Trafigura halts oil trade with Venezuela

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Global commodities firm Trafigura has decided to stop trading oil with Venezuela due to US sanctions on the OPEC nation’s energy sector, reported Reuters with reference to a source with direct knowledge of the matter.

The decision will come as a blow to Caracas as Swiss-based Trafigura has a long-standing arrangement with state-run PDVSA to take Venezuelan crude and, in exchange, supply the Latin American country with refined products.

Washington imposed fresh sanctions on PDVSA last month to cut off a key source of revenue for President Nicolas Maduro. The move came after Congress head Juan Guaido invoked constitutional provisions to become interim president, arguing that socialist Maduro’s re-election last year was a sham.

Last year, trading company Trafigura directly took 34,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Venezuelan crude and products, which were mostly resold to US and Chinese refineries, according to internal PDVSA trade documents seen by Reuters.

Trafigura will stop business with PDVSA after completing a small number of already-concluded trades, the source said.

Due to the size of Venezuela’s oil-for-loan agreements with China and Russia and the weight of previous U.S. sanctions, cash-strapped PDVSA has become increasingly reliant on intermediaries to export its crude and import refined products.

PDVSA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trafigura is due to load two cargoes of Venezuelan crude before the end of February, the source with direct knowledge and a shipping source said.

It was not immediately clear whether these two tankers were the last of the already-concluded trades, or how many - if any - product tankers would be sent in return.

For the trading firm, the decision means giving up a source of crude supply for Russia-backed Indian refiner Nayara Energy, in which Trafigura holds a near 25 percent stake.

Nayara would still be able to buy Venezuelan crude through Russia’s Rosneft and other intermediaries.

The US sanctions limit US refiners to paying for Venezuelan oil by using escrow accounts that cannot be accessed by Maduro’s government. Foreign firms that use the US financial system for oil trading or US. units are similarly restricted, cutting off avenues for PDVSA to collect revenue.

In an effort to ease domestic fuel shortages, PDVSA’s imports skyrocketed last year. Its own refining system is hobbled by a technical failure, a lack of investment, delayed maintenance and insufficient crude supply.

In the last three months of 2018, Venezuela exported about 1.45 million bpd of crude and products. Trading houses lifted 225,000 bpd of that, according to the PDVSA documents and Refinitiv Eikon data.

Exports to the United States, Venezuela’s primary export customer, have since dried up, as well as those to other destinations, with loaded tankers left stranded off Venezuelan ports.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PolyOne Corporation, a premier provider of specialized polymer materials, services and solutions, has announced that Robert Bindner is being promoted to the position of President of Performance Products & Solutions (PP&S), said the producer on its site.

He replaces Don Wiseman who is taking a leadership opportunity with another company.

Mr. Bindner joined PolyOne's predecessor company BF Goodrich in 1988 and thereafter ascended in his career through various sales and commercial roles of increasing responsibility - in PP&S; Color, Additives & Inks; and Distribution. For two years he served as Vice President of Asia, where he helped to improve collaboration among PolyOne businesses and functions, thus accelerating growth in the region that continues today. Most recently he served as Vice President and General Manager for Color and Additives in the Americas.

"Rob is a proven and inspirational leader whose career at PolyOne has been defined by his ability to lead teams that serve customers with excellence," said Robert M. Patterson, Chairman, President and CEO, PolyOne Corporation. "He has played an instrumental role in the transformation of our Color segment, and I am excited to have him now lead PP&S."

Mr. Patterson added, "I'd also like to thank Don for his time and contributions at PolyOne, as he helped to build our PP&S team and further refine the segment's strategy toward specialty. We wish him all the best in his new role outside of PolyOne."

As MRC wrote before, in January 2018, PolyOne Corporation announced the acquisition of IQAP Masterbatch Group S.L., a privately owned and innovative provider of specialty colorants and additives based in Spain with customers throughout Europe.

PolyOne Corporation, with 2018 revenues of USD3.5 billion, is a premier provider of specialized polymer materials, services and solutions with operations in specialty polymer formulations, color and additive systems, polymer distribution and specialty vinyl resins.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Arabia will announce eight investment agreements during a visit to Pakistan by Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, officials said, a trip that is expected to set the seal on growing closeness between the historic allies, reported Reuters on Wednesday.

The investment is welcome in Pakistan, which is facing sharply slowing economic growth this year, a ballooning budget deficit and foreign currency reserves dwindling to less than USD8 billion or two months’ of imports.

Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, is looking to diversify its economy beyond oil exports and also needs allies in the aftermath of the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October.

While Islamabad has begun talks over a possible bailout with the International Monetary Fund, it has already won USD6 billion in badly needed loans and credit arrangements from Saudi Arabia to prevent a balance of payments crisis.

"Saudi Arabia always supported us in these tough times," Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told a news conference in Islamabad.

The government is also looking for new sources of investment alongside the mammoth USD60 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor infrastructure project with Beijing.

Total Saudi investments could reach USD20 billion over the next few years, the Board of Investment said in a statement, without providing any detailed breakdown.

Eight memoranda of understanding are expected to be signed during Prince Mohammad’s visit this weekend after plans were announced last month for a USD10 billion oil refinery in Gwadar where China is building a deepwater port as part of its Belt and Road initiative.

"We would like this economic corridor that is being built and Gwadar to become a hub of trade, energy and economic activity," Qureshi said.

Saudi Arabia is also interested in buying two liquefied natural gas-based power plants at Haveli Bahadur Shah and Bhikki which the government is looking to sell as part of a privatization drive, he said.

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was among a handful of world leaders who attended Riyadh’s flagship investment conference in October, which was shunned by many companies and governments in protest at Khashoggi’s murder.

Pakistani newspapers have reported in awe-struck tones on preparations for Prince Mohammad’s two-day visit, during which he will be accompanied by a 1,000-strong entourage and five truckloads of effects including his personal gym equipment.

Qureshi rejected suggestions that Pakistan had promised its support for the Saudi-backed coalition waging war in Yemen against the Iran-aligned Houthi movement.

“There is no such conditionality, there is no attempt to push Pakistan into Yemen,” he said.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Polypropylene (PP) imports into Russia slumped in the first month of 2019 by 41% year on year to 8,500 tonnes. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the greatest decrease, as per MRC's DataScope report.

Russian companies reduced PP imports in January under pressure from seasonal factors and because of the absence of alternatives, imports totalled 8,500 tonnes, compared to 14,500 tonnes in January 2018 and 18,500 tonnes last December. Shipments of homopolymer PP from Central Asia decreased significantly. Overall, 192,300 tonnes of propylene polymers were imported to Russia in 2018.

The overall structure of PP imports by grades looked the following way over the stated period.

January homopolymer PP imports fell to 1,900 tonnes from 5,000 tonnes in January 2018 and 7,500 tonnes last December, whereas homopolymer PP raffia shipments from Turkmenistan decreased by several times because of the absence of export offers from local producers. Overall imports of this PP grade reached 68,800 tonnes in 2018.

Last month's imports of block copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) were 2,500 tonnes, compared to 3,800 tonnes in January 2018 and 3,900 tonnes in December 2018, demand for pipe grade PP subsided. Overall imports of PP block copolymers to Russia rose 47,100 tonnes in 2018.

Imports of stat-copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymer) dropped to 1,600 tonnes in January 2019 from 2,700 tonnes in January 2018 and 3,800 tonnes last December, demand for pipe grade PP subsided significantly from Russian companies under the pressure of seasonal factors. Overall imports of this grade of propylene copolymers totalled 36,300 tonnes in 2018.

Imports of other propylene polymers totalled 2,400 tonnes over the stated period, compared to 3,100 tonnes in January 2018 and 3,300 tonnes last December.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Toray Industries, Inc. has announced that it decided to increase the production capacity of its polypropylene (PP) film TORAYFAN manufactured by Toray Plastics (America), Inc., as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

A production facility with annual capacity of 30,000 tons will be additionally built at TPA’s Rhode Island Plant (Rhode Island, US), which aims to start operation in 2020. TORAYFAN is the lightest among plastic films and it is superior in transparency, toughness and aroma retaining property.

It is widely used for general industrial applications, capacitors and packaging materials and TPA has a high share in the North American market for high value-added packaging materials. The biaxially-oriented polypropylene (BOPP) market in North America is estimated to grow at a pace of 3% a year given the future population growth. In the food packaging film market in particular, there is an increasing push towards longer shelf life for food stuff and diversification of package designs for snacks, confections and health foods such as nutrition bars.

The production capacity increase announced this time in response to such diversification and sophistication of customer needs and the company aims to further expand the business by enhancing the production capacity at TPA early on. Toray is promoting the Expansion and Advancement of Global Business as one of the basic strategies of the medium-term management program Project AP-G 2019, and the TORAYFAN capacity increase is part of the strategy.

Further, under the corporate philosophy of "Contributing to society through the creation of new value with innovative ideas, technologies and products," the Toray Group is determined to vigorously propel the business expansion with the aim of achieving sustained growth in the growing business fields and areas.

As MRC reported previously, in December 2018, Toray Industries, Inc., announced its decision to enhance production capacity of ABS resin TOYOLAC, manufactured at and distributed by Toray Plastics (Malaysia). The company will add a facility with production capacity of 75,000 tons annually to expand the sales of high performance varieties such as transparent grade, which has the No. 1 global market share, and start its operation in November 2020. The move will increase TPM’s production capacity to 425,000 tons a year and Toray Group’s capacity with the existing facility at Toray’s Chiba Plant to 497,000 tons a year.
MRC