SABIC to invest about USD1.37 at its Teesside plant in northeast England

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The British government said that Saudi petrochemical firm Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC), the world's fourth-biggest petrochemicals firm, would invest nearly 1 billion pounds (USD1.37 billion) at its Teesside facility in northeast England with the aim of decarbonisation, reported Reuters.

"Fantastic to see nearly GBP1 billion invested in SABIC's Teesside facility, creating and safeguarding 1,000 jobs," British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a tweet on Wednesday evening.

"It's a huge vote of confidence in the UK's chemicals and processing industry, which is pioneering innovation in clean, green technology," he added.

SABIC confirmed the investment in a statement to Reuters and said its total investment in the UK is around 1 billion pounds. The company said the investment would include strengthening operations at Teesside and enabling its chemical cracker transformation.

"This will reduce its carbon footprint by up to 60% in phase one, making it one of the world’s lowest carbon-emitting crackers," it added.

Earlier this month, the UK government set out a net-zero strategy under which it aims to help the country gain a competitive edge in low-carbon technologies such as carbon capture and storage.

As MRC informed earlier, in late September 2021, SABIC said its joint venture project with ExxonMobil in the US Gulf Coast had 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.

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 1,638,370 tonnes in the first eight months of 2021, up by 10% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 989,570 tonnes in the first eight months of 2021, up by 30% year on year. Deliveries of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas shipments of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.

Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) ranks among the world's top petrochemical companies. The company is among the world's market leaders in the production of polyethylene, polypropylene and other advanced thermoplastics, glycols, methanol and fertilizers.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Huntsman reported significantly higher year on year profits in the third quarter based largely on strong product price increases across its operating divisions, said the company.

Third quarter 2021 net income was USD225m from USD57m in the third quarter of 2020 on sales up 51% at USD2.29bn. There were double-digit sales increases for the company’s five reporting segments with strong local currency prices driving the upswing.

"Despite pockets of disruption in our supply chain and cost inflation, we see strong pent-up demand across most of our businesses with favourable pricing dynamics," CEO Peter Huntsman said.

“In addition, we are benefiting from cost reduction programmes and synergies from the acquisitions we completed over the past 18 months. As indicated in our second quarter earnings call, we resumed share repurchases and we used free cash flow generated in the quarter to repurchase approximately $102 million of our stock during the quarter at an average price of USD25.64 per share."

As per MRC, Huntsman is expanding its performance products facility in Petfurdo, Hungary, said the company.
The multimillion-dollar investment project will expand capacity for polyurethane (PU) catalysts and specialty amines, scheduled for completion in mid-2023.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,638,370 tonnes in the first eight months of 2021, up by 10% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 989,570 tonnes in the first eight months of 2021, up by 30% year on year. Deliveries of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas shipments of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.

Huntsman Corporation is a publicly traded global manufacturer and marketer of differentiated and specialty chemicals with 2020 revenues of approximately USD6 billion.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s storm-idled 230,611 barrel-per-day (bpd) Norco, Louisiana refinery plans to begin restarting the crude distillation unit (CDU), gasoline- and diesel-producing units as early as last weekend, reported Reuters with reference to sources familiar with plant operations.

The restarts of the 240,000-bpd DU-5 CDU, 112,000-bpd gasoline-producing residual catalytic cracking unit (RCCU) and 40,000-bpd diesel-producing hydrocracker will continue into this week, the sources said.

A Shell spokesperson did not reply to a request for comment.

The Norco refinery’s 25,000-bpd coker and 40,000-bpd reformer will also be restarting in this week, according to the sources.

The refinery was damaged on Aug. 29 by Hurricane Ida, which crossed over Norco, located 21 miles (34 km) west of New Orleans. The refinery was shut the day before the hurricane struck.

The refinery has completed restarting the 55,000-bpd diesel hydrotreater and two sulfur recovery units.

The adjoining Shell Norco chemical plant has restarted Gas Olefins-1 unit and plants to restart the Gas Olefins-5 unit during next week, the sources said.

As MRC informed earlier, Royal Dutch Shell plans to reduce its refining and chemicals portfolio by more than half, it said in July 2020 without giving a precise timeframe. The move is part of the Anglo-Dutch company's plan to shrink its oil and gas business and expand its renewables and power division to reduce greenhouse gas emissions sharply by 2050.

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 1,638,370 tonnes in the first eight months of 2021, up by 10% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 989,570 tonnes in the first eight months of 2021, up by 30% year on year. Deliveries of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas shipments of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.

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) -- Oil prices will hold near USD80 as the year ends, as tight supplies and higher gas bills encourage a switch to crude for power generation, a Reuters poll showed on Friday.

The survey of 41 analysts and economists forecast benchmark Brent crude to average USD70.89 a barrel in 2021, the highest forecast for the yr since April 2019.

It falls short of the $100 a barrel level mooted by some producers and forecasters and compares with an average price of USD69.52 so far this year.

Prices are forecast to average USD80.92 a barrel in the fourth quarter this year and USD78.74 in the subsequent quarter.

"The main factors affecting oil prices will continue to be related to the energy crunch in Europe and the switching from natural gas to oil derivatives," Matthew Sherwood, Global Economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit, said.

However, that could ease from about the middle of 2022 as the United States responds by pumping more oil, Sherwood added.

The poll forecast US crude at USD68.62 per barrel, the highest 2021 forecast since March 2017. West Texas Intermediate was seen averaging USD78.06 in the current quarter and at USD75.68 in the first quarter of 2022.

Analysts estimate global fuel demand to increase by 5-6 MM barrels per day (bpd) this year.

Both crude benchmarks are trading near multi-year highs, boosted by an ongoing supply squeeze across the globe as demand has largely returned to pre-pandemic levels. This has also contributed to soaring coal and natural gas prices.

Additionally, the emergence of more COVID variants, the Iran nuclear deal and central banks' response to rising inflation driven by spiking energy prices will be crucial factors in the coming months, analysts said.

As MRC informed before, US commercial crude stocks fell 3.48 million barrels to 413.96 million barrels in the week ended Sept. 17, to more than 8% below the five-year average, Energy Information Administration data showed. Stocks were last lower Oct. 5, 2018.

We remind that in late August, 2021, US crude stocks dropped sharply while petroleum products supplied by refiners hit an all-time record despite the rise in coronavirus cases nationwide, the Energy Information Administration said. Crude inventories fell by 7.2 million barrels in the week to Aug. 27 to 425.4 million barrels, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 3.1 million-barrel drop. Product supplied by refineries, a measure of demand, rose to 22.8 million barrels per day in the most recent week. That's a one-week record, and signals strength in consumption for diesel, gasoline and other fuels by consumers and exporters.

We also 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.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sinopec posted a net profit increase of 148.5% in the first nine months amid strengthening crude and firming products demand, the company said.

In accordance with IFRS, net profit attributable to shareholders of the Company was RMB 60.755 billion, increased 148.5%. Basic earnings per share were RMB 0.502. In accordance with CASs, the Company's operating income in the first three quarters was RMB 2.0034 trillion, up by 29.0% year on year. Net profit attributable to equity shareholders of the Company reached RMB 59.892 billion.

During the first three quarters, the Company achieved good performance in operation and profitability. Oil and gas production, refinery throughput, total domestic sales volume of refined oil products and total chemical products sales volume recorded year on year increase. Operating profit was RMB 84.806 billion, representing a year on year increase of 1578.3%.

In accordance with IFRS, the Company's liability-to-asset ratio as of 30 September 2021 was51.78%, maintaining a sound financial position.Net cash generated from operating activities up by 37.4% year on year. Cash and cash equivalents amounted to RMB 203.955billion(including time deposits) as at 30 September 2021.

In the first three quarters of 2021, as the world economy gradually picked up, China's economy kept a sustainable and steady recovery, registering a GDP growth of 9.8% year-on-year among which up by 4.9% in the third quarter. In the first three quarters the average spot price of Platts Brent was USD67.73 per barrel, up by 65.9% year-on-year. Domestic demand for natural gas continued to grow rapidly, with an apparent consumption up by 16.6% year-on-year. Domestic demand for refined oil products recovered steadily and demand for major chemicals sustainedstable.

As MRC informed before, in August, 2021, 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.

China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec Group) is a super-large petroleum and petrochemical enterprise group established in July 1998 on the basis of the former China Petrochemical Corporation. Sinopec Group's key business activities include the exploration and production of oil and natural gas, petrochemicals and other chemical products, oil refining.
MRC