Asia's prices of ABS resins to decline further towards the end of the year

(ICIS) -- Asia's prices of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) resins are expected to decline further towards the end of the year because of an expected weaker demand for finished goods from the region and lower feedstock prices, market players said on Tuesday.


ABS prices have dropped to below USD 1,950/tonne (EUR 1,424/tonne) CFR (cost & freight) China this week - the lowest point in 2011 so far - with Chinese market players returning from the country's National Day holiday, according to ICIS data.


The prices were at above USD 2,150/tonne CFR China in September, the data showed. ⌠The prices are down again this week as raw material prices have fallen more, a trader in Hong Kong said.


Styrene monomer (SM) prices fell to below USD 1,350/tonne CFR China for the week ended 7 October, while acrylonitrile (ACN) prices dropped to USD 1,850/tonne CFR NE (northeast) Asia.
Butadiene (BD) prices declined by USD 250/tonne to around USD 2,500/tonne CFR NE Asia last week.


MRC

More US Marcellus projects needed to absorb ethane production

(ICIS) -- Additional infrastructure in the US Marcellus shale region will be needed by 2016 to keep pace with growing ethane production and prevent a stall in the drilling of rich gas, an industry analyst said on Monday. ⌠I feel good about more announcements to come, said senior natural gas liquids (NGL) analyst Jennifer Brickle with Bentek Energy. By 2016, current processing and fractionation will be unable to absorb ethane production and more infrastructure will be needed, she said.


Ethane supplies in the Marcellus are expected to grow by 25% by 2016. Ethane production will exceed expected infrastructure capacities by tens of thousands of barrels, she said.


Shell and Dow Chemical have expressed interest in building fractionators in the US northeast.
Currently, gas processing capacity in Pennsylvania and West Virginia is 162m cubic feet/day (4.58m cubic metres/day), of which MarkWest owns 62% and Dominon owns 20%.


MRC

SIBUR and Sinopec plan two JV and extend their cooperation

(Sibur) -- Within the framework of the working visit to China by Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, one of the world's largest energy and chemical companies, China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec Corp.) and Russia's leading petrochemical holding company SIBUR have entered into a Memorandum of Extended Cooperation on the possible formation of two joint ventures for the production of butadiene nitrile rubber (NBR) in Krasnoyarsk (Russia) and Shanghai (China). The Parties are also considering cooperating in the area of polyisopren rubber (IR) and in other areas, including the petrochemical feedstock supply and the supply of unconventional sources of feedstock to Russia and China. In addition they have agreed to hold talks about co-operation opportunities in upstream and downstream.


If joint ventures are formed, SIBUR will provide polymerization and finishing technology for two of them. The existing NBR assets of the Krasnoyarsk rubber plant in Russia will be expanded to 56,000 tons per year, and the Shanghai facility will have a production capacity of approximately 50,000 tons per year.


MRC

Royal Dutch Shell bought naphtha and gasoil in Singapore

(Bloomberg) -- Shell bought naphtha for first-half December at USD 874 a metric ton, according to a Bloomberg survey of traders monitoring transactions on the Platts window. The seller was Glencore International AG, which sold three times in the previous two days. Naphtha's premium to London-traded Brent crude futures declined USD 5.88 to USD 68.42 a ton at 5:45 p.m. Singapore time, based on Bloomberg data. This crack spread, a measure of refining profit, was the narrowest since July 7.


MRC

Total SA's overhaul of its refining and petrochemicals businesses isn't in preparation for a sale

(Bloomberg) -- Total SA's overhaul of its refining, petrochemicals and marketing businesses isn't in preparation for a sale, Chief Executive Officer Christophe de Margerie said. ⌠No, there is no planned IPO or sale, he said at a briefing to discuss the merger of the refining and petrochemicals divisions and creation of a separate fuel- marketing operation. ⌠One can never say never, but our biggest preoccupation is to make this tool better performing. Total, Europe's biggest refiner, said there won't be job cuts following the reorganization.


⌠There is urgency because the market is bad. The European market is not growing, Margerie said today, adding that refining margins were negative in August and early September and have now climbed to about USD 22 a ton.


De Margerie raised a profit target for the refining and marketing business between 2010 and 2014.


The aim of the plan is to ⌠unlock value for the activities, even in European and U.S. markets where demand for fuel products is decreasing, he said. ⌠I think we can make refining and chemicals profitable in Europe.


Europe's third-largest oil company has reduced refining through the closure of its plant near Dunkirk in France, capacity reduction at Normandy and the sale of its 49 percent stake in Spain's Cia. Espanola de Petroleos SA. Total is also trying to sell its Lindsey plant in the U.K.


MRC