Wanhua Chemical posts 23% decrease on H1 profit

China’s Wanhua Chemical said on Friday that its net profit in the first half of 2022 dropped by over 23% amid rising feedstock and energy costs, said the company.

Revenue increased by 31.7% on surging prices and sales. Feedstocks costs rose steeply. In the first six months, average prices of benzene and coal increased by 30% and 52% year on year, respectively. Contract prices of propane and butane were 47% and 54% higher than the same period in previous year.

Polyurethane (PU) sector saw rebounding operating rates and high inventories. Supply and demand were basically balanced, but demand growth slowed down amid rising costs, manufacturing slump and high inflation.

Petrochemicals faced squeezed margins. Prices of oil and gas rallied fast and were highly volatile, major overseas economies suffered from inflation pressure, while domestic downstream consumptions of petrochemicals were curbed or delayed by sporadic outbreaks of COVID-19.

We remind, Wanhua Chemical posted a 49.56% decrease in net profits in the first half of 2021, as sales and prices both took a hit from the coronavirus pandemic. Slump in oil prices also dampened demand and prices of its products.
Prices of pure methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI), its major product, decreased to CNY15,800-CNY18,700 in the first half year from CNY23,700-CNY27,200 in the same period of 2019. Prices of petrochemical products the company makes also recorded a double-digit drop.
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Stavian Quang Yen Petrochemical Joint Stock Company, Quang Ninh Provincial People’s Committee and Bac Tien Phong Industrial Park Joint Stock Company have just signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Investment Cooperation (MoU) at the Quang Ninh Investment Promotion Conference in 2022, officially kicked off the project of Stavian Quang Yen petrochemical plant, said Vietnam postsen.

The project has an estimated investment capital of up to 1.5 billion USD, with a production scale of 600,000 tons of polypropylene/year. It is known that Polypropylene is an important input material for many manufacturing and manufacturing industries such as household appliances, automobiles, electronics, packaging production, packaging, supplies, medical equipment. … Therefore, when the factory comes into operation, it will attract and motivate investors in the manufacturing sector to invest in the locality later.

To ensure that the petrochemical plant operates safely, efficiently with high reliability and produces the best quality Polypropylene products, the project has selected the most advanced patented technologies in the field of Polypropylene production. currently include PDH technology from Honeywell UOP (USA) and PP technology from LyondellBasell (Italy).

In addition, the project also uses high-quality equipment from EU and G7 countries with a closed, automated, environmentally friendly technological process and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Stavian Quang Yen Petrochemical Factory was built on an area of ??30ha in Bac Tien Phong Industrial Park, Tien Phong Commune, Quang Yen Town. The plant’s commercial operation is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2026.

It is known that the investor of Stavian Quang Yen Petrochemical Factory is Stavian Quang Yen Petrochemical Joint Stock Company, specializing in the production and trading of petrochemical products. The company was established by 2 main shareholders, Stavian Chemical Joint Stock Company (Stavian Chemical) and Yen Hung Liquid Port Joint Stock Company (YHLP).

We remind, Vietnamese petroleum imports rise in six-month period. According to details given by the General Department of Customs, June alone witnessed the country import 717,000 m3 of petroleum with a total value of USD812 million, a decline of 19% in volume and 9% in value over the previous month, said VOV. The department assessed that the Republic of Korea (RoK) was the largest supplier of petroleum to the country in the reviewed period, making up 40% of the total. In addition, the nation imported 1.9 million m3 of petroleum worth US$2 billion, up more than two fold in volume and 3.8 fold in value compared to the same period from last year.
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PetroChina Urumqi Petrochemical is planning to revamp and upgrade its refining facilities by adding some new refining as well as petrochemical units, said Reuters.

A 450,000 tonne/year polypropylene (PP), a 300,000 tonne/year styrene monomer (SM), a 200,000 tonne/year polystyrene (PS), and a 1.2m tonne/year purified phthalate acid (PTA) unit will be installed as the petrochemical part.

The refining part will mainly include a new 1.2m tonne/year solvent deasphalting (SDA), a 2.2m tonne/year fluid catalytic cracking (FCC), and a 1m tonne/year gas fractionation units.

The company is seeking environment approval for proceeding the project.

Urumqi Petrochemical currently runs 8.5m tonnes/year of refining and 1m tonnes/year of para-xylene capacities.

We remind, PetroChina has completed construction of two crude distillation units (CDUs) of its integrated refining and petrochemical complex at Jieyang in Guangdong province. The CDUs each can process 10m tonnes/year, or 200,000 bbl/day, of crude oil. Construction work of the complex, which houses a 400,000 bbl/day refinery, a 1.2m tonne/year cracker and a 2.6m tonne/year aromatics facility, has 98% completed.

PetroChina Urumqi Petrochemical Company Urumqi Complex is an active petrochemical complex located in Xinjiang, China. The complex started commercial operations in 1984 and currently has an active annual capacity of 3.8mtpa. Its capacity is expected to remain the same as 3.8mtpa in 2030. The plants in this complex are operated by Urumqi Petrochemical.
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Shell posted record results, with a USD11.5 billion second-quarter profit smashing the mark it set only three months ago, lifted by strong gas trading and a tripling of refining profit, said the company.

Higher feedstock and utility costs and higher turnaround activities hit Shell’s chemicals earnings in the second quarter. Shell reported an loss attributable to shareholders for the business of USD158m.

Chemicals sales volumes in the quarter were down 8% year on year. Shell said the chemicals margin decrease after tax was USD160m from the prior year’s second quarter. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for chemicals in the latest quarter were USD2m.

Shell's combined chemicals and products business posted a 66.8% year-on-year increase in EBITDA because of higher realised margins, the energy major said. The dislocation in refined products markets, particularly middle distillates, pushed margins higher. Trading results were strong because demand outpaced supply below what Shell called “exceptional” results in Q1 2022.

We remind, Shell withdrew from the authorized capital of the Gydan Energy joint venture with Gazprom Neft on the Gydan Peninsula. On May 19, Gazprom Neft became the only participant in Gydan Energy with a 100% share. Previously, the partners each owned 50% in the authorized capital of the enterprise. Shell and Gazprom Neft set up a joint venture in November 2021 in the Yenisei project on the Gydan, which includes two license blocks, Leskinsky and Pukhutsyakhsky.

In addition, Shell in its reporting for the first quarter of 2022 recognized the cost of leaving Russian assets at USD 3.9 billion after taxes. Earlier, she informed that the losses could amount to USD 4-5 billion.

Shell is a British-Dutch oil and gas concern engaged in the extraction, processing and marketing of hydrocarbons in more than 70 countries.
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BASF Coatings (Guangdong) Co. (BCG) has expanded the production capacity of automotive refinish coatings at its coatings site in Jiangmen to 30,000 tonnes/year, BASF said in a news release.

The investment is a response to China’s rising demand of the material.

"The new capacity will bring additional supply reliability to fulfill the growing demand in China’s automotive market. It demonstrates our commitment to enhance local production and respond faster to the growing needs of Chinese customers. It also reinforces BASF’s position as one of the leading and reliable suppliers to customers in China," said Jeffrey Lou, President, BASF Greater China.

We remind, BASF gave final approval for the construction of its Zhanjiang chemical complex, the company said, with the focus now on building a steam cracker and several plants for producing petrochemicals and intermediates.
The site, which will be the company's third-largest globally once complete, is due to be fully operational by 2030.
The company will focus on building the core of the site, which will include a steam cracker and several other petrochemicals and intermediates, BASF said.

BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries.
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