MOSCOW (MRC) -- US combined propane and propylene stocks slid 6.7 million bbl, or 9.2%, during the week ended 8 January to 66 million bbl, the Energy Information Administration reported Wednesday, said Chemweek.
Product supplied for propane and propylene, an indicator of implied demand, surged 402,000 b/d on the week to 2.1 million b/d. Exports advanced 272,000 b/d to 1.075 million b/d and the four-week average for exports rose 257,000 b/d year-over-year (YOY) to 1.389 million b/d.
Propane imports for the week dipped 32,000 b/d to 149,000 b/d, while the four-week average moved up 7,000 b/d to 154,000 b/d from the four-week average a year ago.
Gulf Coast (PADD 3) inventories tumbled 4.2 million bbl to 35 million bbl in the latest week. Midwest (PADD 2) stocks slipped 700,000 bbl to 18.7 million bbl. PADD 1 inventories fell 600,000 bbl to 7.5 million bbl, and PADDs 4 and 5 stocks dipped 100,000 bbl to 4.9 million bbl.
Mont Belvieu TET propane climbed to 92.375 cts/gal from 89.625 cts/gal last traded before the report's release. Non-TET propane advanced to 91 cts/gal from 88.5 cts/gal. Conway propane rose to 90.25 cts/gal from 87.5 cts/gal prior to the report's release.
As per MRC, exports of polypropylene (PP) from the US were up 4.2% in the eleven months of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019, while imports were down 34% over the same period. The decline in imports was mainly due to a sharp drop in imports from Brazil, which supplied large volumes of material in 2019 as a pre-sale of Braskem's new PP plant in La Porte, Texas, which was launched in 2020.
Propylene is a feedstocks for producing polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia decreased in January-November 2020 by 17% year on year and reached 569,900 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the greatest reduction in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia increased by 21% year on year to about 202,000 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2020. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.
MRC