Crude oil futures go down in Asia as sentiment remains risk-averse

Crude oil futures go down in Asia as sentiment remains risk-averse

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Crude oil futures edged lower in mid-morning trade in Asia Nov. 23, paring modest gains notched overnight, as investors remained risk-averse despite recent comments by OPEC delegates that they could adjust their monthly output hike if governments choose to tap state oil reserves, reported S&P Global.

At 10:12 am Singapore time (0212 GMT), the ICE January Brent futures contract was down 15 cents/b (0.19%) from the previous close at USD79.55/b, while the NYMEX January light sweet crude contract fell 31 cents/b (0.40%) to USD76.44/b.

"Crude is responding to news that the US is set to announce a coordinated SPR release later Tuesday," said Vandana Hari, CEO of Vanda Insights.

"But the sell-off is muted because the market will likely await the actual announcement, given the weeks of talk but no action from the White House. Also, if there is indeed such a coordinate SPR sale, the impact will need to be weighed on the basis of the pace and scale of the barrels to be released," Hari added.

The decline on Nov. 23 comes after oil prices bounced off 7-week lows in the overnight session, after OPEC delegates said the wider OPEC+ producer group was reassessing its monthly output hikes in response to any state oil reserve release.

"There are no concerns at this time about the US and China releasing crude from strategic reserves because if the market were to be oversupplied, OPEC+ has the option of not increasing or reducing production," one delegate told S&P Global, asking not to be named to discuss private deliberations.

His comments were echoed by International Energy Forum Secretary General Joe McMonigle, who is in frequent contact with OPEC+ ministers.

The comments will bring into focus the tussle between OPEC+ and the Biden-led group of countries over the direction of oil prices. Some analysts have said that any state oil reserve release would be sizeable, with estimates in the range of 35 million to 120 million barrels.

Nonetheless, analysts at Goldman Sachs said Nov. 22 that the slide in global oil prices to below USD80/b over the last month has "overshot" market fundamentals, with concerns over the return of lockdowns over COVID-19 cases in Europe and a slowdown in China overshadowing an ongoing supply deficit.

We remind that, as MRC informed before, earlier this month, TotalEnergies and Daimler Truck AG signed an agreement on their joint commitment to the decarbonization of the road freight in the European Union. The partners will collaborate in the development of ecosystems for heavy-duty trucks running on hydrogen, with the intent to demonstrate the attractiveness and effectiveness of trucking powered by clean hydrogen and the ambition to play a lead role in kickstarting the rollout of hydrogen infrastructure for transportation.

We also remind that TotalEnergies has recently inaugurated the extension of Synova in Normandy, the French leader in recycled polypropylene production. TotalEnergies is therefore doubling its mechanical recycling production capacity for recycled polymers, to meet growing demand for sustainable polymers from customers, such as Automotive Manufacturer (Auto OEM) and the construction industry.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, 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.
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Hexion announced Q3 2021 results

Hexion announced Q3 2021 results

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Hexion’s resin sales into China’s wind energy market have been down significantly in H2 2021, but that market should recover in the second half of 2022, said the company.

The US-based adhesives, coatings and composites materials company supplies epoxy resins and systems to composite fabricators in the wind energy market. Last year, the wind market accounted for 17% of Hexion’s total sales. Rogerson said that customers in China's wind blade manufacturing sector could not pass through high epoxy costs in their government contracts, which largely explains why production of blades has been “way down this year”.

However, with blade inventories now at low levels, there was a base for a recovery to occur “probably not early in 2022, but sometime in the second half of 2022”, he said. Furthermore, the targets for wind and other renewable energies under China’s five-year plan remain in place, despite the current downturn, he said.

Rogerson also noted that authorities in China have moved to temporarily shut down some local production of epichlorohydrin (ECH) because of tighter environmental rules. As ECH is a precursor in basic epoxy resins and epoxy specialty resins production, tighter ECH availability plays into the costs of the epoxy resin chain.

Outside of China, the global wind power market was “relatively strong” for Hexion, the CEO noted. Looking at Hexion’s overall Q4 outlook, the company expects to see continued strength in the epoxy business, as well as tailwinds in its adhesive products business from residential construction demand, Rogerson said.

Meanwhile, Hexion continues to work on strategic plans, announced late September, to potentially spin off its epoxy business and to undertake an initial public offering (IPO) for its adhesives and versatic product lines, he said.

As MRC informed before, Hexion shut down its BPA plant in the Netherlands for scheduled maintenance in early November, 2020. The turnaround at this plant with a capacity of 120,000 mtyear of BPA, located in Pernis, the Netherlands, lasted until the end of November, 2020.

Bisphenol A is used as a hardener in the production of plastics, as well as plastic-based products. It is one of the key monomers in the production of epoxy resins and polycarbonate (PC).

According MRC ScanPlast, the overall estimated consumption of polycarbonate (PC) granules (excluding imports and exports to/from Belarus) dropped in the first three quarters of 2021 by 15% year on year to 63,700 tonnes (75,300 tonnes a year earlier).

Hexion Inc., formerly Momentive Specialty Chemicals Inc., is a chemical company based in Columbus, Ohio. It manufactures thermosetting resins and related technologies and specialty products. Hexion has two divisions: the epoxy, phenolic and coating resins division and the forest products division.
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Braskem and Cosan create partnership to leverage circular economy and carbon neutrality

Braskem and Cosan create partnership to leverage circular economy and carbon neutrality

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Brazilian polyolefins producer Braskem and Cosan, a conglomerate producer of bioethanol, sugar and energy, have created a partnership to carry out initiatives in favor of a more sustainable future for Brazil, as per Braskem's press release.

The companies assumed a joint commitment to leveraging the circular economy and carbon neutrality - essential for the sustainability of the entire production and consumption cycle - through various actions that effectively contribute to the agenda against climate change.

Braskem and Cosan will work together with its companies Raizen, Compass, Comgas, Moove and Rumo to lead initiatives to reduce carbon emissions, and reduce energy consumption and the use of fossil fuels.

The partnership will leverage Braskem’s green plastic production chain, where it uses sugarcane to make plastic to replace fossil fuels.

One front of the partnership that will start immediately, is to give new meaning to the destination of part of the waste generated in street races sponsored by Cosan. The two companies are carrying out a project to collect, at sporting events, plastic cups that will be recycled and turned into trash cans that will be donated to public schools, generating a positive social impact. The first action has already taken place and 850 kg of polypropylene (PP) cups were collected, a quantity that will be transformed into more than 500 garbage cans.

In the last five years, Cosan group has helped Braskem meet its sustainability goals by reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) by 2.4m tonnes through the supply of ethanol from its joint venture, Raizen. Over the next five years, Braskem expects to reduce its emissions an additional 3m tonnes of CO2.

As MRC reported earlier, in April 2021, Cyclyx International, a consortium-based feedstock management company with a mission to increase the recyclability of plastic from 10% to 90%, and Braskem, the largest polyolefins producer in the Americas and leading producer of biopolymers in the world, announced that Braskem had joined Cyclyx as a member.

As a member of the Cyclyx consortium, Braskem will have access to the Cyclyx platform which includes an integrated set of innovations including chemical characterization of plastics and predictive modelling of feedstock sources to product pathways, custom feedstock recipes, and customized supply chains. These innovations aim to deliver waste plastic feedstock appropriate for all existing and new mechanical and advanced recycling pathways.

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 the first nine months of 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 PP random copolymers decreased significantly.

Braskem S.A. produces petrochemicals and generates electricity. The Company produces ethylene, propylene, benzene, toluene, xylenes, butadiene, butene, isoprene, dicyclopentediene, MTBE, caprolactam, ammonium sulfate, cyclohexene, polyethylene theraphtalat, polyethylene, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
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Limetree Bay refinery sold for USD20 million to St. Croix company eying restart

MOSCOW (MRC) -- After investors poured USD4.1 billion into reviving an aging refinery in the U.S. Virgin Islands, the bankrupt facility was auctioned off for tens of millions of dollars to a new company called St. Croix Energy LLP, said the company.

St. Croix Energy bid USD20 million for the refining assets and emerged as the leading buyer for the facility, which was shut down by U.S. environmental regulators earlier this year, according to a court filing this week.

The refinery, which had been shut for nearly a decade and which St. Croix Energy LLP is looking to restart, reopened earlier this year under the ownership of private equity firms EIG and ArcLight Capital after investors poured USD4.1 billion into reviving it. read more

In its final bid, St. Croix Energy will also cover approximately USD9 million worth of professional fees of Limetree Bay through a transitional services agreement. EIG declined to comment.

Private equity investors wanted to restart the facility to produce 210,000 barrels a day of gasoline and other fuels. Its planned restart was delayed for more than a year, and it operated for only a few months before U.S. regulators shut it down after its stacks spewed oil on homes and contaminated drinking water.

St. Croix Energy was named stalking horse bidder for the facility on Sunday and at that time was the only qualified bidder, according to the filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division. A “stalking horse” bid is used as a starting bid or minimally accepted offer that other interested bidders must surpass if they want to buy the company.

St. Croix Energy, which describes itself as "a group of businessmen with deep roots in the Virgin Islands," said in an October news release that it is committed to restarting the refinery safely. The company said it will begin rolling out its senior leadership team in the coming weeks and will engage with the local community.

The newly created company consists of industry professionals, some with experience in the refining, marketing and renewable fuel sectors. More than 30 parties, including several that proposed to liquidate the facility and sell the assets, performed due diligence, according to Sunday's filing.

We remind that in late March 2021, EPA said it had revoked an expansion permit for the Limetree Bay oil refinery in the US Virgin Islands, citing concerns that the area around the facility is overburdened with pollution. The decision allowed the plant to keep operating but blocked ongoing expansion work pending an EPA review to assess measures the facility needs to take to protect nearby residents.

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 the first nine months of 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 PP random copolymers decreased significantly.

MRC

LyondellBasell announces quarterly dividend

LyondellBasell announces quarterly dividend

MOSCOW (MRC) -- LyondellBasell Industries N.V. (LBI) has announced that it has declared a dividend of USD1.13 per share, as per the company's press release.

The dividend is to be paid December 6, 2021 to shareholders of record November 29, 2021, with an ex-dividend date of November 26, 2021.

As MRC reported before, LyondellBasell Industries expects to sell its Houston refinery in the “coming quarter or two,” said Chief Executive Bob Patel during a Friday conference call (30 October, 2021) with Wall Street analysts. The chemical maker said on Sept. 8 it was considering strategic options for the refinery, located on the Houston Ship Channel. LyondellBasell tried to sell the refinery in 2016 but was stymied by unit fires and multiple unit shutdowns before it took the plant off the market in a dispute over price.

We remind that LBI's three US subsidiaries have agreed to make upgrades and perform compliance measures estimated to cost USD50 million to resolve allegations they violated the Clean Air Act and state air pollution control laws at six petrochemical manufacturing facilities located in Channelview, Corpus Christi, and LaPorte, Texas, and Clinton, Iowa, according to the Department of Justice and the US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) statement.

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 the first nine months of 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 PP random copolymers decreased significantly.

LyondellBasell is one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world. Driven by its employees around the globe, LyondellBasell produces materials and products that are key to advancing solutions to modern challenges, like enhancing food safety through lightweight and flexible packaging, protecting the purity of water supplies through stronger and more versatile pipes, improving the safety, comfort and fuel efficiency of many of the cars and trucks on the road, and ensuring the safe and effective functionality in electronics and appliances. LyondellBasell sells products into more than 100 countries and is the world"s largest producer of polymer compounds and the largest licensor of polyolefin technologies. In 2020, LyondellBasell was named to Fortune Magazine"s list of the "World"s Most Admired Companies" for the third consecutive year.
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