Trinseo reduced June PS prices in Europe

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Trinseo, a global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex binders and synthetic rubber, and its affiliate companies in Europe has announced a price reduction for all polystyrene (PS), as per the company's press release.

Effective June 1, 2019, or as existing contract terms allow, the contract and spot prices for the products listed below dropped, as follows:

- STYRON general purpose polystyrene grades (GPPS) - by EUR105 per metric ton;
- STYRON and STYRON A-Tech and STYRON X- Tech and STYRON C- Tech high impact polystyrene grades (HIPS) -by EUR105 per metric ton.

As MRC informed before, Trinseo raised its prices for all PS grades on 1 May,l 2019. Thus, May prices for the said products grew, as stated below:

- STYRON GPPS grades - by EUR50 per metric ton;
- STYRON and STYRON A-Tech HIPS grades - by EUR50 per metric ton.

Trinseo is a global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex and rubber. Trinseo's technology is used by customers in industries such as home appliances, automotive, building & construction, carpet, consumer electronics, consumer goods, electrical & lighting, medical, packaging, paper & paperboard, rubber goods and tires. Formerly known as Styron, Trinseo completed its renaming process in 1Q 2015. Trinseo had approximately USD4.6 billion in net sales in 2018, with 16 manufacturing sites around the world, and approximately 2,500 employees.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- US President Donald Trump’s threats to tax Mexican imports could disrupt a long-standing cross-border energy trade, hitting US consumers and refiners that use Mexican oil by boosting prices, and raising concerns about potential retaliation by the world’s biggest buyer of US energy products, reported Reutes.

Mexico sends 600,000 to 700,000 barrels of oil to the United States every day, mostly to refiners that process that crude into gasoline, diesel and other products.

Mexico buys more than 1 million barrels per day (bpd) of US crude and fuel, more than any other country, and analysts are concerned that retaliatory tariffs from Mexico could disrupt that trade.

"I can’t see how the outcomes are going to be constructive," said Carlos Pascual, a former US ambassador to Mexico who now helps run consultancy IHS Markit’s global energy business.

Trump on Thursday vowed to impose a tariff on all goods coming from Mexico, starting at 5% and increasing monthly until the surge of undocumented immigrants from across the border subsides.

Mexico and the United States, along with Canada, are trying to finish a broad free-trade agreement to replace the 25-year-old NAFTA deal. If implemented, the tariffs would begin June 10. So far Mexico has not said it would retaliate.

The imposition of tariffs may spur "retaliatory actions that impair the development of new markets," said a spokesman for Chevron Corp, adding the company supports free and fair trade. Chevron has opened 100 retail gasoline stores in Mexico since 2017.

Trade group American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers warned tariffs could raise domestic fuel prices and jeopardize the proposed trade deal. The American Petroleum Institute said the tax could hurt the US economy.

Tariffs could add USD2 million to the cost of daily Mexican crude purchases by US refiners, analysts at PVM Oil Associates said.

A sharp decline in supplies from Mexico could raise the cost of fuels overall if US refiners are forced to buy heavier crude grades from further away, adding to shipping costs.

However, crude traders noted that most Gulf Coast refiners that buy Mexican crude are located in so-called Foreign Trade Zones, which allow them to avoid tariffs so long as the refined products are exported - though these refiners also supply US markets.

Refiners have been using Mexican heavy crude grades in part to offset the loss of barrels from Venezuela, which has been under US sanctions for months.

The primary importers of Mexican crude include refineries owned by Valero Energy Corp, Phillips 66, Exxon Mobil Corp and Chevron Corp. Mexico accounted for about 9% of total US oil imports last year, TPH said.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Angola and Italy’s Eni have identified another deepwater oil reserve off the southern African country’s shores, reported Reuters with reference to its state news agency's statement.

The find, the fifth discovery in Angola’s Block 15/06, is estimated to contain between 300 and 400 million barrels of light oil, according to Agencia Angola Press.

We remind that, as MRC informed before, in February 2019, Eni and SABIC signed a Joint Development Agreement to further develop an innovative technology for natural gas conversion into synthesis gas that can be further transformed into high value fuels and chemicals.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Belarus will finish pumping contaminated Russian crude back to Russia by the middle of August, reported Reuters with reference to Interfax news agency, citing Gomeltransneft Druzhba, the operator of the Belarusian section of the Druzhba pipeline.

Around 5 million tons of Russian oil was contaminated in April with organic chloride and some of the volumes are being pumped back from Belarus to Russia to clear the pipeline.

As MRC wrote before, in early June 2019, the Czech oil refinery at Litvinov, owned by PKN Orlen unit Unipetrol, started receiving oil from state emergency reserves due to halt in Russian supplies via the Druzhba pipeline.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The June contract price of propylene was settled in Europe at the level of May, despite a major fall in oil prices. Therefore, all European producers announced a roll-over of May export polypropylene (PP) prices for June shipments to the CIS markets, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

Negotiations over June prices of European PP have begun this week. All market participants reported producers' desire to roll over May export prices of propylene polymers for June shipments, while oil prices have significantly decreased in recent days.

Deals for June shipments of homopolymer of propylene (homopolymer PP) were discussed in the range of EUR1,170-1,205/tonne FCA, which virtually corresponds to the level of May. Deals for block copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) were negotiated in the range of EUR1,240-1,280/tonne FCA.

Demand for European PP has subsided significantly from consumers in the CIS countries in recent months due to high prices. Many companies switched to shipments of propylene polymers from other regions, including the Middle East.

Suppliers of Middle Eastern PP reduced their prices for June shipments, this week's offer prices for homopolymer PP were announced in the range of USD1,180-1,240/tonne CIF Odessa and St Petersburg. Prices of PP block copolymer were by an average of USD60/tonne higher.
MRC