Australia heads for second year of record gasoline, diesel imports

Australia's gasoline and diesel imports are expected to rise 2% to hit a record for a second straight year due to a drop in domestic production and a post-COVID economic recovery boosting fuel demand, traders, analysts and an industry source said, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

In the near term, gasoline imports are set to jump due to a roughly five-week outage at a gasoline-making unit at Ampol's Lytton refinery in Brisbane followed by maintenance work in May at Viva Energy's refinery near Melbourne.

This presents an opportunity for sellers in Singapore and South Korea, whose supplies make up around half of total Australian gasoil imports and nearly 80% of gasoline purchases, data from Wood Mackenzie and Rystad Energy showed.

Australia's growing appetite for gasoline imports, following the closure of two refineries in 2021, is likely to help boost Asian refining margins, which have already more than doubled so far this year.

We remind, China's mega private refineries are expected to operate at full processing rates or higher until April as their margins have improved after the government lifted COVID-19 restrictions. The rise in crude demand at Zhejiang Petrochemical (ZPC) and Hengli Petrochemical, which account for 6.5% of China's refining capacity, will lift crude imports by the world's top importer, with volumes expected to hit record levels this year and support global prices.


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Kraton plans a “significant expansion” of styrene-butadiene-styrene block copolymers (SBS) capacity at its plant in Belpre, Ohio, starting in 2024, said the company.

By 2025, SBS production capacity is expected to increase by 24,000/year, it added. “This expansion supports our growth strategy and our customer's growing demand for SBS in North America," said Holger Jung, Kraton Polymers CEO.

Last year, global supply chain challenges and force majeures impacted Kraton’s business, “but we have successfully navigated and emerged stronger”, Jung said.

To further grow its SBS capacity in north America, Kraton is exploring additional manufacturing expansion opportunities to strengthen its regional position, it said. Financial details were not disclosed.

We remind, Kraton Corporation announced a general price increase of up to 20% across its crude tall oil (CTO) refinery products and derivatives, it said in a press release. The increase will be effective 1 July, or as contracts allow. Kraton is targeting the increase alongside a continued supply and demand imbalance in the market.

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DCC plc, the leading international sales, marketing and support services group, has partnered with Oberon Fuels, the leading producer of renewable dimethyl ether (DME), to advance the design, construction and operations of multiple renewable DME production plants in Europe, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The companies have completed an initial feasibility study, which confirmed significant market demand for a renewable substitute for Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG). Both companies will now further investigate sustainable and scalable supply chains of renewable feedstocks, as well as advantageous locations for production plants.

Once adequate feedstocks and appropriate sites have been established Oberon will construct and operate the renewable DME production facilities and DCC Energy will commit to buying Oberon’s renewable DME as an offtake partner. DCC Energy will lead with energy by supplying its customers with significant volumes of renewable DME to help them to decarbonize.

DME blended with LPG can be used in existing residential, commercial and industrial applications without any need for investment. After minor modifications to infrastructure, pure renewable DME is a drop-in energy source for existing applications. DME is stored, transported and dispensed using existing LPG vehicles and equipment which makes it quick to deploy, efficient and cost-effective. It reduces carbon emissions immediately, which is of vital importance to off (natural gas) grid customers.

We remind, China's mega private refineries are expected to operate at full processing rates or higher until April as their margins have improved after the government lifted COVID-19 restrictions. The rise in crude demand at Zhejiang Petrochemical (ZPC) and Hengli Petrochemical, which account for 6.5% of China's refining capacity, will lift crude imports by the world's top importer, with volumes expected to hit record levels this year and support global prices.

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PetroChina reported a net profit increase of 62.1% in 2022, thanks to strong prices of oil and gas, the company said.

Chemical business encountered an operation loss of yuan (CNY) 598m (USD87m), reversing the CNY12bn profits in 2021, due to significant rise on crude-related cost. Oil, gas and new energy segment generated CNY165.7bn profits, 142% more than the previous year, boosted by prices rallies.

Ethylene production increased 10.5% to 7.4m tonnes. Capital expenditure (capex) stood at CNY274.3bn, up by 9.2% from 2021.

The company expects that global economy to continue recovering but at a slower pace, with many uncertainties and crude prices may face high volatility in 2023. China’s economic growth will rebound, driving up demand recoveries of refined oil, while competition will remain fierce.

The company targets to produce 1,727.7m barrels of oil equivalent (boe) of oil and gas in 2023, an increase of 2.5% from the 1,685.4m boe in 2022. PetroChina aims to process 1,293.1m bbls of crude oil in 2023, up by 6.6% from 2022. Capex in 2023 is expected to decrease to CNY243.5bn, which is 11% less than 2022.

We remind, China’s biggest oil and gas producer PetroChina posted a big 71.5% increase on net profits in the third quarter, thanks to strengthening oil prices, the company announced.

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Enterprise Products Partners has a plan to complete about USD6.1bn worth of capital expenditures, the company announced.

Among the upcoming projects is the Morgan’s Point plant and terminal flexibility upgrade, located at the Enterprise facility in La Porte, Texas. As part of the plan, a 120,000 bbl/day train would be converted to a flex unit in the second half of 2024.

In 2025, a 900,000 bbl refrigerated ethane tank is due to be completed. The facility currently produces 500,000 gal/day of MTBE. Enterprise also plans an expansion project at its Beaumont, Texas, location.

In the second half of 2025, a 120,000 bbl/day refrigeration train is set to be completed, as well as a 900,000 bbl refrigerated ethane tank. The tanks are expected to enable capability to load at 45,000 bbl/hour onto a vessel (over 2m bbl/day across terminals.)

In order to meet growing demand, Enterprise also plans an expansion at its Houston Ship Channel hydrocarbon terminal in Texas. To be completed in the first half of 2025, Enterprise said the expansion would optimise refrigeration for greater product flexibility.

The expansion would create the ability to fully refrigerate polymer-grade propylene (PGP) exports, allowing for dual cargo liquid petroleum gas (LPG) and PGP loadings, and would increase total load max rates to 43,000 bbl/day.

We remind, a joint venture made up of Enterprise Products and Navigator plans to increase the export capacity of an ethylene terminal in the US by at least 550,000 tonnes/year to up to 2m tonnes/year. The project would increase the total export capacity at the terminal to a maximum of 3m tonnes/year, Navigator said. Construction should finish by the end of 2024.

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