Russian gasoline to be sent to Pakistan as EU import ban looms

Independent Russian oil refiner Forteinvest has clinched a deal that will see Russian gasoline sent to Pakistan by land for the first time, two industry sources said on Friday, as Russian refiners seek alternative markets for motor fuels days before an EU import ban, said Reuters.

Forteinvest has sold to a trader an initial 1,000-tonne lot of gasoline from its Orsk plant for delivery to Pakistan and has more requests to supply gasoline, diesel and LPG to the country, the sources added.

The refined products will be shipped from the Orsk refinery in Russia's Orenburg region near the Kazakhstan border to Afganistan by rail and reloaded into tank trucks for delivery to Pakistan, as Russia and Pakistan don't have direct rail connections, the sources said. Forteinvest did not respond to a request for comment.

The move comes days ahead of a new set of Western sanctions, as G7 countries, and the 27-nation EU as a whole, seek to limit Russia's revenue from oil exports without disrupting world supply. A price cap on imported Russian oil products is due to come into force on Feb. 5, along with an EU import ban on Russia's refined products.

Russia could start exporting oil to energy-starved Pakistan after March if terms are agreed, Russia's energy minister said on Jan. 20. Russia will sell crude, petrol and diesel oil to Pakistan at discounted prices, Pakistan's state minister for petroleum said in December, days after he led a government team to Moscow to negotiate the deal. Pakistan's foreign minister is due to hold talks in Moscow on Monday.

Historically, Pakistan has had no major commercial energy ties with Moscow. It currently depends on oil from Gulf countries, which often extend facilities such as deferred payments and can supply with lower transport costs, given Pakistan's proximity.

In 2022, Russia shipped to Afganistan by rail some 120,000 tons of gasoline from Orsk, Omsk, Salavat, Taneko and TAIF oil refineries, as well as some 41,000 tons of diesel of Belarusian origin and from Russian oil depots. Russia has also exported to the country some 104,000 tons of LPG, rail data shows.

We remind, BASF investors said that oil and gas business Wintershall Dea's exit from Russia, though painful, clears the way for plans to take it public and for BASF to focus on its chemicals operations. BASF late Tuesday flagged a 7.3 B euro (USD7.9 B) writedown on Wintershall Dea (WD), as the energy business, in which Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman's investment firm LetterOne owns a 27% stake, pulls out of Russia.

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Shin-Etsu Chemical, a Japanese chemical maker, reported that its nine-month net income attributable to owners of parent climbed 63.8% to 578.52 billion yen from last year's 353.14 billion yen,said the company.

Earnings per share were 1,415.68 yen, compared to 849.18 yen last year. Operating income grew 68.32 percent from last year to 808.23 billion yen.

Net sales were 2.16 trillion yen, up 45.8 percent from 1.48 trillion yen a year ago. Looking ahead for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023, the company has raised its guidance.

We remind, Shin-Etsu Chemical Co Ltd has developed new process technologies that can be applied for the manufacturing of Micro LED displays. The size of a Micro LED chip is not visible to the naked eye, with the length of one side being less than 50 micrometres. For example, in order to manufacture one 4K display that has 4 times the resolution of a conventional high-definition screen, it is necessary to precisely array about 24.90 M chips. In order to implement improvements in the complexity and yield ratio in the processes of Micro LED chip manufacturing and the transfer process of each chip, Shin-Etsu Chemical has been working together with Shin-Etsu Group companies to take advantage of its unique materials technologies.

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Trinseo said it expects a net loss from continuing operations of $367m-362m, which includes a pre-tax, non-cash goodwill impairment charge of USD297m related to its PMMA business and Aristech Surfaces reporting units, said the company.

Frank Bozich, president and CEO, said in the advance notice that the loss also includes a pre-tax unfavourable net timing impact of USD19m from declining raw material costs as well as a USD15m unfavourable impact from natural gas hedges that were put into place in the second half of the year.

The company will host a conference call to discuss further details of its Q4 and FY 2022 financial results on 9 February. “Our fourth quarter results reflect a challenging operating environment including a continuation of customer destocking, lower underlying demand, and volume and margin impacts from lower-cost imports into Europe from Asia,” Bozich said.

“As a result, our earnings and cash generation were below our previous expectations. However, due to proactive operating decisions such as idling styrene production throughout the fourth quarter, we saw a considerable sequential Adjusted EBITDA improvement of more than USD40m,” Bozich said. “Further improvement in the first quarter is expected given seasonally stronger demand, lower energy prices and the realisation of our asset restructuring initiatives,” the CEO said.

Regarding the impairment charges, Bozich pointed to a challenging macroeconomic environment, including significantly lower demand for building and construction and wellness applications, which led to lower operating results including slower growth projections as well as a prolonged drop in market capitalisation.

We remind, Trinseo, a specialty material solutions provider and Japan Steel Works Europe GmbH (JSW EU), a group company of The Japan Steel Works, Ltd. (JSW), a manufacturer of industrial and plastics machinery, recently announced a collaborative effort on chemical recycling of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA).

Trinseo a specialty material solutions provider, partners with companies to bring ideas to life in an imaginative, smart, and sustainability-focused manner by combining its premier expertise, forward-looking innovations and best-in-class materials to unlock value for companies and consumers. From design to manufacturing, Trinseo taps into decades of experience in diverse material solutions to address customers’ unique challenges in a wide range of industries, including consumer goods, mobility, building and construction, and medical.

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Dow Inc. outlined a series of targeted actions aligned to its previously stated plan to achieve USD1 bn in cost savings in 2023, said the company.

The proactive actions will further optimize the Company's cost structure in response to near-term macroeconomic uncertainty, while maintaining its long-term competitiveness across the economic cycle.

Specifically, Dow expects to realize USD1 billion in cost savings in 2023 through: structural improvements of USD500 million, maintaining a low cost-to-serve operating model.

Optimizing labor and services costs, including a global workforce reduction of approximately 2,000 roles. Shutting down select assets, while further evaluating Dow's global asset base, particularly in Europe, to ensure long-term competitiveness and enhance cost efficiency and increasing productivity via end-to-end process improvements.

Operating expense reductions of USD500 million, focused on near-term cash flow: decreasing turnaround spending, with a continued focus on maintaining safety and reliability. Reducing purchased raw materials, logistics and utilities costs; and Aligning spending levels to the macroeconomic environment.

We remind, Univar Solutions has been named as a distributor for Dow’s acrylic emulsion polymer products in the UK and Ireland. The products, which are include in Dow’s PRIMAL and UCAR LATEX brand portfolios, are used in construction for improving the properties of cementitious as well as non-cementitious applications.

Dow combines global breadth; asset integration and scale; focused innovation and materials science expertise; leading business positions; and environmental, social and governance leadership to achieve profitable growth and help deliver a sustainable future. The Company's ambition is to become the most innovative, customer centric, inclusive and sustainable materials science company in the world. Dow's portfolio of plastics, industrial intermediates, coatings and silicones businesses delivers a broad range of differentiated, science-based products and solutions for its customers in high-growth market segments, such as packaging, infrastructure, mobility and consumer applications. Dow operates manufacturing sites in 31 countries and employs approximately 37,800 people. Dow delivered sales of approximately USD57 billion in 2022.

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Technip Energies announced signing two separate MoUs, one with PCL Industrial Management Inc. and another with Capital Engineering, to work collaboratively on efforts associated with energy transition markets in Canada, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Under the PCL agreement, Technip Energies services will include conceptual, front-end and detailed engineering, procurement, and technical capabilities with PCL leading constructability solutions, logistics evaluations, direct hire construction performance and execution solutions associated with hydrogen, ammonia, carbon capture, liquefaction, sustainable chemistry, and decarbonization solutions developments throughout Canada.

Technip Energies and Capital Engineering will work together to provide Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED), and Engineering, Procurement and Construction Management (EPCM) services.

With clear focus on the ongoing energy transition, the companies will explore opportunities involving industrial projects in areas such as carbon capture, hydrogen developments, sustainable fuels, and overall energy transition developments. Sean Ricketts, Houston Operating Center Managing Director for Technip Energies commented, "We are pleased to team up with PCL and Capital Engineering as we expand our services in Canada.

There are many energy transition opportunities throughout the country, and we bring our depth of knowledge and experience from both a technology and an engineering standpoint.”

Chris Pullen, Vice President and General Manager for PCL Industrial Management added, “PCL has a longstanding relationship with Technip Energies. The complementary capabilities of our organizations mean we can offer Canadian clients solid EPC solutions. We match Technip Energies well-established expertise in engineering and technology with our own strong history of delivering industry-leading planning, project management, and execution to energy transition projects.”

Scott Martin, Senior Partner with Capital Engineering adds “Capital is very excited to be jointly pursuing Canadian energy transition projects with Technip Energies. The combination of Technip Energies’ global expertise with Capital’s proven industry track record, knowledge of local requirements and Canadian project execution strategies provides a compelling offering to clients in this space.”

We remind, Technip Energies – as part of its long-term agreement with Aramco – has been awarded a contract to upgrade sulfur recovery facilities at Aramco’s Riyadh Refinery. This contract covers the implementation of three new tail gas treatment (TGT) units, improving the performance of the existing three sulfur recovery units (SRU) to comply with more stringent regulations for sulfur dioxide emissions, with recovery efficiency at more than 99.9%.
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