Several African countries plan to tackle poverty and energy shortages

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Several African countries plan to exploit their oil and gas reserves to tackle poverty and energy shortages, representatives gathered in Dubai said this week in the face of pressure to end fossil fuel extraction to curb global warming, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Officials and industry executives stressed that Africa as a whole has a relatively small carbon footprint, which Statista estimated accounted for 3.7% of global CO2 emissions in 2020. "We want to develop our resources as Africa, just as our brothers in the West have done," John Munyes, Kenya's minister of petroleum and mining, told the Africa Oil Week conference in Dubai, which coincided with the second week of the United Nations COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland.

"Much of Kenya is renewables, we just want to tap into what God has given us: hydrocarbons," he added. Across the African continent, where some 600 MM people lack electricity, both well-established and emerging producers are seeking to accelerate hydrocarbon extraction. "We understand that we have to mitigate the damage to the planet. That's why we have signed up to the energy transition," Thomas Camara, Ivory Coast's minister of mines, petroleum and energy, said.

"But for our African nations, we have to ensure that our populations have access to energy … We will not turn our back to oil and energy companies so we can ensure the happiness - and even the existence - of our populations." Some two dozen African countries pitched their energy sectors to investors during the event in Dubai.

OPEC member Angola, where production peaked in 2008 and has been steadily declining for the past half-decade, plans to develop more fields including through licensing rounds for onshore blocks in 2023 and offshore blocks in 2025. Output in 2031 is projected to slightly exceed last year's roughly 1.3 MMbpd.

Ghana, which discovered oil in 2007 and began extraction at the end of 2010, will channel investments to oil and gas development to then use the proceeds to invest in infrastructure and social welfare such as healthcare and education, its deputy energy minister, Andrew Egyapa Mercer, said. "We believe strongly in oil and gas, and in particular gas" to ensure reliable energy baseloads, he added.

Western oil and gas companies looking to develop deposits in Africa face growing pressure over environmental concerns, which are leading them to accelerate plans as the world transitions to renewable forms of energy such as solar and wind. "We have to come up with processes that enable us to convert a discovery into production as quickly as we can, because the clock is ticking. The clock is ticking in terms of the energy transition," said Paul McCafferty, senior vice president Africa at Norwegian energy major Equinor.

Industry executives said among the challenges they now face was securing sufficient capital for hydrocarbon projects. Top oil exporters Angola, and to a lesser extent Nigeria, are facing crude production declines due to lack of investment in expensive deepwater oil fields, partly because oil companies are allotting less funding to fossil fuels.

Africa Oil Corp CEO Keith Hill said the energy transition process needs to be balanced and that it was more of a 30-yr process than a five or 10-yr one. For Uganda, hydrocarbons are necessary to reshape the economy, its energy minister said, and it is counting on a pipeline through Tanzania to the Indian Ocean coast that will help Uganda export its crude. "We have a duty to provide jobs for our people. We have a duty to make sure that the distribution of electricity goes to the last person," Energy Minister Ruth Nankabirwa said.

As per MRC, Dangote’s 650,000 barrels per day (BPD) oil refinery project has been identified as one of the oil distillation companies that would boost global refining capacity by 6.9 million barrels per day between 2021 and 2026. The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which made this disclosure in its 2021 World Oil Outlook released recently, said Africa’s medium-term outlook appears more optimistic with 1.2 million barrels-per-day (mb/d) of new capacity expected by 2026; half of which is to be accounted for by the 650,000 BPD Dangote Oil Refinery project in Nigeria, which is likely to come on stream in 2022.

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 1,868,160 tonnes in the first nine months of 2021, up by 18% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,138,510 tonnes in January-September 2021, up by 30% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) decreased significantly.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Poland’s PKN Orlen said on Friday that the European Commission has extended the deadline for the realisation of remedies in its planned takeover of Polish refiner Grupa Lotos to 14 January 2022, said the company.

"The complexity of the process in a very demanding macroeconomic environment requires additional time to negotiate with partners in order to obtain the best possible transaction conditions and enable corporate decisions to be made also on the part of the partners," Orlen said.

In a parallel effort to the process of merging with Grupa LOTOS, work is underway on PKN Orlen’s acquisition of the PGNiG Group. The objective is to form a group with total annual revenue of approximately PLN 200bn and diversified EBITDA, estimated at approximately PLN 20bn. This means that in terms of capitalisation and financial results, the potential of the future Polish multi-utility group will match or even exceed that of its European competitors.

The acquisition of Grupa LOTOS by PKN Orlen was initiated already in February 2018 by signing a Letter of Intent with the Polish State Treasury, which holds 53.19% of voting rights at the General Meeting of the Gdansk-based company. In November 2018, a draft application for approval of the concentration was submitted by PKN ORLEN to the European Commission. In early July 2019, the final application was submitted to the European Commission, and on July 14th 2020 the Commission conditionally cleared the acquisition of Grupa LOTOS by PKN ORLEN. In August 2020, PKN ORLEN has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Polish State Treasury and Grupa LOTOS concerning its acquisition of Grupa LOTOS shares and thus control of the Gdansk-based group. In May 2021, PKN Orlen, Grupa LOTOS and the Ministry of State Assets signed an agreement on the structure of the new multi-utility group to be established through the merger of three companies: PKN Orlen, LOTOS and PGNiG.

The oil and petrochemicals company added that it expected the formal completion of the takeover of fellow state-controlled Lotos within the first half of next year. Orlen is Poland’s largest refiner, while Lotos is its second largest.

As per MRC, in August 2020, PKN Orlen signed a non-binding agreement with the state treasury and Grupa Lotos to shape a deal to take direct or indirect capital control of fellow state company Lotos.

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 1,868,160 tonnes in the first nine months of 2021, up by 18% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,138,510 tonnes in January-September 2021, up by 30% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) decreased significantly.

PKN Orlen would be the first refining and petrochemicals company in Europe to use the Honeywell UOP MaxEne technology for molecule management of a naphtha stream to produce high-quality products including olefins, aromatics and gasoline.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Brazil's state-run oil company Petrobras signed a contract to sell its Shale Industrialization Unit (SIX) for USD33 MM to Forbes & Manhattan Resources, reported Reuters with reference to the company's statement in a filing on Thursday.

The refining unit is in Parana state on one of the world's largest reserves of oil shale, a sedimentary rock with organic matter that can be converted to oil and gas by heating.

It is the third refinery Petrobras has sold in its divestment strategy that will in total sell eight refineries.

The buyer is wholly owned by Forbes & Manhattan Inc, a private merchant bank based in Toronto, Canada.

Petrobras said USD3 MM has been paid to guarantee the sale. The deal is still subject to approval by Brazil's antitrust regulator CADE.

As MRC informed before, Petrobras said earlier this month it had halted talks with Brazilian conglomerate Ultrapar on the sale of the state-run oil company's Refap refinery, part of its program to sell eight plants. The company said it would relaunch the process of selling Refap in the future but did not provide a date.

We remind that in August 2021, Petrobras hired JPMorgan Chase & Co as an advisor to sell its stake in the petrochemical company Braskem SA.

We also remind that Braskem is no longer pursuing a petrochemical project, which would have included an ethane cracker, in West Virginia. And the company is seeking to sell the land that would have housed the cracker. The project, announced in 2013, had been on Braskem's back burner for several years.

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 1,868,160 tonnes in the first nine months of 2021, up by 18% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,138,510 tonnes in January-September 2021, up by 30% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) decreased significantly.

Headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Petrobras is an integrated energy firm. Petrobras' activities include exploration, exploitation and production of oil from reservoir wells, shale and other rocks as well as refining, processing, trade and transport of oil and oil products, natural gas and other fluid hydrocarbons, in addition to other energy-related activities.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Japanese refiners reported strong earnings for April-September and lifted their annual forecasts as surging oil prices brought hefty valuation gains on inventories and boosted earnings from their upstream oil assets, reported Reuters.

The companies said they would use the additional cash to help pay for the investment needed in cleaner energy amid a global decarbonization push.

Japan's top refiner Eneos Holdings (formerly known as JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy) said on Thursday its first-half net profit rose 480% to 211 B yen (USD1.9 B) as the value of its inventories shot up while soaring copper prices also boosted its profit from metals.

The oil and metals giant doubled its profit forecast for the year to March 31 to 280 B yen, beating a forecast of 222 B yen based on the mean estimate from 10 analysts compiled by Refinitiv.

Earlier this week, the second biggest refiner Idemitsu Kosan and third-placed Cosmo Energy Holdings more than doubled their annual profit guidelines.

In their key refining operation, Idemitsu and Cosmo booked a profit gain as they benefited from recovering margins at home and abroad. Meanwhile, Eneos suffered a series of setbacks at its refineries which resulted in a refinery run for April-September of 61% while Idemitsu reached 73% and Cosmo's utilization was 95%.

"Higher resource prices led to a significant profit increase in upstream oil and metals assets, but the performance in our flagship energy segment was very unsatisfactory," Eneos' President Katsuyuki Ota told a news conference.

"The cash flow from the energy segment is the core source of our future investments in new businesses, so we must do better in this area," he said.

Like many other global oil companies, Eneos has been accelerating its transformation into a supplier of low-carbon energy and has decided to acquire a renewable company and invest in hydrogen projects.

"There is no time for complacency (about strong earnings) as 90% of our profit comes from fossil fuels. We'll allocate our cash to innovations to help our energy transition," Idemitsu President Shunichi Kito said.

"The oil business is the money tree. We generate cash from it and allocate the cash to renewable energy, which will enable us to make sustainable transitions," Takayuki Uematsu, Cosmo's senior executive officer, said.

As MRC wrote before, Japan's largest refiner Eneos Corp has restarted the 136,000-bpd crude distillation unit (CDU) at its Oita refinery. The unit was shut since May last year. It resumed operations in mid-August 2021.

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 1,868,160 tonnes in the first nine months of 2021, up by 18% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,138,510 tonnes in January-September 2021, up by 30% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) decreased significantly.

Japan's largest refiner JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy was renamed ENEOS Corporation on 25 June, 2020, as part of a wider re-organization of the parent company JXTG Holdings. The move, which also involved renaming the parent company to ENEOS Holdings upon approval at its annual shareholders meeting in June 2020, comes as it strives to be a more comprehensive energy and materials company under its 2040 vision announced in May, 2019. JXTG Holdings was formed as a result of a merger between JX Holdings and TonenGeneral in April 2017. This followed the establishment of JX Holdings as a result of the merger between Nippon Oil and Nippon Mining Holdings in April 2010.
MRC

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 ENLITE acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene long glass fiber (ABS LGF) alloys in the EMEA region, according to the company's press release.

Effective November 1, 2021, or as existing contract terms allow, the contract and spot prices for the products stated above rose by EUR300 per metric ton.

The present price increase in response to unprecedented and escalating pressure from energy prices and apply to all current agreements and contracts for deliveries as of November 1, 2021 and are subject to further potential adjustments linked to fluctuating energy prices.

As MRC reported earlier, Trinseo also raised its prices for all PULSE polycarbonate (PC)/ABS grades in the EMEA region on November 1, 2021 by EUR300 per metric ton.

According to ICIS-MRC Price report, in Russia, Plastk, Uzlovay maintained its ABS prices at the previous month's level and offered lots of over 20 tonnes of uncoloured material at Rb293,000-300,000/tonne FCA Uzlovaya, including VAT, this month. At the same time, the producer said prices for the plant's regular customers might drop by Rb3,000-4,000/tonne.

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 USD3.0 billion in net sales in 2020, with 17 manufacturing sites around the world, and approximately 2,600 employees.
MRC