Olin reports net loss of USD37.9 million, misses estimates on revenues

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Olin (Clayton, MO) reports a net loss of USD37.9 million for the first quarter, up from the year-ago period’s loss of USD62.7 million, said Chemweek.

Sales totaled USD1.35 billion, a pro forma increase of 6.4% year-on-year but lower than the the average analyst estimate of USD1.43 billion compiled by Thomson Reuters (New York). The loss of 23 cts/share falls well short of the average analyst estimate of a 12-ct/share profit.

he company anticipates a reported net income in the range of USD0.10 to USD0.20 per diluted share, including USD0.21 per share of restructuring costs, acquisition-related integration costs and acquisition step-up depreciation and amortization. The company also reiterated its full year adjusted EBITDA guidance range of USD915 million to USD985 million.

As MRC informed earlier, Olin has reduced its chlor-alkali capacity in Q1 2016 by 433,000 m.t./year.

Olin Corporation manufactures and distributes chemical products in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Chlor Alkali Products and Vinyls, Epoxy, and Winchester. The Chlor Alkali Products and Vinyls segment offers chlorine and caustic soda, ethylene dichloride and vinyl chloride monomers, methyl chloride, methylene chloride, chloroform, carbon tetrachloride, perchloroethylene, trichloroethylene and vinylidene chloride, hydrochloric acid, hydrogen, bleach products, and potassium hydroxide.

Olin Corporation manufactures chemicals and ammunition products. The Company manufactures and sells chlorine, caustic soda, sodium hydrosulfite, hydrochloric acid, hydrogen, sodium chlorate, bleach products, and potassium hydroxide. Olin also manufactures products that include sporting ammunition, reloading components, small caliber military ammunition and industrial cartridges.
MRC

Repsol Q1 profit down 43%

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Cost cutting helped Repsol to exceed expectations in the first quarter, a period that coincided with crude prices hitting a 12-year low, said The Financial Times.

Spain’s biggest oil producer reported adjusted net income of EUR572m in the first quarter, well ahead of estimates of EUR261.2m, although still down from EUR928m a year earlier. Those results had been boosted by an exceptional EUR500m gain related mostly to funds received for YPF, a former subsidiary that was renationalised by the Argentine government.

Repsol said measures "to increase efficiency and savings in recent months led the company to achieve positive results despite low oil prices."

At the start of the year, it announced deeper spending cuts and billions of euros in writedowns following the slump in crude prices, as it revealed it had suffered a net loss of EUR1.2bn for 2015 after one-off charges of EUR2.9bn. Last month it cut its proposed dividend to EUR0.30 per share, from an originally proposed EUR0.50.

As MRC informed earlier, during the first quarter of 2016 (Q1 2016), Repsol planned to complete the construction work of its new metallocene polyethelene plant at its Tarragona site. Repsol planned to start up the plant and begin production and marketing of this new product during Q2 2016.

Repsol S.A is an integrated Spanish oil and gas company with operations in 28 countries. The bulk of its assets are located in Spain.

MRC

Axiall Q1 adjusted profit up on weaker revenues

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Axiall, a manufacturer of chemicals and building products, reported a year-over-year increase in adjusted net profit for Q1 2016 on lower revenues versus the comparable period in 2015, as per Sonoranweeklyreview.

Net loss for the quarter was USD53.6 million, or USD0.76 loss per share, compared to a net loss of USD10.6 million, or USD0.15 loss per share in Q1 2015. On an adjusted basis, net income for the quarter was USD0.17 per share, up from USD0.10 per share in the prior year period. Capital IQ provided a Street estimate of a USD0.29 loss per share, but this may not be comparable.

Net sales were USD699.2 million, down from USD784.6 million reported for the same period last year and lower than the USD753 million Street estimate. "In the Chlorovinyls segment, the company expects decreased caustic soda and vinyl resin sales volumes primarily due to scheduled turnarounds in Q2 2016 as compared to Q1 2016. Vinyl resin and caustic soda prices, particularly export caustic soda and vinyl resin prices, have increased thus far in Q2. At the same time, ethylene costs have risen. The impact of these factors on Q2 2016 results will depend on the timing and magnitude of vinyl resin and caustic soda price changes and ethylene costs. The company does not expect any material changes in the components of its ethylene supply portfolio during Q2," the company said.

As MRC informed earlier, Axiall Corp. and Lotte Chemical Corp. will make a combined USD3 billion capital investment in two new chemical manufacturing plants in Lake Charles, Louisiana. LACC LLC, a subsidiary of Axiall and Lotte Chemical USA Corp.’s 50–50 joint venture Eagle US 2 LLC, will invest USD1.9 billion to build the steam cracker adjacent to Axiall’s Lake Charles chlor-alkali manufacturing plants to take advantage of existing infrastructure, competitive US shale feedstock resources, and ethylene distribution infrastructure, according to a series of releases from the JV and Louisiana Economic Development (LED).

Axiall Corporation manufactures and markets chemicals and building products in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, Chlorovinyls and Building Products. The Chlorovinyls segment produces chlor-alkali and derivative products, including chlorine, caustic soda, vinyl chloride monomer, and vinyl resins; other chlor-alkali and derivative products comprising chlorinated ethylene, calcium hypochlorite, and hydrochloric acid; and compound products, such as vinyl compounds, and compound additives and plasticizers.

MRC

Sabic targets US shale as leading chemical feedstock

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (Sabic), one of the world's largest petrochemicals groups, is targeting North America for the shale gas needed to fuel growth at one of the world's largest petrochemicals groups, its chief financial officer said on Tuesday, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The company has said previously that a shortage of natural gas was stifling its domestic growth and forcing it to look at foreign investment opportunities.

The US shale gas industry has increased output in recent years, and Sabic signed its first deal for US shale gas last year for use at its Teesside petrochemical plant in Britain.

"In terms of industry growth, we see growth chasing where feedstock is competitive, and the US is top of the list," Mosaed al-Ohali told Reuters.

Saudi petrochemicals businesses have benefited in the past from feedstock subsidies that are being phased out as the government looks to bridge a substantial budget deficit after oil's two-year downturn.

The Saudi government raised gas prices for petrochemicals feedstock from USD0.75/MMBtu to USD1.75 for ethane and USD1.25 for methane, which some industry watchers say is not far from US natural gas prices.

US natural gas prices for April at the Henry Hub benchmark in Louisiana fell to their lowest level for the month since 1995, averaging USD1.90/MMBtu.

Sabic is also focusing on oil-to-chemicals operations, with Ohali saying that the company views its planned USD30 billion Yanbu project as a "fertile opportunity".

He added that SABIC is also looking at technologies such as coal-to-chemicals in China but gave no further detail.

Sabic will stick to its main chemicals products, Ohali said, but it will support small and medium enterprises (SME) to move further downstream through Saudi Arabian Industrial Investments Co. (SAIIC), its joint venture with Saudi Aramco and the Public Investment Fund.

As MRC informed previously, in January 2016, Sabic reported a 29.4% drop in fourth-quarter net profit due to lower prices for its products, particularly in its metals division. It was the sixth straight quarter of falling profits for the company, which has been hurt by the fall in oil prices since mid-2014. SABIC made a net profit of 3.08 billion riyals (USD821 million) in the three months to Dec. 31, down from 4.36 billion riyals in the year-earlier period.

Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) ranks among the worldпїЅs top petrochemical companies. The company is among the worldпїЅs market leaders in the production of polyethylene, polypropylene and other advanced thermoplastics, glycols, methanol and fertilizers.
MRC

Shell cuts spending further after BG deal

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Royal Dutch Shell has reduced its 2016 spending plans by another 10% from the target set in February when it completed the acquisition of BG Group, and said it could cut further if needed, reported Reuters.

In its first results since the deal that transformed it into the world's top liquefied natural gas (LNG) producer, Shell trimmed spending to USD30 billion by cancelling projects such as the sour gas project in Abu Dhabi, and by slashing exploration costs.

Europe's largest oil company has been under pressure from shareholders to cut annual spending below USD30 billion to ensure it can maintain its dividend given the slow recovery in the oil prices.

"Can we go further? Yes, we can," Shell's chief financial officer, Simon Henry, told reporters on Wednesday.

Having grappled with low oil prices for almost two years, capital spending, or capex, in the industry is set to fall for a second consecutive year, something that has not happened for more than three decades.

As MRC wrote previously, in March 2016, Royal Dutch Shell Plc was lining up assets for a USD30 billion divestment program that may extend from the U.S. and Trinidad to India following its record takeover of BG Group Plc.

Raising money through divestments is crucial for Shell after the BG purchase wiped out more than USD10 billion of its cash, prompting a credit-rating cut from Fitch Ratings Ltd. as debt-to-equity levels rose. Oil’s collapse over the past 20 months has eroded balance sheets across the industry and the outlook for a sustained market rout may hinder Shell’s efforts to find buyers for the assets.

As reported earlier, Shell saw full-year earnings tumble to 3.8 billion US dollars (GBP2.6 billion) in 2015 from 19 billion US dollars (GBP13 billion) in 2014, when it reported its annual results at the beginning of February.

Royal Dutch Shell, commonly known as Shell, is an Anglo–Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in the Netherlands and incorporated in the United Kingdom.Created by the merger of Royal Dutch Petroleum and UK-based Shell Transport & Trading, it is the fourth largest company in the world as of 2014, in terms of revenue, and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors".
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