COVID-19 - News digest as of 24.06.2021

1. Manufacturing industry in Canada continues to lose millions because of border issues due Covid-19

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The survey was conducted by the Canadian Tooling & Machining Association (CTMA), in partnership with the Canadian Association of Moldmakers, (CAMM), Automate Canada, and the Niagara Industrial Association (NIA), said Canplastics. It was the second conducted by the groups to measure the effects of border closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic within the manufacturing industry. This updated study, which received 91 responses, was to compare the results to the previous survey about common border crossing issues that have been experienced by those in the industry, who have identified that many of their businesses rely on travel between the U.S. and Canada. The first survey was taken in December 2020.





MRC

Crude oil futures steady in Asia as EIA reports stock draw in line with API

Crude oil futures steady in Asia as EIA reports stock draw in line with API

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Crude oil futures were steady during the mid-morning trade in Asia June 24 on unchanged fundamentals, with the US Energy Information Administration's report of a draw in US crude inventories coming in line with earlier data released by the American Petroleum Institute, reported S&P Global.

At 10:14 am Singapore time (0214 GMT), the ICE August Brent futures contract was down 4 cents/b (0.05%) from the previous settle at USD75.15/b while the NYMEX August light sweet crude contract was down 3 cents/b (0.04%) at USD73.05/b.

EIA data released late June 23 showed US crude inventories falling by 7.61 million barrels to 459.06 million barrels in the week ended June 18. The draw, however, did not spur a rally during Asian trading, as it offered little new information, merely corroborating the American Petroleum Institute's earlier report of a 7.2 million-barrel draw.

The data also showed distillate stockpiles climbing 1.75 million barrels to 137.95 million barrels in the same period, with the build more bearish than the build of 992,000 barrels estimated by API data.

The EIA data, however, differed from the API in its estimate of the change in the US gasoline inventories. The EIA data showed an unexpected fall in US gasoline inventories of 2.93 million barrels to 240.05 million barrels in the week ended June 18. It was hence more bullish in this aspect than the API data, which had shown a 959,000-barrel rise in gasoline inventories in the same period.

The EIA data release feeds right into the demand recovery narrative that underpinned the recent rally in oil prices. Total products supplied, EIA's proxy for demand, ticked up nearly 1% to 20.75 million b/d in the week to June 18 and the closely watched gasoline products supplied metric rose commensurately to 9.44 million b/d, testing highs last seen in February 2020 prior to the first wave of pandemic lockdowns.

The uptick in gasoline demand comes as more Americans take to the road amid easing mobility restrictions and rising vaccination rates. Apple Mobility data showed that US driving activity jumped six percentage points to a fresh record of around 164% of the index's January 2020 baseline in the week ended June 18.

Analysts said that in addition to strong demand, leaner supply in the US was also offering support to the market.

Moving away from the US market, oil demand in Europe and key economies in Asia is also expected to strengthen, as these regions emerge from the shadow of pandemic lockdowns.

We remind that as MRC informed 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 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

NOVA Chemical declares force majeure on ethylene supplies from its Geismar cracker

NOVA Chemical declares force majeure on ethylene supplies from its Geismar cracker

MOSCOW (MRC) -- NOVA Chemical has declared force majeure (FM) on ethylene shipments from its cracker in Geismar, Louisiana due to an unexpected production shutdown, reported S&P Global.

The 885,000 mt/year of ethylene and 45,000 mt/year of propylene cracker in Geismar was shut on 14 June for unplanned repairs owing to a technical issue.

The cracker is expected to remain off-line until end-June, and FM will also remain in effect for about two weeks.

As MRC informed earlier, NOVA Chemicals restarted its cracker in Geismar in mid-October 2020. It was shut in mid-September for unplanned maintenance unrelated to storms in the USA. The company postponed the restart until after Delta passed, the storm impacts were minimal.

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.

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

Formosa Plastics USA to restart its No. 3 cracker in Texas

Formosa Plastics USA to restart its No. 3 cracker in Texas

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Formosa Plastics USA, part of Formosa Petrochemical, plans to restart its No. 3 cracker in Point Comfort, Texas by the end of the week,reported S&P Global.

The Formosa OL3 cracker with the capacity of 1.25 mln tonnes of ethylene per year was shut on June 4, 2021, owing to technical issues.

As MRC informed before, Formosa Plastics' new 1.5 million mt/year cracker in Point Comfort came online in H1 January, 2020, and was seen ramping up through January.

We remind that Formosa Plastics USA started up its 400,000 tons/year low density polyethylene (LDPE) plant in Point Comfort, Texas, US, on 30 November, 2020.

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.

Formosa Petrochemical is involved primarily in the business of refining crude oil, selling refined petroleum products and producing and selling olefins (including ethylene, propylene, butadiene and BTX) from its naphtha cracking operations. Formosa Petrochemical is also the largest olefins producer in Taiwan and its olefins products are mostly sold to companies within the Formosa Group. Among the company's chemical products are paraxylene (PX), phenyl ethylene, acetone and pure terephthalic acid (PTA). The company"s plastic products include acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) resins, polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP) and panlite (PC).
MRC

Neste completes overhaul at its Porvoo refinery

Neste completes overhaul at its Porvoo refinery

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The scheduled maintenance i.e. the major turnaround at Neste’s Porvoo refinery in Finland is now successfully completed and production has started at the refinery, as per the company's press release.

The major turnaround is a significant investment to secure safety, availability and competitiveness of the refinery. The total investment of the Porvoo refinery major turnaround was approximately EUR630 million, of which approximately EUR 330 million was realized in the major turnaround in 2021. In 2020, only the most critical maintenance work was executed at the refinery as the corona pandemic delayed the turnaround by a year.

“We executed a large number of regulatory inspections, maintenance works and asset improvement initiatives at the Porvoo refinery to ensure the safety and reliability of the refinery. The turnaround works focused on, among other things, process equipment and pipelines, and we also extensively renewed the refinery's electrification and automation systems. During the major turnaround, we also executed preparatory measures for the processing of renewable and circular raw materials at the Porvoo refinery,” says Jori Sahlsten, Vice President, Production at the Neste Porvoo refinery.

During the major turnaround, the Porvoo refinery was one of the largest construction sites in Finland. In total, some 6,000 persons took part in the turnaround works and over 1.5 million working hours were completed.

In order to manage the pandemic situation during the major turnaround, a detailed health security plan was prepared with extensive measures to mitigate the impacts of the coronavirus. Neste worked closely with authorities, nearby municipalities and cities as well as health care professionals throughout the turnaround. Thanks to the comprehensive precautionary measures, the corona situation at the refinery remained calm. Regular corona tests were done to every person working in the turnaround. All in all approximately 61,000 corona tests were taken, out of which 97 infections were identified.

The major turnaround did not affect the product deliveries to Neste’s customers. The Neste harbour and distribution terminal in Porvoo have been operating normally during the major turnaround.

As MRC reported earlier, Neste is committed to reaching carbon neutrality in its production by 2035. As part of this effort, Neste aims for 100% renewable electricity use globally by 2023. In order to proceed with this target, Neste will increase the use of renewable electricity at its Porvoo refinery and has signed a new wind power agreement with a wind power company Ilmata.

Neste (Helsinki) creates solutions for combating climate change and accelerating a shift to a circular economy. The company refines waste, residues and innovative raw materials into renewable fuels and sustainable feedstock for plastics and other materials. The company is the world’s leading producer of renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel, developing chemical recycling to combat the plastic waste challenge. In 2020, Neste's revenue stood at EUR 11.8 billion, with 94% of the company’s comparable operating profit coming from renewable products.

We remind that in May 2021, Neste, Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. and Toyota Tsusho Corp. announced they are joining forces to enable Japan’s first industrial-scale production of renewable plastics and chemicals from 100% bio-based hydrocarbons. In this collaboration, Mitsui Chemicals will use Neste RE, 100% bio-based hydrocarbons produced by Neste, to replace a part of the fossil feedstock in the production of a variety of plastics and chemicals at its crackers within Osaka Works during 2021.

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