MRC news digest as of 11.02.13.

MOSCOW (MRC) -- MRC news digest as of 11.02.13.

1. European makers to keep January PE prices for CIS countries this month.

Reduction of ethylene contract prices in Europe and weak demand from overseas markets made European makers keep prices of polyethylene (PE) for February for CIS countries at the January level, according to ICIS-MRC Price Report. Though the contract price of ethylene for February was settled at the level of January, many European makers aimed to increase the price of PE. However, amid low demand from foreign markets and the strengthening of the euro, some European producers were forced to keep the January price of polyethylene for February for the CIS markets. Negotiations on February prices of European polyethylene have just begun, but some players already reported that they managed to avoid the price increase.

2. Kazanorgsintez raised contract prices of LDPE.

Kazanorgsintez announced an increase in contract prices of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) to be shipped in February for the domestic market. Other Russian producers also announced the need for a price increase of LDPE, according to ICIS-MRC Price report. The prices for the material to be shipped in February grew by Rb300-500/tonne, excluding VAT. Other Russian producers also reported a necessity for the price increase of low-density polyethylene. At the end of last week, Gazprom neftekhim Salavat raised its LDPE price by Rb1,000/tonne, price offers for PE 158 were voiced at the level of Rb 53,500/tonne, FCA Salavat, including VAT. In January, Angarsk polymer plant raised twice the price of polyethylene for the domestic market, citing its limited amounts of material for the domestic market.Ufaorgsintez reported repeatedly the need for a price increase of LDPE for the domestic market.

3. European producers raised polypropylene prices for the CIS markets.

On Monday, negotiations on European polypropylene (PP) prices for the CIS markets began. Some European producers reported the need to increase PP prices by EUR30/tonne, according to ICIS-MRC Price report. The contract price of propylene in Europe for February was agreed by EUR10/tonne higher than the January level. Negotiations on the prices of European polypropylene for February for the CIS markets started earlier this week. Some European producers announced that they raised export prices by EUR30/tonne, converserly, other producers reduces their prices. The January level of export prices of European homopolymer of propylene (PP-homo) for the CIS countries has been agreed in the range of EUR1,210-1,250/tonne, FCA. In February, on the increase of the contract price of propylene, some producers reported the necessity to further raise PP prices.

4. PET prices to grow in February for CIS countries.

In the first week of February, the major suppliers of PET granulate in CIS countries started to raise prices, citing rising cost of feedstock and growing PET prices in the Asian markets, according to a ICIS-MRC Price Report. Despite the fact that this week buying activity in China is weak, the market players are sure that after the Chinese New Year, prices are likely to rise. Many Asian makers aim to raise prices after the holidays on growing PTA quotations. This week price quotations of Chinese PET, with delivery to Central region of Russia, have increased by USD20/tonne and was at USD1,650-1,670/tonne, DAP Moscow, excluding VAT. Mogilevkhimvolokno also increased February export prices for customers in Ukraine and Russia. Price quotations of Belarusian PET for Russian customers grow Rb53,500-54,000/tonne, DAP Moscow, excluding VAT. Given the current rate of EUR / USD = 1.347, the price of Belarusian PET for the Ukrainian customers, with delivery to Ukraine rose to USD1 ,777-1, 783/tonne, DAP Kiev, excluding VAT.

5. European PE prices for the CIS countries remain at the level of January.

In February, European producers kept export polyethylene prices for the CIS countries at the level of January, according to ICIS-MRC Price report. The contract price of ethylene in Europe has remained at the same level for three consecutive months. Despite this, in January, European makers increased export PE prices for the CIS markets by EUR30-50/tonne, citing the lower margin of production. They also intended to raise prices for February, but low demand in the foreign markets did not allow them to implement their plans. In addition, the market situation is aggravated by the strong euro. This week, negotiations on European polyethylene prices for the CIS markets for February went on. Many market participants report that they managed to keep PE prices for February at the level of January. Deals for high-density polyethylene (HDPE) were discussed in the range of EUR1,250-1,330/tonne, FCA. Price offers for low-density polyethylene (LDPE) were negotiated in the range of EUR1,320-1,380/tonne, FCA.

6. In March Russian imports of PVC to reduce significantly - MRC analysts.

In February, Russia's imports of PVC will grow, but in March, it will be cut significantly, because Russian companies reduce the purchases of PVC in the USA and China due to rising prices and disruptions of contractual terms of delivery. Last year, the share of the North American PVC in total imports amounted to about 46%, its share started to increase in recent months most notably due to the stop of Karpatneftehim's production. In January 2013, the share of the North American PVC in total external deliveries increased to 68%. Strong external demand in November and January, 2012, and limited export quotas amid planned turnarounds of plants led to a serious rise in prices. In February the US prices of PVC for the Russian market increased to USD1 ,075-1, 100/tonne, CFR St. Petersburg.
As a result, many Russian companies have completely refused from purchases of North American PVC in February. The volumes of purchases in January were already reduced several times due to limited export quotas. Due to disruptions of contractual terms of delivery (about two weeks), and a serious decline in purchases in January and February, MRC analysts expect in March a serious decline in imports of PVC from the US.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Petrobras, Brazil’s state-controlled oil company, reported a 53% rise in fourth-quarter income following tax and financial gains, rounding off that was still its least profitable year since 2004, according to Oil&Gas.

The company's net profit in the last three months of 2012 rose more than expected to BRL7.75bn (USD3.89bn) from BRL5.05bn in the same quarter of the previous year.

Analysts surveyed by Reuters had on average expected income for the quarter to reach only BRL6.21bn. Yet, Petrobras’s annual net profit of BRL21.2bn in 2012 was down 36% from the previous year and ranked as the company’s lowest annual income in eight years.

Petrobras said net revenue, or revenue minus sales taxes, rose 12.5% to BRL73.41bn in the fourth quarter from BRL65.26bn in the last three months of 2011. However, adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation, or ebitda, dropped 15% to BRL11.94bn from BRL14.05bn in the previous year.

The company blamed the depreciation of the real against the dollar and higher operational costs for falling profits over the past year among the other reasons.

The rise in fourth-quarter net income, it said, was largely due to higher financial gains and lower taxes.

Petrobras’s sale of Brazilian Treasury bonds caused the company’s financial gains to soar almost 600% to BRL2.79bn during the fourth quarter from BRL400m the previous year. The company also said its profits were boosted by a BRL2.1bn income tax benefit that it chose to redeem during the period.

We remind that Moody's changed the outlook for Petrobras to "negative" from "stable," citing rising debt levels and growing uncertainty over how quickly the oil company can bring new production onstream. As MRC reported earlier, Petrobras plans to launch the first of its new refineries in November 2014. The second line will be put in operation in May 2015. The refinery will add 230,000 bpd of processing capacity.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. or Petrobras is a semi-public Brazilian multinational energy corporation headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is the largest company in the Southern Hemisphere by market capitalization and the largest in Latin America measured by 2011 revenues.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Kuwait's Equate Petrochemicals Co said its 2012 net profit rose by 3.8% to USD1.09 billion compared to USD1.05 billion the previous year, said Globalpost.

The company, a joint venture between state-owned Petrochemical Industries and US major Dow Chemicals, said the rise in profit reflected a strong global demand for petrochemicals that pushed 2012 the company's sales to a record USD2.6 billion.

"These profits were realised through absolute integration of all commercial, industrial, administrative and other elements, as well as global demand for these products," the company's President and CEO Mohammad Husain said in a statement.

Kuwait's Petrochemical Industries and Dow Chemicals hold 42.5% stake each in Equate, with the rest held by private firms Boubyan Petrochemical Co and Al-Qurain Petrochemicals.

Equate, which began operations in 1997, has a total annual production capacity of 5.0 million metric tonnes, mainly of polyethylene, ethylene glycol and styrene, in addition to other derivative products.

As MRC wrote earlier, Equate Petrochemical Company had shut down one of its Ethylene Glycol units with a total capacity of 550,000 mtpa in 2012 due the fire. After almost 3 months outage the planed resumed its production.

Euate is an international joint venture between Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC), The Dow Chemical Company (Dow), Boubyan Petrochemical Company (BPC) and Qurain Petrochemical Industries Company (QPIC). Equate is the single operator of a fully integrated world-scale manufacturing facility producing over 5 million tons annually of high-quality petrochemical products, such as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), styrene monomer, ethylene glycol and palaxylene, which are marketed throughout the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Europe.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Marathon Oil has seen its full-year net profit slump following the spinning off of its refining and transportation division in 2011, said Upstreamonline.

The Houston-based independent giant has, however, forecast a growth of up to 8% in production this year, although Libya is excluded on account of "uncertainty in production levels".

Net profit for the 12 months to the end of December was USD1.58 billion as compared with USD2.95 billion in 2011.

Adjusted income from continuing operations sank from USD2.29 billion to USD1.74 billion while Marathon took increased impairments of USD231 million as against USD195 million.

Total production available for sale, however, rose from 395,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day to 427,000 boepd, excluding Libya.

Marathon aims to grow production this year by between 6% and 8%, also excluding Libya and Alaska where it sold an asset. This is part of its stated aim to grow production available for sale by between 5% and 7% each year from 2010 to 2017.

The company is also to implement a USD5.2 billion capital, investment and exploration expenditures budget and aims to spud 350 to 400 gross operated new wells in "key US resources plays" this year.

It also expects to participate in 10 to 13 exploration wells across the deep-water Gulf of Mexico, Ethiopia, Kenya, Gabon Kurdistan and Norway.

As MRC wrote earlier, Marathon Petroleum has closed its transaction with BP to purchase several assets, including the 451,000 bpd refinery located in Texas City, Texas.

Marathon Oil Corporation is a United States-based oil and natural gas exploration and production company. Principal exploration activities are in the United States, Norway, Equatorial Guinea, Poland, Angola and Iraqi Kurdistan.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Treofan Group, a global leader in BOPP films headquartered in Raunheim, Germany, aims for considerable global growth in the coming years, said Treofan.

First of all, Treofan wants to further strengthen its traditional close relationships with leading brand manufacturers so that they can develop a shared understanding of future challenges and possible ways of solving them.

Building on this, the company wants to increase its pace of innovation – particularly in highervalue market segments. In packaging, these include items such as in-mold labels – labels integrated into injection-molded packaging. The Technical Films business unit also has significant expansion potential in promising electronic applications such as electric vehicles and alternative energy sources. To achieve this, Treofan will increase its annual investment in
research and development by approximately 20 %.

Thirdly, Treofan aims to become more international by implementing a new “intelligent structure”, according to Vanacker, that will look for the best ways to meet customer needs in each individual market. This can involve expanding production capacity, acquiring other companies, or entering into local partnerships. One example: Treofan is currently in talks about a potential acquisition of Max Speciality Films, an Indian film manufacturer.

As MRC wrote earlier, Max India has sold its 50,000 tpa profitable biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) film facility, Max Speciality Films, to Treofan, a German global technology leader for BOPP film, for Rs 5.4 billion (USD97 mln).

In the medium term, Treofan wants to increase the proportion of business done outside Europe – currently around 40% of group turnover. “The most dynamic market growth is taking place outside Western Europe and the USA – particularly in Asia and Latin America,” comments Peter Vanacker. “Today, we’re active in 90 countries worldwide. We aim to use this expertise to further expand our global position.”

Treofan Group is a global leader in biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) films distributed under the brand names Treofan. Treofan offers the most comprehensive product portfolio in the industry, including solutions for the packaging and tobacco industries, labels, and technical films for electronic applications such as batteries and capacitors. The Group employs around 1,200 people, operates four production sites in Germany, Italy, and Mexico, and sells its products in more than 90 markets worldwide.
MRC