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Hindustan Organic Chemicals to Temporarily Shut Phenol Plant

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Hindustan Organic Chemicals (BOM:500449) said its phenol plant in Kochi, Kerala will undergo a temporary shutdown for 10 days starting May 23, according to a BSE filing on Friday.

Shares of the company rose around 1% in Monday's trade.

The shutdown is planned to facilitate statutory testing of supply of BPCL LPG cross-country pipeline, the company said in the filing. It also plans to carry out some shutdown activities in certain equipment and pipelines, the filing said.

The hydrogen peroxide plant will continue operations during the shutdown period, it added.

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Update: Market Chatter: Europe to Face 'Critical' Natual Gas Shortfall if Hormuz Disruptions Persist, Equinor Says

(Updates with Equinor statement from paragraphs 7 to 9.)Senior executives at Norwegian energy company Equinor (EQNR) believe Europe could be staring at a 'critical' shortage of gas inventories if shipping traffic from the vital Strait of Hormuz conduit remains disrupted for one to three months from now, according to a Reuters report on Thursday.European Union targets require member states to ensure gas storage reserves are at least 90% full before the onset of winter. To meet these targets, members need to increase their gas reserves during the northern hemisphere summer but lower supplies and distorted prices are slowing down efforts to build up reserves, the report said.According to Gas Infrastructure Europe, EU gas storage levels remained below 37%, standing at 36.87% of capacity compared with 45.16% a year earlier.While building up inventories for the next winter already appeared difficult in early March, there has been little progress since with winter gas prices curreltly lower than summer prices, the report said.Equinor Senior Vice President for Gas & Power Trading Helle Ostergaard Kristiansen told Reuters that if the war stopped immediately and free flow through the Strait resumed quickly, storage levels could reach an acceptable, though tight, 75%. However, if the closure continued for one to three months, the situation could become critical, Kristiansen said.According to Equinor Vice President for Gas Trading, Peder Bjorland, the market could likely correct the situation on its own through price signals. Higher gas prices could reduce gas use by encouraging a shift to coal, greater use of renewable energy, and lower fuel demand from industries, which could help restore balance in the market, he added.In a statement shared with, Equinor said it expected the risks to increase, with much depending on when the Iran war will end with flows expected to take some time to normalize after that.Europe's dependence on mild weather and strong renewable energy production is increasing and the situation is expected to get more challenging, the longer the continent waits to refill storage, the statement said."Forward prices are still lower than spot levels, meaning there are currently no commercial incentives to start filling the storages," the statement added. "If individual countries introduce strict storage requirements now, there is a risk that European countries will bid against each other to meet targets, thereby pushing prices even higher."(Market Chatter news is derived from conversations with market professionals globally. This information is believed to be from reliable sources but may include rumor and speculation. Accuracy is not guaranteed.)

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Commodities

NWS Forecasts Critical Fire Weather Risks in Nevada, Texas; Thunderstorms in Texas, Northeast

The US National Weather Service on Monday said Oregon and Nevada are expected to experience elevated to critical fire weather conditions through Tuesday due to the presence of gusty winds and low humidity.Meanwhile, the region stretching from Texas to the Northeast is likely to encounter showers and thunderstorms through Tuesday, with heavy rains likely to result in potential localized areas of flash flooding across the central Gulf Coast into the Appalachians.The NWS early Monday issued a red flag warning for Nevada's Gerlach, McDermitt, Lovelock, Fallon, and Winnemucca. Berkshire Hathaway Energy unit NV Energy is among the electricity service providers in these areas.In California, a red flag warning was raised for Alturas, Likely, Canby, Cedarville, Susanville, and Bieber, primarily served by PacifiCorp's Pacific Power and PG&E (PCG) unit Pacific Gas and Electric Company.Also placed under a similar warning were Utah's Silver Lake, Paisley, and Adel, primarily served by Pacific Power.A red flag waring was also issued for Montana's Plentywood, Glasgow, Sidney, Circle, Glendive, and Terry. MDU Resources (MDU) unit Montana-Dakota Utilities is among the major service providers in these places.Meanwhile, a flood warning was raised for Ohio's Jackson, New Lexington, Zanesville, Findlay, Columbus, and areas near Mansfield and Canton. First Energy (FE) subsidiary Ohio Edison, and the Ohio units of American Electric Power (AEP) and AES (AES) are among the major electricity providers in the affected areas.West Virginia's Clarksburg, Sutton, Fairmont, and Elkins, primarily served by FirstEnergy unit Mon Power, were among the areas covered under a flood warning watch.The NWS also issued flood warnings for certain pockets of Washington, Georgia, Louisiana, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, and Mississippi.

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Commodities

Fintech Firm OKX to Launch Brent, WTI-based Perpetual Future Contracts

Blockchain technology and trading company OKX and the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) plan to launch a perpetual futures contract based on the ICE's Brent Crude and West Texas Intermediate crude oil benchmarks, OKX said on Friday.The contracts will be available to trade on OKX's platform in locations where OKX is permitted to offer perpetual futures. OKX described the contracts as "a major step forward" in expanding access to global commodity markets using digital technology.OKX said ICE's Brent and WTI futures will underpin the perpetual contracts on OKX's platform. Brent and WTI contracts on ICE expire after a certain period of time, but the perpetual contracts trading on OKX's blockchain platform will not have an expiry date.This is OKX's first collaboration with ICE, which operates some of the world's largest exchanges and clearing houses for financial assets, after the two formed a strategic relationship in March.Haider Rafique, Global Managing Partner at OKX said that the presence of Brent and WTI among perpetual futures assets responds to demand from the market for this kind of asset and he said it would give retail traders access to the world's main energy benchmarks.OKX describes itself as a fintech company known for its global cryptocurrency trading platform.

$ICE