INEOS ChlorVinyls announces SPVC prices for June 2013

MOSCOW (MRC) -- INEOS ChlorVinyls announced price increase for polyvinyl chloride (PVC) effective from 1 June 2013, said the Switzerland-based producer at its site.

The prices of pipe grade suspension PVC delivered in bulk in Europe is at EUR1,035/metric tonne; for pipe grade suspension PVC delivered in bulk in UK/Ireland - GBR935/metric tonne.

As MRC wrote earlier, Ineos and Solvay agreed to merge their chlorvinyls activities into a EUR 4.3 billion (USD5.6 billion) 50-50 joint venture. The combination would form a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) producer that will rank among the top three worldwide. The combined business would have around 5650 employees across nine countries and would pool each company's assets across the entire chlorvinyls chain. This includes PVC, which is the third most-used plastic in the world, caustic soda and chlorine derivatives.

INEOS ChlorVinyls is one of the major chlor-alkali producers in Europe, a global leader in chlorine derivatives and Europe's largest PVC manufacturer.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil’s chemical plant in Singapore is now producing ethylene from the facility’s second world-scale steam cracker, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing with reference to the company's announcement.

As MRC informed previously, ExxonMobil started operations at this ethylene steam crackers in Singapore in early 2013.

The expansion is integrated with the existing petrochemical plant.

Over the next few weeks, the petrochemical complex, powered by a 375-megawatt cogeneration plant, will increase production at its three polyethylene plants, two polypropylene plants, a specialty metallocene elastomers unit and the expanded oxo-alcohol and aromatics units.

"This expansion gives ExxonMobil unparalleled feedstock flexibility in the industry and positions the Singapore petrochemical complex well to serve growth markets from China to the Indian sub-continent and beyond," said Matthew Aguiar, chairman and managing director of ExxonMobil Asia Pacific.

ExxonMobil completed construction of the expansion in December 2012 and is producing commercial grades of new products, such as specialty metallocene elastomers, for the first time in the Asia Pacific region.

"We successfully completed the commissioning of the steam cracker and we are now focused on ensuring that the plant operates safely and reliably," said Georges Grosliere, venture executive and manufacturing director of the Singapore plant for ExxonMobil Chemical.

ExxonMobil has operated in Singapore for 120 years and is one of Singapore’s largest foreign manufacturing investors. The company has expanded refining and petrochemical production in Singapore to meet expected demand for transportation fuels and the chemicals used for plastics and other manufacturing across the Asia Pacific region.

ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3 percent of the world"s oil and about 2 percent of the world's energy. Exxon Mobil's first quarter 2013 earnings were USD9.5 billion, up 1% from the first quarter of 2012.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Prices of Russian dioctylphthalate plasticiser (DOP) have not increased despite an emergency stop of Gazprom neftekhim Salavat, according to MRC analysts.

As MRC wrote earlier, on 28 May, there was a fire the facility of Monomer, subsidiary of Gazprom neftekhim Salavat , resulting in the outage of the production of alcohol and plasticiser DOP.

Gazprom neftekhim Salavat has started production of DOP plasticizer only in the beginning of last week after the scheduled maintenance, which had begun on 20, April. But because of the accident at the alcohols production the output of DOP plasticiser was halted again.

Market participants expect that the production of DOP plasticiser in Salavat to be resumed next week.

By early June, the price of Russian DOP remain at the level of the second half of May and is in the range of Rb79,000-80,000/tonne, including VAT and delivery.

Buying activity in the market is weak and buyers of DOP decided to postpone their purchases until the start of production at Salavat.

In addition, the growth of prices of Russian DOP is capped by sufficient supply of imported plasticiser. The plasticiser di-isononyl phthalate (DINP) from Turkey is available on average at Rb80,500/tonne, inclusive of VAT. The offers for European DOP are voiced at Rb79,500/tonne, inclusive of VAT.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- In May, prices for Russian bottle PET in Russia remained stable and were supported by strong demand from domestic consumers of material, according to MRC Price report.

The increased buying activity of Russian companies and shortage of domestic spot PET volumes supported PET prices in May. In the first half of the summer, PET prices in Russia are most likely to remain the same with a possiblity of a further growth, said a Russian producer. The current PET price level will be maintained by the shortage of spot volumes in the domestic market on the back of stronger demand. In case of the expected hot summer, demand for feedstocks for PET preforms production might grow further, said a converter.

The shutdown for a scheduled turnaround at Bashkir plant Polief might result in an even greater shortage of Russian material. Also, the expected cutback in production at the Belarusian plant Mogilevkhimvolokno will reduce the availability of Belarusian PET in the Russian market this summer.

Meanwhile, the self-cost of PET granulate, bought in Asia a month earlier and already delivered to the Central Region, is by Rb4,500-5,500/tonne lower than the current spot price range of Russian granulate.

Export prices of Asian granulate for the CIS buyers have not changed either. Last week of May, purchase prices of Chinese PET were heard at USD1,410-1,420/tonne FOB China. The material of Korean PET producers was traditionally offered at more expensive prices. The price spread of Korean feedstock was heard at USD1,420-1,450/tonne FOB Korea.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Oil output in Russia, the world's biggest producer, edged up 0.1% to 10.48 million barrels per day in May to reach a 2013 high thanks to production build-up by the top producer Rosneft, said Upstreamonline.

Russian May oil output stood at 44.328 million tonnes according to Energy Ministry data. However, natural gas production plunged 9% in May, month-on-month, on the back of output decline at state-owned Gazprom due to weak seasonal demand.

Revenues from oil and gas production account for about half of Russia's state budget and are closely watched as an indicator of the health of the country's USD2 trillion economy.

The oil production level matched last December's output and is shy of November's post-Soviet high of 10.50 million bpd. This was higher than 9.35 million bpd pumped last month by Saudi Arabia, which potentially can produce more than Russia but the kingdom is limited by Opec-inflicted quota to prop up crude prices.

On Friday, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed to retain the group's 30 million bpd output target through the rest of the year.

Rosneft's crude production inched up 0.15% last month from April's level thanks to increasing output at its new Vankor field in East Siberia. Output levels at TNK-BP, which Rosneft acquired this year for USD55 billion, rose 0.4%.

Rosneft became the world's top listed crude producer after it bought TNK-BP with hydrocarbon production of 4.6 million barrels per day of oil equivalent.

The Energy Ministry published Rosneft's and TNK-BP data separately. Natural gas production fell to 1.7 billion cubic metres a day as Gazprom's output declined 11% to 1.18 Bcm a day.

As MRC wrote before, Rosneft and Mitsui have signed an agreement to jointly develop the massive Far East Petrochemical Company (FEPCO) project. The complex is expected to be started up in 2017.
MRC