Marathon defers Garyville refinery upgrader plans, citing market conditions

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Marathon Petroleum is delaying the final investment decision (FID) on its planned residual oil upgrader expansion at its 522,000-bpd Garyville refinery in Louisiana, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

"We believe this project has great potential returns, but we are deferring a final investment decision as we further evaluate the implications of current market conditions on the project," CEO Gary R. Heminger said in a statement issued with regards to the company's 2015 capital investment plan.

The company's investment plan of USD2.53 billion includes USD1.28 billion for its refining and marketing segment and USD659 million for its pipeline transportation business.

Within the refining business, roughly USD235 million is earmarked for midstream investments and USD370 million for refining margin enhancement projects.

"Our focus for refining in 2015 is to invest in projects that enhance our overall return," Heminger said.

"For example, we are continuing to invest in projects to improve connectivity between our Galveston Bay and Texas City refineries, which will allow us to realize additional synergies through the integration of these two refineries."

As MRC wrote earlier, Marathon Petroleum has closed its transaction with BP to purchase several assets, including the 451,000 bpd refinery located in Texas City, Texas.

Marathon Oil Corporation is a United States-based oil and natural gas exploration and production company. Principal exploration activities are in the United States, Norway, Equatorial Guinea, Poland, Angola and Iraqi Kurdistan.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Huntsman has announced it will begin construction on a 25,000 t capacity expansion programme at its world-scale polyetheramine facility in Singapore in the first half of 2015, taking the annual total capacity to 50,000 tons, according to GV.

Huntsman said it is investing USD 100 million for this latest expansion at its Jurong Island facility, which will also include backward integration to produce polyethers from locally sourced feedstocks. This project is intended to help the company meet growing global demand for polyetheramines. Construction of the new facilities is expected to be completed in the second half of 2016.

"We expect demand for our amines products to increase across all regions over the next decade, particularly in Asia-Pacific - where volume is set to grow by at least 10 % per year," noted Huntsman President and CEO, Peter R. Huntsman.

"Combined with our other existing polyetheramine manufacturing facilities in Conroe, Texas, and Llanelli, Wales, the expansion at our Jurong site will help us respond more quickly to customer demand, not only in the rapidly growing Asia market, but also around the globe," Stu Monteith, President of Huntsman's Performance Products division added.

As MRC wrote before, last year, the performance products division of Huntsman expanded its global polyetheramines (PEA) capacity by nearly 15% as a result of debottlenecking three of its PEA manufacturing plants globally. Expansion was done in the Americas, Europe and Asia. The company's projects at its Conroe, Texas (US), Llanelli, Wales (UK) and Singapore sites had become fully operational by May 2014.

Huntsman is a global manufacturer and marketer of differentiated chemicals. Our operating companies manufacture products for a variety of global industries, including chemicals, plastics, automotive, aviation, textiles, footwear, paints and coatings, construction, technology, agriculture, health care, detergent, personal care, furniture, appliances and packaging.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Prices of pipe grade high density polyethylene (HDPE) grew in the Russian market in February, despite weak seasonal demand, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

Prices of both natural PE 100 and black PE 100 rose. Thus, prices of pipe grade PE for converters increased by Rb2,000-3,000/tonne, depending on the producer, the price rise was largely caused by the increased production costs.

February offer prices of natural PE 100 were heard in the Russian market in the range of Rb84,000-86,500/tonne FCA, including VAT, whereas January deals were done in the range of Rb81,000-84,500/tonne FCA, including VAT.

Deals for February shipments of black PE100 were done in the spot market at an average of Rb88,000-89,000/tonne FCA, including VAT. Some market participants reported limited PE shipments by Kazanorgsintez.

Buying activity was low in the pipe grade PE market on the back of seasonal factors, a problem with creding financing (increased interest rates on loans and difficulty in obtaining loans) also aggravated the situation for local converters.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Stronger demand for polypropylene (PP) from Turkish companies has led to a price rise in the commodity exchange in Turkmenistan. PP prices grew by USD50/tonne in the first days of the trades, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

Last week of January and the first week of February at the State Commodity and Raw Materials Exchange of Turkmenistan were quite fruitful, particularly, regarding polypropylene. More than 25,000 tonnes of PP were sold out during just a few trading days, with purchase prices to rise by USD850/tonne in the last trades.

PP prices dropped to USD800/tonne in the State Commodity and Raw Materials Exchange of Turkmenistan on 26 and 27 January, whereas starting prices were at USD1,100/tonne a week earlier. Such a serious fall in PP prices led to an avalanche growth, including that from Russian companies. Over 20,000 tonnes of propylene polymers were bought out during the two days of the trades.

Stronger demand from Turkish companies led to a rise in PP prices in the trades, on 4 February, to USD850/tonne, while Russian companies bid for purchasing at USD700-750/tonne. 5,000 tonnes of PP for shipments during two months were sold out in the trades.
MRC