Vietnam's TH Group plans to open dairy plant in Russia's Kaluga Region in May

Vietnam's TH Group plans to launch the first line of a dairy plant in Russia's Kaluga Region in May, regional governor Vladislav Shapsha posted on his Telegram channel, as per Interfax.

"We have visited the construction site of the dairy plant of the TH True Milk company with the Vietnamese government's deputy prime minister. Construction and installation work is nearing completion. Equipment is being installed. The opening of the first line is scheduled for May this year," Shapsha posted.

As reported, construction began on the plant in 2018, with the investment volume estimated at $155 million. The project was supposed to be implemented in three stages, with the launch of the first stage in 2019 and reaching full capacity by 2021. The company then postponed commissioning the facility to 2024, then to 2025.

TH Group is a large manufacturer of dairy products in Vietnam.

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China's Wanhua Chemical Group has successfully started up its 1.2-MMtpy mixed-feed cracker in east China's Shandong province and achieved on-spec production of ethylene, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

In a stock exchange filing late on Thursday, the company, however, did not specify the unit's current operation rates, though two sources familiar with the matter said the cracker is running at 80%-85% for now.

Wanhua had earlier bought at least three naphtha cargoes from the Middle East totaling 132,000 tons, or more, for delivery in March and April at double-digit premiums to cost & freight Japan price quotes, multiple trade sources said.

The Yantai-based flexi-feed petrochemical cracker has the capability to use both naphtha and ethane as feedstocks, the company said.

The new cracker adds to Wanhua's existing one million ton per year ethylene plant in Yantai that started in 2020.

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PBF Energy is restarting several refinery process units at the Martinez facility that were shut after a fire broke out in February, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The process will take approximately two weeks. However, any units that were damaged or involved in the February fire, including the catalytic gas plant and catalytic feed hydrotreater will remain shut and will not begin the restart process until the fourth quarter, the company said.

On February 1, a fire at the 157,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Martinez, California refinery broke out near the 77,500-bpd catalytic feed hydrotreater, which uses hydrogen to remove sulfur from gas oil to make unfinished gasoline in the 70,000-bpd catalytic cracker.

The company said its investigation team is working to identify the cause of the fire and is expected to complete by the end of the month.

On Wednesday night, a portable air compressor at the Martinez refinery caught on fire while being refueled, injuring one person. The fire was extinguished and was unrelated to any refinery process units.

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Gas production from the Absheron field in Azerbaijan's sector of the Caspian Sea will total at least 3 billion cubic meters in the second phase of the field's development, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said at the 11th Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting and the 3rd Green Energy Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting on Friday, as per Interfax.

"And also, we are, I think, in the final stage of reaching an agreement about the expansion of production from the Absheron Field, moving to Phase 2, which will add a minimum of 3 bcm to the existing 1.5 [bcm]," Aliyev was reported as saying on the president's website.

He also said Azerbaijan's gas exports to Europe have increased by almost 60% since the country signed a declaration on strategic partnership in energy with the European Commission.

"That declaration was signed by the President of the European Commission and myself in mid-2022. In 2021, our gas supply to Europe was about 8 bcm. Last year, it was almost 13. So, it is more than half of our total export, which is 25 bcm, and which will grow. So, it is a substantial amount already today. Taking into account our plans to engage new fields and also to increase production from existing gas fields, we will definitely have much more gas for our consumers," Aliyev said.

The vice president of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR), Elshad Nasirov said at the meeting that the company expects a final investment decision on the second phase of the Absheron field to be made in 2025.

TotalEnergies and SOCAR announced the start of production under the first phase of the Absheron field's development in July 2023. First-phase production peaked at 1.5 bcm in 2024. The gas from the field's first phase is intended for Azerbaijan's domestic market.

It was previously expected that production under the project could peak at 5.5 bcm-6 bcm per year.

The Absheron block is located 100 km from Baku at a depth of 500 meters, with the contract area covering 747 square km. The initial estimate put the field's reserves at 350 bcm of gas and 100 million tonnes of condensate. The field is being developed in stages under a 30-year contract.

SOCAR and TotalEnergies each hold a stake of 35% in the project, and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) holds 30%.

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Russia's GDP grew 0.8% year-on-year in February 2025 after increasing 3.0% in January 2025, as per Interfax.

Russia's GDP grew 1.9% in January-February 2025, according to the ministry's estimates. The ministry's press service said "the dynamics of GDP in February are due to the calendar factor - in February 2025 there was 1 day less than in February 2024."

"The one additional working day could be reflected in the statistics by a fluctuation of several percentage points. If this factor were excluded, the economic growth rate in February would be comparable to that in January," the ministry said.

Industrial production rose 0.2% year-on-year in February after growing 2.2% in January, and increased by 1.2% in the first two months of 2025.

Freight traffic slumped 2.9% year-on-year in February after growing 1.3% in January, and declined by 0.7% in the two months.

Retail sales rose 2.2% year-on-year in February after growing by 5.4% in January, and increased by 3.8% in the two months. Wholesale sales fell 5.9% in February after increasing by 2.2% in January and slumped 2.0% in the two months.

Agricultural production growth slowed to 1.4% year-on-year in February from 2.1% in January and measured 1.7% in the two months.

The construction sector grew by 11.9% in February after expanding by 7.4% in January, and increased by 9.8% in the two months.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) published the summary of its discussions on the key rate, which states that the overheating Russian economy probably began to cook in the first quarter of 2025, but it is too early to tell whether this process will be sustained and sufficiently fast to reach the inflation target in 2026.

"Participants in the discussion concluded that the positive production gap in the economy [overheating] probably began to shrink in the first quarter of 2025: current inflationary pressure is decreasing, the growth of domestic demand is slowing, and there are signs of easing tension on the labor market," the summary said.

"However, at this point it is premature to talk about a sustained decrease in the overheating of the economy and say that the speed of the decrease is sufficient to return inflation to the target [of 4%] in 2026. The positive production gap in the economy remains substantial," the CBR said.

Russia's GDP expanded by 4.1% in 2024. The CBR raised its GDP growth forecast for 2025 to 1.0-2.0% from 0.5-1.5% in mid-February, while lowering its growth forecast for 2026 to 0.5-1.5% from 1.0-2.0%. The consensus forecast of analysts polled by Interfax at the start of March projected growth of 1.5% in 2025 and 1.9% in 2026.

The Economic Development Ministry's September 2024 forecast projects that GDP will grow by 2.5% in 2025, but the ministry will revise the forecast in April.

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