Shell Q1 profit rises 3% on new projects and refining

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s biggest oil company, reported an increase in first-quarter earnings on new projects and refining, according to Bloomberg.

Earnings excluding one-time items and inventory changes rose 3 percent to USD7.5 billion from a year ago, Shell said today in a statement. That beat the USD6.4 billion average estimate of 11 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Chief Executive Officer Peter Voser will retire in 2014.

Shell was "aided by the cold European winter and the benefit of a full quarter’s contribution from Pearl" gas-to-liquids project in Qatar, Lucas Herrmann, a London-based analyst at Deutsche Bank AG, said before the report was released.

U.K. gas prices were about 25 percent higher in the first quarter from a year earlier because of higher demand for heating. Shell is the fourth-largest gas supplier from the U.K. North Sea fields and together with Exxon Mobil Corp. is pumping the fuel from the Dutch Groningen field, one of the largest in the world.

Shell plans to raise volumes to about 4 million barrels a day as soon as 2017. The company has boosted output at its USD19 billion Pearl venture, reaching full capacity in January after a delay of about six months.

As MRC reported earlier, in February, 2013, Royal Dutch Shell took a final investment decision to increase production capacity at its Singapore petrochemical plant to meet demand for specialized materials used in the automotive and furniture industries. The upgrade will increase the plant's capacity to produce polyols -- industrial chemicals used to make high-quality foams -- by more than 100,000 tpy to 360,000 tpy. The project is expected to be completed in 2014.

Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - In early May, spot prices of dioctylphthalate (DOP) in Russia increased to Rb78,000/tonne, according to MRC Price Report.

In the first week of May, buying activity in the Russian market of dioctyl phthalate (DOP), due to the long holidays was weak.

However, the limited supply of material and increasing seasonal demand for DOP continue to bullish the market.

As MRC wrote earlier, in early April the increasing cost of diethylene glycol (DEG) resulted in rise in prices of plasticizer DOP in the Russian spot market by Rb3,000/tonne to the level of Rb70,000-72,000/tonne, including VAT and delivery.

The tightened supply of DOP resulted from the maintenance of "Gazprom neftekhim Salavat." The company stopped its DOP capaities on 20 April for the planned 30-days' maintenance.

According to preliminary information, Roshal and the Ural plants of plasticizers also plan to limit the supply of DOP in May because of a shortage of feedstock - phthalic anhydride.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Rosneft and Mitsui have signed an agreement to jointly develop the massive Far East Petrochemical Company (FEPCO) project, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The deal was signed by Rosneft president Igor Sechin and by Shintaro Ambe, representative director of Mitsui & Co., in the presence of the Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe.

FEPCO, a subsidiary of Rosneft, is developing the project. Processing capacity of the petrochemical complex is planned at 3.4 million tpy of hydrocarbon feedstock, predominantly naphtha. The capacity of ethylene and propylene production unit is planned at 2 million tpy.

The complex is expected to be started up in 2017. As part of the agreement, the parties said they plan to cooperate in engineering design in accordance with international best practices. Following the results of this cooperation, the final investment decision on FEPCO construction will be made.

"We are glad to join efforts with one of the leading Japanese companies to develop the largest petrochemical complex in the Far East," said Sechin.

"Implementation of the project in cooperation with Mitsui will enable us to optimize the petrochemical complex and use the best global practices of constructing plants of similar scale. Successful implementation of the project will facilitate development of technology intensive production and establishment of a production cluster in the Far East".
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Union workers at Exxon Mobil Corp.'s refinery in Baytown, Texas, are threatening to strike over safety concerns, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

About 850 union employees could halt work on June 15 at the 584,000-bpd refinery -- the second-largest in the US -- unless Exxon management agrees to contract language that the union says would improve health and safety at the sprawling fuels and chemical plant.

The USW has raised concerns about safety at the plant since June 2011, after a worker suffered burns on 25% of his body because of a problem with a steam vent valve.

The union said it proposed health and safety language from the 2012 National Oil Bargaining agreement but Exxon management refused to accept it in its final offer given April 15. The two sides will meet again on May 3, with a strike and management lockout planned if no agreement is reached, the union said in a statement.

"We're confident that an agreement can be reached with ExxonMobil and a strike averted," said Richard Landry, a spokesman for the USW local at Baytown.

The union said the safety language it is seeking is already in place at Exxon's refineries in Torrance, Calif.; Billings, Mont.; Chalmette, La.; and Beaumont, Texas.

Exxon has experienced a number of safety problems with its operations recently, including a major oil spill from a segment of its Pegasus pipeline in Arkansas and an April 17 fire at its 344,000-bpd Beaumont complex that injured 12 contract workers, three of them critically burned.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) is planning to produce polypropylene at a new plant to be set up at SOCAR sub-company Azerikimya Production Union, said Fibre2fashion.

Funds raised in 2013 through Eurobonds by the company will be utilized for the construction of this plant along with other projects of the company, stated Suleyman Gasimov, the SOCAR Vice President of Economic issues, abc.az reported.

Mr. Gasimov said that out of USD1 billion borrowed by the company, USD400 million is assigned for various expansion projects, including the polypropylene production plant at Azerkimya.

Polypropylene, a petrochemical by-product, is widely used in the textile industry as a raw material for making acrylic staple fibre, used in making blended fabrics.

SOCAR also plans to develop tanker export of liquid propylene, started in 2012.

In addition to exploring oil and gas fields, SOCAR produces, processes, and transports oil, gas, and gas condensate; markets petroleum and petrochemical products in domestic and international markets; and supplies natural gas to industry in Azerbaijan.

It has three production divisions, two oil refineries and one gas processing plant, an oil tanker fleet, a deep water platform fabrication yard, two trusts, one institution, and 22 subdivisions.

Moreover, the company has also entered into joint ventures in Georgia and Turkey.
MRC