Nova Chemicals presents first grades of post-consumer recycled PE

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Nova Chemicals (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) has introduced the first three grades in its new portfolio of post-consumer recycled (PCR) polyethylene (PE) resin, as per the company's press release.

The company says each of the grades, which target flexible film applications, comes from a dedicated source.

One grade is a natural linear-low/low density PCR polyethylene (rLLDPE/LDPE) collected from distribution centers and suited for collation shrink, stretch wrap and e-commerce applications, says Nova.

Another natural rLLDPE/LDPE grade is a recycled agricultural film suited for re-use in agricultural films, heavy-duty shipping sacks, collation shrink, and for e-commerce applications.

The third grade, a white rLLDPE manufactured from closed-loop agricultural and irrigation film recyclate, is suited for use in agricultural film, heavy-duty shipping sacks, collation shrink, trash bags and liners and e-commerce applications.

Nova recently announced PCR resin supply agreements with two recyclers. Merlin Plastics will supply Nova with FDA-LNO (letter of non-objection) PCR high-density polyethylene (rHDPE) for use in consumer packaging, including food. Revolution is supplying Nova with rLLDPE/LDPE for use in a range of packaging applications.

Many of the world’s leading consumer brands have pledged to increase the amount of PCR content in plastic packaging to an average of 25% by 2025. Anna Rajkovic, circular economy market manager, NOVA Chemicals, said the introduction of these products will help brands meet their goals. “We’ve made remarkable progress in just the past few months,” she explained. “We’re continuing to expand our PCR business and collaborate throughout the value chain to help the industry meet its sustainability commitments and advance the plastics circular economy.”

As MRC informed earlier, in April 2020, NOVA Chemicals resumed construction activities in a phased approach at its Corunna site. The company said on April 16 it will gradually increase the number of workers involved in construction of the new PE plant and the cracker expansion project. NOVA announced in late March that it was sending home the majority of the construction workers at the Corunna site to reduce the risk of exposure to COVID-19.

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.

NOVA Chemicals Corporation is a plastics and chemical company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and is wholly-owned ultimately by Mubadala Investment Company of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Maire Tecnimont S.p.A. announced that its subsidiary Tecnimont S.p.A. has been awarded a contract by the Federal Executive Council to carry out Rehabilitation works for the Port Harcourt Refinery Company Limited, located in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, in Nigeria, which is a subsidiary of Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The overall contract’s value is about USD1.5 billion. The project entails engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) activities for a full rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery complex, aimed at restoring the complex to a minimum of 90% of its nameplate capacity. The complex is composed of two refineries totaling an overall capacity of approximately 210,000 bpd (barrels per day). The project will be delivered in phases from 24 and 32 months and the final stage will be completed in 44 months from the award date.

Pierroberto Folgiero, Maire Tecnimont Group Chief Executive Officer, commented: "With this great result we confirm the soundness of our business strategy on geography diversification, as one of its key elements is to grow and assist our clients in their revamping initiatives, leveraging on our technological know-how to ensure more efficient and environmentally better performing processes and products. It represents a testament of our technological DNA, as we are strongly increasing our focus on initiatives for the modernization of the refining sector, such as these strategic rehabilitation works. Moreover, we enhance our footprint in Nigeria and in Sub-Saharan Africa, a market with excellent downstream prospects given its demographics and the necessity to unlock greater added value from the transformation of natural resources. We are eager to keep on supporting a leading player in the area such as NNPC to develop Africa’s downstream sector."

As per MRC, Maire Tecnimont S.p.A. announced that its subsidiaries Tecnimont S.p.A. and KT - Kinetics Technology S.p.A. have signed with SOCAR’s subsidiary Heydar Aliyev Oil Refinery two Engineering, Procurement and Construction contracts, as part of the Modernization and Reconstruction of Heydar Aliyev Oil Refinery in Baku, Azerbaijan. SOCAR is the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic. The overall contracts’ value equals to approximately USD 160 million.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,220,640 tonnes in 2020, up by 2% year on year. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market reached 1 240,000 tonnes in 2020 (calculated using the formula: production, minus exports, plus imports, excluding producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Jet fuel demand is picking up, which could give refiners some hope after the global pandemic boosted distillate inventories and sank margins, reported Reuters with reference to a senior refining executive.

Refiners have been mixing jet fuel into diesel inventories for the last several months, since they have been unable to sell the product due to the sharp decline in air travel.

“Jet fuel demand numbers are starting to improve and show signs of life, allowing refiners to drop less jet into diesel which will eventually provide well-needed relief on distillate stock,” said Joe Israel, chief executive officer of Par Pacific, a West Coast refiner.

Distillate margins are averaging USD5.17 a barrel in the first quarter of 2021, approximately half the levels of the prior-year quarter, according to energy consultancy Tudor, Pickering and Holt.

Jet fuel recovery has lagged gasoline demand, which is already touching pre-pandemic levels, according to data from the Energy Information Administration.

In the first quarter of 2021, world refiners’ utilized capacity was 10% to 15% lower than pre-pandemic levels, but refiners expect it to increase in coming months. “Considering the recovery assumptions, expectations are for world refineries to close that gap to approximately 5% through the summer,” Israel said.

As MRC informed before, renewed lockdown restrictions in Europe and slower than expected vaccine rollouts are likely to check a global recovery in fuel demand and make OPEC+ oil producers take a cautious stance when the group reassesses output policy in early April.

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) -- Mexico's Petroleos Mexicanos expects to maintain financial debt of USD105 billion between 2021 and 2025 and increase crude refining, the state oil company said, as per Reuters.

Pemex, as the company is known, said one of its priorities will be to free up funds and gradually pay back some of its debt without necessarily taking on new obligations. "It is clear that high indebtedness represents a structural problem, attention to which should not be delayed," Pemex said in its latest business plan. "In the medium term, we do not rule out restructuring."

Ratings agencies stripped Pemex of its coveted investment grade rating last year because of its high debt and other concerns. Pemex also said it expects crude refining to be 1.1 million barrels per day this year and rise to 1.6 million barrels per day in 2025.

As MRC informed earlier, Pemex is advancing a refinery rehabilitation program that will enable it to process 1.2 million b/d of crude oil by the end of 2020 and evaluating a reconfiguration of its petrochemical facility at Cangrejera, Mexico, into what would be its eighth refinery.

We also remind that in 2016, Pemex shut its steam cracker at its Cangrejera complex for maintenance on February 15. The cracker was idle for about 14 days. The conducted repairs at the cracker were a part of planned maintenance.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,220,640 tonnes in 2020, up by 2% year on year. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market reached 1 240,000 tonnes in 2020 (calculated using the formula: production, minus exports, plus imports, excluding producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively PP random copolymer increased.

Pemex, Mexican Petroleum, is a Mexican state-owned petroleum company. Pemex has a total asset worth of USD415.75 billion, and is the world's second largest non-publicly listed company by total market value, and Latin America's second largest enterprise by annual revenue as of 2009. Company produces such polymers, as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The IMF predicts GDP growth in Ukraine in 2021 at 4% against 3% in the October report, Epravda said.

In 2022, growth will be 3.4%. The IMF also provided forecasts for inflation and unemployment. According to the Fund, in 2021 the price level in Ukraine will grow by 7.9%, in 2022 - by 6.8%. The unemployment rate is expected to be 8.6% in 2021, and 8.4% in 2022.

As noted in the Fund, the better predicted results for 2020 are associated with quarantine mitigations and the adaptation of economies to work in the new conditions. In addition, additional fiscal support in the "big economies" and vaccination expectations have worked.

Global growth is expected to stabilize at 3.3% over the medium term. This indicator reflects the expected damage due to reduced production, as well as factors independent of the pandemic. In particular, the slow growth of the workforce associated with aging.

In total, the IMF said that the consequences of the coronavirus crisis will be softer than the consequences of the 2008 global financial crisis. At the same time, the Fund added that countries with emerging economies and low-income countries are experiencing a bigger blow - and, accordingly, will suffer more significant losses.

Earlier it was reported that the World Bank raised its forecast for the growth of Ukraine's gross domestic product in 2021 from 3% to 3.8%.

Ukraine's real GDP decreased by 4% in 2020, nominal GDP, that is, in actual prices, amounted to UAH 4.194 trillion. The Ministry of Economy retains the forecast for the growth of the Ukrainian economy in 2021 by 4.6% of GDP.
MRC