Technip sees rising cost pressures stopping some industry projects

MOSCOW (MRC) -- French company Technip, Europe’s largest oilfield-services provider by market value, has warned that energy companies are "putting pressure" on suppliers to lower costs and said profit margins may be trimmed by Russian sanctions, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.

"There is greater uncertainty for all players," CEO Thierry Pilenko said on a conference call after the Paris-based company reported a decline in second-quarter earnings. "Some of our customers are taking a much slower and more combative approach."

Technip, which supplies equipment and builds installations for oil and natural-gas producers, had until now maintained orders were strong even as some companies reduced investment and pledged to lower costs.

With Total, Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron among Technip’s clients that plan to rein in spending, Pilenko acknowledged contracts could be fewer and harder to win.

As MRC informed before, in May 2014, Technip was awarded a front-end engineering design contract with Shell for work on a demonstration project in Scotland. The company will design a number of onshore elements for the Peterhead Gas Carbon Capture and Storage project in Aberdeenshire. The project is designed to capture, compress and transport 1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year via a pipeline to an offshore gas reservoir for storage below the North Sea.

Technip changed financial targets for this year, raising the outlook for margins in the subsea division and lowering it for the onshore-offshore section, in part due to uncertainty about how sanctions on Russian companies could affect the Yamal LNG project in Arctic waters.

Second-quarter net income declined to EUR158 million (USD213 million) from EUR162.4 million a year earlier, the company said in an earnings statement. That beat the EUR154.1 million-euro average of 15 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
MRC

ExxonMobil runs new PNG LNG plant at full capacity

MOSCOW (MRC) -- US oil firm ExxonMobil, operator of a USD19 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Papua New Guinea, said the development is producing at full capacity after starting ahead of schedule earlier this year, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The milestone follows an increase in output in the last few months, Exxon’s PNG unit said Monday in an e-mailed response to questions.

The plant was expected to be operating at full capacity by the end of 2014, according to a report last week from Citigroup.

The project in the Pacific nation with partners including Oil Search and Santos is targeting an increase in Asian demand for natural gas. The companies are considering an expansion of the development after shipments began from the initial phase in May.

The first stage has a capacity of 6.9 million tpy of LNG. The development has long-term contracts with Tokyo Electric Power Co., CPC Corp. of Taiwan, Osaka Gas Co. and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp.

Beveridge said he expects Oil Search’s production for the year to be toward the high end of the company’s forecast of 17 million to 20 million bbl of oil equivalent.

As MRC wrote previously, ExxonMobil is in talks with state-run Turkish Petroleum Corporation over a venture to explore for shale gas in the country's southeast and northwest regions.

ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world's oil and about 2% of the world's energy.
MRC

PTT Global Chemical to shut its No.2 cracker for maintenance in Thailand

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC) is likely to shut its I4-No.2 cracker for maintenance turnaround, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Thailand informed that the cracker is planned to be shut in late September 2014. It is likely to remain off-stream for around one month.

Located at Map ta Phut, Thailand, the cracker has a production capacity of 400,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote previously, PTTGC shut its linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) plant for maintenance turnaround, in mid-July 2014. It is likely to remain off-stream for around three weeks. Located at Map Ta Phut, Thailand, the plant has a production capacity of 400,000 mt/year.

As MRC reported earlier, last year, Indonesian state-owned energy company Pertamina signed an agreement to purchase petrochemical products from Thailand’s PTT Global Chemical. The agreement serves as a pre-marketing strategy for Pertamina and PTT’s joint Indonesian petrochemical business. Under the agreement, PTT will deliver at least 5,000 tonnes of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) products each month to Pertamina for sale in Indonesia.

Recently, Pertamina and PTTGC have announced that they would start joint shipments of PE to the Indonesian market from 1 July 2014. However, they will postpone their shipments to Indonesia till August.

PTT Global Chemical is a leading player in the petrochemical industry and owns several petrochemical facilities with a combined capacity of 8.45 million tonnes a year.
MRC

PA6 consumption in Russia exceeded 20,000 tonnes in the first half of 2014

MOSCOW (MRC) - Consumption of polyamide 6 (PA 6) in the Russian market was 21,000 tonnes in In the first half of 2014, remaining at the level of the same time a year earlier, according to MRC ScanPlast.

PA 6 market in Russia are presented by foreign producers, such as: BASF, DSM Engineering Plastics, Lanxess, and national plants (the major- KuibyshevAzot). Imported PA 6 is used for the production of sausage casings (54%) and multi-layer barrier films for food packaging (43%).

Russia's imports of unfilled PA6 over the reported period were 1,300 tonnes. Polyamide 6 by Kuibyshev Azot production is processed by the technology of fibers and filaments, but also serves as a basis for the making of various compositions based on polyamide.

Traditionally, about 70% of produced PA 6, the company exports to foreign markets. Total Russia's production of PA 6 was 71,000 tonnes in the first half of 2014, where about 20,000 tonnes of the material shipped to the domestic market.

Russia's market of PA 6 can be divided into two segments, according to the processing technology. Sector of film extrusion completely depends on imports, as Russian producers do not produce PA 6 for this technology. PA 6 for production yarns and fibers, as well as compounding is mainly produced by domestic companies.
mrcplast.com

Investments into PVC processing in Russia fell by 24% in H1 2014

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russian companies' investments in equipment for polyvinyl chloride (PVC) processing fell by 24% over the first six months of 2014. Producers of shaped and linear articles accounted for the greatest decrease, reported MRC analysts.

Investments inPVC processing equipment dropped to USD58 million from January to June 2014 versus USD76.6 million a year earlier. Local producers of shaped and linear articles reduced their costs for equipment purchasing, while producers of cables, wires and pipes, on the contrary, increased their spending.

Investments in PVC processing equipment from producers of shaped and linear articles slumped to USD16.6 million over the stated period, down by 46% year on year. Weaker demand for finished products was the main reason for the decline in investment activity from companies in this processing sector. As expected, industry leaders, among which are: Veka Rus, Profine Rus, Deceuninck Rus, Rehau Rus, Brusbox, Deke Extrusion, accounted for the main costs for new equipment purchasing.

Investments in equipment for the production of cable and pipe products rose by 10% and 20%, respectively, in the first six months of the year and totalled about USD8.4 million and USD5.7 million. among key investors - manufacturers of cable products are the following companies : Kirscable, Promteh-Dubna, Pskov cable Plant. The following companies can be singled out among cables and pipes producers, which heavily invested in equipment in the first half of 2014: Polyplastic, Pipelife Rus, Chemkor, TGP Rosal.

Russian companies reduced their purchasing of equipment for compounding, sheet extrusion and coatings this year.
MRC