Russian gas flows to Europe remain stable

According to According to the operator, the flow of gas from Russia to Europe through some major pipelines remained stable, albeit low, on Tuesday, said Industry-update.

Physical flows through art Nord Stream 1 pipeline from Russia to Germany was 14,604,119 kilowatt-hours (kWh) between 7:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. CET, in line with Monday’s reported level of about 14,600,000 kWh. The pipeline was operating at 20% of its capacity as Russia shut down flows on July 27, citing maintenance. In its statement, Russia blamed problems with the turbines for the initial shutdown of the crucial pipeline.

Applications for Russian gas to flow from Ukraine to Slovakia through the Velke Kapushany border crossing, in Slovakia’s eastern plains near Ukraine, totaled about 36.5 million cubic meters (mcm) per day, slightly higher than the previous day, according to statistics from the Ukrainian System Operator.

On Tuesday, Ras Gazprom “announced that it will deliver 42.2 million cubic meters of gas to Europe through the Ukrainian Suja entry point, compared to 41.9 million cubic meters on Monday. According to the data of the operator Gascade, on Tuesday, the flow of gas from Germany to Poland through the Yamal-Europe pipeline increased from day to day.

Output flows at the Mallnow measuring station on the German border were 4,153,766 kWh on Tuesday, compared with about 2,520,000 kWh the day before. Germany’s ongoing gas shortages, which forced it to draw on reserves and shut down part of its industrial sector in early August, could have serious consequences for Europe.

Russian gas producer Gazprom blamed Western sanctions for its refusal to accept a turbine repaired from Germany. Although Russia has decided not to resume supplies due to sanctions, it still exports gas to Europe at a lower rate.

As per MRC, Italian energy group Eni believes it will be able to completely replace Russian gas imports by 2025 as uncertainty over Moscow's energy supplies to Europe forces countries to seek alternative sources. After signing new gas supply agreements with Algeria, Egypt and Congo earlier this year, Eni sees additional opportunities arising in other countries including Libya, Angola, Mozambique, and Indonesia, as well as in its home country. The initiatives are designed to secure up to an equivalent of 100% of Russia's 20 Bcm3 of annual gas exports to the Italian market by 2025.

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Oil major BP is considering selling oil assets in Mexico to shift its focus to renewable energy sources in the country Bloomberg News, said Industry-update.

The oil company, in partnership with France’s TotalEnergies, Equinor, Hokchi Energy and Qatar Petroleum, signed three exploration contracts six years ago. The oil major has divested itself of its stake and is in the process of returning the blocks it secured to Mexico’s regulator, the National Hydrocarbons Commission, according to a company spokesman.

After Mexico introduced competitive oil auctions for the first time in eight decades in 2013 and 2014, several major oil companies, including BP, flocked to the resource-rich country. Although firms have successfully discovered and developed oil fields, operating the fields has become a challenge for companies since Andres Manuel Lopez Abrador became the country’s president in 2018.

The president wanted to reverse energy reforms passed by the previous government and reduce competition from state-owned oil giant Pemex to private players. The government has also called on oil companies to reduce their carbon footprint.

Earlier this year, BP won approval from CNH to buy back its stake in the shallow water contract, which was awarded in a consortium with TotalEnergies, Qatar Petroleum and Hokchi. In February 2022, Total acquired BP and Equinor’s stake in one deepwater block.

Bloomberg News quoted a BP spokesman as saying that the oil company has determined that the shallow-water block has a “very low” probability of success and that the commercial viability of the prospect is unlikely.

Through Hokchi Energy, BP indirectly owns a stake in the Mexican blocks. Hokchi Energy also owns more than 500 STAs in Mexico. Hokchi Energy is owned by Argentina’s Pan American Energy, which is a joint venture between BP and Bridas.

As per MRC, Cenovus Energy Inc has agreed to purchase partner bp PLC's 50% ownership interest in jointly held BP-Husky Refining LLC's 160,000-b/d refinery in Toledo, OH, US. As part the proposed deal, Cenovus will pay $300 M in cash for bp's stake in the refinery, plus the value of inventory, bp and Cenovus said in separate releases on 8 Aug 2022. Upon finalizing the transaction, Cenovus-which has held the other 50% interest in the BP-Husky Refining partnership since merging with Husky Energy Inc in 2021-will take 100% ownership of the venture, as well as assume operatorship of the refinery from bp. In addition to the refinery sale, the parties confirmed signing a multi-year product supply agreement, further details of which were not revealed.
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Axalta Coating Systems’ Q2 sales rose 9.6% year on year to USD1.23bn, led by record pricing and by volume growth, said the company.

However, income from operations of USD103.6m was down 45.6% due to continued variable cost inflation, foreign currency headwinds, and high expenses for logistics, labour and energy, the US-based coatings company reported.

Furthermore, the Russia-Ukraine conflict and China’s extended COVID-19 lockdowns weighed on Q2 2022.

Adjusted earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) were off 13.1% from Q2 2021.

We remind, Axalta, a leading global supplier of liquid and powder coatings, broke ground for construction of a state-of-the-art coatings facility in Jilin City, Jilin Province, North China. The 46,000-square-meter new plant will produce mobility coatings to support growing customer demand in China for light vehicles, commercial vehicles, and automotive plastic components. "Our new plant in Jilin is another building block supporting our ambitious growth strategy for our mobility business in China," said Nicolas Franc de Ferriere, Vice President, Mobility, Asia Pacific at Axalta.
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BASF Coatings (Guangdong) Co., Ltd. (BCG) has expanded the production capacity of automotive refinish coatings at its coatings site in Jiangmen, Guangdong Province in South China, said Paintsandcoatingsexpert.

With the completion of the expansion in July 2022, BASF’s annual production capacity of automotive refinish coatings will be increased to 30,000 metric tons. This is in line with the company’s pledge to maintain customer proximity, as well as to strengthen BASF’s position as a leading and innovative coatings supplier to the automotive industry in China and the rest of Asia.

"The new product capacity for automotive refinish coatings 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.

"The demand for automotive refinish coatings in China is growing at a healthy rate. It has become imperative to have advanced production facilities in the region to support this development. I am very confident that our investments in the expanded capacity will better support the growth of our customers in the automotive industry. Customers will benefit from our innovation strength and supply reliability they have come to know and trust,” said Patrick Zhao, Senior Vice President, BASF Coatings Solutions Asia Pacific.

BCG’s environmental credentials and contributions are well recognized by the Ecology and Environment Bureau of Jiangmen for several times since 2018. The company received the accolade of “Green Brand” for its outstanding contribution to sustainable development in the region.

The BCG manufacturing facility offers a comprehensive portfolio of automotive paints and solutions for commercial vehicles and automotive aftermarket. These include fillers, primer surfacer, basecoats, tinters, clearcoats, topcoats, hardeners, thinners, fast-drying accelerators and blenders etc.

As per MRC, BASF and SINOPEC have broken ground for the expansion of their Verbund site operated by BASF-YPC Co., Ltd. (BASF-YPC), a 50-50 joint venture of both companies in Nanjing. The expansion includes new capacities of several downstream chemical plants and a new tert-butyl acrylate plant, to serve the growing demand from various industries in the Chinese market.

As MRC reported earlier, in November 2021, BASF increased its production capacity for advanced additives at its wholly-owned site in Nanjing, China. The new asset with state-of-the-art technologies will allow BASF to produce high molecular weight dispersing agents, slip and leveling agents and other additives locally for Asian markets.

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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Indian Oil Refining and Marketing Company Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) plans to invest 1.4 trillion rupees (USD17.65 billion) in petrochemicals, city gas and clean energy businesses in the next five years, a new agency Press Trust of India (PTI), reported Industry-update.

The investment is part of the firm’s efforts to develop its non-fuel business. BPCL Chairman and Managing Director Arun Kumar Singh, according to PTI’s latest annual report, said the company is “revising its strategies to capitalize on new opportunities while reducing risks”.

Singh said: “The company has strengthened plans to diversify and expand related and alternative businesses to generate additional revenue streams and hedge against any possible future downturn in the liquid fossil fuel business."

In the petrochemical industry, the firm has identified two new petrochemical projects integrated into the refinery.

These include a 1.2 million tonne per annum (MTPA) ethylene cracker at the Bina refinery located in the Bina Etava district of Madhya Pradesh and a 0.4 Mtpa polypropylene plant at the refinery Kochi in the Indian state of Kerala, the report said.

BPCL, which owns 20,217 of the country’s 83,685 petrol stations, is also looking at providing electric vehicle (EV) charging as well as future fuels such as hydrogen.

As per MRC, Indian Oil Corp (IOC) began operations at its 100 kilolitres/day (Kl/day) second generation (2G) ethanol plant at Panipat in the northern Haryana state on 10 August. Built at a cost of over Indian rupee (Rs) 9bn (USD113.4m), the ethanol plant is located near IOC’s Panipat refinery complex. Once fully operational, the plant is expected to produce around 30m litres of ethanol using 200,000 tonnes/year of paddy straw as feedstock. Commercial production at the plant is expected by December, and this should help India achieve its target of blending 20% ethanol with auto fuel by 2025.
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