Trinseo raises August PC prices in Europe

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Trinseo, a global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex binders and synthetic rubber, and its affiliate companies in Europe have announced a price increase for all polycarbonate (PC) grades in Europe, as per the company's press release as of August 3.

Effective Augustl 1, 2021, or as existing contract terms allow, the contract and spot PC prices for the products listed below increased as follows:

- CALIBRE PC resins - by EUR100 per metric ton.

As MRC reported earlier, Trinseo last raised its prices for all PC grades in Europe on May 1, 2021 by EUR510 per metric ton.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated consumption of PC granules (excluding imports and exports to/from Belarus) rose in January-May 2021 by 8% year on year to 42,200 tonnes (38,900 tonnes a year earlier).

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 USD3.8 billion in net sales in 2019, with 17 manufacturing sites around the world, and approximately 2,700 employees.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- In the Purovsky district of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, a fire broke out in the building of the plant for the preparation of condensate for transportation (part of Gazprom Pererabotka), the press service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations in the region told Interfax.

The shift duty officer received a message about the fire at 02:42 Moscow time. The first group of firefighters arrived at the plant, which is 23 kilometers from Novy Urengoy, at 02:50.

"At the time of arrival, there was a burning inside the building, there is no threat to nearby objects (the plant is located outside the city). According to preliminary information, no one was killed or injured, "the Emergencies Ministry said.

Gazprom's subsidiary, Gazprom Pererabotka, was registered in 2007 and includes the Urengoysky Condensate Preparation Plant, the Surgut Gas Processing Plant, the Sosnogorsk Gas Processing Plant, the Astrakhan Gas Processing Plant, the Orenburg Gas Processing Plant, the Orenburg Helium Plant and Gazprom neftekhim Salavat.

As MRC reported earlier, Gazprom neftekhim Salavat (Salavat, Bashkortostan) shut down its polyethylene (PE) production for a scheduled turnaround. The plant's customers said Gazprom neftekhim Salavat took off-stream it low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) production capacities for a scheduled maintenance on 20 July. The outage will be quite long and will last for 30 days. The plants' production capacities are 45,000 and 120,000 tonnes per year, respectively.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Gazprom neftekhim Salavat's total HDPE production reached 11,400 tonnes in May, compared to 10,200 tonnes in April. Thus, the Salavat plant's overall production of this PE grade totalled 48,900 tonnes in January-May 2021, down by 8% year on year.
MRC

1. Crude oil futures going down on unexpected build in US crude inventories

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Crude oil futures extended decline Aug. 4 on the heels of an unexpected build in US crude inventories, reported S&P Global. NYMEX September WTI settled down USD2.41 at USD68.15/b Aug. 4, and ICE October Brent declined USD2.03 to USD70.38/b. Total US commercial crude oil stocks climbed 3.63 million barrels to 439.23 million barrels in the week ended July 30, US Energy Information Administration data showed Aug. 4. The build narrowed the deficit to the five-year average to around 6%, the smallest since the week ended June 18.
The build came as a surprise to markets that were largely expecting US inventories to continue a tightening trend.
American Petroleum Institute data released late-Aug. 3 showed a US crude draw of 879,000 barrels, while analysts surveyed by S&P Global Platts on Aug. 2 had pointed to a four-million barrel draw over the period.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Crude oil futures extended decline Aug. 4 on the heels of an unexpected build in US crude inventories, reported S&P Global.

NYMEX September WTI settled down USD2.41 at USD68.15/b Aug. 4, and ICE October Brent declined USD2.03 to USD70.38/b.

Total US commercial crude oil stocks climbed 3.63 million barrels to 439.23 million barrels in the week ended July 30, US Energy Information Administration data showed Aug. 4. The build narrowed the deficit to the five-year average to around 6%, the smallest since the week ended June 18.

The build came as a surprise to markets that were largely expecting US inventories to continue a tightening trend.

American Petroleum Institute data released late-Aug. 3 showed a US crude draw of 879,000 barrels, while analysts surveyed by S&P Global Platts on Aug. 2 had pointed to a four-million barrel draw over the period.

The crude build comes as exports fell 590,000 b/d to 1.9 million b/d, a 12-week low, while total refinery crude demand edged 50,000 b/d higher, but still fell more than 5.5% behind the five-year average.

NYMEX September RBOB settled 2.08 cents lower at USD2.2500/b and September ULSD declined 5.23 cents to USD2.0741/gal.

The relatively modest slide in RBOB futures was likely due to a larger-than-expected 5.29 million-barrel draw in US gasoline stocks last week - the bulk of which was realized on the US Atlantic Coast. USAC stocks are now the tightest since May at 6.5% below the five-year average, out from just 0.7% the week prior.

Adding to pressure was an ADP jobs report released Aug. 4 showing US payrolls added just 330,000 jobs in July, well under market expectations of around 683,000. The official Labor Department unemployment report for July is expected Aug. 6.

"The big miss with the ADP raised concerns that the delta variant is having a bigger impact on the economy," OANDA senior market analyst Edward Moya said in a note. "The labor market recovery is extremely uneven and suggests the economy continues to struggle in matching individuals up with the current job vacancies."

The ADP report comes on the heels of data from the Institute of Supply Management release Aug. 2 showing a slowdown in US manufacturing activity, with national factory activity falling from 60.6 in June to 59.5 in July, its lowest since January.

We remind that as MRC informed earlier, Saudi Arabia, the world's top crude oil exporter, will supply full contractual volumes of August-loading crude to at least five Asian customers. However, Saudi Aramco has turned down two of the buyers' requests for extra barrels.

We also remind that Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), said in June he expects the company's deal with Saudi Aramco to materialise this year. Meanwhile, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, chairman of Saudi Aramco and the Governor of the Public Investment Fund, joined the board of Reliance as an independent director.

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 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.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) of Russia has approved the transfer of Gazprom neftekhim Salavat (GNS), one of the largest oil refining and petrochemical production complexes in the Russian Federation, to the management of RusGazDobyche, reported the Agency for Oil and Gas Information with reference to the head of RusGazDobycha Konstantin Makhov's statement.

He reminded that RusGazDobycha's subsidiary, Ruskhimalliance, which is the operator of the gas processing plant (GPP) of Gazprom and RusGazDobycha in Ust-Luga, had recently signed an agreement to manage GNS.

"We have received the approval of the FAS, now we are solving the last issues there, which, ... I think, we will resolve in the next few days. But in fact, we are already at "Salavat". We are already working, interacting with the management, with the plant, conducting an audit ", - K. Makhov reported on the status of the transaction.

He also added that RusGazDobycha signed a preliminary agreement with Gazprom to supply an additional 28 billion cubic meters of ethane-containing gas to Gazprom neftekhim Salavat. RusGazDobycha wants to modernize the plant, fully load its capacities, and also build a gas processing plant there so that the total capacity is comparable to the Amur gas processing plant.

Thus, the Amur GPP of Gazprom will produce 38 billion cubic meters of commercial gas for supplies to China, up to 60 million cubic meters of helium, 2.4 million tons of ethane, about 1 million tons of propane, as well as 0.5 million tons of butane and 0.2 million tons pentane-hexane fraction. It is expected to reach full capacity uitilisation in 2025.

Earlier it was noted that last year Gazprom neftekhim Salavat increased the depth of oil refining to 91.9%. Amid restrictive measures and measures to prevent the spread of a new coronavirus infection in 2020, Gazprom neftekhim Salavat's employees ensured the operation of facilities in a normal mode and fulfilled the production plan.

As MRC reported previously, GNS resumed its low density polyethylene (LDPE) production on 10 August, 2020, after scheduled maintenance works. The outage lasted slightly longer than originally planned. LDPE production capacities were shut for the turnaround on 1 July. Meanwhile, from 1 July, 2020, a one-week maintenance was also carried out at Gazprom neftekhim Salavat's high density polyethylene (HDPE) production capacities.

This year, according to ICIS-MRC Price report, Gazprom neftekhim Salavat shut its LDPE and HDPE production capacities for scheduled repairs on 20 July. The outage will be quite long and will last for 30 days. The plants' production capacities are 45,000 and 120,000 tonnes per year, respectively.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 953,40 tonnes in the first five months of 2021, which virtually corresponds to the same figure a year earlier. HDPE shipments decreased.

Gazprom neftekhim Salavat is a subsidiary of Gazprom. The plant was founded in 1948 as Integrated Plant No. 18. Since 1999, the state block of shares in Salavatnefteorgsintez was in trust management of Gazprom, and in 2008 the specialized holding Gazprom Pererabotka became the owner of the controlling stake in the plant. OAO "Gazprom neftekhim Salavat" (formerly OAO "Salavatnefteorgsintez") is one of the leading petrochemical companies in Russia, carrying out a full cycle of processing hydrocarbon material. The list of products manufactured by the plant includes more than 140 items, including 76 grades of the main products: gasoline, diesel fuel, kerosene, fuel oil, toluene, solvent, liquefied gases, benzene, styrene, ethylbenzene, butyl alcohols, phthalic anhydride and plasticizers, polyethylene, polystyrenes, silica gels and zeolite catalysts, corrosion inhibitors, elemental sulfur, ammonia and urea, glycols and amines, a wide range of household products made of plastics, surfactants and much more.
MRC