Asahimas to restart VCM lines in Indonesia after maintenance

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Indonesia’s PT Asahimas Chemical (ASC), part of Asahi Glass, is planning to restart its No. 2 vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) line in the first half of July after taking the unit off-stream on 19 May 2020 for unscheduled maintenance, reported CommoPlast with reference to market sources.

The No. 2 line has an annual capacity of 350,000 tons/year.

PT Asahimas Chemical expanded the No. 2 VCM line in early 2018 to boost the capacity from 100,000 tons/year to 350,000 tons/year.

PT Asahimas Chemical is owned 52.5% by Asahi Glass, 11.5% by Mitsubishi Corp, and the remaining belong to two other local companies.

As MRC reported earlier, PT Asahimas restarted its No. 2 VCM unit on December 2, 2019, following an unplanned outage. The unit remained off-line for about one week owing to technical issues.

VCM is a main feedstock for the production of polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

According to MRC's DataScope report, exports of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) from Russia reached about 92,200 tonnes in the first five months of 2020, up by 10% year on year. At the same time, PVC imports to the country grew by 1%.

Asahi Glass Co., Ltd., more commonly known as AGC, is a global glass manufacturing company, headquartered in Tokyo. It is one of the core Mitsubishi companies.

PT Asahimas Chemical is owned 52.5% by Asahi Glass, 11.5% by Mitsubishi Corp. and 18% each by the local Rodamas and Ableman Finance.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Taiwan’s Formosa Petrochemical Corp expects to cut its gasoline exports by about half in 2020 as the coronavirus crisis dents demand, a spokesman said, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Formosa’s monthly average volume is estimated to drop to about 100,000 tonnes a month from some 200,000 tonnes per month in 2019, KY Lin said, adding: “Domestic demand has picked up in June but overseas demand is not great and we do not want to be caught in a situation where we have to struggle with excess cargoes to export."

"We will keep our refinery throughput at about 80% of our capacity in July,” Lin said, unchanged from June. The refiner, operator of a 540,000 barrel per day refinery in Mailiao which is one of the 10 largest standalone refining plants in Asia, is in talks to sell around 30,000 tonnes of gasoline a month through an August-December contract.

It has recently sold a total of four cargoes for June to July loading from Mailiao. Formosa’s most recent year-long contract expired in March, but negative gasoline margins to crude had prompted it to delay the term talks, Lin said.

Although Asia’s gasoline margins have returned to positive territory since June 3, a resurgence of new coronavirus infections in several countries could stall demand recovery.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 721,290 tonnes in the first four month of 2020, up by 4% year on year. Low density polyethylene (LDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments grew partially because of the increased capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 347,440 tonnes in January-April 2020 (calculated by the formula production minus export plus import). Supply exclusively of PP random copolymer increased.
MRC

1. Phillips 66, Trafigura Bluewater offshore terminal remains up in the air during pandemic

The fate of Phillips 66's and Trafigura's planned Bluewater oil export terminal offshore of Corpus Christi, Texas, remains uncertain as the coronavirus pandemic has sapped global crude demand, and caused US production to fall, reported S&P Global. Phillips 66 said June 9 that travel limitations during the pandemic are further delaying the federal licensing process and that a final investment decision from the Houston-based refining giant and Trafigura remains "many months" away. Back in November, the US Maritime Administration suspended the Bluewater application timeline, allowing Phillips 66 more time to submit additional information and analysis.




MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Tough times still lie ahead for oil markets despite OPEC+ coalition's implementation of a historic production cut that began in May and has been extended into July, reported S&P Global with reference to the secretary general of OPEC and the UAE energy minister's statement June 29.

"Although we are not yet out of the woods, but we have proven together with our partners in non-OPEC...that multilateralism is irreplaceable especially in our diverse world of energy that is sometimes punctuated with geopolitics," OPEC secretary general Mohammed Barkindo told a webinar organized by the Canada-UAE Business Council.

The 23-member coalition of OPEC+ are in the midst of a record 9.7 million b/d cut that started in May and was extended till July, excluding Mexico's 100,000 b/d cut. The output curbs will gradually ease after July through to April 2022. The OPEC+ Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee, which is now meeting monthly, convenes next on July 15, with a delegate-level technical meeting held the day before.

UAE, OPEC's third largest oil producer, is also cutting an extra 100,000 b/d in June, joining Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman in implementing cuts on top of their OPEC+ commitments this month to help rebalance the market.

Suhail al-Mazrouei, the UAE energy minister, told the webinar these remain tough times for the oil industry, but that the oil markets are rebounding.

"No one predicted, even after we announced the (9.7 million b/d) cut that the market will quickly rebound to where we are today," he said.

"We are all keen to produce our barrels to contribute to our economy but we need to do it at the right pace and at the right time."

As MRC informed before, global oil consumption cut by up to a third in Q1 2020. What happens next in the oil market depends on how quickly and completely the global economy emerges from lockdown, and whether the recessionary hit lingers through the rest of this year and into 2021.

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 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 595,170 tonnes in the first five month of 2020, up by 10% year on year. Deliveries of all ethylene polymers, except for linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), rose partially because of an increase in capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market was 457,930 tonnes in January-May 2020 (calculated by the formula production minus export plus import). Deliveris of exclusively PP random copolymer increased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Oil demand has rebounded close to 90 million b/d, partly reversing a slump in consumption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, reported S&P Global with reference to Saudi Aramco's president and CEO Amin Nasser's statement in the transcript of an interview published on June 30.

"The worst is behind us," said Nasser, speaking at an online event for CERAWeek organized by IHS Markit. "We went from -$40 b/d to +$40 b/d with WTI. In April we were looking at demand of about 75-80 million b/d with significant supply at that time. Currently you are looking at almost close to 90 million b/d. I'm very optimistic about the second half of this year."

S&P Global Platts Analytics is forecasting oil demand will fall year-on-year by 8.3 million b/d in 2020 to 94.2 million b/d.

"There are different forecasts looking at between 95 million and 97 million b/d by year-end. So, it will all depend on whether there will be a second wave of coronavirus or not. But I am also not as concerned about a second wave because I think we are much better prepared now," said Nasser.

Downstream, Nasser said gasoline and diesel demand were picking up to pre-COVID-19 levels and he was optimistic about the prospects for a rebound in jet fuel as more countries open up.

Aramco, the world's largest oil company by production, was first impacted by the pandemic in February, with the reduction in demand from China. However, all of the oil giant's fields and plants have been running smoothly during the pandemic, said Nasser.

"More than 50% (of the office workers) were working from home, but when it comes to field presence, everybody was working, especially in remote areas and offshore sites," said Nasser. "We were able to manage the situation very well by putting all the precautions necessary to maintain their safety and health while maintaining our operational resilience during this time."

A major concern for Aramco through the pandemic is cybersecurity.

"We had a lot of hackers that target energy companies, so we had to be making sure that we are able to provide the connectivity while protecting our network from any hackers," said Nasser.

As MRC wrote previously, Saudi Aramco’s acquisition of petrochemical maker SABIC will accelerate the company’s downstream strategy and transform it into a global petrochemical player, said an official of the state oil giant's statement to al-Arabiya TV.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 595,170 tonnes in the first five month of 2020, up by 10% year on year. Deliveries of all ethylene polymers, except for linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), rose partially because of an increase in capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market was 457,930 tonnes in January-May 2020 (calculated by the formula production minus export plus import). Deliveris of exclusively PP random copolymer increased.

Saudi Aramco, officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, is a Saudi Arabian national oil and natural gas company based in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Aramco"s value has been estimated at up to USD10 trillion in the Financial Times, making it the world"s most valuable company. Saudi Aramco has both the largest proven crude oil reserves, at more than 260 billion barrels, and largest daily oil production.
MRC