The vast Colonial petrochemical pipeline stretching from Texas to New York was reaching full capacity again after resuming operations following the largest cyberattack ever experienced.
According to US President Joe Biden, “This is not like flicking on a light switch. It’s going to take some time, and there may be some hiccups. Services are expected to return fully to normal this weekend.” There have been conflicting reports about whether Colonial has paid a ransom to the hackers. Meanwhile, Biden noted that according to his intelligence briefings, the Russian state and Russian president Vladimir Putin were not involved in the ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline Co last week, which shut down its pipeline carrying gasoline and other petrochemical commodities, for six days.

Repsol has signed an agreement to acquire 40% of US solar and storage developer Hecate Energy, as part of efforts to diversify its renewables business. The acquisition of a stake in Hecate Energy is Repsol’s first foray into the US renewables market. Chicago based Hecate Energy has a portfolio of renewable projects totalling more than 40GW, out of which 16.8GW are PV projects with energy storage in advanced stages of development. Repsol will have the option of acquiring Hecate Energy’s outstanding shares three years after the closing of this transaction. Founded in 2012, Hecate has so far sold 2.6GW of renewable projects.

Germany has approved the new climate law by 2030, tightening the annual targets from 2024 and bringing the net zero to 2045. According to German’s Environment Minister Svenja Schulze, the new target for 2030 is a 65% reduction in CO2 emissions equivalent to an additional 102 million tons a year less for energy, industry, transport and heating in the largest European economy. The energy sector is the hardest hit with the emissions of power plants to 2030 that will have to limit to 108 million tons, in decrease of 38%, or 68 million tons regarding the previous objective aligned with the dates of closing of the coal. The most stringent objective could mean a faster exit from coal, with the law that sets only one date, that of 2038.

Royal Dutch Shell’s subsidiary, Equilon Enterprises LLC d/b/a Shell Oil Products U.S., has reached an agreement for the sale of its Puget Sound Refinery near Anacortes, Washington. The refinery is being sold to a subsidiary of HollyFrontier Corporation, an independent refiner headquartered in Texas, for $350 million in cash, plus the value of the hydrocarbon inventory. This inventory will be valued at closing based on actual volumes and prevailing market prices, although its current value is said to range from $150 million to $180 million. The deal covers the sale of Shell’s Puget Sound Refinery, the on-site cogeneration facility, and the associated logistics infrastructure, as well as the product offtake agreements in support of Shell’s existing retail marketing business in the Pacific Northwest. Shell’s off-site logistics assets are excluded from the deal.

The Malaysian state oil company Petronas has signed charter agreements for three new LNG carriers with South Korean shipowner Hyundai LNG Shipping. The ships will be used in a Canadian 14 million tones LNG project. Petronas is expected to receive the ships starting from the second quarter of 2024. Hyundai LNG Shipping has announced that it has already ordered them from the South Korean manufacturer Hyundai Heavy Industries. In 2018, Petronas made a final investment decision on the Canada LNG project, located in the Pacific coast of British Columbia. The project, designed for the export of Canadian LNG to Asian markets, is expected to enter service in 2024.

Equinor and Vårgrønn, the Norway-based renewable energy company founded by Hitecvision and Eni, have signed a collaboration agreement for the joint participation in the competitive procedure announced by the Norwegian authorities for the development of floating offshore wind farms in the Utsira Nord area, in the West of Utsira and Haugalandet in the Norwegian North Sea, one of the most important areas in the world with regard to the availability of wind resources. The Norwegian Ministry of the Oil and Energy, in fact, has identified two areas for the allocation of Sea concessions destined to the development of renewable offshore (Utsira Nord and Sễrlige Nordsjọ II) and the authorities are currently engaged in defining the tendering process.

Saudi petrochemical company SABIC is to take over the sales and marketing of about 5.4 million mt/year of Saudi Aramco’s chemicals and polymer products.
The move will center SABIC’s commercial focus on petrochemical products, while Aramco’s trading arm will center on fuel products, SABIC said April in its Q1 earnings report. As a result, SABIC said it will end up with about 900,000 mt/y of new products available for sale. SABIC will also sell benzene and MTBE to Aramco, which will be responsible for sourcing European cracker feedstock and benzene for SABIC exportations.

Indonesia will stop both LPG and fuel imports by 2030 and plans big changes to its energy infrastructure to meet that target. President Joko Widodo has tasked the National Energy Council, a board made up of seven ministries and other stakeholders that plans energy policy, to devise a strategy to allow for a halt on LPG and fuel imports. Once a former OPEC member, maturing fields and investment lags has turned Indonesia to a net importer of oil and gas. The president has for years announced steps to cut imports, in a bid to contain the country’s current account deficit.

In the first weeks of April, American gas exports to Mexico reached a peak of almost 7 billion cubic feet per day. The increase in supplies has been encouraged by the rise in temperatures in Mexico – around 25 degrees Celsius, about 5 degrees higher than the seasonal average – which have caused increased demand for electricity for air conditioning. At the beginning of April, Mexican power plants burned 4.6 billion cubic feet of gas per day; by April 2020, they had burned about 1 billion cubic feet less per day, but demand was negatively affected by the coronavirus pandemic. By April 2019, the gap had been 500 million cubic feet lower than current volumes.

Petrobras’ board of directors has elected Joaquim Silva e Luna to the position of CEO following a ceremony in Rio de Janeiro. Luna was the Brazilian General Director of Itaipu Binacional from February 2019 to April 2021. He is a reserve Army General and served in the Ministry of Defense from March 2014 to January 2019, as General Secretary of the Ministry and as Minister of Defense.
In his inauguration speech, which was broadcasted live, Luna said: “There is no doubt that the main challenges, among many others, are to make Petrobras increasingly stronger, working with a vision for the future, with safety, respect for the environment, for shareholders and for society in general, in order to ensure the highest possible return on the capital employed, to grow with the support of world-class oil and gas assets, in deep and ultradeep waters, relentlessly seeking low efficiency costs.”.