Coca-Cola Europacific Partners recognised for its transition to 100% rPET in Australia

MOSCOW (MRC) -- CCEP in Australia has been awarded Gold in the Beverage category, as well as receiving a Special Award in the Sustainability category at The WorldStar Global Packaging Awards, said the company.

The awards are an international packaging design competition that continues to evolve and shape the packaging design community by highlighting the global trends and challenges within the packaging industry. Each year, WorldStar receives more than 300 entries from more than 34 countries around the world.

In 2019, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners Australia was the first beverage manufacturer and Coca-Cola bottler in the world to have all single serve packs produced from 100% rPET. This includes plastic packaging for water, soft drinks, aseptic dairy and warm-fill sensitive beverages, and equates to 7 out of 10 bottles sold in Australia.

By converting all plastic single serve packs to 100% rPET packaging, CCEP in Australia reduced the amount of virgin fossil-based plastic used in our PET bottles by an estimated 10,000 tonnes per year. Marlene Cronje Vermeulen, Future Works Manager for Coca-Cola Europacific Partners in Australia said: “We are so happy that we not only won a WorldStar Packaging general award, but that we have also been awarded the Gold Sustainable Packaging Special Award for 2021. The Gold Sustainable Packaging Special Award truly is the crowning achievement for our team and will form the platform from which our sustainable initiatives will develop”.

CCEP is committed to playing our part in creating a circular economy for the PET packaging we use through increasing collection once our drinks have been consumed, supporting the development of recycling capacity to ensure they are recycled, and by using the recycled plastic, alongside plastic from renewable sources, to make new bottles.

In Western Europe, our markets are also accelerating the reduction of virgin fossil-based plastic, working towards using 100% recycled or renewable content in our PET bottles by 2030, to help create a low carbon circular economy for PET bottles.

As per MRC, Coca-Cola HBC launched two new production lines at a plant in Novosibirsk, which will produce juices and iced teas. The volume of investments in the project amounted to about 500 million rubles.

As per ICIS-MRC Price Report, demand for PET chips in the spot domestic market was not high this week.
Contract prices from Russian producers were in the range of Rb100,000-110,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT in June. Export prices for Chinese bottle grade PET were heard in the range of $900-940/tonne FOB China.

Coca-Cola HBC operated Russian factories for the production of drinks under the Coca-Cola Corporation brands since 2001. The company includes 11 factories located, in particular, in Moscow, the Moscow region, St. Petersburg, Samara, Yekaterinburg and Vladivostok.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil has rejected proposals by the United Steelworkers union to end a seven-week lockout at the company's Beaumont, Texas, refinery, reported Reuters.

Exxon locked out about 650 union workers on May 1 after a prior labor contract expired. It cited a risk of a strike by the USW-represented employees. The plant, which makes gasoline and Mobil 1 motor oil, has continued to operate using managers and replacement staff.

A union official confirmed the two sides met for about two hours on Thursday, but declined to discuss any proposals. No date for another negotiation session has been set.

In a statement posted online, Exxon said the company and union remain far apart based on Thursday's meeting.

"The union provided five partial proposals which included items that significantly increase cost and do not meet the objectives we informed the union of in January," Exxon said.

The company also said its lead negotiator was prepared to meet with the union's lead negotiator next week.

The USW proposals were offers on specific issues the union was willing to make changes to if Exxon reciprocated on its issues, sources familiar with the matter said. The company has insisted the union call a vote on its last proposal, which was made in April. Exxon said its proposal is needed to ensure flexibility to compete in low-margin environments. The USW has refused to call a vote, saying Exxon's proposal would eliminate seniority and create two separate contracts for the refinery and lubricant plant.

As MRC informed previously, Gov. John Bel Edwards and ExxonMobil Baton Rouge Refinery Manager David Oldreive have announced the company’s final investment decision for more than USD240 million in capital improvements at the ExxonMobil Baton Rouge Refinery.

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 744,130 tonnes in the first four month of 2021, up by 4% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, PP deliveries to the Russian market were 523,900 tonnes in January-April 2021, up by 55% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whereas shipments of PP random copolymers decreased.

ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world's oil and about 2% of the world's energy.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Operations returned to normal at LyondellBasell Industries 263,776 barrel-per-day (bpd) Houston refinery following an upset in a waste gas system, said sources familiar with plant operations, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The system takes waste gases from production units and uses them to power operations at the refinery, the sources said.

As per MRC, LyondellBasell (LBI), the world's largest producer of polyolefins, has announced force majeure for the supply of linear polyethylene (LLDPE) from its La Porte, TX plant due to an equipment malfunction at the Q1 reactor. According to the letter, the company is currently in the process of assessing the impact of this event on the production process of this enterprise with a capacity of 272,000 tonnes of LLDPE per year.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 744,130 tonnes in the first four month of 2021, up by 4% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, PP deliveries to the Russian market were 523,900 tonnes in January-April 2021, up by 55% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whereas shipments of PP random copolymers decreased.

LyondellBasell is one of the world's largest polypropylene producers, a leading supplier of polyethylene and catalysts, and a developer of polyethylene and polypropylene technologies. The company manufactures products at 58 production sites in 18 countries around the world. In addition, LyondellBasell is the developer of the Spheripol process, which is the basis for polypropylene production at Omsk Poliom and Nizhnekamskneftekhim.
MRC

1. Asia Distillates-Gasoil cash differential falls but ends week higher on improving demand in the region

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Cash discounts for cargoes of Asia's 10 ppm gasoil slipped on Friday on weaker physical deal values in the Singapore trading window, but ended the week higher on signs of improving demand in Asia, reported Reuters. The 10 ppm cash differential was at a four-session low of minus 4 cents a barrel below Singapore quotes on Friday, down from minus 2 cents in the previous session. The differential climbed to a more than two-week high premium of 5 cents a barrel on Wednesday. Sentiment, however, was capped by concerns of rising regional supplies as refiners in north Asia resume operations following seasonal refinery turnarounds.



MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- South Korea's imports of US crude oil rose 21.3% from a year earlier in May, marking the first year-on-year increase in 12 months, as local refiners continued to raise middle distillate output amid improving transportation fuel demand and a widening Brent-Dubai price spread made North American barrels competitive, reported S&P Global with reference to latest data from Korea Customs Service.

The world's fifth-largest crude importer received 1.227 million mt, or 8.99 million barrels, of US oil in May, up from 7.41 million barrels a year earlier, the customs data showed. The country has been receiving more than 4 VLCCs/month from the US since February.

The majority of US crudes that South Korean refiners purchase are light sweet grades rich in middle distillate yield, including WTI and Eagle Ford.

South Korean refiners are expected to continue raising light sweet US crude purchases - and overall feedstock imports - as industrial and consumer fuel demand is set to strengthen on the back of robust economic recovery with the nationwide vaccination program gathering pace, refinery officials and analysts at Korea National Oil Corp. and Korea Petroleum Association told S&P Global.

The country is forecast to consume 240,000 b/d of gasoline in Q2, up from 224,000 b/d in Q1, according to latest data from Platts Analytics.

In total, South Korea imported 10.912 million mt, or 79.98 million barrels, of crude oil in May, up 1.5% year on year, the customs data showed.

South Korea's May crude imports from top supplier Saudi Arabia fell 18.7% year on year to 23.47 million barrels, while shipments from Kuwait fell 37.8% to 8.19 million barrels and from Iraq fell 5.1% to 5.07 million barrels, the customs data showed. However, local refiners are expected to see Middle Eastern crude intake increase gradually in coming months after OPEC and its allies on June 1 agreed to follow through on plans to hike crude production through July.

Saudi Aramco has allocated most Asia-Pacific refiners with their requested term crude volumes for loading in July, Platts reported earlier based on a survey of multiple feedstock procurement managers and refinery officials across Asia. The allocation of full volumes is largely in line with market expectations, with Saudi plans to raise supplies after the OPEC+ group's decision to ease production cuts amid firming demand cues aided by the global recovery.

In addition, South Korean refiners could trim some of their North Sea and West African crude purchases, while increasing Middle Eastern crude procurement, in the second half of the year as spot cargoes from the west of Suez appear expensive after the Brent-Dubai price spread flipped to a lofty premium in recent trading cycles, according to feedstock procurement managers at two South Korean refiners.

The refiners are also keen to pick up more US crude cargoes in the spot market as North American grades are often traded on a Dubai pricing basis in the Northeast Asian market.

South Korea's crude stockpiles fell 14.4% year on year to 41.75 million barrels in April, KNOC data showed. But the

As MRC informed earlier, GS Caltex, a major South Korean petrochemical producer, is planning to start up its new mixed-feed cracker in Yeosu in June 2021. This schedule is earlier than the initial plan of 2022. The new cracker can produce 790,000 tons/year of ethylene and 430,000 tons/year of propylene.

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 744,130 tonnes in the first four month of 2021, up by 4% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, PP deliveries to the Russian market were 523,900 tonnes in January-April 2021, up by 55% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whereas shipments of PP random copolymers decreased.
MRC