PE imports to Russia down by 11% in Jan-Aug 2021

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Polyethylene (PE) imports into Russia dropped in January-August 2021 by 11% year on year to 391,900 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the greatest decrease in imports, according to MRC's DataScope report.

Last month's PE imports into the country exceeded 54,700 tonnes versus 53,000 tonnes a month earlier, HDPE and low density polyethylene (LDPE) shipments increased. Overall imports of ethylene copolymers totalled 391,900 tonnes in the first eight months of 2021, compared to 439,200 tonnes a year earlier. HDPE accounted for the main reduction in imports, and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) imports also decreased significantly.

The structure of PE imports by grades looked the following way over the stated period.

August HDPE imports rose to 22,700 tonnes from 19,800 tonnes a month earlier, PE shipments from Azerbaijan an Uzbekistan increased. Overall imports of this PE grade totalled 141,300 tonnes in January-August 2021, down by 23% year on year. Film grade and blow moulding HDPE accounted for the main reduction in shipments.

Last month's LDPE imports reached 12,900 tonnes, whereas this figure was at 9,500 tonnes in July. Shipments from Azerbaijan and Belarus increased. Overall LDPE imports to Russia totalled 78,900 tonnes in the first eight months of 2021, up by 7% year on year.

August LLDPE imports were 11,300 tonnes, compared to 13,900 tonnes a month earlier, purchases of film grade PE in the USA and South Korea decreased. Overall LLDPE imports were 100,600 tonnes in January-August 2021, down by 15% year on year.

Last month's imports of other ethylene polymers, including ethylene-vinyl-acetate (EVA), were 7,800 tonnes versus 9,900 tonnes in July. Overall imports of other ethylene polymers reached 70,800 tonnes over the stated period versus 63,100 tonnes a year earlier.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Linde has announced plans to increase production capacity at its air separation plant in Mims, Florida, to meet rapidly growing demand for industrial gases, as per the company's press release.

Through its investment, Linde will increase capacity at Mims by almost 50% to supply its contracted customers across all end markets, including aerospace, healthcare, manufacturing, food processing and water treatment.

The project to expand capacity is expected to be completed in 2023. It follows a similar project in 2020, when Linde doubled the production capacity of Mims through the start-up of an additional air separation unit.

"Linde has an excellent track record of safely and reliably supplying its customers in Florida," said Todd Lawson, Vice President Eastern U.S., Linde. "We look forward to further increasing our supply of industrial gases in response to the growing demand for space launch propellant and from the broader economy throughout the region."

As MRC reported earlier, in JUne 2021, SIBUR -Neftekhim and Linde Gas Rus signed agreements on implementation in 2021-2022. a project for the utilization of carbon dioxide (CO2) generated in the technological process of the SIBUR enterprise in Dzerzhinsk. SIBUR -Neftekhim will build an infrastructure for the transportation to the Linde Gas Rus site of crude CO2 obtained as a by-product in the process of ethylene oxide synthesis. In turn, Linde Gas Rus will build a unit to bring the quality of this gas to the level of a commercial product, applicable, among other things, in the food industry, and will sell it to end consumers.

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 1,396,960 tonnes in January-July 2021, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 841,990 tonnes in the first seven months of 2021, up by 29% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymers (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.

Linde is a leading global industrial gases and engineering company with 2020 sales of USD27 billion (EUR24 billion). The company serves a variety of end markets including chemicals & refining, food & beverage, electronics, healthcare, manufacturing and primary metals. Linde's industrial gases are used in countless applications, from life-saving oxygen for hospitals to high-purity & specialty gases for electronics manufacturing, hydrogen for clean fuels and much more. Linde also delivers state-of-the-art gas processing solutions to support customer expansion, efficiency improvements and emissions reductions.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF CEO Dr Martin Brudermuller has received the ICIS CEO of the Year Award at the virtual ICIS Power Players Awards event, said the company.

The ICIS CEO of the Year Award is unique in that the winner is selected by his/her peers – the senior executives of the ICIS Top 40 Power Players listing – a global ranking of the leaders making the greatest positive impact on their companies and the chemicals industry, and published in ICIS Chemical Business.

"The 2021 ICIS Power Players Awards brings together the best and brightest from across the globe to celebrate leadership shaping our industry at such an important time, and recognise individual achievement at the highest level," said Dean Curtis, CEO of ICIS.

"I accept this award with humbleness as it comes from my colleagues in the chemical industry who I highly appreciate. This makes the award very special for me, and it belongs entirely to the BASF team. We create chemistry for a sustainable future, and this truly is a team effort," said BASF CEO Martin Brudermuller at the event.

"I am proud that the BASF team is committed to reduce our carbon emissions quite fast and drastically. We can master these challenges as companies, but also as the chemical industry as a whole. And as leaders, we have the responsibility to make bold decisions and set the right path to a more sustainable future for all of us," he added.

ICIS also announced the winners of two new awards – Saori Dubourg, member of the board of executive directors at BASF, for the ICIS Sustainability Leader Award, and Conrad Keijzer, CEO of Clariant, for the ICIS Emerging Leader Award.

As per MRC, BASF has launched IrgaCycle a new range of additive solutions to address the imminent needs in plastics recycling. The plastics industry is seeking ways to incorporate higher content of recycled polymeric material in all major applications to meet sustainability goals, while facing growing consumer concerns and stricter regulatory requirements to reduce plastic waste. Hereby a major challenge is to mitigate quality deficiencies of polymers arising from thermal and mechanical stress during the recycling process.

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.

BASF's business structure comprises six main segments: chemicals, materials, industrial solutions, surface technologies, nutrition and care, agricultural solutions. At the end of 2020, BASF had sales of EUR59 bn. BASF shares are traded on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (BAS), on the St. Petersburg Stock Exchange in Russia, and as an American Depositary Receipt (BASFY) in the United States. BASF has been operating in Russia since 1874, is represented in the rating of the 500 largest companies in the country in terms of revenue.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Vertex Energy’s planned acquisition of Shell’s refinery in Mobile, Alabama is on schedule to close in Q1 2022, the US-based specialty refiner said in an update.

The deal was announced in May. Vertex added that closing remains subject to regulatory clearance, financing and other conditions.

The refinery can process 90,000 bbl/day of crude oil and other refined products, and it produces low-sulphur vacuum gas oil/heavy olefin feedstock and benzene.

As per MRC, Royal Dutch Shell is selling its 90,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Mobile, Alabama refinery to specialty refiner Vertex Energy for USD75 million plus the cost of hydrocarbon inventory. Vertex plans to produce petroleum fuel and renewable diesel at the refinery following the close of the transaction in the fourth quarter of 2021, pending approvals.

Vertex will also buy co-related logistics infrastructure and hydrocarbon inventory, including more than 3 million barrels of crude oil and product storage. The inventory is currently valued between USD65 and USD85 million. Shell and Vertex will have crude supply and product offtake agreements, according to the companies.

Vertex plans to produce approximately 10,000 bpd of renewable diesel and renewable byproducts at the plant by the end of 2022, increasing to 14,000 bpd by 2023. The company said it will spend USD85 million to convert Mobile's hydrocracking unit.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,396,960 tonnes in January-July 2021, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 841,990 tonnes in the first seven months of 2021, up by 29% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymers (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas 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.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- U.S. oil refiners hunting to replace crude lost after a storm hit the U.S. Gulf of Mexico last month have been turning to Iraqi and Canadian oil, while Asian buyers have been pursuing Middle Eastern and Russian grades, analysts and traders said, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Royal Dutch Shell, the largest producer in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, this week said damage from Hurricane Ida to an offshore transfer facility will limit Mars sour crude supplies into early next year. The grade is used heavily by U.S. Gulf refiners and companies in South Korea and China, the top two export destinations for Mars.

The United States generally exports more than 3 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil, most from the U.S. Gulf Coast. With overall fuel demand rebounding to pre-pandemic levels, refiners will need to make up for the Mars shut-ins. The loss of up to 250,000 bpd has some U.S. refiners seeking replacements for fourth-quarter delivery, especially Iraq's Basra crude, traders said. Others received supplies of sour crude from U.S. storehouses.

Basra crude has come to the fore during past disruptions. In 2019, when U.S. sanctions on Venezuela cut off heavy crude grades to Gulf refiners, Iraq rapidly boosted cargoes. Canadian heavy-oil suppliers also benefited.

ExxonMobil and Placid Refining Co have received oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), addressing immediate needs for sour crude.

Refiner Marathon Petroleum has bought Basra for October loading, one trader said. Suezmax tanker Jag Leena is provisionally booked to load 1 million barrels of Basra Light crude on Oct. 10 for the United States, data on Refinitiv Eikon showed, although it was not immediately clear which company chartered the ship.

U.S. refiners able to process and blend heavier crudes also have shown interest in Canadian and Latin American grades, traders added. Marathon declined to comment.

As per MRC, Saudi Basic Industries (SABIC), the world's fourth-biggest petrochemicals firm, said its joint venture project with ExxonMobil in the US Gulf Coast has started commissioning activities and preparing for an initial startup. The project includes the establishment of an ethylene production unit with annual capacity of about 1.8 MMtpy, which will feed two polyethylene (PE) units and a monoethylene glycol (MEG) unit, it said in a statement.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,396,960 tonnes in January-July 2021, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 841,990 tonnes in the first seven months of 2021, up by 29% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymers (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.
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