Tankers pile up off European coast as onshore storage sites hit limit

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Dozens of tankers holding jet fuel and gasoline are at anchor in sea lanes around Europe’s main storage hubs, unable to discharge their cargoes as onshore tanks are full to capacity following the collapse in demand linked to the coronavirus crisis, reported Reuters.

Nearly 1 million tonnes of refined products are parked on around 30 tankers off Europe’s coast, Reuters calculations found.

According to shipping data and trade sources, tankers have dropped anchor near to the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and storage hub and across parts of the Mediterranean as their cargo owners struggle to find buyers or storage tanks.

While some vessels are expected to moor in ports soon, others could remain at sea for weeks because of a shortage of space left to be leased in onshore tanks, traders said.

"The region is overflowing with products," one trader said on condition of anonymity.

Traders and shipping sources said there were long delays at tanker terminals in the ARA area, lifting costs for traders chartering the vessels.

"Congestion has picked up in the past few days," a shipping source said. "Ship chartering) deals may now be impacted."

Low water levels along the Rhine river have added to logistical pressure on ARA storage. They mean barges can only be loaded to 50% of capacity, limiting how much they can take to storage sites along the river.

Most of the vessels are carrying jet fuel, gasoline and naphtha, often blended into gasoline, all of which have seen a massive drop in demand after restrictions on movement around the world to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.

At least three are carrying diesel, according to the data.

Two tankers - Stena Polaris and Andrea Victory - have been leased in recent weeks by BP to store fuel offshore for two to three months are anchored off the east coast of England, Refinitiv data showed.

BP declined to comment.

Refineries around the world have reduced their operations and in some cases shut down. As a result, several European refiners have been unable to unload crude oil cargoes.

Consultants Rystad Energy forecast oil demand in Europe in 2020 falling by 2.3 million barrels per day to 12.7 million bpd, an 11.2% decline from 2019’s 14.3 million bpd. They expect Europe’s April road fuel demand to fall by 35% to 4.7 million bpd.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) on Wednesday forecast a 29 million barrels per day (bpd) fall in April oil demand to levels not seen in 25 years and said no output cut by producers could fully offset the near-term falls facing the market.

As MRC informed previously, earlier this year, BP said the deadly coronavirus outbreak could cut global oil demand growth by 40 per cent in 2020, putting pressure on Opec producers and Russia to curb supplies to keep prices in check.

We also remind that, in September 2019, six world's major petrochemical companies in Flanders, Belgium, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and the Netherlands (Trilateral Region) announced the creation of a consortium to jointly investigate how naphtha or gas steam crackers could be operated using renewable electricity instead of fossil fuels. The Cracker of the Future consortium, which includes BASF, Borealis, BP, LyondellBasell, SABIC and Total, aims to produce base chemicals while also significantly reducing carbon emissions. The companies agreed to invest in R&D and knowledge sharing as they assess the possibility of transitioning their base chemical production to renewable electricity.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 383,760 tonnes in the first two month of 2020, up by 14% year on year. High density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments increased due to the increased capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 192,760 tonnes in January-February 2020, down by 6% year on year. Homopolymer PP accounted for the main decrease in imports.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Automation supplier ATS Automation Tooling Systems Inc. has highlighted some of the ways in which its technologies are helping to expedite the production of medical equipment to address the COVID-19 healthcare crisis, said Canplastics.

"Around the world, organizations needing to overcome capacity constraints and supply chain shortages are turning to ATS to scale up production of critical medical devices and quickly pivot manufacturing output,” said Andrew Hider, CEO. “We’re enabling customers to manufacture important products such as ventilators and respirators, that are desperately needed to treat patients, protect healthcare workers and contain the coronavirus pandemic. We are proud to play our part and ready to do more."

Filtering Facepiece Respirators (FFR). ATS is working with a large automaker in the United States to reconfigure its manufacturing facility, and has delivered equipment to enable the wide scale production of FFR masks. Launch of the project to delivery of equipment was completed in 17 days.

Ventilator Components. The ATS Life Sciences team is working with O-Two Medical Technologies in Canada to assemble critical ventilator components at ATS’ facilities. In the U.S., the ATS team is supplying ventilator production test equipment to two key ventilator manufacturers. The equipment enables the calibration and testing of ventilators before shipment to hospitals and medical facilities.

Automated Bio-Decontamination System. In Italy, Comecer (an ATS company that designs and manufactures high-technology systems in the fields of aseptic processing and containment for radiopharmaceutical and pharmaceutical industries) is developing an automated bio-decontamination system for hospitals based on the same technology used in Comecer’s aseptic isolators. This would allow fast decontamination of hospital rooms and equipment, and potentially enable reuse of devices such as N95 masks, which would otherwise be disposable, thereby helping to mitigate shortages.

COVID-19 Test Kits. In Germany, the ATS team is developing a solution for a manufacturer of COVID-19 test kits to help them ramp up production to meet the unprecedented demand.

Hygiene Product Filling. At IWK in Germany (an ATS company that manufactures high-speed, high-precision packaging solutions for pharmaceutical, cosmetic, food and related industries), the team has developed a rapid deployment tube-filling solution suitable for hygiene products including hand sanitizer. The machine will fill up to 70 tubes per minute. “A severe disruption in supply chains combined with an ever-growing demand for critical medical devices has left manufacturers looking for creative yet trusted solutions to meet demand,” Hider said. “And while the speed of manufacturing these medical devices is certainly important, there has never been a time where product quality has mattered more. Fortunately, ATS has the capabilities, expertise, and certifications to deliver both speed and quality.”

Headquartered in Cambridge, Ont., ATS operates 23 manufacturing sites globally, and more than 50 engineering and service sites.

We also remind that the COVID-19 outbreak has led Shell Chemical to temporarily suspend construction on the massive plastics and petrochemicals site it's building in Monaca, Pa, USA.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 383,760 tonnes in the first two month of 2020, up by 14% year on year. High density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments increased due to the increased capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 192,760 tonnes in January-February 2020, down by 6% year on year. Homopolymer PP accounted for the main decrease in imports.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- As the impacts of COVID-19 continue to be felt around the world, local non-profit organizations are stepping to the forefront to help meet the increased need for food and other basic necessities, said MEGlobal.

MEGlobal is stepping up with them, providing monetary contributions to Blackfalds Food Bank (USD4,000), Red Deer Food Bank ($6,000), Fort Saskatchewan Food Bank (USD5,000) and Actions Inc. of Brazoria County (USD5,000).

"Our communities have endured hard times before, but never anything like this,” said MEGlobal Public Relations Manager Trish Thompson. “MEGlobal strives to be a good neighbor and when we saw the needs increasing and local groups struggling to meet them, we immediately went to work to see how we could help."

Breah Knape is the Executive Director of Actions Inc., a non-profit in Brazoria County that provides services to senior citizens. They were serving daily meals at their congregate centers; however; with social distancing measures in place they are now delivering those meals, and have seen the number of sign-ups grow exponentially. Before the pandemic hit, they provided about 1,200 meals per week. Now they are delivering more than 3,000, and the numbers keep rising.

"All these seniors are in need of basic supplies to help survive this public health emergency,” said Knape. “We are so grateful to MEGlobal for their contribution. We didn’t know how we were going to get beyond this week, but now we have enough to keep going. Plus, other businesses are following MEGlobal’s example so we are starting to have our prayers answered."

At the Fort Saskatchewan Food Bank, Board President Kassandra Gartner says the need is also growing for their services. "Funding from supportive businesses like MEGlobal ensures the continuity of food bank services, provides for improvement in programming efficiency, and strengthens our ability to provide food and assistance to those who are in need. As the demand for assistance rises our food bank will be able to adapt and provide,”" she said.

Karie Ackermann, Community Building Initiative Administrator at Blackfalds FCSS says the Blackfalds Food Bank is also thankful for MEGlobal’s contribution.

"Food demand has been affected and we have seen a supply shortage in many of our essential food needs. Community food donations have completely stopped. Our food share program with Food Banks Alberta has started to ration between food banks as their food supply has also been limited. More people are in need of food hampers and with layoffs and uncertainty continuing, the need continues to rise," she said.

All these organizations are in great need of donations – monetary, food and in some cases, volunteers. Gartner said they welcome any contribution from individuals or businesses, large or small.

"Monetary donations are currently the best way to support the food bank as it enables us to bulk purchase the items needed like meat, milk, eggs, fresh fruit and vegetables, dry goods such as coffee, sugar, cereal etc, and the extra cleaning supplies that are required for the food bank to operate."

As MRC informed earlier, MEGlobal, the world leader in the production of monoethylene glycol (MEG) and diethylene glycol (DG), nominated the May MEG contract price for Asia at USD560/tonne. That is down by USD80/tonne from its April nomination.

MEG is used to produce polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which is used in the manufacturing of plastic bottles, films, packaging containers, in the textile and food industries.

As per MRC's ScanPlast report, the estimated PET consumption in Russia increased in January 2020 by 9% year on year. Totally, Russia recycled 55,390 tonnes of PET chips in January (excluding shipments of Russian material to the countries of the Customs Union). Russia's PET chips production totalled 43,200 tonnes in January 2020.

Headquartered in Dubai (UAE), MEGlobal is the world leader in the production of monoethylene glycol (MEG) and diethylene glycol (DG). Established in July 2004, MEGlobal currently sells more than 2.5 million tons of DG per year worldwide. MEGlobal is a 100% subsidiary of Equate Petrochemical Company. In December 2015, Dow Chemical closed a deal to sell its stake in MEGlobal to Equate Petrochemical Company as part of a strategy to optimize its equity stake in Kuwaiti joint ventures.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Thai Oil Public Company Limited (Thaioil) has signed an agreement for Topsoe’s SNOX solution to efficiently remove sulfur and nitrogen oxides and dust emissions from their Sriracha Refinery in the Chonburi province in the east of Thailand, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

This is part of Thaioil’s 5-billion-dollar Clean Fuel Project to produce cleaner transport fuels in a more environmentally friendly way. The project is expected to boost capacity from 275,000 to 400,000 barrels per day - while improving energy efficiency and the impact on the environment.

The agreement comprises proprietary equipment and catalyst supply for Haldor Topsoe's air quality control technology SNOX. This initiative to secure compliance with air emission regulations for a new energy recovery unit at the Sriracha Refinery is part of Thaioil’s Clean Fuel Project.

The Sriracha Refinery’s new energy recovery unit will use three parallel SNOX lines to remove sulfur oxides (SOx), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and dust from the new circulating fluidized bed boilers. Sulfur is recovered as commercial grade concentrated sulfuric acid and the nitrogen oxides are reduced to free nitrogen.

The SNOX process includes energy recovery by recycling of surplus heat to reduce energy consumption in the boilers. Another benefit of using SNOX in a refinery is that it can also handle additional sulfurous waste streams such as H2S gas, sour water stripper gas and Claus tail gas.

Thaioil has also chosen other Topsoe technologies and licenses for its new and environmentally friendly Sriracha Refinery, including hydrotreater.

We remind that, as MRC reported earlier, PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC), another major petrochemical producer in Thailand, fully restarted its No. 2 cracker in Map Ta Phut in early March, 2020, after a planned turnaround. The company started resuming operations at the cracker by end-February, 2020. The cracker was shut for maintenance on January 20, 2020. Located at Map Ta Phut, Thailand, the No. 2 cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 400,000 mt/year.

The company also operates No. 1 cracker at the same site with a capacity of 515,000 tonnes of ethylene and 310,000 tonnes of propylene per year, which was also shut on 23 January, 2020, for a 40-day turnaround.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, estimated PE consumption totalled 383,760 tonnes in the first two month of 2020, up by 14% year on year. High density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments increased due to the increased capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 192,760 tonnes in January-February 2020, down by 6% year on year. Homopolymer PP accounted for the main decrease in imports.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Brazilian fuel distributor Petrobras Distribuidora SA, better known by its BR Distribuidora brand name, has seen demand for gasoline and ethanol plummet during the new coronavirus outbreak, its chief executive officer told Reuters.

CEO Rafael Grisolia said the company’s sales for those fuels initially fell 60% after the arrival of the disease in Brazil, and in recent days has recovered slightly with demand down 30-35%, compared to levels prior to the outbreak.

As MRC informed earlier, Brazilian imports of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) products were up 22.3% in January compared to a year earlier, at 37,661 mt. The imports were valued at USD34.37 million FOB. In January 2019, the 30,803 mt imported were valued at USD28.01 million FOB.

As per MRC"s DataScope report, last month"s SPVC imports into the Ukrainian market decreased to 3,700 tonnes from 4,200 tonnes in February, plastic products producers fell in purchases, including due to the spread of coronavirus. Overall SPVC imports reached 11,500 tonnes in January-March 2020, compared to 11,300 tonnes a year earlier. The high level of capacity utilisation and the steady demand for polymer from foreign markets helped the Ukrainian producer to seriously increase export volumes.
MRC