Saudi arabian Ma'aden to send first DAP shipment to India

(Arabian oil and gas) -- The Saudi arabian mining company Ma'aden has signed the first contract to sell 200 KT of diammonium phosphate (DAP) to the Indian company Zuari Industries Limited. The first shipment will be exported sometime between August 2011 and March 2012. The cost of the first shipment was USD 612 per tonne including the cost of shipment to India, which is equal to USD 590-USD 597 per tonne with Ras Tanura delivery.

The contract was signed on the sidelines of the International Fertilizer Conference in Montreal, in Canada. SABIC was in charge of the marketing. Ma'aden has declined to announce the commercial start-up of its complex located in Ras Ezzour, but company officials revealed that they expect the official start up in August.

The DAP project is developed in joint venture between Ma'aden which controls 70% of the project, and 30% for SABIC.

MRC

(Arabian oil and gas) -- ExxonMobil Corporation announced two major oil discoveries and a gas discovery in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico after drilling the company's first post-moratorium deepwater exploration well. The drilling was ExxonMobil's first since US President Barack Obama imposed a six-month moratorium on further drilling following the Deepwater Horizon disaster and subsequent oil spill in 2010.

The world's largest publicly-traded oil & gas comapny struck a second oil accumulation in Keathley Canyon block 919, around 250 miles southwest of New Orleans in approximately 7,000 feet of water.

The well encountered more than 475 feet of net oil pay and a minor amount of gas in predominantly Pliocene high-quality sandstone reservoirs.

MRC

(Reuters) - Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) offered 75 KT of July spot naphtha, while Tasweeq is expected to issue a spot tender for July volumes on Thursday or Friday this week, and these came shortly after the two sellers had sealed term deals, traders said on Tuesday.

They added the spot offers could have weighed on sentiment, which has remained weak as Asia's top buyer Formosa's cracker remains offline after it was shut following a fire at a pipeline on May 12.

Adnoc offered the spot cargo for July 1-15 loading, and will likely conclude the deal by late in the week. "They may sell more than 75 KT, but exactly how much more they have is not clear," said a trader.

It had in late May concluded term deals for three naphtha grades lifting July 2011 to June 2012 loading at premiums of USD 20.50-USD 24.50 a tonne to its own price formula on FOB basis.

MRC

(Plastemart) -- Equistar Chemicals- a LyondellBasell subsidiary, has signed an agreement to purchase approximately 200 miles of pipeline near Houston from BP. The pipelines and metering stations comprise a Houston area olefins distribution system transporting ethylene and propylene production from Channelview, Texas to Equistar's storage terminal at Mont Belvieu, Texas and facilities in Deer Park, La Porteand the Bayport Industrial District in Pasadena, Texas. The purchase also includes a natural gas liquids (NGL) feedstock supply line into Channelview.

Equistar currently holds a long-term lease for use of the pipelines, which are owned and operated by BP. Acquiring the pipelines provides Equistar with a secure, cost-effective transportation system for its ethylene and propylene production in the Houston area.

Equistar's pipeline group currently operates and maintains approximately 1.200 miles of pipeline in Texas, and transports approximately 20 bln lbs product and 80 million barrels of feedstock annually. An undetermined number of BP pipeline employees will join Equistar with the purchase.

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(Plastemart) -- Oil prices have dropped below USD 99 in Asia, amid signs of OPEC raising its crude production quotas at a meeting in Vienna. Oil for July delivery fell to USD 98.6 on the Nymex, while in London, Brent crude for July delivery dipped to USD 116.1 on the ICE Futures exchange.

OPEC leaders have been split this week over whether they should raise production. Saudi Arabia, the group's biggest supplier, has supported a price between USD 70-80 while Iran, the second-largest producer in OPEC, is against any output hike.


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