Growth recorded n North American PVC sales, while PET markets sees domestic decline

MOSCOW (MRC) -- North America’s PVC suppliers have seen growth in export sales, offsetting stagnation in the domestic market. Domestic PVC processors were impacted by the recession, leading to barely 55-65% operating rates of pipe and siding companies, according to Plastemart with reference to IHS’s PVC Steve Brien.

The region’s PET manufacturers are, however, still suffering from a local decline in the carbonated drinks sector.

"But PVC resin has operating rates of around 90% – and low inventories could tighten the market," he added.

Domestic PVC makers also could reduce the amount they’re selling as exports to meet rebounding demand from the domestic field. Much of this growth will come from the US construction market. Overall North American PVC demand growth is expected to increase from less than 1% in 2013 to almost 3% in 2014.

The North American PVC field also stands to benefit from increasing development of shale gas in the region, which can be used to make PVC feedstock ethylene.

Thus, Mexichem is adding almost 400 mln lbs of PVC in Mexico this year, while on the US Gulf Coast, Westlake Chemical will add about 180 mln lbs in 2014 and Shintech will add almost 700 mln lbs in 2016.

There exists a gap of over 6 mln lbs between the amount of ethylene capacity that’s set to be added and the amount of new polyethylene resin capacity that’s been announced.

Even without expanding, US PVC has the advantage in cash costs. US PVC makers "can make PVC here and ship it to any other part of world and be competitive," Brien said. "I definitely think there will be more (North American PVC) expansions announced sooner than later."

North American PET, on the other hand, doesn't really benefit from shale gas, but is adding large chunks of capacity nonetheless, as the region’s major suppliers work to assert themselves through integration. Announced expansions - including a major one by M&G Group in Corpus Christi, Texas - will add about 3.5 mln lbs of capacity to a North American market that currently operates about 8.4 mln lbs.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Zhenhai Refining & Chemical Co (ZRCC) is in plans to shut a polypropylene (PP) plant for maintenance turnaround, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the plant is likely to be shut in May 2014. The duration of the shutdown could not be ascertained.

Located in Ningbo, Zhejiang province in China, the plant has a production capacity of 250,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed previously, another Chinese petrochemical producer - Shaoxing Sanyuan Petrochemical shut its PP plant for maintenance turnaround on November 20, 2013. It is likely to remain off-stream for around one month. Located in Shaoxing, Zhejiang province, the plant has a production capacity of 200,000 mt/year.

Besides, Shenhua Ningxia Coal Industry Group conducted a 10-day turnaround at its PP plant in late October-early November. Located at Yinchuan city, Ningxia in China, the PP plant has a production capacity of 500,000 mt/year.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- A complaint has been lodged in a US court against former and current top officials of state-owned giant PetroChina over alleged violations of US securities regulations, said Upstreamonline.

Chairman Zhou Jiping and chief financial officer Yu Yibo, along with the former respective holders of the positions, Jiang Jiemin and Zhou Mingchun, are cited in the complaint filed by an overseas shareholder with the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, according to a Hong Kong bourse statement issued by PetroChina.

"The company will vigorously contest the complaint with its best efforts to protect the legitimate rights and interests of the company," it stated. PetroChina said it has not been informed of the sum involved in the complaint, adding its normal business operations were not affected.

The company, together with parent China National Petroleum Corporation, is already embroiled in a major corruption probe by Beijing authorities as President Xi Jinping focuses on rooting out graft that is seen as a threat to the ruling Communist Party.

The two companies are investigating five high-ranking officials including former chairman Jiemin for "serious discipline violations".

PetroChina’s former Indonesia country head Wei Zhigang was removed from the post last month, indicating middle management are now implicated in the ongoing probe.

As MRC wrote before, PetroChina in 2012 overtook Exxon Mobil as the world’s biggest publicly traded producer of oil. The company announced it pumped 2.4 million barrels a day last year, surpassing Exxon by 100,000 barrels.

PetroChina Company Limited, is a Chinese oil and gas company and is the listed arm of state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation, headquartered in Dongcheng District, Beijing. It is China's biggest oil producer.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russian biggest privately owned oil producer Lukoil saw its third-quarter net profit fall 12% year on year to USD3.1 billion as it was hit by higher taxes, said Upstreamonline.

The quarterly figure, compared with USD3.47 billion a year earlier, was just short of an average forecast of USD3.2 billion in a Reuters poll of analysts.

The Vagit Alekperov-led company’s revenue was up 3.5% from a year earlier at USD36.7 billion, while analysts had expected a 2% increase.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose 0.6%to USD5.5 billion, also in line with expectations.

Free cash flow increased from USD292 million in the second quarter to USD1.6 billion in the latest quarter, according to Lukoil, the second-ranked Russian oil producer behind state-owned Rosneft.

As MRC wrote before, Karpatneftekhim (LUKOIL group) resumed polyethylene (PE) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC)production in Ukraine. The resumption of PE and PVC production will fully meet the needs of the Ukrainian market in these products.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- South African Sasol has tapped Technip of France to perform front-end engineering design work for a gas-to-liquids project in the US state of Louisiana, said Upstreamonline.

The award follows an earlier announcement that Technip had won a FEED contract for an ethylene cracker in Lake Charles, Louisiana, that will be part of the 96,000-barrel-per-day GTL facility. Technip's FEED work on the GTL plant will be carried out in Rome, Italy, which is the reference and main execution centre for the company.

The contract falls within an existing Front-End Loading alliance for GTL between Technip and Sasol - "a unique win-win example of owner-contractor collaboration", said Marco Villa, senior vice president of Technip’s Region B.

Financial terms of the contract were not disclosed. The project, to be built in the Westlake area, would be the first of its kind in the US and could rival Shell’s USD18 billion to USD19 billion, 140,000-barrel Pearl plant in Qatar.

GTL player Sasol has said the Lake Charles plant could cost between USD16 billion and USD21 billion to build. The company expects to make a final investment decision by next year. Technip calls itself one of the world's leaders in engineering major GTL facilities.

As MRC wrote before, Sasol has sold its stake in the Iran-based joint venture Arya Sasol Polymers Company. Sasol reached the agreement with Main Street 1095, a South African subsidiary of an Iranian investor. Main Street 1095 will acquire 100% of Sasol's joint venture vehicle SPI International, which holds a 50% stake in Arya Sasol Polymers.

Sasol Limited is an integrated energy and chemical company that began in Sasolburg, South Africa in 1950. It develops and commercialises technologies and builds and operates world-scale facilities to produce a range of product streams including liquid fuels, chemicals.
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