European PVC prices decreased in May for CIS markets

MOSOCW (MRC) - Negotiations on European polyvinyl chloride (PVC) prices for May delivery into the CIS markets began last week. Despite the rise in the cost of ethylene, European producers have decreased export prices this month, according to the ICIS-MRC Price Report.

The May contract price of ethylene was agreed up by EUR20/tonne from April, which led to an increase of, at least, EUR10/tonne, in PVC production costs. Thus, despite this fact, European producers had to reduce export prices for supplies to CIS markets due to low demand and high competition from other suppliers.

Demand for PVC from the main consumers was weak in March-April due to a long winter, and there was no significant demand surge for May shipment. In addition, the suppliers of North American PVC also significantly cut export prices in April and May, while in the Ukrainian producer announced a reduction in prices for the May supplies.

The current easing of the euro against the dollar and other regional currencies is slightly improving the export positions in the CIS markets.

Negotiations over May shipments of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) to the CIS markets were held in the range of EUR735-780/tonne FCA, whereas deals were done in the range of EUR755-800/tonne FCA a month earlier.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Investors interested in bidding for a project to build a 100,000 barrel-per-day refinery in Kut have until June 14 to make offers, an oil ministry statement said on Wednesday, reported Reuters.

The refinery, south of Baghdad, is one of several crude oil processing projects offered by Iraq as part of plan to become self-sufficient in oil products.

Iraq is the second-largest crude oil producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries after Saudi Arabia.

As MRC wrote before, in late April, Iraq extended the deadline for foreign companies and investors to bid for the construction and operation of a new 100 Mbpd refinery near Mosul in the northern province of Nineveh.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Marathon Petroleum Corp was restarting the 86,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Texas City, Texas, refinery on Tuesday night after a substation fire knocked out power, said sources familiar with plant operations, reported Reuters.

Marathon was also restarting normal production at the neighboring 459,000 bpd Galveston Bay Refinery in Texas City, the sources said. A 60,000 bpd resid hydrotreater was restarting at the big refinery.

A late afternoon fire on a Centerpoint Energy substation near Bacliff, Texas, 8 miles (12 km) north of the refineries, also disrupted production at Valero Energy Corp's 225,000 bpd refinery in Texas City, the sources said.

Marathon spokesman Chuck Rice said in a statement that the company was evaluating operations at the Galveston Bay Refinery after a power dip in the Texas City area.

"Even though we have a cogeneration facility for the Galveston Bay Refinery, a larger power dip can affect our operations," Rice said. "There were no evacuations or injuries."

Cogeneration plants produce electrical power and steam for refineries.

The City of Texas City Emergency Management Office said refineries on the south side of Texas City were using safety flares as they worked to restore power on Tuesday.

A Valero spokeswoman did not reply to messages asking about operations at the Texas City refinery on Tuesday night.

The Valero refinery's gasoline-producing unit was shut on April 19 following an explosion and fire on the alkylation unit at the refinery, the first of four fires at refineries and chemical plants across the United States in the past 2-1/2 weeks.

The Tuesday fire broke out on the Bacliff substation at about 4:30 p.m. CDT (2130 GMT) with flaring seen at the Marathon and Valero refineries about 20 minutes later, according energy industry intelligence service Genscape.

At about 6 p.m., Centerpoint said the fire, which was fueled by mineral oil inside the substation, was under control.

All personnel at the substation were accounted for and no injuries were reported, according to Centerpoint.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Huntsman announces strong first Quarter 2018 results, with every division showing earnings growth versus the prior year; greater than USD100 mln in share repurchases completed to date, as per the company's press release.

First Quarter 2018 Highlights

Net income was USD350 million compared to USD92 million in the prior year period and USD287 million in the prior quarter.
Adjusted EBITDA was USD405 million compared to USD260 million in the prior year period and USD360 million in the prior quarter.
Diluted income per share was USD1.11 compared to USD0.31 in the prior year period and USD1.00 in the prior quarter.
Adjusted diluted income per share was USD0.96 compared to USD0.45 in the prior year period and USD0.76 in the prior quarter.
Net cash provided by operating activities was USD111 million. Free cash flow generation was USD56 million.
Balance sheet remains strong with a net leverage of 1.3x.
Completed share repurchases of approximately USD103 million through April 19, 2018, and approximately USD347 million remains on the existing share repurchase authorization.
Expanded the Polyurethanes downstream business with the acquisition of Demilec, a leading North American polyurethane spray foam producer, which was completed on April 23, 2018.

"All of our divisions improved over the previous year and we continue to expect all divisions will finish this year stronger than last year. Our continued focus on free cash flow produced cash generation well ahead of last year and puts us fully on pace to achieve our 2018 target of USD450-USD650m," said Huntsman CEO Peter Huntsman.

"We also announced the closing of the Demilec acquisition. This acquisition will provide further downstream growth while generating stronger margins and stability."

Huntsman completed the USD350m acquisition of spray-foam company Demilec from Sun Capital Partners in April.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BP plc BP reported strong first-quarter 2018 results as oil price has started to recover from the slump witnessed nearly four years back, as per the company press-release.

Record oil and gas production along with increased refinery throughput drove earnings, partially offset by increased exploration expenses. Royal Dutch Shell RDS.A is another European energy giant that reported strong first-quarter profits on Apr 26.

BP reported first-quarter adjusted earnings of 78 cents per American Depositary Share (ADS) on a replacement cost basis, excluding non-operating items. The bottom line surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 67 cents and the year-ago quarter's 46 cents.

Total revenues were USD69,143 million in the quarter, up from USD56,386 million in the year-ago quarter. The integrated energy major continued to return cash to shareholders through buybacks and dividends payments. Through first-quarter 2018, BP spent USD120 million for buying back 18 million worth of shares.

In the first quarter, total production rose 9% year over year to 2.605 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (MMBoe/d). Ramp-up in key developments primarily aided the record volume. Notably, since the October-to-December quarter of 2010, the first-quarter output has been the highest. On top of that, the January-to-March quarter output marked an increase in production for six quarters in a row.

The company sold liquids at USD61.40 a barrel in the first quarter as compared with USD49.87 in the year-earlier quarter. It sold natural gas at USD3.78 per thousand cubic feet, compared with USD3.50 a year ago. Overall price realization increased to USD41.39 per barrels of oil equivalent (Boe) from the year-ago level of USD37.19.

After adjusting for non-operating items and fair value accounting effects, underlying replacement cost profit before interest and tax for the segment was USD3,157 million, considerably higher than USD1,370 million in the year-ago quarter. Increased realized prices from oil and natural gas and record volumes primarily drove the upside. BP has been pleased with the segment's performance and identified it as the strongest outcome from upstream businesses since the start of the oil weakness in the July-to-September quarter of 2014.

Segmental profits improved to USD1,826 million from USD1,742 million in the year-ago quarter, courtesy of higher refinery throughput. Refining marker margin of USD11.7 per barrel in the first quarter of 2018 was in line with the year-ago quarter. Total refinery throughput rose to 1,761 thousand barrels per day (MB/d) from 1,676 MB/d in the year-earlier quarter. Refining availability was 94.8%, compared with 95.2% in the year-ago quarter.

Rosneft
The segment recorded profits of USD247 million, up from USD99 million a year ago.
Exploration Expenses
For the first quarter, BP reported exploration costs of USD514 million, up almost 25% from USD412 million in the year-ago quarter.
Financials
BP's net debt was USD39,993 million at the end of the first quarter, higher than USD38,635 million in the year-ago quarter. Net debt ratio was 28.1%, marginally higher than 28% in the prior-year quarter.

Q1 Price Performance
During first-quarter 2018, BP lost 3.5%, faring better than the industry's 4.1% decline.
MRC