Reliance Industries posts 23 percent drop in second quarter net profit

MOSCOW (MRC) -- India's oil-to-telecoms conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd posted a 22.9% drop in its second-quarter net profit, marginally missing analysts' estimates, said Reuters.

Consolidated net profit fell to 72.06 billion rupees (USD1.08 billion) for the three months to Sept. 30 from 93.45 billion rupees reported a year earlier, Reliance, controlled by India's richest man Mukesh Ambani, said in a statement on Thursday. Analysts on average had expected a profit of 72.2 billion rupees, according to data compiled by Thomson Reuters.

Reliance said its gross refining margin, or profit earned on each barrel of crude processed - a key profitability gauge for a refiner - was USD10.1 per barrel for the quarter.

As MRC informed previously, Reliance Industries is implementing a new project to source 1.5 million tpy of ethane feedstock from the US to feed its crackers in India.

Reliance Industries Limited engages in hydrocarbon exploration and production, petroleum refining and marketing, petrochemicals, retail, SEZ development and telecom/broadband businesses in India and internationally. It operates in four segments: Refining, Petrochemicals, Oil & Gas, and Organized Retail. The company produces and markets petroleum products, including liquefied petroleum gas, propylene, naphtha, gasoline, jet/aviation turbine fuel, kerosene oil, diesel, sulphur, petroleum coke, and alkylate; and polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, poly butadiene rubber, polyester yarn, polyester fiber, purified terephthalic acid, paraxylene, ethylene glycol, olefins, aromatics.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Arabia's Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Co (PetroRabigh) reported a narrower net loss in the third quarter on Thursday as favourable spreads on crude oil offset a modest fall in sales, said Reuters.

The firm, a joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Japan's Sumitomo Chemical, made a loss of 217 million riyals (USD57.9 million) in the three months to Sept. 30. This compares with a loss of 460 million riyals in the corresponding period last year.

PetroRabigh, which appointed Nasser al-Mahasher as chief executive effective on Sept. 1, said a more modest compression of spreads on fuel prices had worked in its favour, contributing to the narrower loss. It did not elaborate.

Saudi companies issue brief earnings statements early in the reporting period before publishing more detailed results later.

Total sales in the third quarter dropped 4 percent to 6.38 billion riyals, because of lower prices for refined products.

Like many petrochemical firms in the kingdom, PetroRabigh's earnings have been hit hard by falling product prices as they are closely tied to slumping oil prices.

We remind that, as MRC wrote previously, in April 2015, Rabigh Refining & Petrochemical Co. (Petro Rabigh) received ownership of the Rabigh Phase II project from Saudi Aramco and Sumitomo Chemical, major shareholders in Petro Rabigh, and will now integrate the project into Petro Rabigh's existing refining and petrochemical complex in Rabigh, Saudi Arabia.

PetroRabigh, a joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Japan's Sumitomo Chemical, has an annual output capacity of 18 million tonnes of refined products and 2.4 million tonnes of petrochemicals. Thus, the complex currently has a cracker to produce 1.3-million t/y of ethylene and 900,000 t/y of propylene, as well as downstream production of polyethylene, polypropylene, propylene oxide, ethylene glycol and butene-1.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Unipetrol's third quarter financial results were significantly affected by the limited availability of production capacity. In the third quarter of 2016, Unipetrol posted operating profit EBITDA LIFO worth CZK 1.928bn and net profit of CZK 722m, said 4-traders.

Company's revenues dropped by 22 % y/y to CZK 23.110bn due to persisting low crude oil prices and y/y lower sales of petrochemical and refinery products. The extraordinary event at the steam cracker that occurred on 13 August 2015 as well as the unplanned shutdown of the Kralupy refinery which occurred in mid-May reflected in Unipetrol's operating results. The agreed next payment for steam cracker accident insurance claim of CZK 2.2 bn as well as better results in retail segment had positive impact on the profit.

Within the downstream segment consisting of refining and petrochemical part the Company showed the operating profit EBITDA LIFO of CZK 1.596bn in 3Q2016. This result was positively influenced by the agreed next payment for steam cracker accident insurance claim of CZK 2.2bn as well as by positive effect of inventory revaluation. On the contrary, the downstream segment results were affected negatively by y/y lower refining margins and drop of refinery and petrochemical production.

Regarding the refining part of downstream segment, the Company saw a decline in volumes of refinery product sales by 4% to 1.613 million tons, especially with regard to the lower utilization of refining capacities due to the Kralupy refinery shutdown and limited production at the refinery in Litvinov. The volume of processed crude oil reached the level of 1,039 thousand tons representing a utilization of refining capacity at 48%. In the third quarter, repair works took place at the Kralupy refinery which has already started up normal operation.

Results in the petrochemical part of downstream segment continued to be significantly affected by the extraordinary situation at the steam cracker unit. Sales volumes of petrochemical products therefore dropped to 247 thousand tons y/y (-26 %). Petrochemical model margin decreased by 11% y/y, however maintained at very good level of 841 EUR/t. In the third quarter, the Company completed repair works at the steam cracker and successfully implemented all necessary steps to restore production. Eight out of ten steam cracker heaters are in the operation at the moment and the normal production level is expected to be reached at the end of October this year.

As MRC informed earlier, repair works on the steam cracker in Chempark Zaluzi, which has been out of the operation since last year’s extraordinary event on August 13, were completed and also the construction of new pyrolysis heaters is coming to the end in the end of August 2016.

Unipetrol , a.s. is a group of companies operating in the petrochemical industry in the Czech Republic. In 2005 Unipetrol became a part of the PKN ORLEN Group, the largest oil processor in Central Europe. The UNIPETROL Group is oriented mostly towards oil processing, fuel distribution and petrochemical production. In all of these business areas the Unipetrol Group is among the key players both in the Czech Republic and on the Central European market. The Group ranks among the leading firms in the Czech Republic in terms of its revenues, and employs almost 4,000 people.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shell naphtha cracker at Bukom Island in Singapore is expected to restart by this month end, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in the Singapore informed that the company is expected to resume operations at the cracker on October 30, 2016. The cracker was taken offline on September 27, 2016 owing to a technical glitch.

Located at Bukom Island in Singapore, the cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 960,000 mt/year and propylene capacity of 540,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed previously, in April 2015, Royal Dutch Shell completed a revamp and upgrade of its Singapore ethane cracker. The project increased production for the 800,000-tpy ethylene plant on Bukom Island by 20%. The ethylene and olefins unit is also integrated with Shell’s 500,000-bpd refinery. The revamp project supported expansion of other intermediate product facilities located on nearby Jurong Island, including Shell’s mono-ethylene glycol (MEG) plant and third-party facilities. The Bukom Island ethylene cracker is a flexible-feed unit and can process both naphtha and LPG.

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) -- German chemical giant BASF said on Wednesday it would gradually restart production again of key petrochemical sites at its Ludwigshafen headquarters after a fire and explosion on Monday had forced it to close them, said Reuters.

BASF said the two Ludwigshafen steam crackers, which turn oil distillates into basic petrochemical building blocks for anything from plastics and coatings to solvents, would gradually resume output over the next few days because alternative supply lines will circumvent the disaster area.

Downstream sites which have been shut down because they rely on supply from the steam crackers will also resume operations as a result, BASF said in a statement.

Earlier on Wednesday divers retrieved a body from the harbor at BASF's flagship production site, the third victim of the blast, which also injured 25 people.

BASF added that, in total, 24 sites including the steam crackers are currently off stream or working at reduced loads as a result of the accident, which was the worst in the German chemical industry in more than 20 years.

The Monday explosion occurred on a supply line connecting the harbor and a tank depot but the cause is yet unknown.

BASF said it declared force majeure for the purchase of naphtha, ethylene and propylene, freeing it from contractual liabilities towards external suppliers of the chemicals.

BASF is the world’s leading chemical company. Its portfolio ranges from chemicals, plastics, performance products and crop protection products to oil and gas.
MRC