Petronas signs agreement for LNG supply to Tokyo Gas

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Petronas through its subsidiary, Malaysia LNG Sdn. Bhd. (MLNG) has signed a Heads of Agreement (HOA) with Tokyo Gas Co. Ltd. to supply natural gas'>liquefied natural gas (LNG) for a period of up to 13 years, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Under the terms of the agreement, the supply to Tokyo Gas commencing in April 2018 will be approximately 0.5 million tonnes per annum for the first six years, with the possibility of a volume increase of up to 0.9 million tonnes per annum for the remaining extension period.

Petronas Vice President of LNG Marketing & Trading, Ahmad Adly Alias said Petronas remains steadfastly committed to delivering a reliable supply of LNG through its integrated operations that allow for both long-term and short-term solutions for its customers.

"The HOA is a testament to Petronas’ strength and reliability in providing flexible solutions to accommodate the different needs of buyers," he added.

Petronas through MLNG continues to enhance the 35-year business relationship with Tokyo Gas with the new agreement following the delivery of its 10,000th cargo to the Japanese gas company in October last year.

"At Petronas, we value these relationships and the trust placed in our company for a secure and reliable supply of LNG," added Ahmad Adly.

MLNG operates the Petronas LNG Complex in Bintulu, Sarawak, one of the world’s largest LNG complexes operating on a single site. The nine-train facility has a combined annual production capacity of about 30 million tonnes.

Petronas, an integrated global LNG player with over 35 years of experience, has a strong reputation as a reliable LNG supplier and solutions provider.

As MRC wrote before, in late January 2017, Petronas said its new USD27 billion refining and petrochemical complex project in the southeast Asian country is on track for start-up in 2019. RAPID, located within the Pengerang Integrated Complex in the southern Malaysian state of Johor, is designed to have a 300,000-bpd oil refinery and a petrochemical complex with a production capacity of 7.7 MMt.

Petronas, short for Petroliam Nasional Berhad, is a Malaysian oil and gas company wholly owned by the Government of Malaysia. The Group is engaged in a wide spectrum of petroleum activities, including upstream exploration and production of oil and gas to downstream oil refining; marketing and distribution of petroleum products; trading; gas processing and liquefaction; gas transmission pipeline network operations; marketing of liquefied natural gas; petrochemical manufacturing and marketing; shipping; automotive engineering; and property investment.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Advanced Petrochemical resumed operations after completion of periodic scheduled maintenance, said the company in its press release.

Reference to previous announcement of Advanced Petrochemical Company (Advanced) dated February 22, 2018 regarding periodic scheduled maintenance of its Propylene & Polypropylene plants from February 26, 2018 and February 28, 2018 respectively, Advanced announces that as of March 22, 2018, our Propylene & Polypropylene plants commence operations after the successful completion of all required routine and preventive maintenance ahead of the schedule and both plants are expected to reach to their full operational capacity in next 8 to 10 days.

Advanced anticipate positive impact of this periodic maintenance activity on both plants reliability and efficiency in the coming months.

The financial impact of above shut down depending on the prevailing prices of Polypropylene and feedstock will be reflected in the financial results for the first quarter of 2018.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The market narrative consuming crude oil markets currently is the interplay between supply cuts by OPEC and its allies and rising US shale output, with a side helping of Chinese imports driving demand, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

While there are solid reasons for industry participants to focus on these dynamics, there is also the risk of missing out on other factors that help shape the market.

Such a factor is India, which has long flown below the radar of the crude oil market, despite becoming the second-biggest importer in the fast-growing Asian market behind China, and the third-biggest in the world after the United States.

India is also a market where there is virtually no direct influence being exerted by U.S. shale oil as the South Asian nation hardly imports any crude from the United States. It also imports a relatively small amount from Russia, the main ally in the agreement between the Organization of the Petroleum Countries and other producers to limit output in order to drain excess global inventories, thereby boosting crude prices.

But what makes India important is that it's a major importer of Middle Eastern crudes, and one of the fastest-growing demand centers in the world.

And there are currently some worrying trends for Middle Eastern exporters to India, especially for the region's top shipper, Saudi Arabia.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) put India's crude oil demand at 4.68 MMbpd in 2017 in its report released last month, and estimated that this year will see demand rise to 4.98 MMbpd, an increase of 6.4 percent.

The IEA expects total world oil demand to increase by 1.4 MMbpd, which makes India's expected growth of some 300,000 bpd the most significant source of growth for crude producers outside of China's expected lift in demand of about 380,000 bpd.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Six people were killed in an explosion at a plant of Czech refinery and chemicals group Unipetrol on Thursday, and others were seriously injured, a Czech Fire Rescue Service spokeswoman said, as per Reuters.

An Unipetrol spokesman confirmed a blast occurred at its plant in Kralupy nad Vltavou, 31 km (19 miles) north of the centre of Prague, but provided no further details.

"I can confirm that there has been an incident at our refinery in Kralupy nad Vltavou .... A crisis management meeting is under way," spokesman Pavel Kaidl said by telephone.

He had no other details on operations at the plant, whose refinery has annual capacity of 3.2 million tonnes of oil. The company operates another plant in Litvinov, in the north of the country.

Police said emergency services were responding to the explosion. A fire department spokesperson told Czech Television it was a blast at a storage tank and there was no risk of additional explosions.

Two people have been taken to hospital, the spokesperson added.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Russia's imports of polypropylene (PP) grew to about 28,600 tonne in first two months of this year, up 33% year on year, compared to the same period of 2017. Supply of all grades of PP increased, according to a MRC's DataScope report.

Russian companies have kept high level of imports in February; it reached 14,200 tonnes compared with 14,400 tonnes year on year. In general, PP imports into Russia totalled 28,600 tonnes in January-February 2018, compared with 21,600 tonnes year on year. The import for all grades of propylene polymers increased, the greatest increase in supplies accounted on homopolymer PP.

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

February imports of homopolymer PP decreased to 4,600 tonnes against 4,900 tonnes a month earlier, shipments of homopolymer PP raffia from Uzbekistan decreased. Overall imports of homopolymer PP reached 9,500 tonnes in the first two months of 2018, compared to 6,400 a year earlier.

February imports of PP block copolymers in Russia decreased to about 3,200 tonnes against 3,800 tonnes in January. Local companies reduced their purchasing of PP block copolymer for extrusion injection moulding in Europe. Imports of PP block copolymers into Russia rose to 6,900 tonnes in January-February 2018, compared to 6,400 tonnes a year earlier.

Imports of stat-propylene copolymers (PP-random) in February slightly decreased 2,500 tonnes against 2,700 tonnes in January. Total imports of PP random copolymers in Russia were 5,200 tonnes in January - February 2018, compared with 4,400 tonnes year on year.

Imports of other propylene polymers for the reported period increased to about 7,000 tonnes compared with 4,400 tonnes in the same time a year earlier.


MRC