Oil prices rose after top oil producer Saudi Arabia dismissed calls for additional OPEC+ supply

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Oil prices rose on Thursday after top oil producer Saudi Arabia dismissed calls for additional OPEC+ supply and the International Energy Agency said surging natural gas prices could boost demand for oil among power generators, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The market trimmed gains after U.S. crude inventories rose more than anticipated as refiners cut production in a generally slower period for those facilities. Brent crude futures gained 62 cents, or 0.75%, to USD83.80 a barrel by 12:57 p.m. EDT (16:57 GMT) after hitting a session high of USD84.50 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 55 cents to USD80.99.

U.S. crude stocks rose by a surprising 6 MM barrels, much higher than the modest 702,000-barrel increase analysts had expected. Production edged higher, reaching 11.4 MM barrels per day (bpd). "The continued rise in domestic U.S. oil production pulls the market back down a bit. It should relieve some of the pressure building in the market," said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital LLC in New York.

Oil demand is set to jump by half a MMbpd as the power sector and heavy industries switch from more expensive sources of energy, the IEA said, warning that the energy crunch could stoke inflation and slow the world's economic recovery from the pandemic.

In its monthly report, the IEA increased its global oil demand growth forecast in 2022 by 210,000 bpd, and now expects total oil demand in 2022 to reach 99.6 MMbpd, slightly above pre-pandemic levels. Saudi Arabia dismissed calls for additional OPEC+ production increases, saying the group's unwinding of production cuts was protecting the oil market from wild price swings seen in natural gas and coal markets.

At its meeting this month, OPEC+ stuck to its previous agreement to increase output by 400,000 bpd a month. OPEC+, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies led by Russia, has done a "remarkable" job as so-called regulator of the oil market, Saudi Arabia's energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman told a forum in Moscow.

U.S. shale producers have been reluctant to invest in raising output after years of weak returns. U.S. production remains well short of late 2019's record at nearly 13 MMbpd. On Wednesday, the EIA said output would rebound to 11.7 MMbpd in 2022. The White House has been in discussions with oil and gas producers about fuel costs, with retail gasoline prices at seven-year highs and winter heating bills expected to rise.

As per MRC, ExxonMobil Synthetics (ExxonMobil) announced it is responding to customer needs and has confirmed plant feasibility to significantly increasing high viscosity metallocene polyalphaolefin (High Viscosity mPAO) synthetic base stock production. The demonstration of higher production capability is a result of a successful plant trial and planned subsequent expansion of the Baytown manufacturing facility in Texas, USA that has been serving customers for 100 years. This resulted in a proven run rate of approximately 20% over design basis and would move the capacity to 60 kilo-tons of High Viscosity mPAO production per year for the plant.

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.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Spain's Repsol and Portugal's EDP have signed an agreement to jointly develop renewable hydrogen projects in the two countries, reported S&P Global.

The companies plan to develop projects in Asturias and the Basque Country in Spain, and Sines in Portugal, they said in a statement Oct. 14.

"This agreement will bring together the complementary capabilities of two major companies to accelerate the decarbonization of the Spanish and Portuguese economies," Repsol CEO Josu Jon Imaz said in the statement.

"The synergies and the will to create value in the production and commercialization of renewable hydrogen will help to develop an emerging market that still has technological and regulatory challenges."

EDP is heading the Abono project in Spain to create a hydrogen valley in Asturias, while Repsol is leading a project in the Basque Country to develop a hydrogen corridor there.

In Portugal, the two companies plan to partner on renewable hydrogen production taking advantage of Repsol's existing operations in Sines as a potential user of the renewable gas, with EDP an energy supplier.

As MRC informed previously, Repsol has raised its renewable energy target to 6 gigawatts by 2025 and 20GW by 2030 as part of a wider strategy update on its path to become a zero emissions energy company by mid-century.

We remind that the “Cracker of the Future” consortium has announced two new member companies: Repsol and Versalis (Eni) have recently joined the consortium.

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.

Repsol is headquartered in Madrid, Spain. In the 2020 Forbes Global 2000, Repsol was ranked as the 645th-largest public company in the world. It has more than 24,000 employees worldwide. Its products are distributed in nearly 100 countries to around 24 million customers. Repsol Industrial Complex in Sines is the largest chemical site in Portugal.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Phillips 66 has teamed up with Plug Power to develop low-carbon hydrogen and deploy that technology within the US oil refiner’s operations, reported Bloomberg.

Objectives include scaling low-carbon hydrogen in the industrial sector and increasing hydrogen fueling for transportation, the companies said Wednesday in a separate statement.

Under a memorandum of understanding (MoU), the companies will explore ways to deploy Plug Power’s technology within Phillips 66’s operations, they said in a statement on Wednesday.

Phillips 66 has also begun construction on green hydrogen production facilities in California, New York, Tennessee and Georgia that will ultimately supply 500 tonnes/day of liquid green hydrogen by 2025.

“We believe hydrogen is an important pathway for hard-to-electrify industries in a lower-carbon energy landscape,” said Heath DePriest, vice president of Phillips 66’s Emerging Energy group, which is focused on building lower-carbon business platforms.

Green hydrogen is produced with renewable energy sources like solar or wind and can be used to power vehicles, ships or industry that traditionally burn fossil fuels. It’s seen as a potential source of energy that could help the US and other nations reach their carbon-cutting goals and avoid the worst effects of global warming.

As MRC informed earlier, Phillips 66's 255,600-barrel-per-day (bpd) Alliance, Louisiana, refinery faces a monthslong shutdown for repairs following flooding from Hurricane Ida. Phillips 66 said it was still assessing the refinery and a timeline for operational restarts was not available. The sources said the company plans to complete its damage in late September next week when floodwaters fully recede. So far, the company still plans to restart the refinery, which in August it announced was up for sale.

We remind that US-based Phillips 66 remains open to developing another ethane cracker for its Chevron Phillips Chemical (CP Chem) joint venture, the refiner's CEO said in March 2018.

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.

Phillips 66 is a diversified energy manufacturing and logistics company. With a portfolio of Midstream, Chemicals, Refining, and Marketing and Specialties businesses, the company processes, transports, stores and markets fuels and products globally. Phillips 66 Partners, the company’s master limited partnership, is integral to the portfolio. Headquartered in Houston, the company has 14,300 employees committed to safety and operating excellence. Phillips 66 had USD55 billion of assets as of Dec. 31, 2020.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Clariant unveils two innovative reactive emulsifiers for polymeric binders – Emulsogen CPA 100 XS and Emulsogen CPN 100 XS - to help paint makers achieve architectural coatings offering outstanding water-resistance and greater resistance to dirt pick-up and snail trails, said the company.

Clariant’s new emulsifiers firmly “anchor” to pure acrylic or styrene acrylic binders to create stabilized, outstandingly hydrophobic, small-particle binders. They prevent emulsifier migration that would typically impair key attributes such as paint water resistance and substrate adhesion, or cause unsightly aesthetic defects like snail trails and dirt pick-up, boosting chances for coatings manufacturers to address latest requirements.

"Dirt pick-up and leaching resistance are increasingly demanded of today’s exterior architectural coatings. Although influenced by various factors, an acrylic or styrene acrylic binder that is less sensitive to water uptake will form a tightly-sealed film able to retain ingredients and protective qualities. Without emulsifier leaching to contribute adverse effects to the paint performance, there’s much less chance for unwanted snail trails etcetera to occur. In testing, our new anchored emulsifiers deliver whitening-free, clear films compared to alternatives, an industry-recognized sign of a higher quality, water-resistant binder to advance higher-performing paints and fewer defects," comments Sebastian Prock, Global Marketing Segment Leader Industrial Applications at Clariant.

On top of paint benefits, Clariant’s new emuslifiers bring the advantages of a smoother, less disrupted binder production process. Because the binder has smaller, stabilized particles, there is less clogging or coagulation from large particles to cause slower stirring or a need for frequent cleaning breaks.

As it was said before, Clariant’s new ODH catalysts prove ideal for the oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane and are available exclusively for Linde Engineering’s innovative EDHOX catalytic on-purpose ethylene technology. As compared to conventional steam cracking, the new catalysts and process design reduce costs as well as CO2 emissions by up to 100 %.

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.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China's crude oil imports fell 4.7% on the month to 10.03 million b/d in September, reported S&P Global with reference to the latest data from the General Administration of Customs, or GAC, on Oct. 13.

The reduction indicated weak momentum for imports for the rest of the year, analysts said.

The country's crude imports have been under pressure due to destocking activity and limited import quotas, which recovered to 10.53 million b/d in August. This was the first time since April that imports had crossed the 10 million b/d mark.

Data intelligence firm Kpler showed that China's crude inventory fell 2.1% from August to 847.32 million barrels in September, indicating that destocking had continued amid rising crude markers.

It is more likely that state-run oil companies had contributed most to the decline both in the country's crude imports and inventory in September by drawing down their crude stocks, because S&P Global' data showed that China's independent refineries had increased their crude imports by 13.7% to 12.19 million mt, or 2.98 million b/d, from an 18-month low in August.

With the increase in imports and stable throughput in September, feedstock inventory at major ports in Shandong rose 11.6% on the month to 7.57 million mt as of Sept. 31, data from local information provider JLC showed.

The GAC releases data in metric tons, which S&P Global converts to barrels using a 7.33 conversion factor.

On a metric tons basis, volume fell 7.8% on the month and 15.3% on the year to 41.05 million mt in September.

This led imports in the first three quarters to decline 6.8% on the year to 10.4 million b/d, or 387.4 million mt, the GAC data showed.

Meanwhile, oil product outflows in September rose 10.8% to 4.14 million mt from the 13-month low of 3.73 million mt in August due to the allocation of new export quotas, the data showed.

Beijing, in mid-August, allocated 7.5 million mt of oil product export quotas, allowing oil companies to ship more barrels overseas. As a result, China's product outflows rose 8.3% year on year to 48.94 million mt in the first nine months.

However, market sources expect China to suspend exporting gasoline and gasoil in November and December following a month-on-month reduction of about 30% in October due to tight supply in the domestic market, while export quotas are running out.

Moreover, it is more and more unlikely that Beijing would allocate additional quotas for the remainder of the year, leaving oil companies with little choice, but to save quotas for exporting jet fuel, demand of which is bad in China, sources said. This means only 5.87 million mt, or 1.47 million mt/month, of oil product export quotas are available for September-December, compared with 31.13 million mt, or 3.89 million mt/month, in January-August.

As MRC wrote before, China's oil consumption is likely to peak around 2026 at about 16 million barrels per day and that of natural gas by around 2040, said a top executive of Sinopec Corp. in September 2021.

We remind that in August 2021, China Petroleum and Chemical Corp, also known as Sinopec, the world's petrochemical major, launched the first phase of the Gulei refining complex in Zhangzhou city in China’s southeastern Fujian province. The refining complex, a 50:50 joint venture between Sinopec’s Fujian Petrochemical Company Ltd and Taiwan Xuteng Investment Company Ltd, invested 27.8 billion yuan (USD4.28 billion) in the first phase. That will result in an 800,000 tonnes per annum ethylene plant, a 600,000 tonnes per annum styrene unit and seven other downstream petrochemical units, Sinopec said.

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.
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