepted the consent decree, imposing the 18 October deadline.
Manufacturers of children's toys subject to phthalate bans are required to complete third-party testing verifying compliance. Industry groups have long been critical of the burden that this imposes in scenarios where the chemicals are known not to be present.
In a separate action, the CPSC has agreed to lift this testing obligation for seven plastics where phthalates banned under the CPSIA are unlikely to be present. If the commission finalises restrictions on these additional substances, the testing rule will be amended to include them.
https://chemicalwatch.com/58422/cpsc-to-finalise-rule-that-could-ban-five-phthalates-in-toys
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Canada Releases Survey Data on Seven Substance Groups
Aug 30, 2017 | Chemical Watch
The Canadian government has published information it received in response to mandatory surveys for seven groups of substances.
These are:
· aromatic azo and benzidine-based substances;
· certain organic flame retardants;
· a group of phthalates;
· select selenium-containing substances;
· several substituted diphenylamine substances;
· cobalt-containing substances; and
· methylenediphenyl diisocyanate and diamine (MDI/MDA).
The surveys – issued under section 71 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (Cepa) – aimed to fill specific data needs for the substances, which were identified as targets of interest under the Chemicals Management Plan (CMP).
The government has released the non-confidential responses "to increase transparency and to facilitate access to information on substances in commerce in Canada". The documents do not include an assessment of the potential risks these substances may pose.
https://chemicalwatch.com/58421/canada-releases-survey-data-on-seven-substance-groups
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Fallout From Harvey to Disrupt Energy Markets Around the World
Aug 30, 2017 | The Washington Post
By Alison Sider and Stephanie Yang
Tropical Storm Harvey is upending the flow of oil and petroleum all around the world—a consequence of the growing influence of the U.S. in the global energy industry.
Since the last time a major storm passed through the Gulf Coast, vast quantities of oil and natural gas have been unlocked from shale formations in the U.S.
While production from these fields accounts for just a fraction of the global oil market, that output now feeds a huge volume of gasoline, chemicals, plastics and crude exports, which means Harvey will have repercussions of global proportions.
And the U.S. Gulf Coast has been at the center of this shift. The area has become an increasingly critical link in the global energy chain. Shipments from the region now satisfy 6% of global demand for oil and other liquid petroleum fuels—twice as much as in 2012, according to Barclays PLC.
That means Harvey, which was the most powerful storm to hit Texas in half a century, is likely to cause shortages that affect consumers from Houston to Beijing. Countries like Mexico, which relies on the U.S. for as much as half of the gasoline it consumes, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, are the most likely to feel the effects, analysts said.
“The consequences of a major disruption on the U.S. Gulf Coast will be felt in the pricing of oil product markets in Latin America and Europe and crude markets as far away as Asia,” J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. analysts wrote.
The U.S. became a net exporter of refined products in 2011. Gasoline exports surged 33% to a record last year and have continued to rise this year. Some 17% of gasoline made at the Gulf Coast and 39% of the diesel produced there this year has been exported, according to consultancy Turner, Mason & Co.
Exports of crude oil itself, which were largely banned before 2015, have grown from a trickle to surpass 1 million barrels a day at times this year, winding up in China, the Netherlands and Peru.
Harvey has shut off much of that flow. Ports along the Texas coast, including Houston and Corpus Christi, have been closed, and now some in Louisiana are shut as well.
Vessels that planned to come in to be loaded with crude destined for foreign markets changed course before entering Corpus Christi last week, and one tanker that has been in Port Arthur since Aug. 19 is unable to leave due to bad weather, according to Kpler, a ship-tracking firm.
And fuel production has been curtailed. More than 15% of oil refining capacity has been shut due to the storm, and that number is climbing as Harvey has started to track eastward, threatening more plants. The storm has choked off crude supplies to the plants that have continued to run.
“While everyone is watching the impact from a U.S.-centric perspective…disruption to U.S. product exports to places like Latin America could actually end up being a bigger story,” said Michael Tran, director of energy strategy at RBC Capital Markets. “If you take a piece out of the puzzle, there’s a significant ripple effect to other regions.”
Market participants are already starting to respond. Trade flows should start to shift to bring more fuel from Europe to Latin America, which would typically get fuel from the U.S., analysts said. Analysts at research and consulting firm McQuilling Services LLC said they’ve also seen inquiries for cargoes from St. Croix and the east coast of Canada to head to the destinations typically served by the Gulf.
The storm is also resulting in increased competition for a smaller pool of fuel supply, pushing prices higher. Refiners in the Gulf supply the U.S. East Coast with much of its fuel, shipping gasoline and diesel through pipelines that stretch thousands of miles.
The Colonial Pipeline, the biggest fuel pipeline in the U.S., said Tuesday that it was operating at reduced capacity due to less fuel coming in from the Houston area and storm-related damage at some of its loading and pumping stations.
Matthew Smith, director of commodity research at ClipperData, said the East Coast risks being “left somewhat stranded” if flows from the Gulf Coast are limited. As a result, European cargoes are also starting to head there.
It isn’t clear how disruptive Harvey will prove to be. If refineries sustain significant damage, they could be down for months. But even if producers, pipelines and fuelmaking plants can ramp up relatively quickly, analysts said its effects may linger.
“Back to normal is months, not weeks, for exports and for the industry and the region. We have to acknowledge that,” said Barclays analyst Michael Cohen.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/fallout-from-harvey-to-disrupt-energy-markets-around-the-world-1504090800
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Shell, Exxon Say Some Pollution Released as Storm Hits Texas
Aug 30, 2017 | AP (In the Washington Post)
By David Koenig
Pollutants have been released from refineries operated by Exxon, Shell and other companies as torrential rains damaged storage tanks and other industrial facilities on the Texas Coast.
Shell told state regulators this week that a floating roof over a tank at its oil refinery in Deer Park, Texas, partially sank during the heavy rainfall. The company said 100 pounds of benzene and 100 pounds of toluene were released.
A similar event happened at Exxon Mobil Corp.’s refinery in Baytown, Texas. David Gray, a spokesman for the Environmental Protection Agency, said the company reported the release of 15 pounds of benzene. The EPA classifies benzene as a carcinogen. Toluene, a solvent, is less toxic.
A Shell spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“This is an unprecedented storm, and we have taken every effort to minimize emissions and safely shut down equipment,” said Exxon spokeswoman Charlotte Huffaker. She said the Irving, Texas-based company was monitoring emission levels and was committed to complying with environmental laws.
Other refinery and chemical plant operators have reported releases due to Harvey, which came ashore as a hurricane but was later downgraded to a tropical storm.
The disclosures highlight the danger posed by flooding in a refinery-rich section of the Gulf Coast that stretches from Corpus Christi, Texas, to Louisiana.
The flooding has caused the shutdown of about 15 percent of the nation’s refining capacity, sending gasoline prices higher.
Gasoline futures rose 6 cents, or 4.1 percent, to $1.78 a gallon in trading Tuesday. Retail prices have gained more slowly — up 4 cents in the last week to $2.38 a gallon, according to auto club AAA.
Earlier Tuesday, Motiva Enterprises said that its refinery in Port Arthur, Texas — the biggest in the nation — had cut output to just 40 percent. Motiva, which is owned by Saudi Aramco, the state-owned oil company of Saudi Arabia, said it was dealing with restrictions in the flow of crude oil coming in and products like gasoline going out through pipelines and ports.
A company spokeswoman said there was some water in the plant and local roads were flooded.
The operator of a major pipeline carrying fuel to the East Coast announced it was running at a reduced rate too, compounding pressure on the nation’s energy system.
The Colonial Pipeline operator said Tuesday the reduction was due to limited supply from refiners around Houston and storm damage to its facilities in several southeast Texas locations. The company said it dispatched workers to the region.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/shell-exxon-say-some-pollution-released-as-storm-hits-texas/2017/08/29/b598f3b2-8d26-11e7-9c53-6a169beb0953_story.html?utm_term=.f8a1b14c0e4a
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Exxon Mobil Halts Operations at Beaumont Refinery
Aug 30, 2017 | Fuel Fix
By Jordan Blum
Exxon Mobil said Wednesday it is shutting down its large Beaumont refinery after Tropical Storm Harvey battered the area Tuesday night.
Exxon Mobil, Motiva Enterprises and Total all are shutting down their refinery complexes in the Beaumont and Port Arthur region. About 20 percent of the nation's refining capacity is now offline.
Exxon Mobil spokeswoman Charlotte Huffaker said Harvey created operational issues that triggered the Beaumont shutdown. Exxon had already halted petrochemical activities at the Beaumont campus.
"We are in the process of a safe and systematic shutdown of the majority of our units," Huffaker said. "Safety is our first priority, and we are taking all precautions to minimize the impact to the community and employees throughout the shutdown process."
http://www.chron.com/business/energy/article/Exxon-Mobil-closing-Beaumont-refinery-for-Harvey-12160958.php
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Texas Chemical Plant in Critical Condition, Raising Possibility of Explosion
Aug 30, 2017 | The Washington Post
By Steven Mufson
A chemical plant in Crosby, Tex., was in critical condition Tuesday night after its refrigeration system and inundated backup power generators failed, raising the possibility that the volatile chemicals on the site would explode.
Arkema, a maker of organic peroxides commonly used by the plastics and rubber industries, evacuated all personnel from the plant and was attempting to operate the facility remotely.
The materials must be kept at low temperatures; otherwise they could combust.
An employee at a neighboring company said the chemicals should be kept at a temperature of about 30 degrees.
“The situation at the Crosby site has become serious,” the company said on its Web page. “At this time, while we do not believe there is any imminent danger, the potential for a chemical reaction leading to a fire and/or explosion within the site confines is real.”
Arkema had shut down the plant last Friday, anticipating the storm before Harvey made landfall.
The company said that more than 40 inches of rain had already fallen and the site was “heavily flooded” and without electricity since early Sunday morning. Backup power generation failed too.
The company said it tried to transfer products from warehouses into diesel-powered refrigerated containers, but Tuesday afternoon it decided the danger was great enough to evacuate workers.
The company said it was working with officials from the Department of Homeland Security.
The worker from a neighboring facility, who asked for anonymity because she does not speak for her company, said that if all else fails, the “you get out and try not to be downwind.”
Arkema has plants in half a dozen countries, including 34 in the United States. Five of those, including Crosby, are located in Texas. As of 2015, there were 57 employees at the Crosby plant. The company website says that the chemicals it produces are used in countertops, paints, headlight assemblies, polystyrene cups and plates, and PVC pipes and packaging.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/08/29/texas-chemical-plant-in-critical-condition-raising-possibility-of-explosion/?utm_term=.7a03775dc8d1
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Dozens of Refinery Leaks Reported; More Toxic Spills Likely
Aug 30, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Mike Lee, Corbin Hiar and Hannah Northey
Tropical Storm Harvey has already caused dozens of spills at refineries and chemical plants along the Gulf Coast and could threaten the integrity of toxic waste sites.
While it could be months before the full environmental impact of the storm — including sewage overflows, leaking underground tanks, and seepage from thousands of submerged homes and cars — becomes clear, preliminary reports show refineries and chemical plants have released millions of pounds of toxic chemicals into the air and water.
"We've seen this as an ongoing issue every time there's a major storm," said Gretchen Goldman, research director at the Union of Concerned Scientists' Center for Science and Democracy.
The Gulf Coast in Texas and Louisiana is home to about 45 percent of the nation's refining capacity, along with hundreds of petrochemical plants and storage facilities. It's also dotted with toxic waste sites left by decades of heavy industry.
Refineries and chemical plants have reported more than 30 leaks, spills and other emissions to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality since the storm made landfall Friday. Dozens of other spills have been reported to the Coast Guard's National Response Center.
Some of the emissions happened as plants began to shut down ahead of the storm — Flint Hill Resources began flaring benzene from its refinery outside Corpus Christi, Texas, on Friday.
Chevron Phillips' Cedar Bayou chemical plant in Baytown began flaring chemicals as it shut down Monday. It was expected to release 766,000 pounds of chemicals, according to an estimate by the Sierra Club.
Other incidents were triggered by the storm itself. Lightning struck a unit at Dow Chemical Co.'s sprawling chemical plant in Freeport, Texas, on Sunday morning, according to a filing, and the plant released 34,000 pounds of benzene, toluene, carbon monoxide and other pollutants.
The heavy rain sank the floating lids on storage tanks at Exxon Mobil Corp.'s Baytown refinery, Valero Energy Corp.'s Houston refinery and Royal Dutch Shell PLC's Deer Park refinery, filings show.
By yesterday, an estimated 2 million pounds of chemicals had been released into the air, according to Environment Texas, which calculated the total based on state regulatory filings.
"People are already being exposed to cancer-causing chemicals," said Luke Metzger, the group's director. "We also know ... that people could get sick from being exposed to the bacteria or toxic chemicals that have spilled or leaked from these facilities or toxic waste dumps."
And more damage is likely. The storm was dumping torrential rains on southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana this morning. Motiva Enterprises LLC shut down its Port Arthur, Texas, refinery, the nation's biggest, at 5 a.m.
The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) is warning oil and chemical processing facilities to take extra precautions when they restart after the floodwaters recede.
"Restarting a refinery poses a significant safety risk," CSB Chairwoman Vanessa Allen Sutherland said in a statement earlier this week.
A safety alert issued by the agency urges facility workers to carefully follow established safety processes and provides a checklist of potential mechanical systems that may have been compromised by the storm and its aftermath.
"In the wake of the hurricane, adhering to appropriate safety management systems can mean the difference between a safe and uneventful startup and a serious incident," the alert said.
Refineries and chemical facilities in Corpus Christi are beginning to restart, according to IHS Markit, a market intelligence company.
But IHS said today that "a key limitation at the moment for producers, refiners and exporters along the Texas Gulf Coast is the shutdown of many key crude oil pipelines."
Plants in Houston will be slower to come back online. IHS noted that parts of the city may see an additional 8 to 12 inches of rain in the coming days, which will prevent the restart of some facilities and may force others to shut down.
The situation there "is still evolving and a full reckoning of the storm's impact is simply not possible at this point," IHS said.
The Union of Concerned Scientists reported in 2015 that refineries on the Gulf Coast faced a unique threat from severe weather driven by climate change. Many are built in low-lying areas, which exposes them to a variety of risks: Floodwaters can float storage tanks off their moorings, and water can seep into pipes and other components (Energywire, Nov. 13, 2015).
Superfund sites
Texas is home to 66 of U.S. EPA's Superfund sites, many of them in Houston and other coastal communities.
Floodwaters can spread their risk, said Mathy Stanislaus, who led EPA's Office of Land and Emergency Management during the Obama administration. The biggest danger likely comes from active cleanup sites where contamination happens at the surface and can leach into floodwaters, as well as underground tanks and storage vessels containing oil and chemicals that dot the Gulf Coast, Stanislaus said.
There are also submerged hazards, such as the 58-acre Brio Refining Inc. site, a former 1950s chemical reprocessing and refining facility in southern Harris County that involved the contamination of groundwater, surface soils and subsurface soils with hazardous chemicals.
Children have been swimming near the Brio site after the storm passed, said Wesley Highfield, a marine sciences professor at Texas A&M University's Galveston campus.
"They're kids. They don't get it," he said, before adding, "My kids aren't in it."
Highfield has collected samples of the runoff water to see whether the floods have increased the contamination from the site.
"It might not be as bad as we think," he said. "Or it could be a whole lot worse."
Stanislaus said there's a need to inform the public to steer clear of petroleum, chemical and toxic waste sites and for an intense post-investigation to determine how far pollutants may have spread, both on land and in homes.
"Given the huge chemical petroleum complex that's there," he added, "it's hard to know whether there's been a breaching."
Andrew Keese, a spokesman for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, said the agency is in "full emergency response" mode and evaluating Superfund sites as they become accessible. As floodwaters recede, Keese said, the TCEQ will continue working with EPA to determine whether sites have been breached and evacuations are necessary.
"Being able to respond has been difficult. In Houston, we're talking about areas that are currently underwater," he said. "What we're dealing with is a storm of magnitude that's never been seen before."
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/08/30/stories/1060059445
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