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

Ukrainian PP production exceeded 70,000 tonnes over 9 months

(MRC) -- This year, Ukrainian producer Linik increased the output of polypropylene (PP) by 29% to 70,200 tonnes. September was rather unsuccessful for Linik, though the company plans to increase PP output in October, according to MRC ScanPlast.

In September, Ukrainian Linik reduced PP output to 5,500 tonnes that was 28% less than in August. A week-long shutdown for turnaround as well as the accident in late September resulted in a decline of PP output. As a consequence, the Ukrainian producer cut PP supply to the domestic market at the end of the month.

In general, over the first nine months, Linik increased PP production volume to 70,200 tonnes. For comparison, during this period last year Linik's total PP output made 54,560 tonnes. Such a low production rate last year was due to May-June turnaround of all the production facilities, including oil refinery.


In October, the company plans to increase PP production up to 9,000 tonnes.


MRC

Sinopec started work on petrochemicals and polyolefins complex in Zhijin

(Plasteurope) -- Chinese chemical giant Sinopec (Beijing) has begun work on a CNY 18bn (EUR 2.1bn) coal-based petrochemicals and polyolefins complex in Zhijin, Guizhou province. The complex will include a 600,000 t/y methanol-to-olefins unit, a 300,000 t/y LDPE plant and a 300,000 t/y PP plant. The timing of the project was not disclosed.


The Chinese group also announced that it had commissioned a coal-to-liquids pilot plant in Zhenhai in August, a project it carried out in cooperation with Syntroleum Corp (Tulsa, Oklahoma).


MRC

Formosa to shut crude distillation unit and two secondary units for planned maintenance

(Reuters) - Formosa Petrochemical Corp. will shut a 180,000 barrels per day (bpd) crude distillation unit and two secondary units for planned maintenance at its 540,000 bpd refinery in Taiwan from December. The shutdown of the refinery could place some pressure on gas oil and kerosene stocks as December is usually the peak demand period for the fuel as the region's top oil consumers China and Japan use it as heating fuel for winter.


The maintenance at CDU No. 2, a vacuum distillation unit (VDU) of 80,000 bpd capacity and a 52,000 bpd VGO hydrotreating unit, will last for 40 days from the start of December, a company spokesman said on Friday.


Formosa restarted a third CDU at its refinery early September after the refinery was shut for safety reasons following a fire in end-July at a secondary unit that damaged some infrastructure, including power cables.


Formosa has also restarted the second of two residual fluid catalytic crackers (RFCC) this week after a prolonged shutdown since the end-July fire. Both RFCCs are of equal capacity at 84,000 bpd.


MRC