Russian producers intend to rollover April PVC prices for May delivery

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Negotiations on Russian contract polyvinyl chloride (PVC) prices for May delivery began traditionally in the last week of April. Producers announced intentions to roll over April prices for the delivery next month, as per ICIS-MRC Price Report.

Negotiations on May contract prices of Russian suspension PVC (SPVC) began on Monday, and some converters said they had already managed to agree deals. Producers have taken a firm attitude concerning PVC prices since the beginning of the year and continuously increased them. However, situation in foreign PVC market have changed by the late April, forcing Russian producers to rollover prices. Since the beginning of the year, the Russian rouble has strengthened against the dollar by more than 6%.

The key PVC importers into Russia Chinese producers significantly decreased export prices in April. These two factors resulted in a notable increase of the purchases of Chinese acetylene resin from Russian companies. Some companies also are going to buy quite a large volume of PVC in May. Some converters said Chinese resin became really affordable over the last several weeks.

However, even taking into account attractive prices there are some risky factors, which reduce purchases. In particular, the best way to supply in the central part of Russia in containers is by rail way. But due to the need to purchase rather large volumes of PVC and the time of delivery (at least three weeks from the moment of deal conclusion to delivery) most converters prefer to buy Russian PVC.

Russian producers of suspension PVC do not worry about increase in imports, anticipating seasonally strong demand and future turnarounds of two major producers. Bashkir Soda Company and SayanskKhimPlast are going to shut their capacities for turnaround in July. Producers intend to build up stock inventories in order to satisfy their customers' needs during the season of strong demand for resin.

Supply of K64/67 PVC in the market is more than sufficient. Deals for May delivery are discussed in the range of Rb66,000-68,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT for deals up to 500 tonnes.

A slight tightness of K58/70 PVC supply was felt in the market. There were practically no imports of these PVC grades, while Russian producers have some limitations in the shipments. Deals for May shipments of K58/70 PVC were negotiated in the range of Rb68,500 - 71,000 /tonne, including VAT and delivery.
MRC

Azerbaijan to daily produce 2,000 tons of carbamide in 2018

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Azerbaijan will be daily producing 2,000 tons of carbamide in 2018, said Mukhtar Babayev, head of the Azerikimya Production Union, said Trend.

He made the remarks on the sidelines of ‘The 2nd SOCAR International Caspian and Central Asia Downstream Forum – Trading, Logistics, Refining, Petrochemicals’, held in Baku Apr. 25.

"In addition, in 2018, the daily production of polypropylene will be brought to 500 tons and polyethylene to 600 tons," Babayev said.

He added that 80 percent of polypropylene and carbamide produced in Azerbaijan will be exported.

As MRC informed earlier, SOCAR GPC, a gas-processing project of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR), has selected UNIPOL PE Technology licensed by Univation Technologies for use in its world-scale 600KTA polyethylene plant to be built in Garadagh, Azerbaijan.

The Azerikimya Production Union is a part of Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR.
MRC

TomTom, BP partner to ‘help BP customers boost fleet efficiency’

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BP FleetMove combines fuel transaction information from BP fuel cards with driver behavior data from the TomTom Telematics Service Platform in one, easy-to-use interface, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

This new collaboration uses the "plug and play" TomTom CURFER connected car product, an app working in conjunction with the TomTom LINK 100 dongle, which plugs into the vehicle’s OBD port to wirelessly connect car and smartphone. It is designed to bring together insights into driver, fuel and vehicle data, allowing easier identification of areas for improvement. An app provides drivers with feedback on their performance behind the wheel and with helpful information, such as the location of fuel stations.

"This is the first time BP and TomTom Telematics have created a partnership to combine different streams of data in this way—the fuel card will register fuel transactions and the telematics device will monitor the vehicle data. Combining these two elements allows BP fuel card customers to save time and reduce operating costs. The new app and fleet manager portal is just the start of what we will be launching in the coming months,” said Koeno Siemons, European Card Marketing & Operations Manager at BP.

The app and online portal are available now in The Netherlands and Germany. Other regions in Europe where BP fuel cards are available are due to be rolled out later in the year.
MRC

Iran opens new LDPE plant in Kordestan

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Iran has inaugurated a new 300,000 t/y low-density polyethylene (LDPE) facility in Kordestan, Iran, according to GV with reference to Shana News Agency.

The LDPE plant, being fed by the West Ethylene Pipeline, is the "biggest" industrial project in the province's history, said the report.

Construction on the project began in 2005, but was then put on hold due to sanctions. Construction resumed in 2011.

As MRC informed earlier, in June 2016, a senior official said in a report that Kordestan Petrochemical Plant would produce 300,000 tpa of light polyethylene (PE) once it comes on stream.
MRC

Crude exports from Iran set to fall in May to 14-mos low

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Iran's crude oil exports are set to hit a 14-mos low in May, suggesting that the country is struggling to raise exports after clearing out stocks stored on tankers, reported Reuters.

Part of the drop may also be attributable to a decline in demand, as loadings bound for India are set to slump to a 1-yr low after a dispute over the award of a contract for a gas field, and Japan's orders fall by more than half from April.

Iran is also putting approximately 3 MMbbl back into storage in May, underlining how much oil remains available in the market despite an agreement between the OPEC and non-OPEC producers to cut output and boost prices.

Crude oil loadings from Iran are expected to total nearly 1.7 MMbpd in May, with almost 100 Mbpd being put into storage on tankers, according to sources.

In April, the country is expected to export 1.8 MMbpd of crude, and more than 370 Mbpd of condensate, down sharply from a 6-yr high of nearly 2.9 MMbpd in February for both forms of oil. In March, Iran loaded some 2.6 MMbpd of both crude and condensate, mostly the former. It is reported that no barrels of either crude or condensate were put into storage in March and April.

The final figures for February exports were significantly higher than preliminary numbers reported earlier by Reuters, and show that Iran took full advantage of its exemption from the production cuts by OPEC and non-OPEC producers, including Russia.

Still, Indian buyers are cutting purchases after state-owned refiners agreed to cut their annual imports deal with Iran by one-fifth to put pressure on Tehran to award the Farzad B gas field to an Indian consortium.

Crude liftings for India in May are expected to reach approximately 370 Mbpd. In April, Indian customers are lifting nearly 470 Mbpd of both crude and condensate. Japan is scheduled to lift nearly 40 Mbpd in May, the lowest since March.

Loadings of crude and condensate for China this month will hit a 4-mos low of a little more than 500 Mbpd.

We remind that, as MRC wrote before, after eight months of a break, shipments of Iranian polycarbonate (PC) were resumed to the Russian market, an Iranian trader told MRC. He said he intends to focus on PC sales to Turkey and Russia in the coming months.
MRC