PPG expects its sales to be lower in Q3 2021 on a number of factors

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PPG Industries Inc. (PPG) said its sales volumes are being impacted by the increasing disruptions in commodity supplies; further reductions in customer production due to certain parts shortages such as semi-conductor chips; and continuing logistics and transportation challenges in many regions, according to Markets Insider.

As a result, the company lowered its third quarter sales volume outlook. Also, PPG withdraw its guidance for the third quarter and full-year 2021.

The company now expects third quarter sales volumes will be lower by USD225 million to USD275 million, compared to what it anticipated at the start of the third quarter.

PPG noted that raw material inflation for the third quarter is trending higher than previously communicated by about USD60 million to USD70 million.

As MRC reported earlier, in June 2021, PPG announced an expansion of its coatings manufacturing capacity in Europe for packaging applications. The investments at sites in The Netherlands and Poland will support growing customer demand in the region for the latest generation of coatings for aluminum and steel cans used in packaging for beverage, food and personal care items. The projects include a further expansion of the company’s location in Tiel, The Netherlands, which will increase the plant’s production capacity for PPG INNOVEL non-BPA internal coatings for beverage cans by 30%. Expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2022, the project follows a 50% expansion completed at the end of 2020.

BPA is the main feedstock for the production of polycarbonate (PC).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall estimated consumption of polycarbonate (PC) granules in the Russian market were almost 56,000 tonnes in January-July 2021, down by 3% year on year (58,000 tonnes).
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- U.S. crude oil production is expected to fall by 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2021 to 11.08 million bpd, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said, noting that Hurricane Ida should force a bigger decline than its previous forecast for a drop of 160,000 bpd, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

More than 90% of crude output in offshore Gulf of Mexico was shut in late August due to the powerful storm. Several companies are still in the process of returning production to normal levels and restart plans have been slowed due to power outages and damage to some facilities.

As a result of the outage, Gulf of Mexico (GOM) production averaged 1.5 million bpd in August, down 300,000 million bpd from July, the agency said. Output in the GOM is expected to gradually come back online during September and average 1.2 million bpd for the month before returning to an average of 1.7 million bpd in fourth quarter.

The agency also said it expects U.S. petroleum and other liquid fuel consumption to rise 1.55 million bpd to 19.74 million bpd in 2021, a smaller increase compared with a previous forecast for a rise of 1.58 million bpd. For 2022, U.S. crude output is expected to increase to average about 11.72 million bpd, driven by growth in shale production.

The total oil and gas rig count is up about 94% over this time last year. Demand for 2022 is expected to rise 890,000 bpd to 20.63 million bpd, a bigger increase than the agency's previous forecast for a rise of 860,000 bpd.

Globally, an estimated 98.4 million bpd of petroleum and liquid fuels was consumed globally in August, an increase of 5.7 million bpd from August 2020 but still 4 million bpd less than in August 2019, the EIA said.

As per MRC, Oil rose on Monday, supported by concerns over shut output in the United States because of damage from Hurricane Ida, with analysts expecting prices to remain rangebound in a stable market over the coming months. Brent crude rose 55 cents, or 0.8%, to USD73.47 a barrel by 1222 GMT and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up 64 cents, or 0.9%, at USD70.36. Brent has held between USD70 and USD74 a barrel over the past three weeks.

As MRC informed earlier, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, one of the largest operators in the Gulf of Mexico, declared force majeure on some oil deliveries due to damage from Hurricane Ida, which has crippled U.S. offshore oil production. More than three-quarters of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico's offshore oil output remained shut following Ida. Crude buyers said the full restart of production remained unclear due to extensive damage to various facilities. The hurricane was one of the most devastating for offshore producers since back-to-back storms in 2005 cut output for months.
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MOSCOW (MRC) - Royal Dutch Shell, the largest oil producer in the US Gulf of Mexico, said on Monday its Geismar chemical facility in Louisiana is restarting, two weeks after Hurricane Ida forced it shut, reported Reuters.

“The site continues to experience utility and feedstock constraints but has resumed loading capabilities and shipping product,” the company said in a statement.

The Norco to Kenner pipeline, which carries gasoline, diesel and jet fuel to the Shell terminal at the Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans, has also been returned to service.

Shell’s Appomattox, Enchilada/Salsa, and Auger platforms continue to ramp up production, while its Mars, Ursa, and Olympus assets remain shut in, the company said. Meanwhile, damage assessments continued at the Shell Pipeline-operated West Delta-143 offshore facility.

As MRC wrote previously, Shell found evidence of building damage at its 230,611-bpd Norco, Louisiana refinery. But sources familiar with plant operations did not know the extent of the damage or time needed to make the repairs. Shell is awaiting the restoration of external electrical power to the Norco refining and chemical plant complex.

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 1,176,860 tonnes in the first half of 2021, up by 5% year on year. Shipments of exclusively low density polyethylene (LDPE) decreased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 727,160 tonnes in the first six months of 2021, up by 31% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased. Supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.

Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- The gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracker (FCC) is expected to remain shut until the end of September at TotalEnergies SE’s 225,500-barrel-per-day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas, refinery, reported Reuters with reference to sources familiar with plant operations.

Most units at the refinery remain shut following an unplanned plantwide outage on Thursday, one day before the large crude distillation unit (CDU) and coker were scheduled to shut for a planned overhaul, the sources said. The overhaul began over the weekend.

The only unit operating on Monday was a 35,000-bpd reformer, which converts refining byproducts into octane-boosting components added to unfinished gasoline.

Total did not reply to a request for comment on Monday.

Thursday's plantwide outage began with the shutdown of the 76,000-bpd FCC due to a worsening leak on a boiler. The FCC's shutdown cut off steam supply to the refinery, forcing the shutdown of the 60,000-bpd coker along with the 40,000-bpd ACU-2 crude distillation unit (CDU) and 51,000-bpd vacuum distillation unit 1 (VDU-1).

A leak then set off a small fire that was quickly extinguished on the 150,000-bpd ACU-1 CDU. So it and the 60,000-bpd VDU-2 were shut.

ACU-1, VDU-2 and the coker were scheduled to shut down on Friday for the overhaul planned to last about two months. The extensive overhaul is done every five years.

The FCC was previously shut for five days beginning Aug. 19 for repairs following a small fire.

As MRC informed previously, in June 2021, TotalEnergies and Novatek have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to jointly work on sustainable reductions of the CO emission resulting from the production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) including with the use of renewable power, to develop large-scale carbon capture and storage solutions (CCS) and to explore new opportunities for developing decarbonized hydrogen and ammonia.

We remind that in November 2019, Total disclosed that it is evaluating construction of a new gas cracker at its Deasan, South Korea, joint venture (JV) with Hanwha Chemical.

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 1,176,860 tonnes in the first half of 2021, up by 5% year on year. Shipments of exclusively low density polyethylene (LDPE) decreased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 727,160 tonnes in the first six months of 2021, up by 31% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased. Supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.

TotalEnergies is a broad energy company that produces and markets energies on a global scale: oil and biofuels, natural gas and green gases, renewables, and electricity. The company rebranded itself from Total to TotalEnergies during Q2 2021. The French firm has announced allocating part of surplus revenues to share buybacks. Its 105,000 employees are committed to energy that is ever more affordable, clean, reliable and accessible to as many people as possible. Active in more than 130 countries, TotalEnergies puts sustainable development in all its dimensions at the heart of its projects and operations to contribute to the well-being of people.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Indian refiner Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) has signed a six-month deal to supply BP with 80,000 tons of diesel per month from October, said two trade sources close to the matter, said Reuters.

MRPL will supply diesel to BP for the Australian market at a premium of about USD1.40 a tonne for the six months, the sources said, with pricing based on the average of Argus and Platts' Mideast Gulf spot assessments of 10ppm sulphur gasoil.

The Indian refiner previously had a similar deal with trader Vitol for supplies over April-September this year, they added.

India's diesel demand has yet to reach pre-pandemic levels, though gasoline consumption is expected to surge to its highest in 2021/22 as people eschew public transport, preferring to use their own vehicles for safety reasons.

A rise in gasoline production is leading to surplus production of gasoil, which refiners are exporting. MRPL declined to comment on the deal while BP said it does not comment on its commercial activities.

As MRC informed before, in June 2015, MRPL successfully commenced commercial production of PP from its polypropylene plant as part of its phase-III refinery expansion and upgradation project in Mangaluru. The plant has a capacity to produce 4,40,000 tonnes of PP per annum. Feedstock for the PP plant - polymer grade propylene - is being produced from upstream petrochemical fluidised catalytic cracking unit of the refinery. Technology provider for the PP plant is Novolen of Germany. The plant has been engineered and constructed by Engineers India Ltd.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's PP shipments to the Russian market were 727,160 tonnes in the first six months of 2021, up by 31% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased. Supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.

Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL), is an oil refinery at Mangalore and is a subsidiary of ONGC, set up in 1993. The refinery is located at Katipalla, north from centre of Mangalore city. The refinery was established after displacing five villages of Bala, Kalavar, Kuthetoor, Katipalla, and Adyapadi.
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