Pertamina to ensure fuel supply as workers plan strike

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Indonesian state-energy company PT Pertamina said on Wednesday that ensuring fuel supply was its “top priority” as workers plan a ten-day strike next week, just when fuel demand typically increases as people travel for year-end holidays, reported Reuters.

After the union failed to reach a deal with management over labour terms, workers at the country’s biggest fuel supplier are set to hold a national strike from Dec. 29 to Jan. 7.

“The management anticipate and mitigate any conditions to ensure that the company’s operations continue to run smoothly,” Pertamina said in a statement, adding it was open to further dialogue.

As it seeks to short up supplies, the company has issued a tender seeking up to 1.2 million barrels of high speed diesel (HSD) for January delivery.

It was looking for three cargoes for delivery between Jan. 7-12, Jan. 13-18, and Jan. 19-24, respectively with a maximum volume of 400,000 barrels each, the tender document showed.

The tender will remain open till Dec. 23 and has a validity until Dec. 24.

It is unclear how many of Pertamina’s workers are expected to strike or why negotiations failed, but the union said the strike could end earlier than expected if its demands are met.

As MRC informed previously, the fire, which broke out at one of Pertamina’s fuel storage tanks in the Cilacap refinery and petrochemical complex on 13 November 2021, did not affect operations at any other plants at the same complex. In fact, all other production lines were operating normally during the incident. The fire was completely extinguished after about 12 hours.

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 2,047,100 tonnes in the first ten months of 2021, up by 17% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,226,530 tonnes in January-October 2021, up by 26% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymers (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding stat-copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) decreased significantly.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- North American chemical railcar traffic rose for a third straight week - up by 5.3% year on year for the week ended 18 December - with increases in the US and Canada more than offsetting a decline in Mexico, according to the latest data from the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

For the first 50 weeks of 2021, ended 18 December, North American chemical railcar traffic was up by 4.3% year on year to 2.28m.

In the US, chemical railcar loadings represent about 20% of chemical transportation by tonnage, with trucks, barges and pipelines carrying the rest. In Canada, producers rely on rail to ship more than 70% of their products, with some exclusively using rail.

As per MRC, North American chemical railcar traffic rose by 3.3% year on year for the week ended 11 December, led by an 8.3% increase in the US that more than offset a decline in Canada, said Seanews. North American rail volume for the week ending November 27 on 12 reporting US, Canadian and Mexican railways totalled 295,807 carloads, down 4.4 per cent together with 281,953 intermodal units, a fall of 16.1 per cent year on year.

North American rail volume for the week ending December 18, 2021, on 12 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 331,416 carloads, down 1.1 percent compared with the same week last year, and 349,986 intermodal units, down 7 percent compared with last year. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 681,402 carloads and intermodal units, down 4.3 percent. North American rail volume for the first 50 weeks of 2021 was 34,480,405 carloads and intermodal units, up 4.8 percent compared with 2020.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PPG announced an investment of USD2.7 mln to expand its powder coatings manufacturing capabilities at its facility in Sumare, in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo, said the company.

The project will increase the plant’s production capacity for powder coatings by approximately 40%, beginning in the third quarter of 2022.

The site expansion will include new equipment that will help to further PPG’s distribution of powder coatings, a highly sustainable product offering with enhanced durability, transfer efficiency and the ability to be reclaimed or reused during application. The investment aligns with PPG’s goal to have 40% of its sales by 2025 from sustainably advantaged products, while also increasing production capacity to meet growing customer demand in Brazil and other South American countries.

"PPG is a leader in providing solutions that optimize processes for our customers," said Marizeth Carvalho, PPG general manager, industrial coatings, Americas. “The expansion of our Sumare site reinforces our commitment to grow, share knowledge, develop our workforce and bring innovative, sustainable solutions to the marketplace."

The Sumare plant serves the home appliance, agriculture, transportation and general finishing industries, which encompass steel furniture, storage structures, gym equipment, electrical panels and power transformers.

Powder coatings are one of the fastest growing coating technologies due to their sustainability benefits and excellent performance properties. Powder coatings do not release solvents given their low-VOC nature and are fully reusable, meaning paint that is not deposited on a substrate during application returns to the paint system to reduce waste. In an ongoing commitment to sustainable innovations that exceed customer needs, PPG is investing in powder capabilities across the globe.

As it was written earlier, PPG announced an expansion of its coatings manufacturing capacity in Europe for packaging applications. The investments at sites in The Netherlands and Poland will support growing customer demand in the region for the latest generation of coatings for aluminum and steel cans used in packaging for beverage, food and personal care items. Financial details related to the expansions were not disclosed.

PPG Industries announced it will acquire Worwag (Stuttgart, Germany), a producer of liquid, powder and film coatings for industrial and automotive applications. Terms of the transaction, including purchase price, have not been disclosed. The deal is expected to close in the first half of this year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Crude oil prices recovered on Wednesday morning despite word from the Energy Information Administration of an inventory draw of 4.7 million barrels for the week to December 17, according to OilPrice.

At 423.6 million barrels, crude oil inventories remain 8% below the five-year average - compared to 7% below the five-year average last week.

Last week’s draw adds to last week’s huge draw of 4.6 million barrels from crude oil inventories.

On Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute estimated a crude oil inventory draw of 3.670 million barrels for the week to December 17.

In gasoline, the API reported a build of 3.7 million barrels, with a decline of 849,000 in distillates. Gasoline inventories increased by 5.5 million barrels in the reporting period according to the EIA, which compared with a draw of 700,000 barrels for the previous week. Gasoline production decreased last week, averaging 9.9 million bpd, compared with 10.0 million bpd in the previous week.

In middle distillates, the EIA estimated an inventory build of 400,000 barrels for the week to December 17, which compared with a decrease of 2.9 million barrels for the previous week. Middle distillate production increased last week, averaging 4.9 million barrels per day, which compared with 4.8 million bpd in the prior week.

Oil prices have been pressured by pandemic concerns courtesy of the Omicron variant that has triggered another round of restrictions in certain countries.

At 10:12 a.m. EDT, crude oil prices were trading up on the day, with WTI crude trading at USD71.35, up USD0.23 (.32%), and Brent crude trading at USD74.20, up USD0.22 per barrel (0.30%).

Post data release, Brent crude was trading at USD74.37 per barrel, with West Texas Intermediate at USD71.64 per barrel, both up from the opening.

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, EIA said in a monthly report earlier this year, a smaller decline than its previous forecast for a drop of 210,000 bpd.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Brenntag has appointed Kristin Neumann as its new CFO, effective 1 April 2022, succeeding Georg Muller who will leave the Germany-based international chemicals distributor in March, said the company.

Neumann joins Brenntag from LSG Lufthansa Service Holding, where she has been CFO since 2014, Brenntag said in a statement on Wednesday.

The current CFO Georg Muller made a personal decision to leave Brenntag at the end of March 2022 after almost 20 years with the company. During this time, he has held various management positions in the company, thereof the last ten years as CFO. Doreen Nowotne: "On behalf of the entire Supervisory Board, I would like to thank Georg Muller most sincerely for his outstanding contributions and his dedication to our company as well as for the trustful cooperation. He has played a decisive role in shaping Brenntag's development into today's role as the global market leader and, in particular, contributed to strengthening the company's financial position and to the excellent reputation that Brenntag enjoys on the capital markets today. The Supervisory Board holds Georg Muller in the highest regard, and we wish him every success in his future responsibilities and all the best."

As per MRC, Brenntag, the market leader in chemical and ingredients distribution, has completed the process of changing from a German Aktiengesellschaft (AG), or stock corporation, to a European company, or Societas Europaea (SE). The company says it is now doing business as Brenntag SE. The conversion, which was announced by the company's management and supervisory boards in 2019 and approved at its 2020 annual shareholders' meeting, came into force when it was entered into the commercial register on 1 February 2021.

As MRC informed earlier, in April 2020, Brenntag sai it had acquired the operating assets of Suffolk Solutions’ (Suffolk, Virginia) caustic soda distribution business. Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
MRC