India March fuel demand soars on robust economic activity

India's fuel consumption jumped to a record high in March, data showed on Monday, fueled by robust economic activity in the world's third biggest oil consumer, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Consumption of fuel, a proxy for oil demand, rose by 5% from a year earlier to 4.83 million barrels per day (20.5 million tons), the highest recorded in data going back to 1998 from the Indian Oil Ministry's Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell.

Viktor Katona, lead crude analyst at Kpler, noted that bitumen, used for building roads, was the main source of growth in March, whereas transportation fuels, specifically diesel and gasoline, had been the drivers in previous months. "This is most certainly a reflection of India's robust economic growth and the infrastructure building spree still mirroring that strength."

Sales of bitumen jumped 16.5% from February, while jet fuel sales rose more than 10.4% to 0.69 million tons and diesel sales were up 11.4% to 7.80 million tons. On an annual basis, sales of gasoline, or petrol, rose 6.8% to 3.1 million tons in March, while cooking gas, or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), sales slipped 2.7% to 2.41 million tons.

Independent oil market analyst Sugandha Sachdeva said that the overall jump in consumption could have been driven by the government's increased capital expenditure allocation. "That means huge demand for construction and infra(structure) leading to more demand for oil products, especially in a pre-election year."

Increased oil products exports to Europe amid Western sanctions on Russia and a travel revival boosting jet fuel demand could be additional drivers, Sachdeva added. India outlined plans in March to invest billions of dollars in airports, aircraft and recruitment as the world's fastest-growing economy seeks to meet booming air travel demand.

But Kpler's Katona cautioned that infrastructure spending and construction could slow during the June-September monsoon season.

We remind, BASF will establish compounding capacities for its certified compostable biopolymer ecovio in Shanghai, China. Upon the successful completion of qualification trials, commercial material quantities will be available for customers throughout the region Asia-Pacific from mid-2023.

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Evonik is selling its site in Lulsdorf (Germany) and the associated cyanuric chloride business in Wesseling (Germany) to International Chemical Investors Group (ICIG, Luxembourg), said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The agreement was signed on Thursday. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price. Lulsdorf is a substantial part of the Functional Solutions business line within Evonik’s Performance Materials division. Transfer of ownership is scheduled for mid-2023. The closing of the transaction is subject to antitrust clearance and approval by the competent Evonik committees.

ICIG is an established Luxembourg-based chemicals investor. The company has approximately 4,800 employees and generated sales of around €4 B last year. It has extensive expertise in the development of sites and business units that no longer are part of the core business of other enterprises.

ICIG has given contractual assurances that the sale will not alter the rights of the employees at the sites. Thomas Wessel, Chief Human Resources Officer at Evonik: “It’s good that our employees in Lulsdorf and the associated business in Wesseling will find themselves in established and experienced hands. That is, and always has been, our precondition in every divestment process.” For example, the agreement excludes dismissals for operational reasons following the transaction until 2032.

In conjunction with the divestment of this site, Evonik is realigning the three businesses of the Functional Solutions business line. With this sale, Evonik will completely divest the production of potassium derivatives and cyanuric chloride, which takes place exclusively in Lulsdorf and Wesseling. As planned, Evonik is retaining the business with alkoxides for biodiesel, which are produced at two further sites apart from Lulsdorf. This business was integrated into the Catalysts business line in the Smart Materials division effective January 1, 2023. ICIG will produce alkoxides at the Lulsdorf site exclusively for Evonik until 2027. In total, the businesses to be divested generated sales of around €260 MMn in 2022.

Evonik started preparing the sale of the Lulsdorf site in fall 2021. The company is now realizing its preferred solution, selling the entire site to a new owner. Plans by another investor to produce ethylene oxide in Lulsdorf had previously caused public concern. The sale to ICIG marks the definitive end of these plans. Instead, ICIG intends to invest in facilities for renewable energies in addition to strengthening the existing production in Lulsdorf.

We remind, Evonik Catalysts is fully on track to expand its production capacities for activated nickel powder catalysts marketed under the KALCAT and Metalyst brands at its production sites in Hanau, Germany, and Dombivli near Mumbai, India.

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Placon, a leading designer and manufacturer of custom and stock plastic packaging, has been awarded a grant to catalyze their investment in new front-end sorting equipment, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

This new equipment will enable Placon to capture around 10% more polyethylene terephthalate (PET) from incoming Material Recovery Facility (MRF) bales, allowing their Madison, WI PET recycling facility to source more material from its regional MRFs and facilitating the inclusion of PET thermoforms in those MRF bales for reclamation alongside PET bottles.

The Recycling Partnership’s PET Recycling Coalition awarded the grant as part of their Pathway to Circularity initiative. The program’s end goal is to create scalable packaging solutions and accelerate the transition to a circular economy.

Placon’s investment in new sorting equipment aligns with the PET Recycling Coalition’s mission to improve PET circularity and transform the recycling system. By upgrading the efficiency of the recycling system and optimizing the flow of recycled PET, Placon and the PET Recycling Coalition are working together to unlock the environmental and economic benefits of PET recycling.

“Placon’s dedication to creating a more sustainable future for our planet has been a cornerstone of our business since day one,” said Dan Mohs, Chairman and CEO of Placon. “Receiving the PET Recycling Coalition grant is a significant milestone for us, as it enables us to invest in new sorting equipment to capture more PET and support a circular economy. This investment is yet another testament to our commitment to minimizing our environmental impact and creating a better future for all.”

We remind, Taiwanese regulators have recently granted supply licences to major producers of recycled polyethylene terephthalate (R-PET) for food-grade applications in the domestic market. Far Eastern New Century, the biggest R-PET exporter in Asia, received its local supply license from Taiwan’s Ministry of Health and Welfare in December 2022.

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Brazil's inflation likely stayed high in March on rising gasoline bills, reigniting cost of living problems in the country's stagnant economy and probably stoking more disagreement over policy, a Reuters poll showed.

Consumer prices cooled in the second half of 2022 in reaction to an aggressive tightening campaign by the central bank. But inflation pressures reemerged after President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took office at the start of this year.

The monthly report on consumer prices scheduled for Tuesday could again push back expectations for policy easing towards the end of this year and reinforce Lula's view the Bank's hawkish approach is proving ineffective. The benchmark consumer price index IPCA increased 0.77% in March, according to the median estimate of 13 economists polled March 29-April 3. This would stand very close to the 0.84% rate in February, which had been the quickest in 10 months.

"Food inflation should remain at low levels for this time of the year... (but) the partial resumption of federal taxes on gasoline and ethanol on March 1 will take a toll in the March IPCA," Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in a report. The reinstatement of taxes on fuels already tinged March mid-month inflation figures, which came in higher than forecast, dampening any expectations Banco Central do Brasil may begin to cut its benchmark rate, currently at 13.75%, in the short term.

The 12-month reading for last month is seen at 4.70%, under 5.60% in February and the lowest in more than two years due to base effects. Brazil's IBGE statistics agency will publish the data on Tuesday at 0900 local time (1200 GMT). A 0.77% inflation rate in March would result in a cumulative 2.2% clip in the first quarter, well on course to surpass this year's goal of 3.25% with a margin of 1.5 percentage points.

Last week Lula hinted the government may seek changes in the target to allow for rate cuts sooner, an idea central bank governor Roberto Campos Neto - a member of a committee that sets the goal - has rejected. The panel is comprised by the bank's chief and the ministers of finance and planning, who think the fuel tax and other revenue-boosting planned measures will help lower inflation by eventually closing the primary deficit.

We remind, Chevron Lummus Global LLC (CLG) announced a recent contract award from Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras) for a new 12,580 BPD hydroisodewaxing (HIDW) unit at the GasLub Hub, a lubricant plant in Itaborai, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil. Chevron Lummus Global's scope includes the technology license, basic design engineering, and research unit testing services.

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Russia has increased its diesel exports to Brazil and other parts of Latin America following an embargo on shipments to Europe, traders said and Refinitiv Eikon data showed, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Russia has long been the main diesel supplier for Europe, where refineries do not produce enough fuel to meet domestic demand for diesel cars. But a full EU embargo on Russian oil products since Feb. 5 has diverted Russian diesel exports to Asia, Africa, the Middle East and STS loadings.

Last month, Russia also sent more than 580,000 tons to Latin and South America, with almost 440,000 tons of those volumes heading to Brazil, another 140,000 tons are destined to Panama, Uruguay and Cuba, Refinitiv data showed.

In total, diesel supplies from Russia-controlled ports to Brazil totaled 663,000 tons in January-March, 2023 after 74,000 tons for the whole 2022, according to Refinitiv data.

At least one diesel cargo from Russia was shipped from one tanker to another near the port of Lome in Togo last month and was then headed for South America, possibly Brazil, according to Refinitiv Eikon data.

We remind, Singapore's imports of Russian naphtha nearly tripled in the first quarter of 2023, government data showed, after the European Union banned oil products imports from Russia. The Asia oil hub imported 741,000 tons of Russian naphtha in the period, accounting for about 23% of Singapore's total imports of the refined product, a Reuters calculation based on Enterprise Singapore data showed. This jumped from about 261,000 tons imported in the fourth quarter last year, the data showed.

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