U.S. refiners trying to maximize gasoline production amid rising prices

MOSCOW (MRC) -- U.S. gasoline prices are rising strongly, encouraging refineries to maximise gasoline production, even as they struggle with lacklustre demand for jet fuel due to international quarantine restrictions, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Based on futures prices, gross margins for making gasoline from U.S. crude oil have surged to more than USD24 per barrel, up from just USD10 at the start of the year, and the highest level since 2015. Driving the rise in prices is a much faster recovery in demand for gasoline than for other oil products as economies reopen.

Margins are now in the 84th percentile for all weeks since the start of 2006, giving refiners a strong incentive to maximise production, even as they hold back output of other fuels. Rising margins have pushed the average retail cost of gasoline above $3 per gallon, its highest level since 2014, according to nationwide pump prices compiled by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Gasoline accounted for 63% of the total output of the big three fuels (including diesel and jet) last week, among the highest weekly shares since 2009/10. Gasoline inventories amounted to 234 million barrels, less than 1% above the pre-epidemic five-year average for 2015-2019.

Consumption was just 3% below the pre-epidemic five-year average, with stay-at-home orders lifted, travel to work restarting and most businesses open. Consumption has recovered much faster than for products as a whole, still down almost 6% last week, or refineries’ crude processing, down almost 9%. High margins will ensure refiners squeeze as much gasoline out of the process as possible – even as they continue to limit crude runs to avoid producing unwanted jet fuel.

As per MRC, U.S. traffic volumes have almost returned to pre-pandemic levels, helping normalise gasoline consumption as more businesses re-open, domestic leisure travel resumes and workers return to offices. The volume of traffic on all roads was down by less than 4% in March compared with the same month two years ago, according to the Federal Highway Administration (“Traffic volume trends” FHWA, March 2021). Traffic levels had been down 41% in April 2020 at the height of the first wave of the pandemic and were still down 11% as recently as December 2020 during the second wave.

As per MRC, Countries around the world have reported steep falls in fuel demand as lockdowns to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus limit the movement of more than 4 billion people. U.S. fuel demand has dropped 28% in the last four weeks, the Energy Information Administration said on April 29. Overall finished motor gasoline demand is still down 44% over the past four weeks from the year-ago period, but a drawdown in stocks in the previous week suggests the consumption declines may be leveling off. Jet fuel demand was down 62%.

Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 576,270 tonnes in the first three month of 2021, up by 4% year on year. Low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 410,890 tonnes in January-March 2021, up by 56% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.
MRC

PPG announces executives changes, appoints sustainability VP

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PPG Industries says it has named Diane Kappas, current vice president/automotive OEM coatings, Americas, to the post of vice president/global sustainability, as per the company's press release.

Andrew Carroll, currently vice president/industrial coatings, has been named vice president/automotive OEM coatings, Americas and mobility. Both appointments will be effective 1 July.

Carroll will report to PPG executive vice president Rebecca Liebert, and Kappas will report to Amy Ericsson, senior vice president/packaging coatings.

“In this newly created global role focused on sustainability, Diane’s diverse experience at PPG and her ability to work collaboratively with customers to solve their problems will further drive this core business imperative,” says Michael McGarry, PPG chairman and CEO. “Andrew’s new leadership role is important in continuing to partner with our automotive OEM customers and meet their evolving needs.”

As MRC reported earlier, PPG Industries received approval from the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) of Russia on May 21, 2021, and it has now received all necessary regulatory approvals to complete the tender offer to acquire Tikkurila. The company has announced that the tender offer will expire on June 4, 2021. PPG expects to complete the tender offer and close the transaction on or about June 10, 2021.

We remind that Russia's output of chemical products rose in February 2021 by 5.3% year on year. Thus, production of basic chemicals increased year on year by 7.5% in the first two months of 2021, according to Rosstat's data. Last month's production of polymers in primary form in Russia was 861,000 tonnes versus 196,000 tonnes in January. Overall output of polymers in primary form totalled 1,770,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 8.4% year on year.
MRC

Crude oil futures climb in Asia on hurricane season concerns, pares losses after selloff

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Crude oil futures jumped during mid-morning trade in Asia May 24, as the market grew anxious of another above-normal hurricane season, while paring losses from a selloff during the week ended May 21 due to concerns over an influx of Iranian barrels into the market, reported S&P Global.

At 11:39 am Singapore time (0339 GMT), the ICE Brent July contract was up 50 cents/b (0.75%) from the May 21 settle at USD66.94/b, while the July NYMEX light sweet crude contract was up 60 cents/b (0.94%) at USD64.18/b.

This morning's climb came as the specter of supply disruptions during the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season returned to haunt markets, after Subtropical Storm Ana became the first named storm of this year's hurricane season on May 22. While Ana has since been downgraded to a tropical depression by the National Hurricane Center, concerns over upcoming storms may have led markets to price in a small hurricane premium.

These concerns have been exacerbated by a May 20 report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center, in which forecasters predicted a "60% chance of an above-normal season, a 30% chance of a near-normal season, and a 10% chance of a below-normal season."

Vandana Hari, CEO of Vanda Insights, told S&P Global Platts May 24 that amid unchanged fundamentals, the volatility in the market could have been due to anxiousness over the upcoming hurricane season, with an overdone selloff in the market last week also providing some bounce.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani sent oil prices into a tailspin May 20 when he said the "main agreement" to reinstate the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action has been made, and that only ancillary details need to be worked out before a final deal is struck. In contrast, a US Department of State representative insisted later May 20 that "many challenges" remain.

"The selloff on the JCPOA deal was overdone. With negotiators aiming for talks to conclude this week, it may be overly optimistic to expect a full-fledged deal," Hari said. "Instead, we may see only a framework agreement, which may not have a material impact on supply, capping the upside in prices rather than pushing them lower."

As MRC wrote earlier, Indian refiners, anticipating a lifting of US sanctions, plan to make space for the resumption of Iranian imports by reducing spot crude oil purchases in the second half of the year. The world's third-largest oil consumer and importer halted imports from Tehran in 2019 after former US President Donald Trump withdrew from a 2015 accord and re-imposed sanctions on the OPEC producer over its disputed nuclear programme.

Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 576,270 tonnes in the first three month of 2021, up by 4% year on year. Low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 410,890 tonnes in January-March 2021, up by 56% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.
MRC

Packwell expands PE packaging capacity in US

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Packwell is expanding its polyethylene (PE) packaging capacity in the US Gulf region with two projects in the Houston area, said Economictimes.

The first involves US trading company Vinmar, which has awarded Packwell a packaging and warehousing contract for Vinmar’s Baytown, Texas, facility. The 500,000 square-foot facility has two state-of-the art Windmoller and Holscher high speed Topaz 2600 packaging lines, with capacity to package and distribute more than 520,000 tonnes/year. There is also room for further expansion, the company said.

The second project is for Packwell to sublease and operate a state-of-the-art resin packaging facility on a 56-acre site at Port Houston’s Bayport Industrial Complex, which is adjacent to the Bayport Container Terminal complex on Galveston Bay.

As it was earlier writen,Packwell, Hillwood and BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) have agreed to build a plastics export packaging facility at the huge AllianceTexas industrial and distribution park in north Fort Worth. That deal follows announcement earlier this week of a similar plastics packaging and export facility being built by the Union Pacific railroad and global logistic firm Katoen Natie (KTN) in Dallas. Both facilities will transport plastic pellets in hopper cars from the US Gulf Coast – and mostly from the Houston area – to sites in Dallas-Fort Worth where the pellets will be packaged and transferred into shipping containers that will travel by rail to the US west coast for shipment to Asia. The rail-packaging centres are an outgrowth of what most polymer experts see as a coming boom in PE exports.

Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 576,270 tonnes in the first three month of 2021, up by 4% year on year. Low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 410,890 tonnes in January-March 2021, up by 56% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.

Packwell Industries Private Limited is a Non-govt company, incorporated on 15 May, 1963. It's a private unlisted company and is classified as'company limited by shares'. Company's authorized capital stands at Rs 25.0 lakhs and has 100.0% paid-up capital which is Rs 25.0 lakhs. Packwell Industries Private Limited last annual general meet (AGM) happened on 30 Sep, 2017.
MRC

Trinseo offers to the market recycled PS for food contact applications

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Trinseo, a global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex binders, and synthetic rubber, has announced that it can now supply recycled polystyrene (rPS) for food contact applications with the launch of the first yogurt pot integrating rPS, now on shelves in France, as per the company's press release.

The material -Trinseo’s STYRON CO2RE CR55 Polystyrene Resin - contains 55 percent recycled content resulting from depolymerization, and is part of the company’s STYRON CO2RE portfolio of recycled PS grades.

PS is a unique plastic in that it can be depolymerized to its monomer level and can be reused along with virgin content with no distinction between the two. Consequently, polystyrene recycled via this method can be used widely in high quality, demanding applications including consumer electronics, packaging, household durables and even food contact applications.

According to Trinseo’s Plastics Circularity Manager, Julien Renvoise, STYRON CO2RE CR55 Polystyrene supports a circular economy.

This innovation is the result of a collaboration between Trinseo and Intraplas, an expert in extrusion of plastic sheets for the food industry. Together the companies supply and transform the certified recycled polystyrene raw material used by Yoplait in France to launch the first pot made with 50% of rPS in the French market.

As MRC wrote before, recycled PS is just one of Trinseo’s sustainable materials aimed at circularity. The company also is involved with depolymerization with technology provided by partner, Recycling Technologies, and plans to build a dedicated plant at its Tessenderlo, Belgium location. This will be one of two PS recycling plants in Europe estimated to add a total of 30,000 tons of PS feedstock into the European marketplace. The plant is expected to start operating in 2023.

According to ICIS-MRC Price report, in Russia, Nizhnekamskneftekhim's PS prices remained unchanged in May. Prices of Nizhnekamskneftekhim's GPPS were in the range of Rb192,000-203,000/tonne, CPT Moscow, including VAT, whereas high impact polystyrene (HIPS) prices were at Rb196,000-207,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT. At the same time, May prices of Penoplex's material fell by Rb15,000/tonne to Rb204,000-206,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT.

Trinseo is a global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex and rubber. Trinseo's technology is used by customers in industries such as home appliances, automotive, building & construction, carpet, consumer electronics, consumer goods, electrical & lighting, medical, packaging, paper & paperboard, rubber goods and tires. Formerly known as Styron, Trinseo completed its renaming process in 1Q 2015. Trinseo had approximately USD3.0 billion in net sales in 2020, with 17 manufacturing sites around the world, and approximately 2,600 employees.
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