Sanctions on Venezuelas oil firm sends U.S. refiners scrambling

MOSCOW (MRC) - Venezuela’s revenues from oil sales to the United States have come under severe threat as sweeping sanctions on Venezuelan state-owned oil firm has sent U.S. buyers scrambling for replacements, said Reuters.

The United States on Monday imposed sanctions on Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A., known as PDVSA, to cripple the OPEC member’s oil shipments, which account for nearly all of Venezuela’s exports, in response to the reelection of socialist President Nicolas Maduro, a vote widely viewed as fraudulent.

Washington has recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s head of state. U.S. refineries that depend on Venezuela’s heavy crude are turning to domestic sour crude grades to offset the impact, sending prices to the strongest in about five years WTC-MRS, traders said. Other potential alternatives from Canada, Mexico or elsewhere in Latin America are hard to secure amid slowing production, limited spare capacity and transportation bottlenecks, traders said.

Broader oil futures prices found some support on news of sanctions but the market reaction was largely muted as a lack of investment, mismanagement and fleeing workers have already driven the OPEC-member’s oil production to the lowest in almost seven decades.

PDVSA is seeking to sidestep Trump administration sanctions restricting payments for its oil by asking major buyers, including U.S. refiners, to renegotiate contracts, four sources involved in the talks said. The United States is Venezuela’s biggest oil customer, importing, on average, about 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude in 2018, according to Refinitiv Eikon data.

"The region with the biggest shortfall of Venezuelan crudes, either through sanctions or inadvertently through further production declines is the U.S.," said Michael Tran, commodity strategist at RBC Capital Markets, in a note.

The Trump administration sanctions allow U.S. companies to buy Venezuelan oil, but the proceeds of such sales will be put in a “blocked account." Because of this, PDVSA is likely to quickly stop shipping much crude to the United States, its top client. Overnight, Maduro said cargoes loaded for the United States that had not already been paid for could not depart.

"There’s going to be appetite around the world to take Venezuelan oil," Zachary Rogers, an oil markets analyst at consultancy Wood Mackenzie said. Venezuela will likely be forced to offer steep discounts and increase shipments to Russia, China and India to try and make up for lost revenues from its top market, traders and analysts said.

Its output has been cut in half since 2016 to near 70-year lows to less than 1.2 million bpd, according to figures from OPEC secondary sources, due to a major cash crunch. As a result, the U.S. share of its exports has declined in recent years, with more shipments going to Russia and China made largely through oil-for-debt repayment structures.

Venezuela can prioritize exports to Asia, but it is the most competitive battleground on the planet, RBC Capital’s Tran said, adding that while they remain the second largest market for Venezuelan crudes, the Chinese have also tapered its buying from Caracas over the past two years.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil said that it has reached a final investment decision and started construction on a new unit at its Beaumont, Texas refinery that will increase crude refining capacity by more than 65 percent, or 250,000 barrels per day, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The third crude unit within the facility’s existing footprint will expand light crude oil refining, supported by the increased crude oil production in the Permian Basin.

"With access to terminals, railways, pipelines and waterways nearby, the Beaumont refinery is strategically positioned to benefit from Permian production growth," said Bryan Milton, president of ExxonMobil Fuels and Lubricants Company. "The addition of a third crude unit in Beaumont will enhance the refinery’s competitive position and truly establish it as a leader in the US refining industry."

Startup of the new unit is anticipated by 2022. The project is expected to create up to 1,850 jobs during construction and between 40 and 60 permanent jobs once completed.

ExxonMobil previously announced plans to build and expand manufacturing facilities in the US Gulf region as part of its Growing the Gulf initiative. Growing the Gulf projects include expansion of Beaumont’s polyethylene capacity by 65 percent, a new unit in Beaumont that increases production of ultra-low sulfur fuels, and a new 1.5 million ton-per-year ethane cracker at the company’s integrated Baytown chemical and refining complex in Texas. ExxonMobil and SABIC have also created a new joint venture to advance the development of the Gulf Coast Growth Ventures project, a 1.8 million metric ton ethane cracker currently planned for construction in San Patricio County, Texas.

ExxonMobil’s integrated operations in Beaumont include a 366,000 barrel-per-day capacity refinery, as well as chemical, lubricants and polyethylene plants. ExxonMobil has approximately 2,100 employees in the Beaumont area and its operations account for approximately 1 in every 7 jobs in the region.

As MRC reported earlier, in October 2017, ExxonMobil Chemical Company commenced production on the first of two new 650,000 tons-per-year high-performance polyethylene (PE) lines at its plastics plant in Mont Belvieu, Texas. The full project, part of the company’s multi-billion dollar expansion project in the Baytown area and ExxonMobil’s broader Growing the Gulf expansion initiative, will increase the plant’s polyethylene capacity by approximately 1.3 million tons per year.

ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world's oil and about 2% of the world's energy.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Extrusion machinery maker Davis-Standard LLC is making lab capability upgrades to its technical centre in Pawcatuck, Conn, said Canplastics.

By the end of the first quarter of 2019, Davis-Standard will offer trials for its Davis-Standard Helibar groove feed extruder and the DS Activ-Check control system for continuous extruder monitoring.

"These technologies have been proven in the field and we’re pleased to offer experimentation in our technical centre," said John Christiano, Davis-Standard’s vice president of extrusion. "We’re firm believers in partnering with customers to make processes better and in maximizing their capital investments. I am eager for customers to use both the Helibar and Activ-Check in establishing performance baselines during real-world trials."

The Helibar extruder is the next generation in Davis-Standard’s groove feed extruder offering. The dimensions of the extruder in the lab will be 65 mm with a 36:1 L/D. With the Helibar design, helical grooves inside the barrel run along the entire barrel bore – the technology can increase extruder output rates while improving energy efficiency and reducing barrel and screw wear.

The company’s DS Activ-Check system, meanwhile, will be mounted on a 4.5-inch (114 mm) extruder. "Using a continuous monitoring platform, the DS Activ-Check strengthens preventative and predictive maintenance for extruder operation,” Christiano said. “Operators can monitor key mechanical and electrical components of the extruder and gearbox and receive early notification of potential component failure to prevent unscheduled downtime. Users can obtain notifications via e-mail and text, and can remotely monitor conditions via smart devices or remote PCs."

Davis-Standard designs, develops, and distributes extrusion and converting technology. The company has manufacturing and technical facilities in the U.S., Canada, China, Germany, Finland, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Davis-Standard is represented in Canada by Auxiplast Inc., of Sainte-Julie, Que.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Japan's 2018 oil imports fell to the lowest since at least 1979 while its liquefied natural gas (LNG) purchases and coal imports also dropped, reflecting the country's declining population and slow economic growth, reported Reuters.

The figures also underscore improved energy efficiency, and the emergence of alternative fuels for power generation and in transport, while a rise in nuclear power output last year in Japan further reduced fossil fuel imports.

Japan's customs-cleared crude oil imports slid 5.8% in 2018 from a year earlier, the Ministry of Finance said on Wednesday. Japan, the world's fourth-biggest crude buyer, imported 3 MMbpd, or 175.897 MMkl (kiloliters), of crude oil last year, the preliminary data showed.

The figure marks the lowest since records were kept starting in 1979, an official at the customs office said. Despite this, import costs jumped 25% from a year earlier due to higher average annual prices for crude oil.

Imports of LNG slid 0.9% to 82.854 metric MMt, the lowest since 2011, but their value increased 21%. Japan is the world's biggest importer of LNG, or gas chilled to liquid form for transportation on ships.

Imports of thermal coal for power generation declined 0.6% in 2018 to 113.670 metric MMt, the data showed.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) expects to face challenges this year due to uncertainty over the impact of a global trade war on the United States and China, its major markets, the company’s chief executive said, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

However, the world’s fourth-biggest petrochemicals company said it has the ability to deal with such challenges and started to see stabilization in prices of some products after a steep decline towards the end of 2018.

SABIC reported a 12.4 percent drop in fourth-quarter profit compared to the year-earlier period, missing analyst forecasts. The company attributed the fall to lower average selling prices and a decrease in the share of results of associates.

"We’ve seen stabilization for some of the prices, still there are some challenges ahead of us," Chief Executive Yousef al-Benyan told a news conference in the Saudi capital.

SABIC will continue to boost its presence in its major markets — the U.S. and China, he added. “We are part of the global economic system, we are always affected by challenges but we are able to adapt with these challenges in the best way."

He said SABIC will continue to raise its presence in Africa, as it is seen a very promising market. SABIC’s biggest shareholder, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), is in talks to sell its majority stake to Saudi national oil giant Aramco IPO-ARMO.SE.

Benyan said he views Aramco’s move to “positively”, but further details are a matter for PIF and Aramco, which aims to become a global leader in chemicals. He added the company will determine later if it needs to increase its 24.99 percent stake in Switzerland’s Clariant after the two companies decided to merge their high-performance materials businesses.

SABIC made a net profit of 3.24 billion riyals (USD864 million) in the three months to Dec. 31, down from 3.7 billion riyals in the year-earlier period, the company said in a statement to the stock exchange.

That was lower than the average forecast of three analysts polled by Refinitiv, who expected SABIC to post a net profit of 4.92 billion riyals.

Shares of SABIC were trading 0.3 percent higher in late morning trade, recovering earlier losses.

SABIC results are closely tied to oil prices and global economic growth because its products - plastics, fertilizers, and metals - are used extensively in construction, agriculture, industry and the manufacturing of consumer goods.
MRC