Copersucar partners with BP on ethanol complex in Brazil

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Brazil’s Copersucar, one of the world’s largest ethanol merchants, and BP’s Brazil unit said on Thursday they will form a 50-50 logistics JV in the country, reported Reuters.

The venture will operate Copersucar’s recently built ethanol storage complex in the Brazilian city of Paulinia, the country’s largest fuels hub.

The announcement comes two days after Brazil’s lower house of Congress passed legislation proposing to increase the use of biofuels in the country while fuel sales start to recover from a two-year recession.

Copersucar’s Paulinia ethanol complex has capacity to move 2.3 B liters of the fuel per year and is able to store 180 MM liters at its ten tanks, the companies said in a statement.

"This partnership will allow BP to sharply increase its commercial presence in Brazil," Mario Lindenhayn, country head for BP, said in the statement.

Copersucar did not disclose financial details of the deal, which is subject to approval by regulators.

As MRC wrote previously, in May 2017, BP announced that it had agreed to sell its 50% stake in the Shanghai SECCO Petrochemical Company Limited (SECCO) to Gaoqiao Petrochemical Co Ltd, a 100% subsidiary of China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec), BP’s joint venture partner, for a total consideration of USD1.68 bln.

BP is a leading producer of oil and gas and produces enough energy annually to light nearly the entire country for a year. Employing about 17,000 people across the country, BP supports more than 170,000 additional jobs through all of its business activities.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil Corporation announced it will combine its refining and marketing operations into a single company, ExxonMobil Fuels & Lubricants Company, in 1Q 2018. Bryan Milton, currently president of ExxonMobil Fuels, Lubricants & Specialties Marketing Company, has been appointed president of the combined division by ExxonMobil’s board of directors, effective Jan. 1, 2018, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

By combining activities of the two divisions—ExxonMobil Refining and Supply Company and ExxonMobil Fuels, Lubricants & Specialties Marketing Company—the company will achieve further integration to improve decision making and enhance performance in the market. The improvements will help the company to better respond to the needs of its customers and compete more effectively.

ExxonMobil Fuels & Lubricants Company, along with ExxonMobil affiliates, will manage crude purchasing and logistics, refining, supply, trading, midstream, marketing and sales of refined products.

Milton, 53, joined Exxon Chemical in 1986 at Fawley in the U.K., where he worked in various plant and developmental engineering roles, including assignments as operations manager and as plant manager. He also spent time in upstream natural gas commercial sales. He previously held various leadership positions within ExxonMobil Chemical Company in Houston and in 2004 was named managing director for ExxonMobil Aviation fuels, based in the U.K.

Milton was appointed manager of the Baton Rouge chemical plant in 2006, and in 2008 he was assigned executive assistant to the chairman and chief executive officer of ExxonMobil Corporation. In 2009, he was appointed vice president of Basic Chemicals for ExxonMobil Chemical Company. Before his current role, Milton was president of ExxonMobil Global Services Company. Milton was appointed to his current position in 2016
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Negotiations on December shipments of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) began among Russian producers and converters on 28 November. All producers announced a Rb3,000/tonne price reduction from November, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

A serious reduction in demand from the domestic market and a tangible decline in export prices in China made Russian producers to make a significant reduction in PVC prices in November. The situation repeated again in November, demand from the domestic market continues to decline, besides Chinese producers announced another tangible reduction in export prices of acetylene PVC.

Negotiations on December supplies of Russian PVC started and taking into account all above said producers had to reduce prices by Rb3,000/tonne or more in comparison with the November level. Chinese producers in the second half of October began to dynamically reduce the export prices of acetylene PVC.

As a result several companies resumed purchases of acetylene PVC, imports in November rose to 2,500 tonnes.
Chinese producers announced another decline in export prices, price offers fell below USD800/tonne DAP Moscow, for container shipments by rail.

Demand for PVC by Russian consumers in November seriously reduced under the pressure of the seasonal factor, despite the reduction in purchases, part of the converters will enter in December with sufficient PVC stocks left since November.

Demand from a number of consumers will even more decrease in December, as in the middle of the month converters will begin to shut their capacities for long-term prevention. Producers faced difficulties in selling PVC in the domestic market in November, as consumers were in no hurry to agree on deals and often forced competitors to compete with each other. As a result, some converters have managed to achieve lower prices than announced earlier this month.

Reduction of demand in the domestic market, some producers tried to compensate by the growth in export volumes.
But demand in foreign markets is not good enough to help Russian producers sell all PVC surplus.

Negotiations for the December supplies were similar to the November ones, the converters were not in a hurry to agree the deals and are trying to achieve the maximum possible concessions. Overall, deals for November shipments were done in the range of Rb62,000-63,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, for K=65/67 and for quantities up to 500 tonnes. Negotiations over prices for resin with K70 started from Rb62,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, and higher.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) — Mexico's national oil company Pemex has declared force majeure on the loading of Isthmus crude, two sources with knowledge of the matter said, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The producer informed buyers late on Tuesday the force majeure would affect cargoes loading in early December, the sources said. Pemex has offered to replace Isthmus supplies with another Mexican crude grade, Maya, one of the sources said.

The source said force majeure on Mexican crude loadings routinely happens during winter due to poor weather conditions, usually lasting a few days.

Pemex could not be immediately reached for comment as its office is closed during Asian hours. Four oil tankers are waiting off Dos Bocas port to load Isthmus crude, shipping data on Thomson Reuters Eikon shows.

These include supertanker Maran Ajax and three suezmax tankers Pentathlon, Suez Fuzeyya and Trinity.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Taiwan’s state-owned CPC Corporation has resumed operations at its residue fluid catalytic cracker (RFCC) unit in Dalin, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Taiwan informed that the unit was brought on-stream earliy this week following a turnaround. The unit was shut for maintenance in mid-September 2017.

Located at Dalin in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, the RFCC has a production capacity of 400,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed before, the company shut its RFCC in Dalin from 16 August to 3 September 2016 for an unplanned turnaround.

CPC Corporation, Taiwan, is engaged in the exploration, production, refining, procurement, transportation, storage, and marketing of oil and gas. The company provides fuel oil, including automotive unleaded gasoline and diesel fuel, low-sulfur fuel oil, marine distillate fuels, marine residual fuels, and aviation fuel; petrochemicals, such as ethylene, propylene, butadiene, benzene, para-xylene, and ortho-xylene; liquefied petroleum gas products comprising liquefied petroleum gas, propane, butane, and a propane/butane mixture; lubricants, motor oil, industrial oil, grease, and marilube oil; SNC products, including petroleum ether, naphtha, toluene, xylene, crude octene, methyl alcohol, normal paraffin, viscosity-graded asphalt cement, and sulfur; and natural gas.
MRC