PetroChina's 2023 net income up 8.3% on strong fuel, gas sales

PetroChina's net profit rose 8.3% last year off record levels in 2022, as strong growth in natural gas sales and its marketing segment offset lower realised oil prices, said Reuters.

PetroChina's net profit amounted to 161.1 billion yuan($22.34 billion) in 2023, versus 148.7 billion in 2022, while revenue fell 7.0% to 3,239 billion yuan, the firm said in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Monday.

Operating profit for the natural gas segment more than tripled to 43.0 billion yuan from around 13.0 billion yuan, while operating profit in the marketing segment rose 66.7% on the previous year. The average realised price for crude oil fell by 16.8% compared to 2022 levels.

The national energy giant produced 937.1 million barrels of crude oil last year, or 2.57 million barrels per day, up 3.4% over the previous year (906.2 mln bbl). Natural gas output was up 5.5% at 4,932.4 billion cubic feet (bcf).

Refinery crude throughput rose 15.3% to 1,398.8 million barrels, or 3.83 million barrels per day, reversing the previous year's 1% decline due to a strong recovery in gasoline and aviation fuel demand as China dropped pandemic curbs.

PetroChina recorded a 17.3% increase in domestic sales of gasoline, diesel and kerosene combined, with domestic kerosene sales surging by 82.1% on 2022. The group's chemical new materials output increased 60.0% on last year.
The refining segment "seized the favourable opportunity of market recovery" and "improved the proportion of featured refined products and high-end chemical products," the statement said.

PetroChina forecasts this year's crude oil output to fall by 3% to 909.2 million barrels. Natural gas output is expected to increase by 4% to 5,142.6 bcf. It also aimed for a 0.3% growth in refinery output this year.

We remind, Petrochina Guangxi has entered into a license agreement with Grace to use its Unipol PP technology for its new 400 kilotons per annum single reactor line in China. With this move, Petrochina Guangxi aims to deliver higher value PP products to the local market. Grace has announced the signing of a new license with Petrochina Guangxi to develop a 400-kilotons per annum single reactor line using its Unipol PP technology.

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Dow has formulated a breakthrough option of polyolefin elastomers (POE) based artificial leather - a solution to address the automotive industry’s need to shift towards increasingly animal-free product alternatives to leather, said the company.

The POE alternative leather option has been commercialized by HIUV Materials Technology, a China-based partner and qualified by an electric car manufacturer in their auto seatings application.

Key benefits of Dow’s POE leather option include:

An ultra-soft tactility with better color stability, empowering designers with more flexibility on the choice of color, especially light colors.
Good aging and low temperature resistance, meeting the strict requirements of the automotive industry.
Elimination of hazardous chemicals, plasticizers, and heavy-metals materials.
Low volatile organic compounds (VOC) and odor.
25% to 40% lighter weight than PVC leather due to lower density.
“With Dow’s long-standing expertise in materials science, we are thrilled to bring this high-performance animal-free leather option to market.” said Bambang Candra, Asia Pacific commercial vice president of Dow Packaging and Specialty Plastics. “We look forward to more value-chain collaborations with forward-looking brands to discover new possibilities for our POE leather option in the automotive market and beyond.”

Beyond automotive, this innovative option can be applied in other applications including sporting goods, furniture, and fashion and accessories, fulfilling brand owners’ requirements for a new option that meets the stringent demand for product appearance and customer experience with cost-effective positioning.

For more information about innovative, cutting-edge solutions that keep the world moving, visit MobilityScience™ | Dow Inc.

We remind, Dow Inc. said it plans to build a world-scale carbonate solvents plant on the US Gulf Coast, using captured carbon dioxide from ethylene oxide (EO) production. The plant will serve customers in the lithium-ion battery sector, in which carbonate solvents are used a component in electrolytes.

Dow is one of the world’s leading materials science companies, serving customers in high-growth markets such as packaging, infrastructure, mobility and consumer applications. Our global breadth, asset integration and scale, focused innovation, leading business positions and commitment to sustainability enable us to achieve profitable growth and help deliver a sustainable future. We operate manufacturing sites in 31 countries and employ approximately 35,900 people. Dow delivered sales of approximately $45 billion in 2023.

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Dow Inc. said it plans to build a world-scale carbonate solvents plant on the US Gulf Coast, using captured carbon dioxide from ethylene oxide (EO) production, said the company.

The plant will serve customers in the lithium-ion battery sector, in which carbonate solvents are used a component in electrolytes.

The project “is supported by agreements with customers, including leading EV original equipment manufacturers and electrolyte manufacturers,” Dow said. The facility will produce carbonate solvents by capturing over 90% of carbon dioxide emissions from the EO manufacturing process, Dow added.

Dow is also working with the US Department of Energy (DOE) to negotiate an award for the project from the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED).

“The support from the DOE is a critical enabler of this project, localizing the supply of low-carbon value-added products to help enable the clean energy transition while advancing the decarbonization of our own operations,” said Brendy Lange, business vice president/industrial solutions at Dow.

We remind, Dow's project to build a new ethylene and derivatives complex at its site in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, Canada, has received local approval due to its focus on carbon-neutral production.

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Eastman announced significant progress towards its leadership in the circular economy, said the company.

Selected by the Department of Energy as one of 33 companies for award negotiations to support Eastman’s second U.S. molecular recycling facility. Eastman’s second U.S. molecular recycling project has been selected by the Department of Energy (DOE) to begin award negotiations for up to USD375 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act funding as part of the Industrial Demonstrations Program (IDP). The DOE announcement led to Eastman announcing the intent to build a second U.S. molecular recycling facility at its location in Longview, Texas.

The company selected the Longview site due to synergies with existing infrastructure and operations, favorable energy supply and footprint, and access to western and central U.S. feedstock pools. The location also provides enough space for onsite renewable energy. The investment includes operations that will prepare mixed plastic waste for processing, Eastman’s next-generation molecular recycling unit to depolymerize waste, and a polymer facility to create virgin-quality materials for packaging and textiles. The Longview molecular recycling facility will have the capacity to recycle approximately 110,000 metric tonnes of hard-to-recycle plastic waste.

The investment is expected to bring over 200 full-time, high-paying jobs to the Longview community in addition to approximately 1,000 temporary construction jobs during site development and building of the facility. Eastman has operated in the Longview community for over 70 years and currently has over 1,500 team members at the location.

“We are excited to build our second U.S. world-scale molecular recycling facility at our existing site in Texas,” said Mark Costa, Board Chair and CEO. “The plant will remove significant waste from the region, enable true circularity and set a new benchmark for decarbonization. We have decades of history successfully operating in Longview, and this will be a great investment for the local community.”

We remind, Eastman has selected Meade-King Robinson & Co. Ltd. (MKR) as the exclusive distributor of Synergex™ multifunctional amine additives in several countries in Western and Eastern Europe. Synergex boosts performance and extends the life of metalworking fluids.

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OMV announced today two acquisitions to strengthen its refinery and supply chain integration and improve the coverage of its existing filling station network in key markets in Europe, said the company.

First, it has agreed to acquire AP Newco GmbH following approval from its supervisory board. OMV will acquire a filling station network encompassing nine sites and cooperation contracts for three additional sites, which cater for the commercial road transport (CRT) sector with corresponding high diesel sales.

The commercial road transport AP sites are primarily located in Salzburg and Tyrol, Austria, along the highly frequented transit routes of northwestern to southern Europe. Closing is expected in the fourth quarter of 2024, subject to regulatory approvals. Financial details were not disclosed.

In addition, OMV is acquiring 21 filling stations in Slovakia from Benzinol, with an option to acquire a further six filling stations. They are mainly located in western and northern central Slovakia. OMV already operates 105 filling stations in Slovakia and the acquisition will confirm its position as the second largest player in the local market. Closing is expected in the second quarter of this year, subject to regulatory approvals. Financial details were not disclosed.

Through the acquisition of the AP filling stations, OMV will strengthen its long-term presence in the CRT market, supplying fuel to long-haul trucks from its nearby refineries in Burghausen, Germany, and Schwechat, Austria. This service will be provided mainly through direct fleet management agreements in the form of fuel cards.

Furthermore, the new sites in Austria and Slovakia represent an extended infrastructure platform for OMV’s ongoing efforts to decarbonize the transport sector by offering a range of biofuels e.g., hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO100), as well as 2,000 ultra-fast chargers for e-mobility under the eMotion brand in key European markets by 2030. OMV recently put into operation its first ultra-fast electric charger for trucks in Volkermarkt, Austria, and plans to have charging infrastructure for trucks installed on all main transport routes in the country by 2026.

“The transactions announced today strengthen our integrated supply chain around OMV’s key European refineries enabling improved refinery utilization rates. The new sites also act as a catalyst for our mobility transformation strategy, which aims at helping our customers reduce emissions through our second-generation biofuels offering and ultra-fast charging e-mobility roll-out,” said Martijn van Koten, OMV Executive Vice President Fuels & Feedstock.

We remind, OMV Petrom, the largest integrated energy producer in South-eastern Europe, announces the signing of two financing contracts through the NRRP, for the construction of two production facilities for green hydrogen with a total capacity of 55 MW at the Petrobrazi refinery.

OMV operates a strong multi-brand retail network of approximately 1,700 filling stations in Central and Eastern Europe (Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, and Moldova). The wide range of brands in the filling station business extends from top-quality brand OMV to automated stations DISKONT and Avanti, offering favorable prices. The manned filling stations of OMV are multi-functional service hubs, offering fuels, lubricants, and car wash services. In addition, convenience stores stock refreshments, basic groceries, and fresh products.


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