U.S. diesel shortage starts to ease

U.S. stocks of road diesel and heating oil show early signs of stabilizing and even increasing slightly as exceptionally high prices encourage production, discourage exports and possibly suppress consumption, said Reuters.

Distillate fuel oil inventories increased by 3 MM barrels in the six weeks between Oct. 7 and Nov. 18, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

The increase was small but runs against the normal trend for a drawdown at this time of year and indicates high prices and a slowing economy are starting to rebuild inventories.

In the ten years before the pandemic, distillate inventories declined by an average of more than 11 MM barrels over the same period.

Between 2010 and 2019, seasonal drawdowns ranged from ranged from as little as 7 MM barrels to as much as 21 MM barrels.

Distillate inventories have not increased at this time of year since 2008, when the financial crisis was pushing the economy further into recession.

We remind, China's refined oil product exports in November are set to hit the highest since April 2020 as refiners ramp up output to multi-month highs to boost diesel supply and profit, offsetting the impact of slower domestic demand from COVID-19 restrictions. The world's top two refiners - the United States and China - are processing more crude to meet higher diesel use globally this winter as countries switch to oil for heating, away from more expensive natural gas. The increased output could also cool prices for other oil products, especially for gasoline, and dampen overall refining margins.
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Sichuan Energy Investment (SCEI) and hte – the high throughput experimentation company signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish a satellite laboratory in Heidelberg to accelerate SCEI’s R&D activities, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The collaboration focusses on building a green innovation platform for improving carbon footprints in the chemical industry. On November 15, Sichuan Energy Investment and hte - the high throughput experimentation company (hte), a subsidiary of BASF, held a memorandum of understanding signing ceremony at the Sichuan Energy Investment Building in Chengdu.

Wang Cheng (Chairman and General Manager of Sichuan Energy Investment), Han Wei (Vice President Innovation Campus Shanghai, BASF), and Bernd Sachweh (Vice President Special Projects Asia, BASF) attended and delivered speeches. Zou Zhongping (Director of Sichuan Energy Investment), Wolfram Stichert (CEO of hte), and Stefan Altwasser (Director Business Development at hte) signed the contract on behalf of the parties.

hte has amassed a great deal of expertise in the field of high throughput technology over the past 20 years through the successful development, design, construction, and operation of high throughput R&D test systems all over the world. Under the MoU, SCEI and hte will cooperate in catalysis R&D on various applications.

Building a joint innovation platform for green and low-carbon development in the chemical industry is the main goal. For this reason, a SCEI satellite lab is scheduled to be set up at hte’s laboratories in Heidelberg, Germany.

Wang Cheng, Chairman and General Manager of Sichuan Energy Investment, stated that “SCEI and hte have a deep development foundation and broad cooperation prospects in the field of new energy and the chemical industry. I believe that the cooperation between Sichuan Energy Investment and hte, which provides complementary advantages, resource sharing, and mutual benefit, will surely promote the development of Sichuan Energy Investment New Energy and Chemical Industry to a new level.”

Wolfram Stichert, CEO at hte, comments, “We are delighted that Sichuan Energy Investment has placed its trust in us. In the face of current global market challenges, we welcome the opportunity to establish a win-win collaboration with such a strong partner and contribute value through collaborative innovations."

We remind, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation has approved unconditionally the acquisition deal of Shanghai SECCO Petrochemical between Sinopec and INEOS. Sinopec and INEOS in July this year announced the transaction, under which INEOS will take over 50% of SECCO from Sinopec. After the deal, SECCO will have four shareholders, which are INEOS (50%), Sinopec Gaoqiao Petrochemical (15%), Sinopec (15%) and Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical (20%).
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Saudi Aramco has signed 59 corporate procurement agreements (CPAs) worth a potential total of USD11 billion with up to 51 domestic and international manufacturers, as a part of its coveted in-kingdom total value add (IKTVA) localisation programme, said the company.

IKTVA is at the heart of Aramco’s long-term local content strategy and plays a crucial role for domestic contractors while also awarding large-scale deals to its pool of long-term agreement (LTA) contractors.

Aramco on Tuesday said that the agreements “are expected to reinforce Aramco’s robust supply chain and result in the development of materials manufacturing facilities in the kingdom".

“The 59 CPAs cover multiple strategic commodities, such as drilling chemicals, wellheads, switchgear, vibration monitoring systems, pipes, compressors, structure steel, fittings and flanges and air-cooled heat exchangers,” Aramco said.

Some leading international players that are part of the new agreement include Baker Hughes, Cameron Al Rushaid, Halliburton, Schlumberger, and TechnipFMC, the Saudi giant said.

“The CPAs fall under a strategic pillar of the Aramco IKTVA programme, wherein they are used to establish long-term agreements and commitments with supplier partners,” it noted.

As per MRC, Saudi Aramco said it plans to invest in a USD7 B project to produce petrochemicals from crude oil at its South Korean affiliate S-Oil Corp's refining complex in the port city of Ulsan. The project, named Shaheen, is the Saudi company's biggest investment in South Korea and will mark the first commercial use of Aramco and Lummus technology to produce chemicals from crude, Aramco said in a statement.
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Hexpol TPE have officially launched their line of medical TPEs with bio-attributed content, said Sustainableplastics.

Based on the mass balance principle, the new line expands the company’s growing portfolio of materials based on non-fossil feedstocks.

The new materials are a drop-in solution, offering identical properties as Hexpol’s conventionally produced medical TPEs. The company said they can replace the fossil polymers in their TPE compounds with the bio-attributed mass-balanced version, to create a 1:1 replacement.

“These mass-balanced TPEs allow customers to meet performance requirements while ensuring the regulatory status and, at the same time, working towards their sustainability goals,” said Inger Haag Olsson, a medical development engineer at Hexpol TPE.

Mass balance allows for a gradual increase of the bio-circular share using existing infrastructure with the target to reduce the use of fossil resources step by step. It is an approach to account for materials entering and leaving a system. The bio-circular feedstock is added at the beginning of the process, traced through intermediate transformations, and allocated to the end product. As both bio-circular and fossil feedstocks are mixed, it is not possible to guarantee a specific concentration in the final product. This is comparable to ‘green’ electricity, where consumers cannot be sure the electricity they use has come directly from renewable sources, but the overall share of green electricity in the grid rises in step with demand.

Third-party verification is required to audit the mass balance allocation and allow for correct product labelling. Hexpol TPE’s Swedish site was among the first TPE compounders to achieve the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC PLUS) last year.

As per MRC, Hexpol has completed the previously announced acquisition of 100% of Union de Industrias C.A., S.A. (Unica) from Espiga Capital, a Spanish based Private Equity firm. Unica is a significant player in Rubber Compounds in Spain, supplying several demanding customers in the automotive, construction and agriculture sectors.
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SABIC, a global leader in the chemicals industry, has teamed up with Guangdong Jinming Machinery Co., Ltd., a plastic packaging equipment manufacturer and Bolsas de los Altos, a leading plastic film and packaging converter to support growth of polyolefin based innovative applications in the flexible packaging segment, said the company.

Engagement with value chain players remains critical to SABIC’s vision of bringing market driven innovation to customers. By exchanging mutual expertise on polymer technology and processing, this collaboration will secure the development of a robust applications pipeline based on current and future market trends.

Sustainability trends continue to transform the flexible packaging industry. As a result, incumbent film structures need to be updated to conform to latest circularity needs. A partnership involving SABIC’s deep materials knowledge, Jinming’s equipment manufacturing excellence and Bolsas’ converting capabilities can address these challenges. The collaboration will provide an outlet to test and validate performance of SABIC polyolefin resin products including polyethylene resin offerings from Gulf Coast Growth Ventures (GCGV) and from TRUCIRCLE™ , SABIC’s commitment to circularity for plastics. The collaborative efforts will feature installation of Jinming’s multilayer coextrusion machinery at Bolsas’ Mexico facility.

We remind, SABIC posted a 67.1% year-on-year drop in its third quarter net profit on the back of higher costs despite an increase in sales volumes. The company's third-quarter net income was weighed by higher cost of sales and an increase in selling and distribution costs.

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