Westlake earnings increased in Q2 on post-pandemic recovery

Westlake earnings increased in Q2 on post-pandemic recovery

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Westlake Chemical Corporation reported record quarterly earnings in the second quarter 2021 compared to the previous year, as strong demand encouraged higher sales prices and margins, said the company.

The vinyls segment made record income, driven by higher sales prices, margins and sales volumes for polyvinyl chloride (PVC) resin market on regaining strength in the building and construction materials business.

Olefins also tracked record income from operations in the second quarter on higher sales prices and margins across the portfolio, on the back of good global demand, and tight supply, partially offset by lower polyethylene (PE) sales volumes.

Westlake Chemical Partners – partnership formed by Westlake Chemical to operate and acquire ethylene production facilities and related asset – also achieved a record net income of USD25.1m in the second quarter in line with higher demand.

"We continue to invest in our business to drive value and are creating new platforms for continued future growth," said president and CEO Albert Chao.

As per MRC, Westlake Chemical plans to begin scheduled maintenance works at its cracker at Lake Charles, Louisiana in September. The cracking unit with a capacity of 740,000 tonnes of ethylene per year (Petro 2) will be shut down for maintenance for 60 days starting from September.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 953,400 tonnes in the first five months of 2021, which virtually corresponded to the same figure a year earlier. High denisty polyethylene (HDPE) shipments decreased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 607,8900 tonnes in January-May 2021, up by 33% year on year. Shipments of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whereas deliveries of PP random copolymers decreased.

Westlake is a global manufacturer and supplier of materials and innovative products that enhance life every day. Headquartered in Houston, we provide the building blocks for vital solutions — from building products and infrastructure materials, to packaging and healthcare products, to automotive and consumer goods.
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NOVA Chemicals appoints new vice president of Sustainability

NOVA Chemicals appoints new vice president of Sustainability

MOSCOW (MRC) – NOVA Chemicals Corporation has announced Sarah Marshall has been promoted to Vice President, Sustainability, as per the company's press release.

In this newly-created role, Marshall will be responsible for leading NOVA Chemicals’ long-term Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) strategy, and managing the areas of Climate Care, Corporate Environment and ESG Reporting.

In her previous role as Director of Sustainability, Marshall collaborated with value chain partners, customers, government officials, industry associations and others to find innovative solutions to advance a plastics circular economy resulting in new partnerships and development agreements in mechanical and advanced recycling. Moving forward, Greg DeKunder, Vice President Polyethylene Marketing, NOVA Chemicals, will lead this work to develop a plastics circular economy.

Marshall joined NOVA Chemicals in 1997, and since then has served the company in a variety of leadership roles, including Leader, Products & Catalysts R&D and Director, Technical Service & Application Development. She brings more than 20 years of research and development experience within the petrochemicals industry, previously leading teams of scientists, engineers and technologists at NOVA Chemicals’ Centre for Applied Research and Centre for Performance Applications – the largest private research facilities in western Canada.

“Accelerating toward a low-carbon future is critically important for the planet and offers new opportunities for the company,” said Marshall. “I am honored and delighted to lead a talented team of professionals as we develop and implement solutions at NOVA Chemicals that benefit our stakeholders, society, and our environment,” Marshall said.

As MRC reported earlier, in July 2021, Enterprise Products Partners L.P. and NOVA Chemicals Corporation announced that a subsidiary of Enterprise had acquired a wholly owned subsidiary of NOVA Chemicals, which operates an ethylene storage business and trading hub in Mont Belvieu, Texas. NOVA Chemicals, one of the largest merchant ethylene producers and marketers on the US Gulf Coast, will be a long-term storage customer in the Enterprise system.

Ethylene is the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,176,860 tonnes in the first half of 2021, up by 5% year on year. Shipments of exclusively low density polyethylene (LDPE) decreased.

NOVA Chemicals develops and manufactures chemicals and plastic resins that make everyday life healthier, easier and safer. NOVA Chemicals, headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, is wholly owned ultimately by Mubadala Investment Company of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
MRC

Rosneft second-quarter profit increased on higher oil prices

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russian oil producer Rosneft’s second-quarter net profit showed a fivefold increase from the same period last year, said the company, citing recovering oil prices.

Net profit surged to 233 bn roubles (USD3.2 billion) while revenue doubled to 2.167 trln roubles.

Rosneft, which includes oil major BP among its shareholders, said that liquid hydrocarbon production was at an average of 3.9 mn barrels per day (bpd) in the quarter, down from 4.04 million bpd a year earlier, when OPEC+ launched its deepest oil supply cuts to prop-up global prices hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

Revenue increased 25% quarter on quarter to 2,167 billion billion. The company’s total hydrocarbon output increased 5.6% from the first quarter to 452.6 mn barrels of oil equivalent.

The results slightly exceeded analysts’ expectations but overall came as no surprise to the market. Analysts polled by Bloomberg estimated revenue 2,089 bn roubles and net income of 224.7 bn roubles.

The company’s net profit in the first half of the year amounted to 382 bn roubles against a loss of 113 bn roubles a year earlier. Rosneft’s net profit increased more than 5 times. Rosneft’s revenue increased by 39.6% year-on-year due to higher oil prices.

EBITDA (operating profit) of the company in the first half of the year increased by more than 100% in roubles and by 85.1% in US dollars, reaching 1,016 bn roubles and USD13.7 billion, respectively. EBITDA for the reporting period increased almost 3.5 times.

Rosneft’s capital expenditures in the first half of 2021 increased by 25.9% year-on-year, reaching Rb462 bn (USD13.7 bn). The increase in capital expenditures by more than a quarter is primarily due to the implementation of the ambitious Vostok Oil project (the project includes the development of 13 fields), which requires large investments.

As MRC reported, Rosneft intends to build a new polyolefin complex for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) based on Ufaorgsintez (UOS, Bashkortostan). Plans for the placement of new capacities at the UOS are mentioned in the tender published on 28 January on the Rosneft procurement website for the development of a basic project with the provision of a license for the technology of obtaining polyethylene. The design capacity for the production of PE is at least 250,000 tonnes per year, and the license provided should provide the ability to produce 230-250,000 tonnes per year of high-density polyethylene (HDPE), up to 20,000 tonnes per year of linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE ) and up to 10,000 tonnes of LLDPE on a metallocene catalyst.

At the moment, the capacities of Ufaorgsintez allow to produce up to 90,000 tonnes per year of low-pressure polyethylene (LDPE) and 120,000 tonnes per year of polypropylene (PP).

According to the ICIS-MRC Price Report, from 9 June, the Ufaorgsintez resumed operation of the second stage of LDPE (158 and 153 polyethylene - PE) after stopping for scheduled preventive maintenance. The turnaround of the second stage of PE facilities was short-lived and took only a week. The first line of LDPE production facilities (108 PE) will be shut down for routine maintenance in September.

Rosneft became Russia's largest publicly traded oil company in March 2013 after the USD55 billion takeover of TNK-BP, which was Russia’s third-largest oil producer at the time.
MRC

COVID-19 - News digest as of 16.08.2021

1. European and US gasoline stocks down to near pre-pandemic levels but road ahead may be bumpy

MOSCOW (MRC) -- European and US gasoline stocks have fallen to near pre-pandemic levels as Western holiday-makers hit the roads, but the end of the driving season and the spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus could slow the recovery in global oil demand, reported Reuters. The pandemic and resulting lockdowns around the world destroyed demand for oil products and led to massive stock builds in 2020 which have been gradually depleting this year. The International Energy Agency said on Thursday that global oil demand surged by 3.8 million barrels per day month-on-month in June, led by increased mobility in North America and Europe, but reversed course in July and is set to proceed more slowly for the rest of the year due to the spread of the Delta variant.


MRC

Crude oil futures down in Asia as investors wary of delta variant spread

Crude oil futures down in Asia as investors wary of delta variant spread

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Crude oil futures were lower during mid-morning Asian trade Aug. 16 as investor concerns over the fast spreading delta variant resurfaced amid restrictive movement curbs in oil consuming giant China and growing number of cases in the US, reported S&P Global.

At 10:51 am Singapore time (0251 GMT), the ICE October Brent futures contract was down 80 cents/b (1.13%) from the previous close at USD69.79/b, while the NYMEX September light sweet crude contract similarly fell 77 cents/b (1.13%) at USD67.67/b.

"The delta (variant) worries are tightening their grip on oil market sentiment," Vandana Hari, CEO of Vanda Insights, said. "The summer travel and tourism boom in the West is petering out, while the virus continues to fester in pockets across the world."

Oil demand in China has taken a hit in recent weeks after growing COVID-19 cases in the country prompted the government to impose strict movements curbs to bring the virus under control.

Most notably, the country's zero-tolerance approach to COVID-19 led to the closure mid-last week of its Meishan terminal at the world's third-busiest port, namely the Ningbo-Zhoushan port, which is expected to disrupt supply chains globally.

"The centre of demand remains China, where a COVID-zero approach by Chinese authorities has seen strict guidelines on movement to curb more infections," ANZ analysts said in a note.

"At least 144 areas, including 20 cities, have been (categorized) as having a medium to high virus risk, a measure that could see all public transport shut down," they added.

Nonetheless, recent case numbers in China suggest the movement curbs are working. The National Health Commission recorded 24 locally transmitted cases in the country as of Aug. 14, down by 6 on the day and also significantly lower than the high of 108 cases for the month on Aug. 10.

Analysts said the Aug. 16 dip in oil markers may be short-lived as investors take time to reassess the supply-demand outlook as the week progresses.

COVID-19 case numbers in the US have continued to grow. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Aug. 12 reported its highest number of COVID-19 cases since January 2021 at 146,949. The seven-day moving average stood at 119,523 as of Aug. 13, more than six times the average at the start of July.

As MRC informed earlier, crude oil stockpiles fell modestly last week, while gasoline inventories dipped to their lowest level since November, according to the US Energy Information Administration. Crude inventories fell by 447,000 barrels in the week to Aug. 6 to 438.8 million barrels, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.3 million-barrel drop. Overall crude inventories have been on the decline for several weeks due to increased demand.

We remind that US crude oil production is expected to fall by 160,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2021 to 11.12 million bpd, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a monthly report, a smaller decline than its previous forecast for a drop of 210,000 bpd.
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