Output of chemical products in Russia grew by 3.3% in January-April 2019

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia's output of chemical products rose in April 2019 by 8.3% year on year. However, production of basic chemicals increased only by 3.3% in the first four months of 2019, according to Rosstat's data.

According to the Federal Service of State Statistics, last month's output of basic chemicals grew by 8.3% year on year. The largest increase in production in monthly terms accounted for mineral fertilizers.

Last month's production of mineral fertilizers was 2.249 mln tonnes (in terms of 100% nutrients) versus 2.092 mln tonnes in March. Overall, Russian plants produced 8,306,000 tonnes of fertilizers in January-April 2019, up by 5% year on year.

Thus, 263 ,000 tonnes of ethylene were produced in April, compared to 276,000 tonnes a month earlier. Overall, 1,056,000 tonnes of this olefin were produced in January-April 2019, up 2.8% year on year.

April production of sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) was 103,000 tonnes (100% of the basic substance) versus 114,000 tonnes a month earlier. Thus, overall imports of caustic totalled about 428,000 tonnes in the first four months of 2019, compared to 425,700 tonnes a year earlier.

Last month's output of benzene were 121,000 tonnes versus 129,000 tonnes in March. Overall production of this product reached 491,000 tonnes in the first April months of 2019, down by 2% year on year.

April production of polymers in primary form decreased to 705,000 tonnes, up 5.5% from a month earlier. Total volume of polymer production in primary form in Jan-Apr amounted to 2,784,000 tonnes, up 0.7% more than a year ago.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- U.S. production of major plastic resins totaled 7.5 billion pounds during March 2019, a decrease of 0.3 percent compared to the same month in 2018, said Chemengonline.

According to statistics released today by the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.). Year-to-date production was 21.5 billion pounds, a 4.9 percent increase as compared to the same period in 2018.

Sales and captive (internal) use of major plastic resins totaled 7.3 billion pounds during March 2019, an increase of 5.1 percent from the same month one year earlier. Year-to-date sales and captive use was 21.5 billion pounds, a 5.3 percent increase as compared to the same period in 2018.

As it was written earlier, in 2018, resin production in the U.S. reached nearly 120 billion pounds of resin, on a dry weight basis.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Three Texas environmental groups notified Valero Energy Corp of plans to file a lawsuit under the U.S. Clean Air Act for pollution at the company’s Port Arthur, Texas, refinery, reported Reuters with reference to the organizations.

Environment Texas, the Sierra Club and the Port Arthur Community Action Network allege over 600 violations of pollution limits by the release of hazardous chemicals like sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide and particulates from the refinery since 2014.

The lawsuit would be filed under a provision of the Clean Air Act that allows citizens to sue in federal court when government agencies have failed to halt pollution. Plaintiffs must first provide a 60-day notice to the companies and agencies of the planned lawsuit.

The organizations said Valero has released over 850,000 pounds of sulfur dioxide during emission events reported by the company to the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality.

“Valero’s Port Arthur refinery has a poor compliance record even when compared to other Texas oil refineries, spewing out millions of pounds of dangerous pollution into surrounding neighborhoods,” said Luke Metzger, executive director of Environment Texas.

A storage tank fire at the Port Arthur refinery in 2017 released over 250,000 pounds (113,398 kilograms) of particulate matter, more than any other facility in the entire state released from emission events over that entire year, the groups said.

In similar lawsuits, Environment Texas and the Sierra Club Lone Star chapter reached settlements with Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Petrobras over pollution at Houston-area refineries.

In 2017, Exxon Mobil Corp was ordered to pay USD20 million for over 16,000 Clean Air Act violations at its Baytown, Texas, refinery following a lawsuit by Environment Texas and the Sierra Club Lone Star chapter.

The Clean Air Act provides penalties up to nearly USD100,000 per each violation of the act.

As MRC wrote before, in May 2018, Valero Marketing and Supply de Mexico, S.A. de C.V., an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Valero Energy Corporation, announced that it had signed long-term agreements to directly supply refined products into northern Mexico from its Corpus Christi and Three Rivers, Texas, refineries via a pipeline and terminal expansion in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, recently announced by NuStar Energy.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- A string of European refinery outages after contamination forced the shutdown of Russia’s Druzhba crude pipeline has constrained fuel supply across the continent and delivered an unexpected boost to profit margins, reported Reuters.

But the Russian supply woes, the worst in decades, coupled with unplanned North Sea oilfield outages have also raised prices for the crude refiners use to make products such as diesel and gasoline, curbing their margin gains.

Several refineries across Germany and eastern Europe have been forced in recent weeks to slow down their operations after high levels of organic chloride were found to have contaminated Urals crude pumped via the Druzhba pipeline to the Baltic port of Ust-Luga and to other European countries.

At the same time, North Sea crude prices have risen on demand from refiners looking to offset the disrupted Russian supply at a time of field and pipeline outages in the region.

The Forties North Sea crude stream reached its highest since early 2016.

The refinery outages have also led to a sharp drop in stocks of gasoline and diesel in the region, boosting prices but also creating logistical difficulties for traders hunting for alternative sources of crude and products.

Total suspended operations at some units of the 230,000 barrel-per-day Leuna refinery in Germany last week for technical checks due to the contamination as it awaits alternative supplies of feedstock from the Polish port of Gdansk, it said.

Roughly 250,000 barrels per day (bpd) in European refining capacity, or just under 2% of the continent’s product demand, will be impacted in the second quarter of the year by the Druzhba outage, the International Energy Agency estimates.

"The market is all over the place: field outages, refinery issues, Urals, geopolitics, all at the same time," a European trading source said.

Overall refining profit margins have been buoyed with Europe’s overall Ekofisk refining margin reaching a seven-week high on Friday.

European gasoline profit margins have hit an 8-month high of more than USD13 per barrel since the pipeline outage. Diesel refining margins at around USD15 per barrel are near a 2-month high.

The impact has been particularly acute in Germany, Europe’s largest economy, where traders have been forced to import gasoline and diesel from the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining hub on barges or tankers in recent days, traders said. Germany is typically an exporter of gasoline components to ARA.

BP’s decision to start maintenance at its 400,000 bpd refinery in Rotterdam - one of Europe’s biggest and most complex - in mid-May rather than October, as initially planned, exacerbated the supply crunch. It will be out for four to six weeks, traders said.

Trader Gunvor also shut down one of its two crude units at its Rotterdam refinery in early May. The unit resumed operations on May 18, industry monitor Genscape said.

"It seems likely that European gasoline and diesel supplies will be tight over the next 4-6 weeks at least," said Robert Campbell, head of oil products at consultancy Energy Aspects.

ARA gasoline stocks fell by more than 5 percent in the week to May 16 to their lowest since August 2018, data from Insights Global showed. Seasonally, gasoline stocks are at their lowest since 2015.

The drop in gasoline stocks and subsequent price rise have also made exports from the region to the US East Coast uneconomic, tightening the supply outlook in North America, Campbell added.

Gasoil stocks, which include diesel and heating oil, were also below their five-year average though still higher than last year’s levels, the data show.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF Venture Capital GmbH (Ludwigshafen, Germany) is investing in the Longwater Advanced Materials Fund, said Chemengonline.

This private equity fund is managed by Longwater Investment (Shanghai, China), a pioneer growth capital investor in advanced materials and chemistry-related technologies. BASF Venture Capital is one of several Limited Partners; other investors include Xiamen C & D, CICC Genesis and Tsinghua Redbud.

The Asian market plays an important role in BASF’s growth strategy. “This investment underlines our commitment to further expanding BASF’s innovation capabilities in China,” said Markus Solibieda, managing director of BASF Venture Capital. “Longwater’s experts are well versed in China’s chemical industry. Involvement in Longwater’s network will support BASF’s aim to engage with fast-growing companies and develop jointly with them innovations for its customers."

BASF Venture Capital generates new growth potential for BASF by investing in young companies and funds. One of its strategic focus areas is new chemical technologies and materials. Longwater, a leading specialist in China, has built a strong network with competent start-ups and is therefore a powerful partner in this field.

"We are happy to welcome BASF Venture Capital as a Limited Partner in our network,” says Xuesong Shi, managing director of Longwater. “BASF is a widely respected global market leader in the chemical and materials sector. BASF Venture Capital, which supplements BASF’s innovation initiatives, has extensive access to and insights into various related segments and shares a common philosophy and vision with Longwater Investment as regards smart energy, sustainability, chemical-industry digitalization, and much more. The partnership will facilitate synergetic collaboration between BASF Venture Capital and Longwater Investment."

Longwater’s network spans a variety of industrial verticals and comprises multiple global and domestic market leaders in the chemical field as strategic investors, as well as other external strategic partners that can provide insights and resources to Longwater’s investment activities and create synergies among stakeholders.

As MRC informed before, in December 2016, AkzoNobel finalized the acquisition of BASF’s global Industrial Coatings business, which supplies a range of products for industries including construction, domestic appliances, wind energy and commercial transport, strengthening its position as the global number one supplier in coil coatings.

BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries. BASF generated sales of about EUR58 billion in 2016.
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