CNPC and Eni sign a cooperation agreement

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and Eni signed cooperation agreement today in order to cooperate in oil & gas exploration and production, gas and LNG value chain opportunities, trading and logistics opportunities, refining and petrochemicals, said the company on its web-site.

The partnership will regard both China and overseas activities. The signing took place in Rome at Eni's headquarters during a meeting between the Chairman of CNPC, Wang Yilin, and Eni's CEO, Claudio Descalzi.

The meeting was a chance to further strengthen the relationship between the two companies and was an opportunity to discuss ongoing joint projects as well as future opportunities between CNPC and Eni across the energy value chain.

Eni is an Italian multinational oil and gas company headquartered in Rome. It has operations in in 79 countries, and is currently Italy's largest industrial company with a market capitalization of EUR68 billion (USD 90 billion), as of August 14, 2013. The Italian government owns a 30.3% golden share in the company, 3.93% held through the state Treasury and 26.37% held through the Cassa depositi e prestiti. Another 39.40% of the shares are held by BNP Paribas.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A new commercial crude oil reserve base built by China’s Sinopec Corp in northern Chinese port of Tianjin received its first oil shipment on Wednesday, reported Reuters with reference to the state refiner.

The new site consists of 12 tanks each sized 100,000 cm, totaling about 7.56 MMbbl.

This is the fourth commercial crude storage site Sinopec has started since 2012 in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei cluster region. The first three sites are in Caofeidian and Tianjin.

As MRC informed before, China's Sinopec group, parent of Sinopec Corp, will invest USD29.05 billion to upgrade four refining bases between 2016 and 2020 to produce higher-quality fuels. Sinopec's upgrades come as China, the world's second-biggest oil consumer, is embracing more stringent fuel standards in its battle against pollution and suffering an overall glut in refining capacity. After the upgrades, the total refining capacity of the four refining sites will reach 130 MMtpy, or 2.6 MMbpd, while ethylene capacity will reach 9 MMtpy, Sinopec said.

Sinopec Corp. is one of the largest scale integrated energy and chemical company with upstream, midstream and downstream operations. Its principal business includes: exploring, developing, producing and trading crude oil and natural gas; producing, storing, transporting and distributing and marketing petroleum products, petrochemical products, synthetic fiber, fertilizer and other chemical products. Its refining capacity and ethylene capacity rank No.2 and No.4 globally. Sinopec listed in Hong Kong, New York, London and Shanghai in August 2001. Sinopec Group, the parent company of Sinopec Corp., is ranked the 5th in Fortune Global 500 in 2012.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) — Mexican state-run oil company Pemex has not yet restarted its Salina Cruz refinery due to aftershocks following last week’s huge earthquake that struck off southern Mexico, said Hydrocarbonprocessing, citing a company spokesman.

Pemex had shut down the refinery as a precaution following the 8.1 magnitude quake late last Thursday.

As MRC informed earlier, Mexico's top anti-corruption agency said on Monday it had identified USD6.7 MM in "new irregularities" from a contract between state oil company Pemex and Odebrecht, the Brazilian engineering firm that has admitted paying bribes in a dozen countries in recent years.

In June, Pemex said it notified Odebrecht that it was canceling the 2015 engineering, procurement and construction contract at the Tula refinery, following an investigation into "administrative irregularities."
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Russia's imports of polypropylene (PP) decreased to about 108,800 tonne in first eight months of this year, down 7% year on year, compared to the same period of 2016. Not all PP grades accounted for the decrease in shipments, according to a MRC's DataScope report.

Russian companies decreased PP imports to 16,200 tonnes last month from 16,700 tonnes in July, a significant reduction of supply of homopolymer PP raffia from Central Asia was offset by increased demand for propylene block copolymer (PP block copolymer). In general, PP imports into Russia totalled 108,800 tonnes in January-August 2017, compared with 117,500 tonnes year on year. The reduction in external supplies was seen only for homopolymer PP and PP random copolymers, while imports of PP block copolymers and other propylene copolymers, on the contrary, increased.

Overall, the structure of PP imports by grades looked the following way over the stated period.

August imports of homopolymer PP into the country decreased to 3,800 tonnes, compared with 7,200 tonnes in July. Local companies decreased their shipments of homopolymer PP raffia grade from Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Overall imports of this PP grade reached 37,100 tonnes in the first eight months of 2017, compared to 55,900 a year earlier.

August imports of PP block copolymers in Russia increased to about 5,300 tonnes against 3,200 tonnes in July. Local companies reduced their purchasing of PP block copolymers for non-pressure pipes extrusion and injection moulding. Imports of PP block copolymers into Russia reached 28,900 tonnes in January-August 2017, compared to 21,100 tonnes a year earlier.

Imports of PP random copolymer in August rose to 3,000 tonnes against 2,700 tonnes a month earlier, amid good demand, local companies increased the volume of purchases of polypropylene for pipe production. Total imports of PP random copolymers in Russia were 19,300 tonnes in January - August 2017, compared with 22,400 tonnes year on year.

Imports of other propylene polymers for the reported period increased to about 23,400 tonnes compared with 18,000 tonnes in the same time a year earlier.


MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Most international titanium dioxide (TiO2) producers have already informed their customers of a EUR200/tonne price increase in the fourth quarter, according to ICIS-MRC's Price Report.

Cristal notified buyers of its material of a USD250/tonne price rise in the next quarter. A week earlier, Chemours announced a price increase of €200/tonne for the fourth quarter. In late August, some market players reported the evidence of the future increase in prices of Huntsman and Kronos' TiO2.

The average prices of European and North American TiO2 will be in the range of USD4,200-4,500/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, in the domestic market in September.

Demand remained strong in the paints and coatings sector, supply was tight. The market of TiO2 for polyvinyl chloride (PVC) production was in a calmer state, demand was moderate, supply of material was sufficient.
MRC