PTTGC Q1 net profit falls 57% on weak chemical margins

PTTGC Q1 net profit falls 57% on weak chemical margins

PTT Global Chemical’s first-quarter net profit declined by 57% year on year as chemical margins fell following spikes in feedstock costs, said the company.

First-quarter revenues were up 72% year on year, on a combination of a crude-led increase in petrochemical prices and demand recovery as more countries continued to ease their COVID-19 restrictions. Sales volume during the period increased “mainly from the volume realized after the completion of the Allnex acquisition” in the fourth quarter of last year, PTTGC said.

PTTGC completed the €4bn acquisition of Germany-based specialty chemicals maker Allnex at the end of December 2021. Strong petrochemical prices in the first quarter were also driven by some tightening of supply due to turnarounds and a “slowdown in production of some producers in the region”. For olefins, the adjusted EBITDA margins for the first quarter declined to 11% from 26% in the same period last year.

Olefins and derivatives’ adjusted EBITDA declined 38% year on year to Thai baht (Bt) 4.83bn (USD140m), while aromatics incurred a loss of Bt1.11bn. For the performance materials and chemicals business, first-quarter adjusted EBITDA grew 54% over the period to Bt6.34bn, largely due to the Allnex acquisition; while green chemicals’ earnings more than doubled to Bt730m.

PTTGC booked a loss of Bt8.57bn from commodity hedging, consisting of a realized loss of Bt2.57bn and an unrealized loss of about Bt6bn, the company said in the notes accompanying its Q1 financial results.

As per MRC, Aramco is exploring further collaboration with Thailand’s national oil company PTT, as it expands its downstream presence in Asia. The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding at a ceremony in Bangkok on May 11. The companies aim to strengthen cooperation across crude oil sourcing and the marketing of refining and petrochemical products and LNG. Other potential areas of activity include blue and green hydrogen and various clean energy initiatives.

As per MRC, Thai PTTGC is planning a capital investment of USD608 million over five years, including two start-ups this year. PTTGC's joint venture with Austrian packaging and recycling company ALPLA, called ENVICCO Ltd, is expected to produce recycled polymers at Map Ta Phut in Rayong Province. The ENVICCO plant, which can produce 30,000 tons per year of recycled polyethylene terephthalate (R-PET) and 15,000 tons per year of recycled low-density polyethylene (R-HDPE), is expected to enter commercial operation in the first quarter of 2022.

PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC) was founded on October 19, 2011 after the merger of PTT Chemical Company and PTT Aromatics and Refining Company to become the flagship of the PTT chemical group. As a result of the integration, the company's total capacity for the production of olefins and aromatics reached 8.2 million tons per year, and oil products - 280 thousand barrels per day, which makes it the largest integrated petrochemical and oil refining company not only in Thailand, but also in Asia.
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Chevron and Exxonmobil to explore lower carbon opportunities in Indonesia

Chevron and Exxonmobil to explore lower carbon opportunities in Indonesia

Chevron and ExxonMobil have signed separate agreements with state energy company PT Pertamina to explore lower carbon business opportunities in Indonesia, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Chevron signed an MoU through its subsidiary, Chevron New Ventures Pte. Ltd, and is looking at potential businesses in new geothermal technology, carbon offsets through nature-based solutions, carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS), Pertamina said.

The companies would also be looking into lower carbon hydrogen development, production, storage, and transport, the statement said. ExxonMobil and Pertamina signed a joint study agreement to assess the potential for large-scale implementation of lower emissions technologies, including carbon capture and storage and hydrogen production, the U.S. company said in a statement.

The agreements were signed during a trip by Indonesian officials to attend a summit between the United States and Southeast Asian nation leaders. "Through our potential work in Indonesia, and the entire Asia Pacific region, we hope to provide affordable, reliable, ever-cleaner energy, and help the industries and customers who use our products advance their lower carbon goals," Jeff Gustavson, President of Chevron New Energies, said.

Indonesia aims to achieve net zero emissions by 2060 and has targeted to increase its renewable energy portfolio in its energy mix to 23% by 2025, from around 12% currently. "This partnership is a strategic step for Pertamina and Chevron to complement each other's strengths and develop lower carbon energy projects and solutions to promote energy independence and domestic energy security," Pertamina chief executive Nicke Widyawati said.

Pertamina is currently running a trial for a binary geothermal power plant that could help the company maximize energy output from its geothermal wells as it aims to double its geothermal capacity by around 2027-2028 from 700 MW currently.

We remind that Chevron Phillips Chemical, a joint venture of Phillips 66 and Chevron, will make a final investment decision on a new cracker in far southeast Texas in 2022, followed by an FID in 2023 on an USD8 billion joint venture petrochemical complex along the US Gulf Coast in 2023.

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.
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Haldor Topsoe joins pledge to increase EU electrolyser capacity

Haldor Topsoe joins pledge to increase EU electrolyser capacity

Haldor Topsoe is working to increase electrolyser manufacturing to boost renewable hydrogen production in the EU, said the company.

This is part of a joint declaration signed by the European Commission, Hydrogen Europe and 20 European companies to reach at least 17.5GW of electrolyser capacity in the EU by 2025. The declaration supports the EU’s new target to double the previous target of 10m tonnes/year of domestic renewable hydrogen production, plus an additional 10m tonnes/year of hydrogen imports.

As part of this, industry bodies committed to have 10 times the combined annual electrolyser manufacturing capacity in the EU by 2025 compared with today and legislators pledged to ensure supporting regulatory framework and funding. “If the EU wants to be independent of Russian gas – we need to produce 10 million tons of renewable hydrogen in the EU every year,” said Topsoe CEO Roeland Baan.

Under the joint declaration, manufacturers would seek to further increase capacity by 2030 in line with projected demand for renewable hydrogen. The pillars of the declaration would include a regulatory framework, funding and integrating supply chains to expand R&D activities to ensure availability of necessary components and materials in a timely and affordable manner.

Through the declaration, sufficient permitting rules for capacity would be provided and there would be revisions to the Renewable Energy Directive and Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation Proposal.

As MRC reported earlier, in February 2021, Haldor Topsoe and Acron Group signed a MoU with the purpose of jointly working within green technologies area. The MoU includes initiatives within joint development of technologies aimed to reduce GHG emissions (СО2 and N2O) at the existing production sites of Acron Group and development of promising projects for new products with minimum environmental impact. Acron Engineering, a Russian engineering research center, which is a part of Acron Group, will be engaged in the work.

We remind that in October 2021, Dow (Midland, Michigan), the world's petrochemical major, and Haldor Topsoe partnered to promote the circular economy. About 300 million tons of plastic waste is produced every year on a global scale. The partnership between Dow and Topsoe marks a new initiative to efficiently convert waste plastics to circular plastics, keeping them out of the environment and responsibly reclaiming their value.
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AGC will invest USD770m to expand Thai chemical production

AGC will invest USD770m to expand Thai chemical production

Japanese materials maker AGC will invest over 100 billion yen (USD770 million) to boost production of caustic soda and other chemicals in Thailand, said the company.

The manufacturer looks to expand capacity at its two factories in Thailand by early 2025, with plans to produce 1.64 million tons of caustic soda annually, a 20% increase from current output. AGC, formerly known as Asahi Glass Co., is making its largest-ever investment as economic growth in Southeast Asia lifts demand for chemicals tied to industrial use and electric vehicle production.

Caustic soda is used widely in industrial neutralizers, aluminum and paper production as well as drainage treatment. Because its production turns out chlorine in the process, AGC will expand output of other chemical materials that use chlorine. Annual production capacity of polyvinyl chloride, used for sewage pipes, will increase by 30% to 1.6 million tons. Capacity for PVC's raw material -- vinyl chloride monomer -- also will rise 30% to 1.7 million tons. Southeast Asia's market for caustic soda and PVC combined is expected to grow about 4% yearly.

Caustic soda also is used to treat wastewater from the mining of mineral resources such as nickel and copper, both of which are indispensable for electric vehicle production. The expected growth of the EV market is pushing the company to boost output of the materials.

AGC's market share for caustic soda and PVC tops 40% in Southeast Asia, and the company anticipates reaching 50% after this investment. The Japanese company's unique technology in the chlorine electrolysis process will help curb costs, such as for electricity.

AGC's main business is glass manufacturing, but stronger market competition has prompted the company to undertake structural reform, including the sale of its construction glass business in North America last year. But AGC also looks to diversify its business into chemical materials and other fields, expanding aggressively to foreign markets like Thailand. In July, the company plans to consolidate its three business units in Thailand and Vietnam.

As per MRC, AGC has begun evaluating an expansion of production capacity at its chlor-alkali subsidiary, Vinythai, as part of its initiative to expand its chlor-alkali business in Thailand. The project would involve increasing the production capacity of polyvinyl chloride to 860,000 t/y from 300,000 t/y, vinyl chloride monomer to 830,000 t/y from 400,000 t/y and caustic soda to 590,000 t/y from 370,000 t/y. A final decision will be made based on the findings of the environmental and health impact assessments.

As MRC wrote before, in December 2016, CMC Biologics, a global leader in clinical and commercial manufacturing of monoclonal antibodies, coagulation factors and other therapeutic proteins and AGC Asahi Glass (AGC), a world-leading manufacturer of glass, chemicals and high-tech materials, announced that they had entered into a definitive agreement with CMC Biologics' shareholders including Monitor Clipper Partners, European Equity Partners and Innoven Partenaires, by which AGC will acquire 100% of CMC Biologics' shares.
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Ukraine to import 420,000 tonnes of fuel in May as Russia strikes depots

Ukraine to import 420,000 tonnes of fuel in May as Russia strikes depots

Ukraine has signed contracts to import 300,000 tons of diesel and 120,000 tons of petrol to cover consumption in May as Russia targets Ukrainian fuel infrastructure, First Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on Friday, as per Reuters.

Russia has destroyed 27 fuel depots and the Kremenchuk oil refinery in central Ukraine since it launched its Feb. 24 invasion, the government official said at a government meeting.

As per MRC, pressure on Europe to secure alternative gas supplies increased on Thursday as Moscow imposed sanctions on European subsidiaries of state-owned Gazprom a day after Ukraine stopped a major gas transit route.
Gas prices surged, with the key European benchmark gaining 12% as buyers were unsettled by the mounting threats to Europe's supply given its high dependence on Russia. Moscow has already cut off supply to Bulgaria and Poland and countries are racing to fill dwindling gas reserves before winter.

As per MRC, Uniper remains in talks with Gazprom and the German government over how to implement Moscow's demand to pay for Russian gas in roubles, which the European Commission said would breach sanctions. Uniper, in presentation slides published along with final first-quarter results, cited "ongoing discussions with German government and Gazprom on potential implementation" of the decree, which has stoked fears that supplies may be disrupted. The company, Germany's largest importer of Russian gas in which Finland's Fortum owns 78%, declined to comment on details of the talks, only saying that no binding assessment had been made as of now.
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