Venezuela's president appoints new head for state petrochemical company Pequiven

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday appointed Ninoska La Concha as new head of state petrochemical company Pequiven, replacing oil minister Pedro Tellechea, who since March had held three key positions supervising the country's energy industry, as per Reuters.

Following a wide anti-corruption effort in the energy sector that led to the arrest of some 40 officials and businessmen, Maduro accepted the resignation of then powerful oil minister Tareck El Aissami, appointing Tellechea as minister and keeping him also as president of state companies Pequiven and PDVSA.

La Concha's appointment, which was published in the Official Gazette and announced by Tellechea on social media, limits the scope of Tellechea's role, whose main target is to double the OPEC nation's crude output to some 1.7 million barrels per day by 2024.

Pequiven is key for Venezuela's cash flow by providing proceeds from exports of petrochemical products, including methanol, urea and ammonia. La Concha was previously the head of one of Pequiven's subsidiaries, the Barranquilla-based Monomeros Colombo Venezolanos.

We remind, Venezuela is not willing to halt productive operations during contract audits that have led to the arrest of businessmen and officials, and to disputes with customers and partners of state company PDVSA. In June, a contract between PDVSA and Maroil Trading, a Geneva-based company owned by Venezuelan tycoon Wilmer Ruperti, became entangled in a dispute over payments, triggering the suspension of most exports of petroleum coke from the South American country.

mrchub.com

Colombia's majority state-owned oil company Ecopetrol will invest between USD1.2 B and USD1.3 B over the next seven years in cleaner and better fuels, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

"The goal is, in the next seven years from now to 2030, to make investments of close to USD1.3 B or USD1.2 B to have clean gasoline," Roa said at a debate before the fifth commission of the chamber of representatives. The investment will help cut the sulfur content in gasoline produced by Ecopetrol. High levels of sulfur in gasoline and diesel fuel have been blamed for serious health problems, increased mortality, and property damage.

Ecopetrol has already invested close to USD450 MM in recent years to bring the sulfur content in its gasoline down to 45 parts per million, Roa said.

The new investment is aimed at cutting the sulfur content in gasoline produced by Ecopetrol to fewer than 10 parts per million, he added.

Ecopetrol previously reported it will invest between around USD6.1 B and USD7.2 B this year to speed the transition toward renewable energies and help Colombian maintain energy self-sufficiency, among other investments.

We remind, Ecopetrol is managing to sustain sales to Asia at about 45% of its crude oil production though rivalry from Russian oil is forcing it to offer deeper discounts. It has maintained long-term supply contracts with key customers especially in China and is diversifying its sales to buyers in South Korea, India and the Gulf of Mexico, Ecopetrol Chief Financial Officer Jaime Caballero Uribe told Reuters on the sideline of the Energy Asia conference.

mrchub.com

In July 2023, our polyolefin (PO) compounding site in Monza, Italy received International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC PLUS), said the company.

With this latest certification, we have achieved the milestone of having all our European PO and PO compounding sites as well as our recycling sites in Oostende, Belgium, and in Austria ISCC PLUS certified.

ISCC PLUS is a global certification that covers the entire supply chain based on mass balance accounting, from raw material to final product, guaranteeing compliance with highest environmental and social standards. By establishing a chain of custody, it ensures traceability for both recyclate-based and renewable-based materials. It also verifies that the mass balance accounting follows predefined and transparent rules.

With the certification of our Monza site, we are now able to offer circular PO products manufactured with renewable feedstocks () and grades based on chemically recycled feedstock () as part of our Monza PO compounds portfolio.

We remind, Borealis will acquire Italian mechanical recycled polypropylene (R-PP) compounder Rialti. Rialti has a nameplate output capacity of 50,000 tonnes/year of compounded R-PP. The announcement comes amid tough trading conditions for flake and pellet producers and compounders in the R-PP chain. As a result of tough trading conditions, players across recycled polymers have been predicting consolidation would occur in the chain since Q4 - either through mergers and acquisitions or through bankruptcy.

mrchub.com

Celanese Corporation will showcase its full range of engineered material solutions for advanced mobility at the 2023 Battery Show North America taking place September 12-14 in Novi, Michigan, said the company.

These offerings are helping to accelerate innovation for advanced mobility applications, many of which rely heavily on engineering thermoplastics.

• New Overmolding Materials: Three new Fortron® PPS grades with excellent thermal shock resistance, formulated for metal over-molding applications to mitigate part fracture or loss of function are ideal for developing electric vehicle (EV) components, such as busbars, fluid pumps, sealed systems and electrical connectors. Both Forton® PPS and Zytel™ HTN are also featured in a Celanese material-process-service solution for overmolding busbars to reduce manufacturing time and cost while maintaining performance and safety standards.

• Battery Demonstrator: This EV battery replica with cutaway sections shows numerous assemblies and components produced with Celanese materials, including thermal management, structural components and energy and electrical systems.

• All-in-1 EV Battery Module Prototype: Based on tab cooling, structural thermoplastic cooling channels and an electrical connection plate, this concept can increase energy density through functional integration of parts, subsequently extending vehicle range and boosting thermal management.

We remind, Celanese is delaying the start-up of its new acetic acid plant in Clear Lake, Texas. Celanese had mechanically completed the project and had begun commissioning when it discovered defects in some of the high-metallurgy components from the manufacturing process of its supplier, the company said. These parts must be replaced before start-up.

mrchub.com

Middle distillates stocks held at key storage hub Singapore slipped by 7.5% week on week as robust jet fuel outflows outweighed a surge in gasoil total imports from regional sellers, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Inventories of gasoil and jet fuel/kerosene were 7.989 million barrels (1.072 million metric tons) in the week ended Aug. 30, down from 8.635 million barrels a week ago, the data added. Jet fuel/kerosene net exports surged by around 54% week on week to above 65,000 tons as outflows to Malaysia grew.

Cargo flows to the Pacific region continued from the previous week, with key destinations being Australia, Fiji and New Zealand.

Cargo outflows to the Pacific will likely be little changed in the near term as international travel remains steady, especially as China encourages more international group travel to regions including Australia, a Singapore-based analyst said.

Below are the top contributor countries for jet fuel/kerosene exports in the week and their respective volumes (in tons): Gasoil-wise, total import volumes continued to climb - in line with earlier expectations and shiptracking data - as lucrative profits continue to draw sellers to offload cargoes into Singapore.

India volumes into Singapore remained almost steady week on week, with expectations of more arrivals until the first week of September, shiptracking data from LSEG and Kpler showed. At least two more vessels carrying up to 100,000 tons of gasoil will arrive in the next two weeks, shiptracking data from Kpler showed.

Malaysia-origin cargoes also resumed as refinery operations stabilized after some earlier unplanned outages, one trading source said.

Small volumes from Oman resurfaced after a one-month hiatus, but more are not expected to come given stronger seller margins to the West-of-Suez markets since two weeks earlier, a second source said. No September loadings from Oman to Singapore have been recorded so far on shiptracking data from LSEG.

Gasoil volumes from China to Singapore remained absent in the week, with key China oil majors selling their cargoes to other southeast Asian regions instead, one trading analyst said. Below are the top contributor countries for gasoil imports in the week and their respective volumes (in tons): Total gasoil exports fell by almost 12% week on week on lower outflows to regions including Australia, Hong Kong and Myanmar.

We remind, Sinopec Corp, is not interested in acquiring Shell's refinery or petrochemical plant in Singapore although it is keen on participating in a shale gas project in Saudi Arabia. Sinopec President Yu Baocai was speaking after sources last week told Reuters that Shell had hired Goldman Sachs to advise on a potential sale of its Singapore assets and that Sinopec was among the companies reviewing them.

mrchub.com