[Joshua Lege]

It seems that they arent so much gearing up as they are trying to complete what they had started… My new information is that they are going to put all large vessels in place.  The large cranes they have rented will be utilized to put them in place due to the long wait they would have to incur to get them back at the facility.  I also was informed that the cost of the laydown yards that Motiva has rented is costing them tons. And they have tons of them all over the place, more than I previously thought.  Also it seems they have stopped hiring new operators and the operators that were just recently hired are being used in strange ways, or soon will be used as maintance helpers very soon by the companys needs or a union negotiated agreement.  And Motiva is still searching for answers of where all the money that was in the contractors hands went.  But it should be known that the large towers and vessels will be erected but piping will be done at a later date not known at this time.  But the look from the highway or  casual observer seems like they are banging away. This cant be farther from the truth…..as it was told to me its taking everything they have to do what they can and control costs while having the ability to finish if and when funding real funding is approved again…. Now funding a small amount at that was approved and recieved but it was to keep the project moving forward on the erection of towers and not on piping or other structures.
Hope this brings a few of us up to speed on the project as it stands right now

[Joshua Lege]

well since i havent seen anyone keep the discussion going here is what i found today.
BUY OR SELL-Should heavy crude cost as much as light?
BY Reuters
3:55 PM ET 08/12/2009

By Joshua Schneyer
NEW YORK, Aug 12 (Reuters) – Heavy, sour crude has rallied against light, sweet crude in recent months, bringing grades like Mexico’s Maya <O#MYA-> and U.S. Mars sour <MRS-> into close range with light-sweet crudes, such as West Texas Intermediate <CLc1>.
Maya’s discount to WTI is around $4.63 a barrel, well below 2008’s $11.60 a barrel and the five-year average of $13.15. (Click here for a graphic: http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/089/CMD_SP0809.jpg ) Mars is trading at a rare premium to WTI.
Light/sweet crude normally fetches large premiums since it is easier to refine into prized light fuel. But high inventories of light crude and fuels, along with OPEC supply cuts, have helped boost heavy grades.
Higher heavy prices are bad news for refiners like Valero <VLO.N> that invested billions to process more sludgy crude. Many heavy crude producers, as well as traders who stockpile crude or arbitrage spreads, profit from the unusual spreads.
Are heavy/sour crudes about to strengthen even further?
BUY
Heavy crude may rally in coming months, and big discounts for heavy crude may never return, some experts say.
“OPEC has been cutting supply of mostly heavy/sour crude and that’s going to continue. A light crude glut in the U.S. will continue to pressure the price of near-term WTI. That will strengthen heavy,” a Houston-based cash crude broker said.
OPEC agreed to cut output by 4.2 million barrels since late 2008, restricting shipments of heavy/sour crude.
“Much of OPEC production is “heavy”, as well as high sulfur. Thus their unpredictable actions, expectation of actions, cheating, not cheating (or) changing outputs can bring a huge change in light-heavy price differentials very quickly,” said Carl Holland, head of Energy Trading Solutions.
A trader said refiner investments in coker units to process more sludgy crude may keep heavy crude differentials strong.
The high price of heavy products like fuel oil versus light products helps heavy crude, which renders more heavy fuel.
U.S. Gulf Coast residual fuel oil traded at 92 percent of the value of WTI on Tuesday, up from an average ratio of between 70 to 75 percent before this year, a trader said.
SELL
Some believe heavy crude’s heyday may soon end. Brad Samples, analyst at Summit Energy, said light oil demand should recover on economic recovery in OECD countries.
“I wouldn’t expect spreads favoring more heavy or sour crudes to widen more,” Samples said. “By the end of 2009 we’ll probably see demand begin recovering for the lighter crude.”
Historically low natural gas prices give power plants a cheap alternative to burning residual fuel, Samples said.
“I see (light/sweet) crude getting somewhat stronger than sour over next month or so. We could see tightness in sweet grades due to maintenance in the North Sea,” said another cash crude trader.
“I think sweet grades will remain in demand as refiners opt to minimize distillate fuel production and keep gasoline supplies at adequate levels.”
(Additional reporting Joe Silha; Editing by David Gregorio)

[Joshua Lege]

whats curious to me charlie, is the decrease in margins on sour crude
 
i thought most of the oil being pulled was sour crude, thus giving it a lower value and its complex needs in refining gave it an extra spread
 
has the currents switched back to med or light due to many refinerys being retrofitted to run sour?
 
also who are you concerned wont make it out of this recession?…. especially ones on the channel….. 

[Joshua Lege]

that lyondell always sends a big group, and shares just as big… congrats steve

[Joshua Lege]

SORRY GUYS FOR SOME REASON ITS NOT SIGNING ME ON, ITS DELETEING THE COOKIE SO I DONT NOTICE I AM NOT LOGGED IN!
 
I try to keep up on the Golden Triangle PetroChemical Industry Info, I’m from there, went to Lamar University, and Lamar Institute of Technolgy.  I have at least one credible friend that works at every one of the plants there in the area.   Most went to LIT with me.  Its amazing how we get dispursed in industry after college. I am one of a few who left the area and got hired on with a company outside the Beaumont-Port Arthur area.  I just wish this area supported the oil industry as much as most in the Golden Triangle community do.  I guess not enough dads and family members work at these facilitys here in Houston to invoke ownership or care when a contract comes up or flares are burning.  The only thing i hear when these facilitys flare is, how bad it is for the enviroment… not I guess mom or dad is having a bad day.  It kills me to see the opportunity to build or finish building motiva has maybe been squandered for the time being.

[Joshua Lege]

that was me that talked about the LNG plants and the tank storage, dont know why it put me as guest… oh well it was super early in the morning maybe i didnt sign in.
 
Yeah this project was not planned and executed properly.
Its sad, but kinda ok by me seeing i took a job at a diffrent refinery, who is now in  chapter 11, over motiva.  Im sure for years to come motiva or the place i am working at will be having headaches due to piss poor planning!

[Joshua Lege]

Workers may strike at 11 Houston-area refineries
By L.M. SIXEL Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
Jan. 28, 2009, 11:08PM

/**/

Workers at 11 area refineries and chemical plants could go on strike as early as Sunday if ongoing negotiations fail to produce a new contract.
Labor agreements that cover 30,000 energy and chemical workers nationwide, including 4,200 Houston-area employees, expire at 12:01 a.m. Sunday. Key remaining sticking points are wages, medical insurance, and health and safety concerns, said Alan Barnes, treasurer of the United Steelworkers union Local 13-1.
So far, union negotiators have rejected two contract offers. The most recent one called for a 2.5  percent raise the first year and 2  percent raise in each of the second and third years of the contract, Barnes said.
The union, which is meeting in Austin with officials from Shell Oil Co., lead negotiator for the energy industry, have said previously that workers are seeking substantial wage increases. Barnes said union officials were waiting for another contract offer to arrive late Wednesday.
Local facilities affected by the contract talks include Shells Deer Park refinery, chemical plant and chemical lab; BPs Texas City refinery and chemical plant; INEOS NOVA chemical in Texas City; Chevron-Phillips Chemical Co.s plant in Pasadena; LyondellBasell Industries refinery in Houston; BP Pipeline; and Pasadena Refining System.
Squeezed margins
While union officials say theyre ready to strike if they must, theyd be doing it at a time of squeezed refining margins the difference between what a refiner pays for a barrel of crude and what it gets for the products made from it.
If they do walk out, companies could save money in the long run because of very, very poor margins in the current market, said Peter Beutel, oil analyst and president of Cameron Hanover in New Canaan, Conn. He pointed out he is not taking a side.
On Tuesday, Valero Energy Corp. said it was shutting down its refinery in Texas City instead of keeping parts of it open while it performs regular maintenance. Typically, a refinery keeps running units that arent undergoing work so its owner can keep selling products.
BP told employees and union leaders it would not train replacement workers to operate refineries in the event of a strike. Spokesman Michael Marr said that the company believed that strike training would stop or even reverse its progress on a safety initiative. Marr said the company is optimistic about reaching an agreement.
Backups at LyondellBasell
LyondellBasells Houston refinery has trained management personnel to operate its 700-acre plant, spokesman David Harpole said. About 500 refinery workers are represented by the union.
Tom Strifler, vice president of manufacturing for INEOS NOVA, said the chemical plant in Texas City is down and hasnt been restarted since Hurricane Ike. The company doesnt plan to restart until market conditions improve. Marathons refinery in Texas City and Exxon Mobils in Baytown also are part of the bargaining, but their contracts dont expire until later.
Even if a national deal is agreed upon, workers at individual refineries can strike over local issues. And Barnes said thats a possibility for the 900 workers at Shells Deer Park refinery and chemical plant.
One of the sticking points is a proposal by Shell to limit the amount of overtime each employee can work to 30 percent of their normal annual hours to prevent fatigue. But management reserves the right to waive the rule and requires some employees to work more overtime than the cap permits, said Barnes.
The union also is upset with Shells proposal to stop using a seniority system for assignments and to replace more employees with contract workers, said Barnes.
Shell is committed to providing a safe workplace for our employees, contractors and local communities, said David McKinney, communications manager at Shell Deer Park. The changes we propose in the contract with USW regarding overtime and excessive job changes are intended to do just that.

[Joshua Lege]

At least one project in my old stomping grounds is still on track!
 
 

[Joshua Lege]

LOL, yeah he won’t get too much love here![:D]

[Joshua Lege]

Are you saying that because they ran the lines incorrectly that the project is on hold, or that after they put in those lines the project would be put on hold…?
 
Its amazing to me that it has so quickly stopped, but i do believe it would have just kept on going if the money was still flowing from high oil prices and high demand. I am starting to believe that any of these updates or builds are just trouble from the start. 
 
It sounds like you know the area, i worked at the BASF Naptha Cracker project, in Port Arthur, and that job was a headache, i loved the story that they started the unit up but was unable to get flow in various places in the unit.  They then had to use robots with cameras on them to run the lines.  They found blinds welded into the lines, with various words on them, one i that i liked said FU Zachary, lol, funny but not funny when you are trying to start up a multi-million dollar unit.  Anyway, im always amazed at the way these projects go and the firms that build them.. They have great workers but seem to abuse them at every turn.
 
JL

[Joshua Lege]

I had heard that there was some budget issues, but i just couldnt believe it ran that high when my contact told me that number.  I took a wait and see position from posting that figure, the scale and insanity of what has occured down there is just mind numbing…..
 
They are doing a turn around right now as well as some CEP work right now.
 
Some believe that they burned through more money in waste than they used to do the true expainsion.

[Joshua Lege]

i hate to say it, due to being in the industry and would like to see oil stabilize but, i hope this play eats there lunch and they stop messing with oil, at least for a while.

[Joshua Lege]

I wonder if anyone will make a play on expainsion during this down time with contractor cost and material cost going down, it would be a great time to negotiate a expainsion contract.
 
Demand will come back and when it does someone could make big bucks now in this downturn turns into a upswing…..

[Author]

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