Westlake earnings, sales decline on lower volumes due to COVID-19

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Westlake reported second-quarter net income of USD15 million, down 87.4% year-on-year (YOY), on net sales down 20.3%, to USD1.71 billion. Earnings totaled 11 cents/share, beating analysts’ consensus estimate of 0 cents/share, as reported by Refinitiv (New York, New York), said Chemweek.

Demand declined in the quarter, as did prices, for caustic soda and downstream vinyl products, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the drop in oil prices. "The second quarter of 2020 was challenging as we navigated the global COVID-19 pandemic, which significantly reduced global demand for our products, as well as a sharp decline in global oil prices,” says Westlake president and CEO Albert Chao.

Vinyls segment sales declined 19.1% YOY, to USD1.35 billion, while segment operating income was down 84.5%, to $20 million. “This decrease in income from operations versus the prior-year period was primarily due to the continued impact of COVID-19 and a sharp drop in global oil prices, which led to lower global sales prices for our major products and lower sales volumes for caustic soda and downstream vinyl products,” Westlake says.

Olefins segment sales fell 24.3% YOY, to $361 million, while segment operating income was down 69.5%, to USD25 million. “This decrease in income from operations versus the prior-year period was primarily due to lower sales prices for polyethylene resulting from the impact of COVID-19 and the drop in global oil prices, which were partially offset by higher polyethylene sales volumes and lower feedstock and fuel costs,” Westlake says.

Partially offsetting the lower prices and volumes were lower ethane feedstock and fuel costs, reduced operating and selling, general and administrative expenses as well as lower costs associated with planned turnarounds. “We are confident that Westlake is well positioned to continue to serve the needs of our customers while managing working capital, lowering our operating costs and reducing capital expenditures,” said CEO Albert Chao.

The improvement was due to higher earnings on ethylene sold to Westlake Chemical from Westlake Chemical OpCo LP (OpCo) and lower manufacturing and selling, general and administration costs, partially offset by lower ethylene production. Westlake Chemical Partners owns a 22.8% interest in OpCo, which has three ethylene production facilities in Calvert City, Kentucky, and Lake Charles, Louisiana and an ethylene pipeline.

In February 2018, as MRC informed before, Westlake Chemical announced plans to expand its capacities for the production of PVC and VCM at three of its chemical facilities. Two of the plants are located in Germany (Burghausen, Gendorf) and one is located in Geismar, Louisiana. The expansions in Burghausen and Geismar are expected to be completed in 2019. The Gendorf expansions are expected to be completed in 2020 and 2021.

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

According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia dropped in January-June 2020 by 7% year on year to 328,000 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the main decrease in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia rose in the first six months of 2020 by 21% year on year to 105,300 tonnes. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Brooge Energy Limited, a midstream oil storage and service provider strategically located outside the Strait of Hormuz, adjacent to the Port of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates (“UAE”) through its wholly-owned subsidiary Brooge Petroleum and Gas Investment Company FZE (“BPGIC”), announced it has commenced hydrotesting for its Phase II storage facility expansion, an important milestone that signifies the advanced stage of the terminal’s development, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

With the commencement of all the necessary hydrotests, the development of the Phase II facility has now entered into some of the testing stages required of the construction process. Hydrotesting is considered a major milestone of this process confirming the tank integrity. Once Phase II construction is finalized, the facility will increase the Company’s total geometric oil storage capacity to approximately 1 million m3 or 6.3 million barrels, from its current geometric capacity of approximately 400,000 m3, or 2.5 million barrels, and also enables the Company to offer crude oil storage using some of the latest technology to enhance Company performance and operational efficiency.

Nicolaas L. Paardenkooper, CEO of Brooge Energy and BPGIC, said, "We are nearing an advanced and important leg of the construction of our Phase II oil storage facility and are very pleased to reach this milestone, notwithstanding the current challenges due to ongoing restrictions. Once completed, we believe this facility will make us the second largest non-captive storage provider in Fujairah. The facility is already fully contracted on a multi-year basis so will be operating at full capacity and revenue-generating as soon as it is operational and past the testing and commissioning stage."

As MRC informed earlier, in July, Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (BPCL) has let a contract to Dastur International Inc. and Lummus Technology LLC to jointly execute a feasibility study for a petcoke gasification project at BPCL’s 15.5-million tonne/year (tpy) Kochi refinery at Ambalamugal, Ernakulam district, in the Indian state of Kerala.

According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia dropped in January-June 2020 by 7% year on year to 328,000 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the main decrease in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia rose in the first six months of 2020 by 21% year on year to 105,300 tonnes. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- LyondellBasell Industries confirmed it extinguished a fire at a hydrotreater on Thursday morning at its 263,776-barrel-per-day (bpd) Houston refinery, reported Reuters.

No injuries were reported from the fire, which broke out at about 5:30 a.m. CDT on Thursday (1030 GMT), Lyondell spokeswoman Chevalier Gray said.

Sources familiar with plant operations said the 49,000-bpd 634 cat feed/heavy gas oil hydrotreater was shut by the blaze. The extent of damage to the unit was unknown on Thursday.

The fire broke out after a sightglass on the unit broke, the sources said.

Gray did not identify the hydrotreater on which the fire broke out.

“A leak in one of the hydrotreater units occurred resulting in a fire that was quickly contained and extinguished within 30 minutes,” she said.

The refinery’s safety flares operated for about an hour and 15 minutes because of the fire, Gray said.

The hydrotreater uses hydrogen to remove sulfur from diesel to comply with US environmental rules.

This is the second fire at the Lyondell refinery this year. A February fire shut the gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracker (FCC), which was repaired and returned to production in mid-April.

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

According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia dropped in January-June 2020 by 7% year on year to 328,000 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the main decrease in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia rose in the first six months of 2020 by 21% year on year to 105,300 tonnes. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.

LyondellBasell is one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world. Driven by its 13,000 employees around the globe, LyondellBasell produces materials and products that are key to advancing solutions to modern challenges like enhancing food safety through lightweight and flexible packaging, protecting the purity of water supplies through stronger and more versatile pipes, and improving the safety, comfort and fuel efficiency of many of the cars and trucks on the road. LyondellBasell sells products into approximately 100 countries and is the world's largest licensor of polyolefin technologies.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Crude oil futures were lower in mid-morning trade in Asia Aug. 3 as weakening demand and rising supply weighed on market sentiment, reported S&P Global.

At 10:48 am Singapore time (0248 GMT), the new front-month ICE Brent October crude futures fell 26 cents/b (0.6%) from the July 31 settle at USD43.26/b, while NYMEX September light sweet crude contract was down by 30 cents/b (0.74%) at USD39.97/b.

The unabated COVID-19 spread and rising fatalities worldwide continue to be the most significant issue capping oil demand recovery. The global case count stands at 17.97 million, with total deaths at 687,067, according to the latest data from John Hopkins University.

The US' gross domestic product fell by a record 32.9% in the second-quarter, while the number of Americans filing for initial unemployment benefits increased for the second consecutive week to 1.43 million, according to government data released on July 30, indicating that economic recovery may be flat lining.

In Australia, the government of Victoria declared a state of disaster on Aug. 2 and imposed a nightly curfew from 8 pm to 5 am for the capital, Melbourne, as high levels of COVID-19 infections continue, according to media reports.

On the supply front, concerns are rising that a rebound in global production as OPEC+ pulls back from unprecedented production cuts in August and returning US production will further weaken supply-demand fundamentals.

OPEC+ agreed to end its record production cut of 9.7 million b/d as scheduled after a Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee meeting on July 15 and ease into a lower 7.7 million b/d production cut in August. However, compensation cuts of roughly 840, 000 b/d indicates that only about 1.1 million b/d of production will return.

"The balance between positive longer-term sentiment and near-term negatives, (mainly) increasing coronavirus infections, rising OPEC+ and US onshore production, has kept oil in a relatively tight range in recent weeks and on an upward trend for three consecutive months," Stephen Innes, chief global markets analyst at AxiCorp, said in a note Aug. 3.

"Still, I think positive sentiment could be tested in August as growing near-term pressure on the supply side becomes harder to ignore," he added.

As MRC informed before, china's crude stockpiles reached a record high level in July as refiners struggle to digest mass crude oil cargoes purchased during the second quarter, while domestic fuel consumption slowed amid widespread flooding across 23 provinces during the month. In total, at least 20 state-owned refineries across the country, which have no maintenance plan, have cut run rates in July by 1-17 percentage points from June. These comprise seven refineries under PetroChina, 12 from Sinopec, and Sinochem's only refinery Quanzhou Petrochemical.

We remind that Sinopec SABIC Tianjin Petrochemical Co. (SSTPC), a 50-50 joint venture of Sinopec and SABIC, completed the debottlenecking of its ethylene cracker on 11 July 2020, adding another 30,000 tons/year output to its current capacity. Followed the expansion, the Tianjin based plant become the country's largest compressor unit, producing 1.3 million tons of ethylene annually.

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

According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia dropped in January-June 2020 by 7% year on year to 328,000 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the main decrease in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia rose in the first six months of 2020 by 21% year on year to 105,300 tonnes. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chemical railcar traffic in North America remained firm during the week ended 1 August, according to data released by the Association of American Railroads (AAR), said Chemweek.

Volume totaled 44,069 carloads, up 3.5% from the previous week and down 2.4% year-over-year (YOY). On a four-week basis, volume was down 4.4% from 2019, versus the 5.0% shortfall recorded last week, and down 7.6% from 2018, versus last week’s 7.8% shortfall (chart).

For the year to date, chemical railcar loadings in North America are down 4.6% from 2019 and 5.7% from 2018. Total railcar loadings are down 14.4% from 2019.

Chemical railcar traffic in the US contributed 31,256 carloads to the total, down 5.1% YOY and up 4.0% from the previous week. For the year to date, US chemical railcar traffic is down 5.0%.

Canadian chemical rail traffic totaled 11,970 carloads, up 5.9% YOY and up 3.3% from the previous week. For the year to date, Canadian chemical railcar traffic is down 3.4%.

Chemical railcar traffic in Mexico totaled 843 carloads, a YOY decrease of 5.1% and a sequential decrease of 8.1%. For the year to date, Mexican chemical railcar traffic is down 6.2%.

As MRC informed earlier, Russia's output of chemical products rose in June 2020 by 2.6% year on year. However, production of basic chemicals increased year on year by 4.9% in the first six months of 2020. According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, polymers in primary form accounted for the greatest increase in the output in January-June. Production of benzene was 106,000 tonnes in June 2020, compared to 110,000 tonnes a month earlier. Overall output of this product reached 721,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 3.9% year on year.
MRC