Orbia announces its second quarter 2022 earnings results

Mexican producer Orbia reported a year-on-year decline in Q2 earnings from its Polymer Solutions business, which makes polyvinyl chloride (PVC), said the company.

Orbia had a robust second quarter and strong first half of the year, delivering double-digit revenue growth year-over-year across most business groups. Polymer Solutions delivered a strong quarter amidst rising input costs. Data Communications was bolstered by increased demand and higher pricing. Fluorinated Solutions delivered strong performance driven by recovery in global pricing.

Net revenues of USD2.7 billion, up 19%, with higher sales across all business groups with the exception of Building and Infrastructure.

EBITDA of USD609 million increased 9%, driven by higher sales and profitability in the Data Communications, Fluorinated Solutions and Precision Agriculture business groups.

Net majority income of USD266 million increased 38%, driven by higher revenues.

Operating cash flow of USD134 million, driven by strong EBITDA growth, partially offset by higher taxes paid and increased working capital.

As MRC reported earlier, Orbia Advance Corp. said that in view of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the global economy and capital markets, it had decided to pause its efforts to divest or seek an alternative strategy for its Vestolit vinyls business.

Orbia is a global leader in specialty products and innovative solutions spanning the precision agriculture, building and infrastructure, fluorinated products and technologies, polymer solutions and data communications verticals, with broad experience in corporate and operational finance. The company has commercial activities in more than 110 countries and operations in over 50, with global headquarters in Mexico City, Boston, Amsterdam and Tel Aviv.
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South Korean oil refiner S-Oil has signed four MOUs with Saudi Aramco to collaborate in the alternative energy business, including Thermal Crude to Chemicals (TC2C) technology, research and development (R&D) on the production of lower carbon future energy, and investment in venture capital, said Fuelsandlubes.

Saudi Aramco became the single largest shareholder of S-Oil in January 2015, following its acquisition of Hanjin Group’s stake in S-Oil. The two companies signed the memoranda of understanding during the ‘Saudi Arabia-Korea Investment Forum for Smart Innovation & Growth’ held in Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia.

Moving forward, S-Oil and Saudi Aramco are set to actively explore potential cooperation in building infrastructure to store, supply, and utilize competitive blue hydrogen and blue ammonia after bringing them into South Korea. The cooperation includes R&D on the import and supply of blue hydrogen and ammonia.

Moreover, both companies aim to pursue the production of hydrogen, the development of new carbon capture technology, plastic recycling technology as well as research on carbon neutral e-Fuel. Areas of cooperation include the potential joint investments into domestic venture companies specialized in new energy technology or decarbonization. "We articulated an ESG Roadmap and Green Initiative, to make sure our ESG practices not only serve the company well but also all our stakeholders and communities at large,” said Hussain A. Al-Qahtani, CEO of S-Oil, in his New Year speech.

Last year, the company bought a 20% stake in fuel cell venture company FCI to make inroads into the hydrogen business. Additionally, it participated in the clean hydrogen project consortium with Samsung C&T and Korea Southern Power Co., Ltd (KOSPO) to accelerate its hydrogen business in full swing. Moreover, S-OIL works on various fronts to secure a sizable amount of demand by switching into hydrogen fuel for its plant and putting hydrogen in the process of middle distillate cracking and desulfurization.

The MOUs also aim at enhancing the competitiveness of the company’s key business areas such as oil refining, petrochemical and lube base oil production. S-OIL is planning to apply TC2C, which is being developed and will be commercialized by Saudi Aramco for the first time, during phase 2 of its Shaheen petrochemical project. Saudi Aramco agreed to proactively collaborate for the successful completion of the project by providing its expertise in R&D of the olefin downstream process and petrochemical product. Final Investment Decision (FID) of the Shaheen project is expected this year, after completion of the Front End Engineering Design (FEED). If successfully completed, S-OIL will gain momentum to further pursue its growth strategies in the energy transition era by expanding beyond its vision of Oil to Chemicals.

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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The exports of petroleum products by major refiners in Korea hit a record high of USD27.95 billion in the first half of this year on the back of higher oil prices and strong demand recovery amid eased COVID-19 restrictions, said Koreatimes.

The outbound shipments by SK Energy, GS Caltex, S-Oil and Hyundai Oilbank represent a 97.6 percent increase from a year earlier and surpassed the previous record high of USD27.7 billion in 2012, according to a latest report by the Korea Petroleum Association. The robust growth came as the recent rise in global oil prices gave a boost to export unit prices, and the reopening of borders around the world after tight COVID-19 restrictions helped fuel demand for petroleum products, the report said.

The refiners in Korea also "strategically" diversified the regions to countries like Australia and the Philippines that experienced supply shortages amid the COVID-19-driven border controls, the report noted. The export volume rose 12.8 percent on-year to 220.9 million barrels in the January-June period, with the export unit prices of petroleum products jumping 75.3 percent to USD126.6 per barrel in the same period.

Diesel exports rose 8.8 percent to 92.9 million barrels, with its export value soaring 106.2 percent to USD12.56 billion due to the supply disruptions amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Exports of jet fuel also grew 40.1 percent to 35.27 million barrels, amounting to USD4.68 billion, up 171.3 percent from the previous year, boosted by strong global cargo demand amid the pandemic.

By country, Australia became the top buyer of Korean petroleum products, accounting for 16.2 percent in terms of export value, followed by Singapore with 12.2 percent, the United States at 9.3 percent, the Philippines at 9 percent and China with 8.6 percent, according to the report.

As per MRC, a sudden crash in global gasoline prices in the past two weeks has dented refiners' profits, pushing up inventories in key trading hubs around the world while looming exports from China and India also add to pressure on growing stockpiles. Refiners will be forced to cut gasoline output to safeguard themselves against losses and switch to producing more profitable fuels, traders say, but summer demand is also being hurt by high pump prices in the United States and Europe, and by instability and easing seasonal demand in some parts of Asia.
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U.S. crude oil stockpiles fell last week, driven by a surge in exports to an all-time high due to the big discount for U.S. crude when compared with international benchmark Brent, said Reuters.

Crude inventories dropped 4.5 MM barrels to 422.1 MM barrels in the week ended July 22, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1 MM-barrel drop, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. The decline was in large part the result of a surge in crude exports to a record 4.5 MMbpd in the latest week.

The spread, or arbitrage between Brent and the U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures has widened out to more than $9 a barrel, making it more attractive for U.S. companies to sell crude overseas and for international refiners to bear the costs of transport to get the cheaper U.S. oil.

"The arb has only increased so you may actually see us challenge 5 million barrels in coming reports," said Robert Yawger, executive director of energy futures at Mizuho. U.S. crude production rebounded to 12.1 MMbpd after two weeks of declines, rising 200,000 bpd in its biggest increase since December.

U.S. gasoline stocks fell by 3.3 MM barrels on the week. After a couple of weeks of lackluster demand, gasoline product supplied by refiners rebounded, though overall gasoline demand is down 7% over the last four weeks when compared with the year-ago period.?

Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 784,000 barrels. Refinery crude runs fell by 292,000 bpd in the last week, EIA said. Refinery utilization rates fell by 1.5 percentage points in the week to 92.2%. Oil prices rose on the news. U.S. crude was up 2.4% to USD97.27 a barrel by 11:09 a.m. ET (1609 GMT) while Brent gained 2.1% to USD106.62 a barrel.

As per MRC, the Biden administration said it will sell an additional 20 MM barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as part of a previous plan to tap the facility to calm oil prices boosted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and as demand recovers from the pandemic. The administration said in late March it would release a record 1 MM barrels of per day of oil for six months from the SPR, held in hollowed-out salt caverns on the coasts of Louisiana and Texas. The United States has already sold 125 MM barrels from the reserve with nearly 70 MM barrels already delivered to purchasers, a senior administration official told reporters.
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bp has opened its first ultra-fast-charging facilities aimed at medium and heavy-duty electric trucks to support the decarbonization of the sector – where, according to the IEA, tailpipe CO2 emissions have increased on average 2.2% annually since 2000, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Operated by bp’s Aral brand, the retail site at Schwegenheim in Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany now has two state-of-the-art 300kw ultra-fast chargers intended for electric trucks, powered by 100% renewable energy. Situated on the major B9 road, the Schwegenheim site provides truck drivers with a convenient, safe, well-lit station where an electric truck capable of charging at 300kw could increase its remaining range by around 150-200km during a driver’s mandatory 45-minute break. And the driver has access to additional services such as food and drink for their journeys, as well as toilets.

Emma Delaney, executive vice president, customers & products, bp said: “With the transition to electric vehicles well underway in Europe, we’re now seeing the move towards electric trucks. Truck manufacturers and truck fleet operators are demanding low carbon alternative fuels and electrification is an attractive option. Opening our first truck charging facilities at Schwegenheim is an important milestone for bp and the industry.

“Schwegenheim is a perfect example of what the industry needs – ultra-fast charging with safe charging bays for trucks, close to strategic road networks and a place where drivers can take a break and refresh with food and drinks”. In 2021 around 1,000 battery electric trucks were sold in Germany. In Europe that number is expected to reach over 150,000 units by 2030 with the highest penetration in Germany, at 43%v.

Daimler Truck, who are based in Germany and one of the world’s largest commercial vehicle manufacturers, launched their battery-electric Mercedes-Benz eActros for heavy urban distribution in 2021. The company has worked closely with bp to provide insights into the required layout, charging speeds, and convenience offers to provide truck drivers with the accessibility they need and a comfortable charging experience.

“I am pleased that bp and Aral pulse continue to support the electrification of German truck fleets. Zero tailpipe emission trucks will be crucial if we are to reach our decarbonization goals and to expand the charging infrastructure across Germany. This project is another milestone for the electrification of mobility in Germany and Europe", says Kurt-Christoph von Knobelsdorff, CEO & Spokesman NOW GmbH, National Organization Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology.

As per MRC, BP is aiming to start producing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in Australia by 2025 after converting its oil refinery near Perth to produce renewable fuels, a senior executive of the British company said. The project is expected to cost "hundreds of millions" of dollars, BP's Asia Pacific vice president of low-carbon solutions, Lucy Nation, told Reuters. BP has not disclosed what volume it plans to produce, but Nation said output would depend on demand as the facility would be able to switch day-to-day between producing sustainable aviation fuel and biodiesel.
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