Page 15 - AsianOil Week 24

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ExxonMobil is reportedly
delaying the start-up of
its Beaumont refinery
expansion by a year,
because of the COVID-19
crisis.

is settling on that meeting and there are many acted lawfully in allowing the project to cross
pieces to pick up and look at this week. under the Appalachian Trail. A lower court
The first signs of how Iraq may find its ruling had been holding up construction on
way out of the competing demands of cut- the pipeline.
ting its oil production to meet the OPEC The ruling was considered to be the main
quota, balancing its budget and finding obstacle for the $8bn pipeline, which will have
agreement with the various international oil the capacity to carry 1.5bn cubic feet (42.5mn
companies (IOCs) operating in the country cubic metres) per day of gas from the Marcellus
are being seen. It is not difficult to predict shale to North Carolina and West Virginia.
that there will be many twists and turns on And the ruling is also good news for the
the road ahead. Mountain Valley pipeline, with operator EQM
One country which is not affected by the Midstream Partners also hoping to route the
OPEC quota scheme but has been massively hit project across the Appalachian Trail and some
by the underlying economic malaise is Lebanon. bodies of water regulated by the US Fish and
It is not so long ago since its government was Wildlife Service.
setting out its stall by predicting significant oil Indeed, EQM announced last week that the
and gas finds; the first search – in Block 4 – has Mountain Valley pipeline, which is around 92%
found no potentially commercial reservoirs but complete, was now expected to enter service in
a second search is due to follow later this year. early 2021.
However, events on the ground – such as massive On the Gulf Coast, meanwhile, ExxonMobil
unemployment and poverty followed by protests is reportedly delaying the start-up of its Beau-
and clashes – threaten to undermine the coun- mont refinery expansion by a year as it grapples
try’s efforts to find green shoots in its energy and with depressed demand as a result of the coro-
tourism sectors. navirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Citing sources
A notable event is the progress of integration familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reported
moves in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, where QP and that the project was now anticipated to start up
Aramco have announced efforts to strengthen in 2023 instead of 2022.
their presence in their respective petrochemical The expansion will make Beaumont one of
businesses. the largest two refineries in the US, along with
Motiva Enterprises’ plant in Port Arthur, Texas.
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping It entails adding a crude distillation unit (CDU)
the Middle East’s oil and gas sector then please click with a capacity of 250,000 bpd, lifting the Beau-
here for NewsBase’s MEOG Monitor. mont refinery’s overall capacity to 619,000 bpd.
ExxonMobil had been planning the expan-
Mixed fortunes for US mega-projects sion to help accommodate its growing crude
Some good news came for two major US pipe- production in the Permian Basin. However, the
line projects this week, even as the oil and gas super-major scaled back its Permian drilling
industry continues to be affected by the mar- plans dramatically this year as the downturn
ket downturn and a major Gulf Coast refining took hold.
expansion delay has also been reported.
On June 15, the US Supreme Court upheld If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
a permit for Dominion Energy’s Atlantic Coast the North American oil and gas sector then please click
pipeline, ruling that the Forest Service had here for NewsBase’s NorthAmOil Monitor.™

Week 24 18•June•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P15