Idemitsu Kosan revises its net profit forecast to USD1.7 bn

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Idemitsu Kosan Co, Japan's second-biggest oil refiner, revised its full fiscal year net profit forecast down by 32% to 220 billion yen (USD1.7 billion) on Tuesday, expecting lower oil prices and a stronger yen to hit earnings, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The revision follows a similar step by Japan's top refiner Eneos Holdings Inc, which last week slashed its full-year net profit forecast down by 58% to 140 billion yen, as weaker oil prices and the firmer yen are set to hit inventory valuation.

Idemitsu said its inventory valuation was expected to decrease on an assumption of Dubai oil prices at USD80 per barrel and the yen at 130 to the U.S. dollar, a change from USD90 per barrel and 145 yen to the dollar previously.

"We have revised our forecasts to reflect the recent decline in crude oil prices and the currency correction," the company's executive officer, Yoshitaka Onuma, told a news conference. "The outlook of the business environment is uncertain due to mixed factors such as concerns of an economic slowdown caused by global inflation and expectations of recovery in demand thanks to relaxation of China's zero-COVID-19 policy," he said.

Net profit in April-December increased 25% to 250 billion yen, supported by higher coal prices and gains from asset disposal. Improved operating earnings from its Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical in Vietnam due to stronger export margins also lent support, Onuma said.

The company also said it would spend 60 billion yen to buy back 9.7% of its shares, and will cancel them by March-end 2024 "to increase mid- to long-term shareholder value". In January, Vietnam asked Japan for support to "restructure stakes" at Nghi Son, Vietnam's largest oil refinery, but an Idemitsu spokesperson said there was no consideration of a change in the equity structure of the refinery, in which it owns 35.1% stake.

We remind, Toray Industries, Inc., and Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd. have agreed to build a supply chain for plastics made from biomass naphtha. They would manufacture biomass styrene monomer derived from biomass naphtha and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) resin made from that monomer.

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Solvay receives compensation of EUR91.632 million after decisions by the International Chamber of Commerce's arbitration tribunal, the Swiss Supreme Court, and the Milan Court of Appeal, all of which ruled in favor of Solvay, said the company.

The outcome follows more than 10 years of legal proceedings in relation to Solvay’s claims of environmental breaches by Edison, a subsidiary of EDF, in the context of Solvay's acquisition of the Italian company Ausimont in 2002.

The compensation relates to costs, losses and damages suffered by Solvay up to the end of 2016. Additional arbitration procedures are currently ongoing regarding costs, losses and damages suffered by Solvay from January 2017 onwards. Solvay is confident in the merits of its claim for additional significant compensation for damage in this second phase and expects proceedings to conclude in 2024.

We remind, Solvay in advanced negotiations to divest its stake in Rusvinyl. The company confirms it is in advanced negotiations to divest its stake in Rusvinyl, an independent 50/50 joint venture in Russia, to its joint venture partner, Sibur. In addition to the recently obtained preliminary clearance from Russian governmental authorities, the potential transaction is still subject to several other regulatory approvals. Solvay will keep the market informed if and when appropriate, in accordance with applicable law.

Solvay is a science company whose technologies bring benefits to many aspects of daily life. With more than 21,000 employees in 63 countries, Solvay bonds people, ideas and elements to reinvent progress.

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PTT Global Chemical made a fourth-quarter net loss of Thai baht (Bt) 968m ($29m), with revenues down more than 10% due to a scheduled refinery shutdown and weak petrochemical demand that reduced product prices, said the Thailand-based producer.

Its polymers and chemicals business segmentrecorded adjusted earnings before interest, tax and depreciation (EBITDA) of Bt53m, 98% down year on year, while performance chemicals fared better over the period, logging a 10.2% year-on-year rise in earnings.

The company’s refinery was shut for most of October-December 2022, with the turnaround lasting 49 days, it said.

“The polymers market demand was under pressure mainly due to the zero-COVID policy in China, which led to lockdowns in many cities and impacted the slowdown in demand,” PTTGC said in a statement, adding that concerns about global recession also weighed down on the market.

“In addition, the inventory of buyers remains in a wait-and-see mode while the supply was adequate and increased from higher production in China, and imports from North America and the Middle East to Asia, despite some producers reducing their operating rates in this quarter,” it said.

For the whole of 2022, PTTGC made a net loss of Bt8.75bn, with chemicals' adjusted EBITDA falling 36% to Bt7.58bn.

As per MRC, Thai PTTGC is planning a capital investment of USD608 million over five years, including two start-ups this year. PTTGC's joint venture with Austrian packaging and recycling company ALPLA, called ENVICCO Ltd, is expected to produce recycled polymers at Map Ta Phut in Rayong Province. The ENVICCO plant, which can produce 30,000 tons per year of recycled polyethylene terephthalate (R-PET) and 15,000 tons per year of recycled low-density polyethylene (R-HDPE), is expected to enter commercial operation in the first quarter of 2022.

PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC) was founded on October 19, 2011 after the merger of PTT Chemical Company and PTT Aromatics and Refining Company to become the flagship of the PTT chemical group. As a result of the integration, the company's total capacity for the production of olefins and aromatics reached 8.2 million tons per year, and oil products - 280 thousand barrels per day, which makes it the largest integrated petrochemical and oil refining company not only in Thailand, but also in Asia.

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The year 2023 has started on a busy note for Linde’s plant engineering arm. For starters, Norwegian energy group Equinor has awarded the company a Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) contract for its H2H (Hydrogen to Humber) project in northeast England, said Chemanager-online.

In the plant’s design, Linde Engineering’s hydrogen and air separation technologies will be combined with Johnson Matthey’s Carbon Hydrogen (LCH) technology. A separate operation and maintenance service contract has been awarded to UK-based industrial gases company BOC, also Linde-owned. This tasks the company with operating and maintaining the facility due to start up in the Saltend Chemicals Park up in 2027.

Equinor’s 600 MW low carbon hydrogen production plant with carbon capture, touted as the first of its kind and scale, is part of a wider-reaching public plan to establish the region in northeast England as an international hub for low carbon hydrogen. The project expected to deliver 1.8 GW of LCH production within the region is also the energy group’s kick-starter for the Zero Carbon Humber effort.

To reduce emissions, several production facilities located in the park will be converted to run on hydrogen rather than natural gas. Additionally, LCH will be blended into natural gas at Equinor and SSE Thermal’s on-site Saltend power station and save the need to store around 890,000 tonnes of CO2, Linde said. By transporting hydrogen to industrial customers and capturing CO2 for safe sub-sea storage, the energy group’s project aims to make the Humber region Net Zero by 2040.

We remind, Linde, forecast higher earnings for 2023 and said it plans to invest USD7 B-USD9 B over the next two-to-three years in clean energy projects to benefit from demand from companies seeking to cut emissions.

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The United States imposed sanctions on companies it accused of playing a critical role in the production, sale and shipment of Iranian petrochemicals and petroleum to buyers in Asia, as Washington increases pressure on Tehran, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The U.S. Treasury Department in a statement said it imposed sanctions on six Iran-based petrochemical manufacturers or their subsidiaries and three firms in Malaysia and Singapore over the production, sale and shipment of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Iranian petrochemicals and petroleum.

The latest U.S. move against Iranian oil smuggling comes as efforts to revive Iran's 2015 nuclear deal have stalled and ties between the Islamic Republic and the West are increasingly strained as Iranians keep up anti-government protests.

"Iran is increasingly turning to buyers in East Asia to sell its petrochemical and petroleum products, in violation of U.S. sanctions," Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in the statement. "The United States remains focused on targeting Tehran’s sources of illicit revenue, and will continue to enforce its sanctions against those who wittingly facilitate this trade," Nelson said.

Iran's mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Thursday's move targeted firms the Treasury accused of being involved in facilitating the sale and shipment of petroleum and petrochemicals on behalf of Triliance Petrochemical Co. Ltd., which was hit with sanctions by Washington in 2020.

Among the Iranian companies targeted were petrochemical producer Amir Kabir Petrochemical Co. (AKPC), its subsidiary Simorgh Petrochemical Co. and four subsidiaries of previously sanctioned Marun Petrochemical Co. Treasury said Triliance has purchased millions of dollars worth of low-density polyethylene produced by AKPC for shipment to buyers in China.

Treasury accused Singapore-based Asia Fuel PTE. Ltd., which was also targeted, of facilitating the shipment of petroleum products worth millions of dollars to customers in East Asia. Sense Shipping and Trading SDN. BHD. in Malaysia and Singapore-based Unicious Energy PTE. Ltd. were also hit with sanctions.

The action freezes any U.S. assets of those hit with sanctions and generally bars Americans from dealing with them. Those that engage in certain transactions with the companies also risk being hit with sanctions.

We remind, the U.S. imposed sanctions on companies it accused of playing a critical role in the production, sale and shipment of Iranian petrochemicals and petroleum to buyers in Asia, as Washington increases pressure on Tehran.
The U.S. Treasury Department in a statement said it imposed sanctions on six Iran-based petrochemical manufacturers or their subsidiaries and three firms in Malaysia and Singapore over the production, sale and shipment of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Iranian petrochemicals and petroleum.

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