Saudi Aramco signs crude oil supply term deal with Chinese Rongsheng

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Aramco has signed a long-term deal with Zhejiang Rongsheng to supply crude oil to the Chinese company’s new refinery in eastern China, reported Reuters with reference to a source with knowledge of the matter.

The volume and grades to be supplied were not available. Saudi Aramco and Rongsheng could not be immediately reached for comment.

Rongsheng International Trading Co, the trading arm of Chinese conglomerate Zhejiang Rongsheng Holding Group, has already bought spot Omani crude ahead of the new refinery’s start-up.

Zhejiang Petrochemical, 51 percent owned by textile giant Rongsheng Holding Group, was in August awarded a quota to import 5 million tonnes of crude oil this year. The company plans to start up its 400,000-barrels-per-day refinery-petrochemical project in eastern China in late 2018.

As MRC informed before, Saudi Aramco’s potential acquisition of a stake in petrochemicals maker SABIC would affect the timeframe of its own planned initial public offering, the firm’s chief executive, Amin Nasser, said in a TV interview in late July 2018.

Saudi Aramco is an integrated oil and chemicals company, a global leader in hydrocarbon production, refining processes and distribution, as well as one of the largest global oil exporters. It manages proven reserves of crude oil and condensate estimated at 261.1bn barrels, and produces 9.54 million bbl daily. Headquartered in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, the company employs over 61,000 staff in 77 countries.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shipments of West African oil to Asia are set to hit a two-month high in October as Chinese refineries scramble for alternatives to Iranian crude before US sanctions take effect on Nov. 4, reported Reuters.

Loadings for Asia will rise to 2.52 million barrels per day (bpd) in October, equivalent to 75 percent of total output from Angola, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, Ghana and Equatorial Guinea, based on Reuters calculations, shipping brokers and Refinitiv Eikon data.

This compares to September's 2.27 million bpd, which was almost 70 percent of regional output. China has been the main driver for Asian demand before the implementation of US sanctions that analysts estimate will remove 500,000 bpd to 2 million bpd of Iranian oil from the market.

Chinese imports from West Africa are set to rise to a record 1.94 million bpd, or 60 cargoes, in October from 1.5 million bpd, or 45 cargoes, in September.

West African grades tend to produce a large proportion of high-value distillates, such as diesel or jet fuel, much like Iranian crude oil, making it an attractive replacement.

Other buyers across Asia and Europe have also said they would cut back on purchases of Iranian oil, unleashing a burst of demand for West African and other crudes rich in distillates, such as grades from Saudi Arabia or the North Sea.

The looming deadline on Iranian crude is not the only factor behind the surge in demand for October cargoes to China.

Independent Chinese refineries, known as teapots, eased up on imports earlier in the third quarter for maintenance. Now they are restocking before the end of the month, as their import quotas are based on purchases made from January to October.

"The resurgence of Chinese teapot buying could not have come at a more awkward time for the oil market," consultancy Energy Aspects wrote.

"China was widely expected to need to restock. But its renewed appetite for crude has been bolstered by panic buying from teapots," the consultancy said. Elsewhere in Asia, India is offering some respite for the stretched West African market, buying about 451,000 bpd in October, down from September's 500,000 bpd, while Glencore will ship a rare suezmax cargo of West African crude to South Korea.

India's state-run refiners tend to take less West Africa crude at tender and buy more on the spot market.

State firms Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) will take 10 of the 14 India-bound cargoes.

Nigerian Agbami, Qua Iboe and Bonny Light make up the bulk of the WAF exports to India.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Karpatneftekhim (Kalush, Ivano-Frankivsk region), Ukraine's largest petrochemical plant, intends to take off-stream its production of high density polyethylene (HDPE) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) for maintenance in November, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

The plant's clients said the scheduled turnaround at HDPE and PVC production capacities will be quite long and will start from 5 November. Karpatneftekhim plans to resume its HDPE production on 4 December and PVC production - a few days later.

This is virtually the first shutdown for maintenance after a period of more than a year of the plant's operations.

As reported earlier, Karpatneftekhim resumed operations on 9 June 2017, after a five-year outage.

Karpatneftekhim is one of the largest enterprises of Ukraine's petrochemical complex. Currently, the plant can produce annually 300,000 tonnes of PVC, 200,000 tonnes of caustic soda, about 180,000 tonnes of chlorine, as well as 250,000 tonnes of ethylene and 100,000 tonnes of polyethylene.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- One worker has been killed after a fire at a petrochemical refinery in western Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, reported ArabNews with reference to authorities.

One person died and 11 others have been injured in the incident, the spokesperson for the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu, Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Abdulqader told Saudi TV. The name of the deceased individual has not been released.

Fire crews in Yanbu, a city on the Red Sea coast, battled the blaze at the National Petrochemical Industrial Company (Natpet) before bringing the situation under control.

In an earlier statement, the spokesman said the industrial accident control teams had rushed to the site in record time when the fire first erupted at 5:40pm.

He also said the Royal Commission’s environmental monitoring and protection teams were reviewing air quality in the residential and industrial areas. Readings in the first and sixth stations were normal and the wind direction was southeast, he said.

As MRC wrote before, Natpet shut its polypropylene (PP) plant in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, for a four-week scheduled maintenance in early April, 2017.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Akzo Nobel N.V.has announced shareholders will receive EUR5.5 billion, following completion of the sale of the Specialty Chemicals business, said the company.

This is in addition to EUR1 billion advance proceeds distributed by a special cash dividend paid on December 7, 2017.
A total of EUR6.5 billion will have been distributed to shareholders, delivering on a commitment to return the vast majority of EUR7.5 billion net proceeds, from the separation of the Specialty Chemicals business.

The additional EUR5.5 billion proceeds will be distributed using a capital repayment and share consolidation of EUR2 billion, special cash dividend of EUR1 billion, and share buyback of EUR2.5 billion.

Thierry Vanlancker, CEO of AkzoNobel, said: "This is a clear sign we are delivering on our commitments and focused on creating value for all our stakeholders as a paints and coatings company.

"We consulted many shareholders and evaluated various options to determine an optimal and timely way to return the vast majority of net proceeds following the sale of the Specialty Chemicals business."

The capital repayment and share consolidation will be subject to shareholder approval at an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM), to be held on November 13, 2018. The special cash dividend will be paid shortly after the capital repayment and share consolidation has been completed. The share buyback will commence following payment of the special cash dividend and likely be completed during the middle of 2020. Shares will be canceled following repurchase.

Remaining proceeds will be used for the repayment of debt, costs associated with the transformation, and bolt-on acquisitions. The ordinary dividend relevant for AkzoNobel as a focused paints and coatings company is €1.65 per share, as announced on April 19, 2017, and the dividend policy remains ‘stable to rising’. AkzoNobel is committed to retain a strong investment grade credit rating.
MRC