Over 80% of US polyolefins capacity was downed by the winter storm

MOSCOW (MRC) -- In line with US olefins capacity, over 80% of US polyolefins capacity was downed by the recent winter storm, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

There remains a considerable amount of capacity offline or in the early stages of restarting a full month later. This is partly due to the limited feedstock availability for olefins monomer, comonomer, and additives in the region.

Analysis shows that US polyethylene and polypropylene operating rates fell 33% and 36%, respectively, in February. These outages coincide with domestic consumption that has remained robust through Q1 2021, sending inventory levels of both polyethylene and polypropylene into a sharp decline.

In response to the market tightness, polyolefin prices surged in February. US domestic prices for polyethylene increased to almost seven-year highs while prices for polypropylene were the highest on record, according to Wood Mackenzie’s price history dating back to 2005. We anticipate that prices will continue to be elevated over much of the first half of 2021, supported by pent-up demand related to coronavirus recovery and weather-related shortages.

As per MRC, more than 80% of US olefins capacity was immediately offline following the peak of extreme weather conditions in mid-February. During that time, Wood Mackenzie noted it could take weeks to recover given that disruptions across the value chain would lead to a staggered and complex restart, setting the stage for volatility in supply and prices amid stronger demand. As of mid-March, the US olefins industry has yet to regain its footing with only 60% of capacity back in operation, according to data from Genscape, a Wood Mackenzie company. Several facilities in both the Houston and Corpus Christi metropolitan areas remain shut. Those further west appear to be experiencing longer outages, likely due to encountering relatively colder temperatures during the winter storm.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 241,030 tonnes in January 2021 versus 217,890 tonnes a year earlier. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 141,870 tonnes in January 2021 versus 123,520 tonnes a year earlier. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Fulcrum BioEnergy, a pioneer in the production of low-carbon, transportation fuels from municipal solid waste, has recently announced the site selection and launch of development activities on its first United Kingdom residual waste to low-carbon, Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) plant, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The "Fulcrum NorthPoint" biorefinery will be located at the Essar Oil (UK) Limited refinery at Stanlow, Ellesmere Port, in the North West of England.

"The UK has a rich history in aviation related innovation, and we are proud to be able to continue to support the industry with the introduction of our low-carbon, waste-to-jet fuel platform," said Jim Macias, President and Chief Executive Officer of Fulcrum. "Launching our first UK project at Stanlow, in collaboration with Essar, brings tremendous benefits in terms of plant operability, efficiency of feedstock and fuel product logistics. On-site storage via Stanlow Terminals Limited and direct access to airport pipelines, make this an attractive site for our project. Fulcrum's innovative and patented waste-to-fuels process will help reduce the impacts from climate change, boost the economy by supplying low-carbon, drop in transportation fuel as well as bringing high-paying jobs and investment to the North West of England."

Construction on Fulcrum NorthPoint, subject to planning permission and financing, is expected to begin in late 2023 and will take approximately 18-24 months to complete. Fulcrum NorthPoint will convert several hundred thousand tons of pre-processed waste, which would otherwise be destined for incineration or the landfill, into approximately 30 million gallons of low-carbon Sustainable Aviation Fuel annually. The biorefinery will utilize Fulcrum's proprietary waste-to-fuel process, which will help contribute to the UK's Net Zero ambitions while generating hundreds of jobs in the region during construction and operations of the project.

Fulcrum's first commercial project, the Sierra BioFuels Plant located outside of Reno, Nevada, is in late-stage construction and is set to begin operations in 2021. The Sierra plant will be the first commercial-scale plant in the world to convert municipal solid waste, or household garbage, into low-carbon transportation fuels. In addition to Fulcrum NorthPoint, Fulcrum has an extensive, global development program underway including the 33 million gallon a year Centerpoint biorefinery in Gary, Indiana, and a similar sized project in the United States Gulf Coast region where the company is finalizing site selection.

As MRC reported previously, in November 2018, Praxair, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Linde plc announced it has signed a long-term agreement to supply oxygen to Fulcrum BioEnergy’s Sierra BioFuels Plant in Storey County, Nevada.

We remind that in January, 2021, Linde said it will build, own, and operate the world’s largest proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer plant for the production of green hydrogen at the Leuna chemical complex in Germany.

We also remind that in late 2019, the TOTAL refinery in Leuna awarded Bilfinger two further major contracts worth roughly EUR30 million: the first involves exchanging the reactor systems; the second, performing the turnaround for the plant’s POX methanol facility.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 241,030 tonnes in January 2021 versus 217,890 tonnes a year earlier. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 141,870 tonnes in January 2021 versus 123,520 tonnes a year earlier. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Arabian state oil giant Aramco said on Sunday it expects to cut capital expenditure after it reported a 44.4% slump in 2020 net profit, hit by lower crude oil prices and sales as the coronavirus pandemic depressed demand, said the company.

The company lowered its guidance for spending to around USD35 billion from a range of USD40 billion to USD45 billion previously, according to a disclosure to the Tadawul bourse.

Net profit fell to 183.76 billion riyals (USD49.00 billion) for the year that ended December 31, from 330.69 billion riyals a year earlier.

Analysts had expected a net profit of 186.1 billion riyals in 2020, according to the mean estimate of analysts in Refinitiv's Eikon.

Shares in the top western oil and gas companies including Royal Dutch Shell and BP dropped to multi-year lows in 2020. Exxon Mobil, the largest U.S. energy company, posted its first annual loss. Aramco also declared a dividend of USD75 billion for 2020 and signalled it was seeing pickup in oil demand.

As MRC reported before, a number of Saudi Arabia's companies, such as Tasnee, Sadara, Advanced Petrochemical and Saudi Kayan, announced a curtailment of feedstock to their petrochemical plants, including polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) facilities, by an average of 30-50% due to the attacks on key Saudi Aramco facilities in September 2019.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 241,030 tonnes in January 2021 versus 217,890 tonnes a year earlier. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 141,870 tonnes in January 2021 versus 123,520 tonnes a year earlier. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Oil demand is expected to increase over the next decade and the fossil fuel will remain to be a crucial part of the energy mix, even as renewables draw increasing attention, reported Reuters with reference to Hess Corp Chief Executive John Hess' statement at CERAWeek.

At the biggest gathering of top energy leaders, investors and politicians from around the globe, climate change and renewable fuels are taking center stage this year with oil companies trying to reorient their portfolios as the fossil fuel industry reels from the coronavirus pandemic, which destroyed fuel demand and caused the loss of thousands of jobs.

"We don't think peak oil is around the corner - we see oil demand growing for the next 10 years," Hess said. "We're not investing enough to grow oil and gas in the future," he said, explaining that prices would need to rise to support that investment.

While demand is likely to recover sharply after the pandemic, supply is going to be slower to resume, he said, as shale producers, in particular, operate conservatively to meet shareholder's needs.

As MRC informed previously, oil producers face an unprecedented challenge to balance supply and demand as factors including the pace and response to COVID-19 vaccines cloud the outlook, according to an official with International Energy Agency's (IEA) statement.

We remind that the COVID-19 outbreak has led to an unprecedented decline in demand affecting all sections of the Russian economy, which has impacted the demand for petrochemicals in the short-term. However, the pandemic triggered an increase in the demand for polymers in food packaging, and cleaning and hygiene products, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company. With Russian petrochemical companies having the advantage of access to low-cost feedstock, and proximity to demand-rich Asian (primarily China) and European markets for the supply of petrochemical products, these companies appear to be well-positioned to derive full benefits from an improving market environment and global economy post-COVID-19, says GlobalData.

We also remind that in December 2020, Sibur, Gazprom Neft, and Uzbekneftegaz agreed to cooperate on potential investments in Uzbekistan including a major expansion of Uzbekneftegaz’s existing Shurtan Gas Chemical Complex (SGCC) and the proposed construction of a new gas chemicals facility. The signed cooperation agreement for the projects includes “the creation of a gas chemical complex using methanol-to-olefins (MTO) technology, and the expansion of the production capacity of the Shurtan Gas Chemical Complex”.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 241,030 tonnes in January 2021 versus 217,890 tonnes a year earlier. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 141,870 tonnes in January 2021 versus 123,520 tonnes a year earlier. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- AkzoNobel has strengthened its paints business and footprint in Spain by completing the acquisition of 100% of the shares of Spanish decorative paints maker Titan Paints for an undisclosed fee, as per the company's press release.

The transaction includes Titan Paints' three production plants in El Prat (Barcelona), Las Palmas (Canary Islands), and Maia in Portugal, seven logistics and service centers for decorative paints, the company said in a statement.

Titan Paints generated sales of about EUR80m in 2019 and has 425 employees.

The deal was first announced in October 2020.

As MRC reported earlier, AkzoNobel N.V. no longer intends to acquire Tikkurila following a higher competing offer from US paints and coatings producer PPG Industries, according to the company's press release on 8 February, 2021. Akzo Nobel submitted a binding proposal to acquire Tikkurila for EUR31.25 per share on January 28, 2021, having conducted customary due diligence to confirm potential synergies. The company no longer intends to pursue this acquisition, following a competing, higher, offer for Tikkurila. Despite a strong cultural fit - and more synergies than any other combination with Tikkurila - the intended transaction no longer meets AkzoNobel’s criteria for superior value creation.

We remind that Russia's output of chemical products rose in November 2020 by 9.5% year on year. At the same time, production of basic chemicals increased in the first eleven months of 2020 by 6.6% year on year, according to Rosstat's data. According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, polymers in primary form accounted for the greatest increase in the January-November 2020 output. November production of polymers in primary form rose to 896,000 tonnes from 852,000 tonnes in October. Overall output of polymers in primary form totalled 9,240,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 17.1% year on year.
MRC