Saudi Arabia crude oil exports fall in March

Saudi Arabia's crude oil exports in March fell to 7.235 MMbpd, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Crude oil exports in March fell about 1% from about 7.307 MMbpd reported for February. Meanwhile, the world's largest oil exporter's March crude production rose to its highest level in about two years at 10.300 million bpd from 10.225 MMbpd in the previous month.

Saudi Arabia is on track to lift oil production capacity by more than 1 million bpd to over 13 MMbpd by the end of 2026 or start of 2027, the energy minister said on Monday. Saudi Arabia's domestic crude refinery throughput rose 0.267 MMbpd to 2.773 MMbpd in March while direct crude burn rose 44,000 bpd to 335,000 bpd.

The country posted a budget surplus of USD15.33 B in the first three months of 2022, the finance ministry said, bolstered by a 58% jump in oil revenue as prices surged. Monthly export figures are provided by Riyadh and other members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to the Joint Organizations Data Initiative, which published them on its website.

As per MRC, 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. 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.

We remind, Russian fuel oil arrivals in the UAE oil hub of Fujairah are set to jump sharply to about 2.5 MM barrels this month, data shows, in a sign that flows of Russian oil and refined products are shifting away from Europe.
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Shenghong Refining and Chemical has achieved on-spec products from its new 16m tonne/year refinery at Lianyungang in Jiangsu province, indicating successful start-up of the facility, said the company.

Distillate products, including gasoline, diesel, kerosene and wax oil, have all passed quality test and meet standard requirements. The refinery was commissioned in early May.

The project allows Shenghong to realise integration from upstream refining to downstream paraxylene/ethylene glycol, purified terephthalic acid (PTA), polyester and fibre, it said.

As MRC informed before, initially Shenghong Petrochemical planned to start test runs at its 320,000-bpd crude unit in August or September, 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 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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US-based plastics recycling start-up Encina plans to produce benzene, toluene and mixed xylenes (BTX) as well as propylene from its planned new USD1.1bn project in Point Township, Pennsylvania, US, said the company.

The Point Township Circular Manufacturing Facility would use Encina’s proprietary fluidized catalytic system and consume 450,000 tonnes/year of mixed waste plastics, a company spokesperson confirmed. Construction is expected to begin in the autumn of 2022, and the facility is expected to be fully operational by the autumn of 2024.

The USD1.1bn in funding is being managed through Encina’s investment banker Morgan Stanley, where it expects a combination of equity from institutional investors and project debt through conventional project lending, according to the spokesperson. Encina would source post-consumer plastic waste as well as scrap plastics from other sources.

Encina’s catalytic reforming of the plastic waste feedstock forms a stream of aromatics which then can be extracted, and delivered to customers in their improved form of high-quality ASTM grade circular chemicals, according to the company.

In February, Encina announced that Technip Energies would design the commercial unit for its process. In January, it announced that Sulzer Chemtech will provide the technology to recover high-purity circular aromatics from its catalytic conversion platform. The primary output would be BTX which can be used by customers to meet their circularity goals in sectors such as consumer products, health care, pharmaceuticals and construction materials. The company would not specify the output capacity.

In February 2021, Encina announced the signing of a non-binding term sheet with Flint Hills Resources to produce renewable chemicals and fuels from waste plastic. The term sheet noted the parties may enter into a definitive agreement that includes building a waste plastic to renewable chemicals and fuels plant in Corpus Christi, Texas.

In December 2020, Braskem America announced its intent to develop a long-term relationship with Encina to enabling the production of recycled polypropylene (PP).
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China reported a drop in retail sales and industrial production in April — far worse than analysts had expected, said Reuters.

Retail sales fell by 11.1% in April from a year ago, more than the 6.1% decline predicted in a Reuters poll. Industrial production dropped by 2.9% in April from a year ago, in contrast with expectations for a slight increase of 0.4%. The output of mining and utilities businesses grew.

But manufacturing fell by 4.6%, mostly dragged down by a slump in the auto sector and equipment manufacturing, said Statistics Bureau Spokesperson Fu Linghui. In addition to Covid, he said industrial production faces pressure from insufficient market demand, rising costs and other factors.

Last month, the persistent spread of Covid and resulting stay-home orders — primarily in Shanghai — forced factories to close or operate at limited capacity.

The “increasingly grim and complex international environment and greater shock of [the] Covid-19 pandemic at home obviously exceeded expectation, new downward pressure on the economy continued to grow,” the statistics bureau said in a statement. The bureau said the impact of Covid is temporary and that the economy “is expected to stabilize and recover."

As per MRC, oil prices fell on Monday as concerns over weak economic growth in China, the world's top oil importer, overshadowed fears supply might be crimped by a potential European Union ban on Russian crude. Brent crude futures were down USD3.73, or 3.4%, to $103.41 a barrel at 1403 GMT, while U.S. WTI crude futures fell USD3.98, or 3.8%, to USD100.71 a barrel. Markets in Japan, Britain, India and across Southeast Asia were closed for public holidays on Monday. China released data showing factory activity in the world's second-largest economy contracted for a second month to its lowest since February 2020 because of COVID lockdowns.

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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Saudi Aramco posted a record first-quarter net profit of riyal (SR) 148bn (USD39.5bn), up by about 82% year on year, thanks for strong crude oil prices and sales volumes, as well as improved downstream margins, said the company.

The energy giant’s total hydrocarbon production in the first three months of the year stood at 13m boe/day (barrels of oil equivalent per day), Saudi Aramco said in a statement on 15 May. Capital expenditure in January-March 2022 was USD7.6bn, it said.

“Aramco continues to expect capital expenditure to grow until around the middle of the decade, to support the company’s long-term strategy realization,” it said. During the quarter, Saudi Aramco made a final investment decision to jointly develop a major integrated refinery and petrochemical complex in China with North Huajin Chemical Industries Group Corporation and Panjin Xincheng Industrial Group.

The joint venture to be called Huajin Aramco Petrochemical Company (HAPCO) plans to build a 300,000 bbl/day refinery and petrochemicals complex. Saudi Aramco expects its full-year 2022 capex of USD40bn-50bn, which was 25-57% higher than the USD31.9bn spent in 2021, amid elevated oil prices.

At 11:42 Singapore time (03:42 GMT), Brent crude was trading at USD109.65/bbl, while WTI was at USD108.74/bbl.

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.

Saudi Aramco, officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, is a Saudi Arabian national oil and natural gas company based in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Aramco's value has been estimated at up to USD10 trillion in the Financial Times, making it the world"s most valuable company. Saudi Aramco has both the largest proven crude oil reserves, at more than 260 billion barrels, and largest daily oil production.
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