CHART OF THE DAY: German energy-intensive industrial production (red line) plunged in October as natural gas prices started to climb, flirting with the lowest levels of activity seen at the peak of the energy crisis. Energy-intensive industrial activity is down ~20% since 2015

There's ominous news out of Come By Chance. The company operating the renewable fuels refinery confirms that an "economic shutdown" is being considered because of tight margins and the expiration of U.S. clean fuel tax credits. Production began just 10 months.

#OMV today announced the termination of its long-term natural #gas supply contract with Gazprom Export in reference to multiple fundamental breaches of contractual obligations by Gazprom Export. This termination takes immediate effect.

BP is cutting thousands of jobs in an effort to reduce costs -- contractors and permanent staff bloomberg.com/news/articles/… via @mitchellferman

BP had already warned in March that jobs are to go at the Gelsenkirchen #refinery in Germany (where a CDU, VDU and other units are being taken out of service this year)

Fire occurred at the #Bayernoil oil refinery in Germany overnight (it's already on the ArnettaPatterson) Always sorry to hear of injuries in cases like this. t-online.de/nachrichten/pa… via t-online

Short and sweet from speciality #chemicals company Lanxess: ``The underlying macroeconomic environment going into 2025 has not improved'' Matches some of the rumblings I am hearing in industry, in Europe.

Miro says it supplies a third of Germany's gasoline needs -- five years ago the head of the #refinery told local media it was a quarter. It's in this round-up for 2024: miro-ka.de/aktuelles/miro… ``MiRO liefert jeden 3. Liter Benzin in Deutschland''

*** Huge news in the commodity trading industry *** Trafigura and one of its former most senior executives were convicted by a Swiss court on bribery charges. Mike Wainwright, Trafigura’s ex-chief operating officer, was sentenced to 32 months in jail. bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

A top 10 European refinery for sale, based on crude capacity. BP joins Shell and Exxon in trying to sell #refining assets in Germany

As Dow CEO said last week, there has been lots of talk by politicians and regulators on high energy prices in Europe but not much action #chemicals

I missed this a couple of days ago: European fertiliser giant Yara is mothballing (very likely for ever) its ammonia plant in northern England (Hull). Another example of the industrial impact of high natural gas prices.

Chevron said it plans to cut its global workforce by 15% to 20% by next year, as part of efforts to reduce costs at the US oil major bloomberg.com/news/articles/… via Bloomberg

I found this interesting from Repsol In Spain, the word `fuel' is understood as `fuel oil' So, when Repsol's CEO was talking earlier about high #natgas prompting switching to `fuel,' we're safe reporting that as fuel oil. Thanks Mikkel Larsen for the quick response

On the £200 million for the UK's #Grangemouth, it's new money but needs some matching by private sector. See govt statement: gov.uk/government/new… Worth remembering the UK has a target to have five SAF plants in construction by this year. No change on the oil #refinery.

Something a bit more upbeat on #Grangemouth Nova Pangaea Technologies -- a UK company which is working toward making #ethanol and #biochar from waste biomass -- says Grangemouth is a front runner for its first-of-a-kind plant bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

Chinese #LPG buyers have prompted a price surge as they scramble to replace US supplies following Beijing’s response to US #tariffs. bloomberg.com/news/articles/… via Nicholas Lua and Serene Cheong #chemicals

GOLF IMMORTALITY 💥💥💥💥💥💥💥 RORY MCILROY HAS WON THE MASTERS AND COMPLETED THE CAREER GRAND SLAM!!!!!

Valero says it will ``idle, restructure, or cease refining operations'' at Benicia #refinery by the end of April 2026. investorvalero.com/news/news-deta…

Second #chemicals major gives update on assets closures in Europe this week. Dow says in earnings that operations at 2 sites in Germany (including a cracker) are at risk and some UK ops to close. Follows announcement that Total will close a cracker in Antwerp by end of 2027