Petrobras, CNPC talks put China closer to first Americas refinery

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Brazil’s state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA and China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) took another step in negotiations that could give the Chinese their first refining capacity in the Americas, reported Reuters.

The companies announced in a Brazilian security filing that they had signed a letter of intent advancing talks for a partnership to finish the Comperj refinery near Rio de Janeiro and a “participation” of CNPC in the offshore Marlim oil field.

The joint announcement confirms an April report by Reuters that said the companies were working out a deal involving a CNPC investment at Comperj in exchange for a stake in the offshore Campos Basin and rights to use the refinery.

The talks highlight rising Chinese interest in the Brazilian energy sector, which has attracted billions of dollars from oil majors over the past year for rights to new exploration blocks as the government lowers barriers to foreigners.

The companies did not offer further details and said the implementation of the partnership will depend on the success of final negotiations.

"This strategic partnership will strengthen ties between the companies and will contribute to deepen the global strategic partnership between Brazil and China," the filing said.

In November, Pedro Parente, then chief executive of the Brazilian oil firm known as Petrobras, touted a 196 meter oil column discovered in the Marlim field, which he described as the best in the Campos basin.

Petrobras and CNPC have already partnered in the giant Libra oil field off the Brazilian coast since 2013.

Last year, they also partnered to win exploration rights for the Peroba field, another promising deposit in the area known as the pre-salt, where billions of barrels of oil are trapped under a thick layer of salt beneath the ocean floor.

Petrobras has already invested some USD13 billion in the Comperj complex, which needs about USD3 billion in additional investment to reach an initial capacity of 165,000 barrels per day, people familiar with the matter told Reuters in April.

As MRC wrote before, in October 2017, Petrobras’s minority stakes in Braskem and Deten Quimica was excluded from Petrobras’s divestment program, according to a government decree published in Brazil’s Official Gazette. The decree prevents Petrobras from immediately selling its minority stake in Braskem, which had been announced this year. A new decree will be required to release the stock sale. Petrobras’s board earlier approved a strategic plan for 2017-21 that included the divestment of all petrochemical interests.

Braskem S.A. produces petrochemicals and generates electricity. The Company produces ethylene, propylene, benzene, toluene, xylenes, butadiene, butene, isoprene, dicyclopentediene, MTBE, caprolactam, ammonium sulfate, cyclohexene, polyethylene theraphtalat, polyethylene, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ALPLA, the Austrian packaging solutions specialist, and FROMM (Switzerland) have agreed on a collaboration in relation to PET recycling, as per ALPLA's press release.

Both companies operate recycling plants for PET bottles, thus ensuring the necessary supply of materials for their own production facilities.

The goal of the collaboration between ALPLA and FROMM is the further optimisation of the already high recycling rates for PET as well as a significant reduction in CO2 emissions through saved transport. There are also further benefits for the partners, such as simplified access to markets in the respective countries.

"The requirements at our production sites complement one another very well. At ALPLA, we mainly need clear, food-grade pellets. Fromm processes coloured flakes for the strapping bands," explains Georg Lasser, Head of Corporate Recycling Services at ALPLA. "The collaboration between our recycling facilities will ensure the necessary quantity and quality of materials for production for both sides."

‘The three recycling plants are integrated in various procurement markets and complement one another ideally in the procurement of raw materials,’ highlights Reinhard Fromm, owner of the family-run FROMM Group.

The PET Recycling Team plants in Wollersdorf (Austria) and Radomsko (Poland) are part of the ALPLA Group. These recycling facilities have an annual capacity of approximately 45,000 tonnes of food-grade rPET produced from post-consumer materials.

The PET recycling company Texplast in Wolfen (Germany) has been a subsidiary of FROMM Plastics GmbH since 2004. Texplast produces PET pellets and PET flakes. FROMM uses these for its own production of strapping bands and also supplies manufacturers of beverage bottles, thermoforming sheets and fibres.

The contract partners have agreed not to disclose the details of the cooperation. Further possibilities to extend the cooperation are to be explored.

As MRC informed before, in July 2017, Alpla acquired a 100% stake in Italian plastic bottle producer Propack. Headquartered in Ostellato, Propack specialises in the production of HDPE and PET bottles for home care. The deal sees Alpla expand its production capacities in north-east Italy with its eighth plant in the country.

ALPLA is one of the leading companies involved in plastic packaging. Around 19,300 employees worldwide produce custom-made packaging systems, bottles, closures and moulded parts at 176 sites across 45 countries. The high-quality packaging is used in a wide range of areas, including for food and drinks, cosmetics and care products, household detergents, washing and cleaning agents, engine oils and lubricants. ALPLA operates its own recycling plants: PET Recycling Team with two sites in Austria and Poland, and in the form of joint ventures in Mexico and Germany. ALPLA celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2015.

The FROMM Group is a leading global company producing load securement systems for the transportation of goods and has over 70 years of history. Over 1,200 employees develop, produce and distribute tailored packaging solutions for customers with around 40 companies across six continents. FROMM has production sites in Italy, Germany, USA, Thailand, Chile and Slovakia.

Texplast GmbH is a wholly owned subsidiary of FROMM Plastics GmbH in Kolleda. The company has almost 100 employees and, with an input capacity of over 50,000 tonnes of bottles per year, is one of the leading recyclers of rPET in Western Europe, in particular for used beverage bottles. Texplast produces flakes for applications in the plastics industry as well as pellets for the production of food packaging. FROMM specialises in strapping bands, air cushion packaging and stretch film, as well as the corresponding machinery and equipment.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Rain Carbon Inc., a leading global producer of carbon-based products, has announced that it will begin construction of a new resin polymerization and hydrogenation plant in mid-July at its integrated coal tar and petrochemical site in Castrop-Rauxel, Germany, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The plant hydrogenated water-white resins will serve as a cornerstone of Rain Carbon's new Advanced Materials product segment. Once operational in the third quarter of 2019, the plant will have a resins production capacity of up to 50,000 tons per year.

"In recent years, advances in science and engineering have unleashed the potential of coal and petro tars - two of our core raw materials - and we are rapidly mobilizing to leverage new opportunities to deliver advanced materials designed for lighter, faster and greener 21st-century applications," said Rain Carbon President Gerard Sweeney.

"Hydrogenation is the next step for hydrocarbon resin producers, to satisfy evolving regulatory requirements and growing demand by consumer- and industrial-goods manufacturers for cleaner and safer raw materials," Sweeney explained.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- July contract price of ethylene in Europe was agreed down by EUR50/tonne from June. However, European producers intend to roll over June export polyethylene (PE) prices for July shipments to the CIS markets, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

Negotiations over July PE shipments from Europe to the CIS countries began on Monday. But the lower ethylene prices in the region did not lead to a proportional decrease in export PE prices. European producers announced a roll-over of June prices for this month for all grades of ethylene polymers.

Negotiations over July shipments of low density polyethylene (HDPE) were held in the range of EUR1,080-1,155/tonne FCA, which virtually corresponded to June prices. Soma producers had minor restrictions on shipments, but they were not critical for most buyers.

Prices of black PE 100 also remained unchanged and were discussed in the range of EUR1,360-1,415/tonne FCA. Supply of this PE grade increased noticeably in July after two months of serious restrictions on shipments.

Deals for July shipments of European low density polyethylene (LDPE) were negotiated in the range of EUR1,080-1,150/tonne FCA, as a month earlier.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Oil major BP discharged 130,000 tonnes, or nearly 1 million barrels, of Angolan crude to a Chinese independent refiner last week, after holding the oil on water for more than two months amid slowing Chinese demand and multi-year high oil prices, sources with knowledge of the offloading said Reuters.

Texas, a supertanker charted by BP carrying around 2 million barrels of Angolan crude, discharged part of the cargo in mid-April at Qingdao and was slated to offload the rest at Rizhao, another port in Shandong, shortly after.

Instead, the tanker had been anchored off the coast until last week, when it discharged at the Rizhao terminal 130,000 tonnes of Cabinda crude to Shandong Qingyuan Group.

Qingyuan, which is based at Linzi in the province of Shandong and operates a 5.2 million-tonne-per-year (104,000-barrel-per-day) refiner, is a regular customer of BP which has expanded its crude oil marketing to Chinese independent refiners over the last three years.

Qingyuan has received an annual crude import quota of 4.04 million tonnes and is one of the largest independently-run lubricant producers.

BP did not reply to Reuters’ request for comment. Qingyuan didn’t respond to a Reuters fax seeking comment.
MRC