Production at Kashagan field returns to normal, daily output at record volumes - KazMunayGas head

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Oil production at the Kashagan field, which was suspended after an accident, has been fully restored, KazMunayGas head Magzum Mirzagaliyev said on Tuesday at the SPE Annual Caspian Technical Conference in Astana, said Interfax.

"We had experienced problems with Kashagan regarding a decline in oil and gas production. However, the good news is that a couple of weeks ago, Kashagan output returned to normal, and daily volumes are now at record levels," Mirzagaliev said at the conference.

Production operations halted at the Kashagan field on August 3 following a gas leak at the Bolashak oil and gas processing facilities.

North Caspian Operating Company, which operates the Kashagan field, announced in the early hours of August 10 that "gradual resumption in production" had been suspended since August 3 owing to a gas leak at the Bolashak facilities. At that time, oil output partially resumed at around 100,000 barrels per day, and to 210,000 bpd on September30.

Kazakh Energy Minister Bolat Akchulakov said earlier that production at the Kashagan field would resume by the end of October.

The ministry also said that production at the Kashagan field had returned to the previous volumes as of November 6.

Kashagan is considered one of the largest fields discovered in recent decades. Its recoverable reserves range from nine billion to 13 billion barrels of oil. Commercial production at Kashagan began in the autumn of 2016.

We remind, KazMunayGas has started construction works on a new butadiene and synthetic rubber plant. The plant, estimated to cost $964m, is to be built by 2025. It would produce 66,000 tonnes/year of butadiene, 83,000 tonnes/year of synthetic rubber and 130,000 tonnes/year of isobutane. Butadiene LLP is discussing possible license agreements with Lummus, Versalis (Eni) and ETIC, according to KazMunayGas.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Polish oil refiner PKN Orlen has submitted an application to the Russian oil pipeline monopoly Transneft for the supply of 3 MMt of oil to Poland through the Druzhba pipeline system in 2023 under continuing long-term contracts, said Reuters.

Transneft confirmed to Kommersant that it had received requests from consumers in Poland for the next year, but did not specify who submitted the application or the volume.

The European Union will impose an embargo on the import of Russian oil from Dec. 5, but the ban formally applies only to supplies by sea and deliveries through Druzhba are not subject to it. However, Poland and Germany, both receiving oil via the northern branch of the Druzhba pipeline, have previously stated that they will stop oil imports from Russia by the end of 2022.

"PKN Orlen has consistently diversified its oil supplies. Currently 70% of oil to all the company's refineries in Poland, the Czech Republic and Lithuania comes from alternative directions to Russian (sic) ... The company is currently continuing only the long-term contracts for deliveries to Poland from this direction (Russia)," PKN Orlen's press office told Reuters in response to a request for comment. It added that it had stopped all Russian oil imports via sea.

PKN Orlen has oil supply contracts with Rosneft and Tatneft . The contract with Rosneft is expected to expire by year's end, while the agreement with Tatneft is valid until December 2023, according to traders. Tatneft supplies about 200,000 tonnes of crude oil per month to Poland under the agreement. Both contracts were signed prior to February 2022.

"In the absence of direct restrictions, the purchase of Urals under old contract terms is very beneficial for PKN Orlen next year: prices are based on the cost of seaborne Urals, which remains at historical lows," a trader in the Russian oil market said.

We remind, We remind, Poland’s ORLEN Group has finalised its merger with Grupa LOTOS, strengthening its leading role in the fuel and energy industry in Central and Eastern Europe. The final step in the process that has been successfully completed was the registration of the merger by the District Court of Lodz. The merger paves the way for unlocking synergies inherent in leveraging the potential of the two companies. As an immediate effect, the merger of PKN ORLEN and Grupa LOTOS will help increase capital expenditure, step up the execution of the most profitable projects, increase the country’s energy independence and ensure stable fuel supplies for all customers.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Beijing BASF has awarded contracts to Toyo Engineering for its new large-scale petrochemical project being built at the BASF Zhanjiang Ver-bund site in Zhanjiang, Guangdong Province, China, said Apic-online.

The site, being built in phases, will include a stream cracker and downstream units for the production of petrochemicals and intermediates, including, among others, an ethylene oxide/ethylene glycol unit and a 60,000-t/y engineering plastics compounding unit, which was recently launched. The entire project is estimated to cost up to 10-billion and be complete by 2030.

Under the contracts, for which a value was not given, Toyo will be responsible for the engineering, procurement and construction management services for the acrylics complex, project management services for the steam cracker, central production tank farm and polyethylene projects, and project management services for the overall management of the buildup of the complex.

As per MRC, BASF posted a EUR130m loss in its German domestic market during the third quarter (Q3), as economic conditions deteriorated quickly, on the back of high production costs for chemicals companies. Martin Brudermuller added, however, that the overall increase in sales revenue in Q3 came thanks to the company’s ability to pass higher input costs onto customers through higher selling prices, as well as a weaker euro, benefiting the company in its non-euro sales.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- North American chemical rail traffic fell by 3.2% year on year to 44,921 railcar loadings for the week ended 12 November – marking an eighth consecutive decline, according to the latest freight rail data by the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 490,350 carloads and intermodal units, down 2.5 percent compared with the same week last year.

Total carloads for the week ending November 12 were 235,474 carloads, down 0.2 percent compared with the same week in 2021, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 254,876 containers and trailers, down 4.5 percent compared to 2021.

Four of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2021. They included motor vehicles and parts, up 2,142 carloads, to 14,829; nonmetallic minerals, up 1,676 carloads, to 32,706; and farm products excl. grain, and food, up 742 carloads, to 17,242. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2021 included grain, down 1,366 carloads, to 23,932; chemicals, down 1,360 carloads, to 32,168; and metallic ores and metals, down 915 carloads, to 19,346.

For the first 45 weeks of 2022, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 10,450,126 carloads, up 0.2 percent from the same point last year; and 11,835,682 intermodal units, down 4.7 percent from last year. Total combined U.S. traffic for the first 45 weeks of 2022 was 22,285,808 carloads and intermodal units, a decrease of 2.5 percent compared to last year.

North American rail volume for the week ending November 12, 2022, on 12 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 334,731 carloads, down 0.7 percent compared with the same week last year, and 335,949 intermodal units, down 4.9 percent compared with last year. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 670,680 carloads and intermodal units, down 2.8 percent. North American rail volume for the first 45 weeks of 2022 was 30,550,437 carloads and intermodal units, down 2 percent compared with 2021.

Canadian railroads reported 78,840 carloads for the week, up 0.8 percent, and 66,417 intermodal units, down 5.4 percent compared with the same week in 2021. For the first 45 weeks of 2022, Canadian railroads reported cumulative rail traffic volume of 6,567,421 carloads, containers and trailers, down 1.8 percent.

Mexican railroads reported 20,417 carloads for the week, down 11.1 percent compared with the same week last year, and 14,656 intermodal units, down 9.6 percent. Cumulative volume on Mexican railroads for the first 45 weeks of 2022 was 1,697,208 carloads and intermodal containers and trailers, up 3.5 percent from the same point last year.

We remind, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) today reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending November 5, 2022. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 502,106 carloads and intermodal units, down 0.4 percent compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending November 5 were 243,276 carloads, up 3.2 percent compared with the same week in 2021, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 258,830 containers and trailers, down 3.6 percent compared to 2021.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Plastipak, a global leader in the design, manufacture and recycling of plastic containers has announced the formal opening of a major recycling investment at its manufacturing site in Toledo, Spain by Don Emiliano Garcia-Page, President of the Castilla-La Mancha Region, said the company.

The new recycling facility converts PET flake into food-grade recycled PET (rPET) pellets suitable for direct use in new preforms, bottles and containers.

The new recycling plant will produce 20,000 tonnes of food-grade recycled pellet per year and will eliminate recycled resin transport-related emissions since it is co-located at Plastipak’s current preform manufacturing site. The recycling plant is Plastipak’s fifth recycling facility, with other recycling plants located in USA, France, Luxembourg and United Kingdom. In Europe, Plastipak is the largest producer of food-grade rPET, with well over 150,000 tonnes of rPET capacity per annum.

To support on-site energy generation, the state-of-the-art facility incorporates advanced energy-saving technologies and equipment that includes the rooftop installation of over 1800 photovoltaic (PV) solar panels. The PV panels are expected to generate more than 1339 MWh of electricity per year that will be consumed entirely on-site, saving more than 443 tonnes of CO2 per year through the avoidance of consumption of electricity from the national grid. This is in addition to the CO2 avoided by using 20,000 tonnes of recycled resin instead of virgin resin.

We remind, Plastipak, the leader in PET plastic aerosol molding technology, has launched SprayPET Revolution, a 100% polymer aerosol, which is fully recyclable. SprayPET Revolution, including the valve, is all polymer, and is totally metal-free. Until now, PET aerosol containers used standard metal valves with rubber gaskets. Whilst many PET recycling plants are equipped to remove metal components in the recycling process, not all recyclers have this capability.

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