Pemex not to meet export-cut target to boost domestic supply

Pemex will keep oil exports close to 1 MMbpd through much of 2022, according to people familiar with the matter, despite plans to slash them to refine more crude domestically, reported Reuters.

In late December Pemex said it would more than halve exports of crude to 435,000 bpd this year and reduce them to nil in 2023 as part of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's self-sufficiency drive to end imports of gasoline.

The 2022 target rested on Pemex more than doubling refining output to over 1.5 MMbpd from about 714,000 bpd last year.

But that target is unlikely to be met, the sources said.

Lopez Obrador himself said this week that he was holding talks with the heads of Mexico's refineries as the price of crude oil has surged to its highest levels since 2008 on market tensions stemming from the war in Ukraine.

"We're defining a strategy on the basis that the price of crude is rising, and we're revamping refineries," Lopez Obrador said, without giving details of revised targets.

The president's office did not reply to a request for comment on whether the government now planned to export more crude than Pemex had projected in December. Neither Pemex nor the energy ministry replied to requests for comment.

The sources said exports will now be higher than Pemex forecast, due to surging oil prices and slow progress in boosting refining capacity. The federal budget predicts the company should produce over 1.8 MMbpd of crude this year.

"Last year's export levels will be maintained," a Pemex source with knowledge of planning told Reuters, putting it at between 1 MM and 1.1 MMbpd. Crude exports from Mexico were just over 1 MMbpd in 2021, according to Pemex.

Crude exports fell to 832,000 bpd in January, the lowest level in decades, which the source said was due to poor weather in the Gulf of Mexico. Preliminary data for February showed exports climbing to almost 950,000 bpd, the source added.

Shortfalls in processing capacity mean that more unrefined crude is sold abroad, the source noted.

Mexican refining output averaged some 712,00 bpd last year, and though it reached almost 800,000 bpd in January, a level it should stay close to through July, the source added.

Pemex said in February that processing would average 900,000 bpd this year, rising in the second half of 2022.

A second official source put crude exports at just under 1 MMbpd in 2022, in line with federal budget forecasts. Exports could be above 1 MM if two refineries are halted for repairs to improve their performance, the source added.

As MRC informed before, Pemex has sharply reduced crude exports to India, the third largest market for its oil, amid preparations for a new refinery expected to absorb more of its output. Petroleos Mexicanos in December said it would cut crude exports this year and could suspend them altogether in 2023 as the company works to meet the government's target of refining all of its oil domestically.

We remind that n late January, 2022, Pemex signed a long-term crude supply contract with Royal Dutch Shell Plc as part of its acquisition of the Deer Park refinery in Texas. Pemex and Shell in May, 2021, announced the transaction, which is worth almost USD600 MM and will make the Mexican firm the sole owner of the refinery near Houston. The facility has capacity to process 340,000 bpd. Shell will supply about 200,000 bpd of foreign and US crude to the plant for at least 15 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 2,487,450 tonnes in 2021, up by 13% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 1,494.280 tonnes, up by 21% year on year. Deliveries of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whreas shipments of PP random copolymers decreased significantly.
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 Poly Methyl Methacrylate (PMMA) Resins and PMMA Sheets, as per the company's press release as of 16 March, 2020.

Thus, the company's prices for the stated above products rose by EUR550/mt with immediate effect.

This price will be valid until further notice.

As MRC reported earlier, in May, 2021, Trinseo announced the closing of the previously announced transaction to acquire Arkema’s polymethyl methacrylates (PMMA) business. PMMA is a transparent and rigid resin with a wide range of end uses that augments Trinseo’s existing offerings across several end markets including automotive, building and construction, medical and consumer electronics.

The main application, consuming approximately 75% MMA, is in the production of polymethyl methacrylate acrylic plastics (PMMA). Methyl methacrylate is also used to produce methyl methacrylate-butadiene-styrene copolymer (MBS), used as a modifier for polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall production of unmixed PVC did not exceed 169,700 tonnes in the first two months of 2022, which virtually corresponds to the last year's figure. At the same time, three producers reduced slightly their output.

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 USD4.8 billion in net sales in 2021, with 26 manufacturing sites around the world, and approximately 3,400 employees.
MRC

Italian oil and gas company Eni said on Friday it was not using oil of Russian origin in operations related to its 20% share in the Bayernoil refinery in the Germany state of Bavaria, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Swiss firm Varo Energy, another shareholder in the Bayernoil refinery, said it had not entered into new deals to buy Russian oil since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and did not plan to. It said previous contracts had expired.

The West has imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia over the invasion. The US has banned Russian oil imports, while the European Union, which is more reliant on Russian fuel, has banned investments in Russia's energy sector.

Some buyers, meanwhile, appear to be shunning Russian oil to avoid becoming entangled in sanctions.

"In 2022, Eni Deutschland as a shareholder of Bayernoil has not used Russian crude oil, nor is the use of Russian crude oil planned in the near future," a spokeswoman for Munich-based Eni Deutschland GmbH said in a written statement.

"At the moment, Eni Deutschland sources its supply share in the Bayernoil refinery via other crude oils," she said.

Bayernoil processes 10.3 MMtpy of crude to make products including gasoline, diesel, heating oil and bitumen at its Neustadt and Vohburg sites.

Alongside from Eni's 20% stake in Bayernoil, Varo Energy holds 51.4% and Russia's Rosneft owns 28.57%.

Rosneft did not reply to enquiries about Russian oil flows.

As MRC wrote earlier, Eni is evaluating conversion of its Livorno refinery in northwest Italy into a biorefinery, as part of the Italian company's wider strategy to make its activities more environmentally sustainable. Eni has already converted two of its Italian refineries and is looking to almost double its biorefining capacity to around 2 million mt/year by 2024, and expand this to at least five times by 2050, as part of its pledge to achieve complete carbon neutrality 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 2,487,450 tonnes in 2021, up by 13% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 1,494.280 tonnes, up by 21% year on year. Deliveries of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whreas shipments of PP random copolymers decreased significantly.

Eni, abbreviation of Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi, in full Eni SpA, Italian energy company operating primarily in petroleum, natural gas, and petrochemicals. Established in 1953, it is one of Europe's largest oil companies in terms of sales.
MRC

MRC) -- Netstal is presenting a thin-wall packaging application on a fully electric ELION 1200-510 based on biodegradable PHBH, said Sustainableplastics.

The Ecocup drinking cup, with a volume of 0.33 l is made of 100% biobased polymer and produced in a two-cavity mould from French partner SN Caulonque with a cycle time of less than 4 seconds.

The material, Kaneka’s Biodegradable Polymer Green Planet, is a PHBH produced via a revolutionary bio-fermentation process using renewable plant oils as feedstock. The polymer accumulates inside the bacteria and is subsequently extracted and purified by a water-based process. Kaneka Green Planet grades are certified "OK home" and "OK industrial" compostable, with selected grades also certified "OK biodegradable soil and marine."

PHBH has been listed in the European Commission's regulation no.10/2011 for all food type contact since 2019.

As per MRC, Munich, Germany-based KraussMaffei Group will transfer its KraussMaffei High Performance AG business into an independent unit operating under the Netstal name on 1 October 2021. The new subgroup will manage the Netstal new machines and service business worldwide from its subsidiaries.

The KraussMaffei Group is a global leader in the plastics and rubber processing industries. The company covers all areas of injection molding machinery, extrusion technology and reaction process machinery.
mrchub.com

A heather fire near Equinor's Mongstad refinery in western Norway was extinguished on Monday without affecting production, reported Reuters with referece to Equinor's statement.

Police had been evacuating staff from the premises after reports of the fire in the vicinity of the plant with a processing capacity of 226,000 bpd of oil.

Only non-essential staff had been evacuated and the refinery could maintain regular production, an Equinor spokesman told Reuters.

As MRC informed earlier, Equinor's Board of Directors has recently decided to stop new investments into Russia, and to start the process of exiting Equinor’s Russian Joint Ventures (JV).

At the end of 2021 Equinor had USD 1.2 billion in non-current assets in Russia. The company expects that the decision to start the process of exiting JVs in Russia will impact the book value of Equinor’s Russian assets and lead to impairments.
MRC