LOOP Crude Loadings Swing in Short Time Span

A dramatic swing occurred at a major U.S. Gulf Coast port facility during the first two months of 2021. Read about it, along with other recent developments, in this review of popular downstream-related articles on Rigzone from last week.

Oil Exports from Offshore Louisiana Facility Fall to Zero

The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP) set a record in January in terms of loading domestic crude onto supertankers bound for ports in Asia. February was another story, however. For the first time in nearly two years, LOOP exported no crude last month, Bloomberg reported. An analyst interviewed by the news agency pointed out that crude inventories in Asia, particularly China, are high. In addition, he noted that China’s refineries are nearing their maintenance season.

Exxon Filing Shows 98% Oil Sands Reserves Drop

Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) recently swept nearly all of its reserves of dense, heavy crude in Western Canada’s Oil Sands from its books, Bloomberg revealed. The accounting maneuver stems from the past year’s oil price crash, and the high cost of extracting oil sands crude raises the profitability bar for those operations, the news agency pointed out. Although the scope of the reserves revision was unprecedented in ExxonMobil’s modern history, the company can put them back on its ledger as oil prices go up, Bloomberg added.

Shell to License Tech for New Refinery

A 300,000-barrel-per-day refinery that PT Pertamina (Persero) and Rosneft Oil Co. (OTCMKTS: OJSCY) are building in Indonesia will apply Shell technology. Shell Catalysts and Technologies revealed that it has signed a licensing and basic engineering agreement for its processes to be deployed at the grassroots facility. In addition to a refinery, the site – located in the city of Tuban in East Java province – will boast a petrochemicals complex to produce ethylene, aromatic hydrocarbons, and polyethylene. The anticipated completion date of the integrated complex is 2025.

To contact the author, email mveazey@rigzone.com.