Imports of injection moulding PET chips increased by 37% in January in Ukraine

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Imports of bottle grade polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in Ukraine grew by 37% year on year to 12,500 tonnes in January from 9,100 tonnes a year earlier. PET imports in the country reached 9,400 tonnes in December 2019, according to MRC DataScope.

Deliveries of Chinese bottle grade PET to the Ukrainian market fell to the two times in January amounted to 3,100 tonnes compared to 7,000 tonnes in January last year. Imports were at 4,700 tonnes in December 2019.

The share of imports from China in the total volume amounted to 50% in January against 77% in January 2019. The key suppliers of injection moulding Chinese PET chips to the Ukrainian market were producers Dragon, China Resources Chemicals and Yisheng Petrochemical.
Nevertheless, the import of injection moulding PET chips from Lithuania by Neo Group grew four times in January compared to the same period last year and reached the maximum value of the last ten years - 7,300 tonnes. This figure was 1,800 tonnes in January 2019. In December last year, the volume of external supplies from Lithuania to Ukraine was at the level of 3,800 tonnes.

The total volume of Lithuanian PET imports to the country increased to 59% in January 2020 against 40% in December last year. In January 2019, the share of imports was at about 20%.

The main buyers of Lithuanian bottled PET were Coca-Cola Beverages Ukraine Limited and Retal.
MRC

SIBUR Board of Directors may remain in full force

MOSCOW (MRC) - The board of directors of SIBUR Holding can be reelected in full force, TASS reports citing the holding’s message.

The company's board of directors nominated candidates for the board of directors, all of them are current members of the board.

The decision to elect members of the board of directors will be made at the annual general meeting of shareholders of the holding, the date of which will be determined at a meeting on April 2.

SIBUR’s board of directors includes 12 people - the head of Novatek Leonid Mikhelson, member of the board of directors of Novatek Gennady Timchenko, chairman of the board of Sibur Holding Dmitry Konov, president of Ladoga Management Kirill Shamalov, general director of Gazprom Neft Alexander Dyukov, Wang Dan, Executive Vice President of the Silk Road Fund, Li Chengfeng, Vice President and Head of Sinopec Chemical Division, Vladimir Razumov, Member of the Board of Directors of Sibur Holding, Independent Director of O'Brien Peter Lloyd, Member of the Board of Directors of Euro Chemist Sergey Vasnetsov, member of the Association of Independent Directors Andrei Vernikov, as well as vice-rector of the Presidential Academy of RANEPA, director of the Higher School of Public Administration at the RANEPA, ex-minister of the Moscow government Alexey Komissarov.

The main shareholder of the company is the head of Novatek Leonid Mikhelson (48.5%), Gennady Timchenko owns 17%, Kirill Shamalov - 3.9% of the shares. 10% are at the disposal of Sinopec and the Silk Road Fund, 10.6% of the shares are controlled by the current and former management of the company.

It was previously reported that SIBUR's net profit to RAS standards amounted to 111.911 billion rubles, an increase of 3.2%. Revenue decreased by 4.8% to 462.95 billion rubles. Last year, the company received revenue under IFRS in the amount of 531.3 billion rubles. Net profit grew by 27.6% to 141.4 billion rubles.

SIBUR is a vertically integrated gas processing and petrochemical company, operating at 26 production sites located in various regions of the Russian Federation. SIBUR sells products to more than 1.4 thousand consumers in the fuel and energy complex, the automotive industry, construction, production of consumer goods, chemical and other industries in 75 countries of the world.
MRC

SIBUR Holding will allocate 34.3 billion rubles for the payment of dividends for 2019

MOSCOW (MRC) - The board of directors of SIBUR Holding recommended that the annual meeting of shareholders send 34.333 billion rubles to dividends for 2019, the company said.

"Direct 34.3 billion rubles for dividends to shareholders of PJSC SIBUR Holding based on the results of 2019. Taking into account the previously paid dividends for the six months of the reporting year 2019 in the amount of 16.7 billion rubles, pay dividends in cash in the amount of 8.06 rubles per ordinary share, which is 17.5 billion rubles. ", - said in a statement. The board of directors also determined the date of the annual meeting of shareholders - April 2.

At a press conference in February, the Chairman of the Board of SIBUR Holding Dmitry Konov told reporters that SIBUR will adhere to the dividend policy regarding the payment of dividends for 2019, which implies payment of at least 35% of adjusted earnings under IFRS. Also, according to the chairman of the board, ZapSibNeftekhim is increasing production volumes: 200 thousand tons of polypropylene per year will be sent to the domestic market, up to 300 thousand tons of polypropylene will be exported.

At the same time, the Holding does not consider the possibility of an IPO (initial public offering) in 2020 against the background of the current market situation. The shareholders do plan to carry out this operation, but there is no point in doing it this year, ”said Dmitry Konov, chairman of the company’s board, earlier.

He stressed that we are talking about reducing the cost of petrochemical products caused by tensions in US-China trade relations. In addition, there is uncertainty in the market due to the spread of coronavirus in China. The possibility of the initial placement of the company's securities became known back in July 2018.

It was previously reported that SIBUR's net profit to RAS standards amounted to 111.911 billion rubles, an increase of 3.2%. Revenue decreased by 4.8% to 462.95 billion rubles. Last year, the company received revenue under IFRS in the amount of 531.3 billion rubles. Net profit grew by 27.6% to 141.4 billion rubles.

SIBUR is a vertically integrated gas processing and petrochemical company, operating at 26 production sites located in various regions of the Russian Federation. SIBUR sells products to more than 1.4 thousand consumers in the fuel and energy complex, the automotive industry, construction, production of consumer goods, chemical and other industries in 75 countries of the world.
MRC

Belarus says Azerbaijan could supply up to 1 M tons of oil in 2020

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Belarusian state energy firm Belneftekhim said Azerbaijan’s state oil company Socar could deliver up to 1 million tonnes of oil to Belarus in 2020, reported Reuters with reference to TASS news agency.

Belarus and Russia failed to agree on oil delivery terms for 2020 and major Russian oil companies suspended pipeline oil supplies to Belarus.

In late January 2020, as MRC wrote before, the country's Naftan refinery received 80,000 mt of Norwegian oil to test out new routes and compare losses with the current price of Russian oil.

Lukashenko said in mid-December 2019 that Russia had agreed in principle to supply 20-22 Bcm of gas and 24 million-25 million mt of oil in 2020 to Belarus.

According to ICIS-MRC Price report, lower capacity utilisation at Polymir (part of Naftan) in January did not affect the balance of the local low density polyethylene (LDPE) market, there was no shortage of polyethylene (PE). Local companies partially compensated for the absence of domestic PE by higher shipments from Russia.

Polymir (part of Naftan) is Belarus' largest petrochemical company, producing a wide range of chemical products, such as LDPE, acrylic fibers, products of organic synthesis, hydrocarbon fractions, etc. Polymir was founded in 1968. The producer uses technologies of the largest foreign companies from Great Britain, Japan, Germany, Italy (Courtaulds, Asahi Chemical Co. Ltd, Kanematsu Gosho, SNIA BPD, etc.), as well as the developments of scientific research institutes and design institutes of the CIS countries. The plant"s annual production capacity is 130,000 tonnes.
MRC

EPA mulls ways to stabilize biofuel costs for refiners, with waiver program at risk

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The US Environmental Protection Agency said on Wednesday it is mulling new measures to help oil refiners cope with the cost of complying with the nation's biofuel policy, as the agency faces a sweeping legal challenge to a waiver program worth a fortune to the industry, reported Reuters.

The EPA expects to respond soon to a court decision questioning the legitimacy of its waiver program for small refineries, that exempts them from biofuel blending requirements, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said during a congressional hearing.

The announcement would hopefully "quell" the market for biofuel blending credits, called RINs, he said.

"We’re looking for other avenues to provide stability in the program and make sure we don’t have fluctuations in the RIN market," Wheeler said.

The US Renewable Fuel Standard requires refineries to blend billions of gallons of biofuels such as ethanol into the country's fuel pool, or buy credits from those that do. But the EPA can waive refiners' obligations if they prove compliance would cause them financial distress.

The Trump administration has angered the biofuels industry by roughly quadrupling the number of exemptions it grants to refiners. The biofuel industry says these exemptions hurt demand for corn-based ethanol, but the oil industry disputes that and says the waiver program is crucial to protecting blue collar jobs.

In late January, the US Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit cast doubt on the program, saying the EPA must reconsider some exemptions it has given to refineries.

The court said the EPA had overstepped its authority to grant waivers in the past for HollyFrontier's Woods Cross and Cheyenne refineries and CVR Energy's Wynnewood refinery because the refineries had not received exemptions the previous year. The court said the RFS requires that any exemption granted to a refinery after 2010 must take the form of an extension.

The bulk of waivers granted to oil refineries by the EPA in recent years do not meet that standard. According to EPA data, the agency granted seven biofuel waivers in 2015. That number rose to 35 in 2017 – meaning 28 waivers were given without having been given in a previous year.

The EPA's options now include complying with the court decision only in the states covered by the 10th Circuit, complying with the ruling nationally, or appealing the court decision.

Wheeler on Wednesday said the agency was still reviewing options and consulting the Department of Justice.

Since the court ruling in January, RIN prices have ballooned, with renewable-fuel credits for 2019 climbing nearly 250%. Credits traded at 31 cents each on Wednesday, traders said, up from 9 cents each just before the decision.

A group of US senators, including Oklahoma's James Inhofe, Texas's Ted Cruz and Pennsylvania's Pat Toomey, has been lobbying the administration to appeal the court ruling - or failing that, to take other moves to reduce the regulatory burden on the refining industry.

A letter from the group to Wheeler, dated Tuesday, urges that any retrenchment in the waiver program should be balanced by a reduction in blending volume requirements for 2020, and measures to stabilize RIN credit prices.

Inhofe, Cruz, Toomey and West Virginia's Shelley Moore Capito, all Republican senators, also introduced an amendment on Tuesday to a Senate energy bill that would put a cap on the price of RIN credits at 10 cents per gallon, according to the amendment.
MRC