Vietnams fuel imports may drop as Dung Quat oil refinery tax cut finally felt

MOSCOW (MRC) — Vietnam's fuel imports may drop as the effects of a tax cut on sales of gasoline and diesel fuel from the country's Dung Quat oil refinery start to be felt as earlier term contracts expire, as per Timesofindia.

Vietnam's government allowed Dung Quat's operator Binh Son Refining and Oil Co, starting on Jan. 1, to lower its tariff on domestic gasoline sales to 10% from 20% while the tax on other oil products including diesel was lifted, Binh Son Chief Executive Officer Tran Ngoc Nguyen said on Monday.

The reduction allowed Binh Son to match the current 10% tax on gasoline imports from South Korea established under a free-trade agreement (FTA) and the tax-free status for diesel sales from countries in the Association of Southeast Asian countries (ASEAN) under a different FTA.

"Before January, taxes on Binh Son's oil products are always ... higher than imported products, making our product prices high and they cannot be sold," Nguyen told Reuters.

The lower taxes are expected to reduce imports of gasoline and diesel into Vietnam, denting overall profit margins for the oil products, four fuel traders told Reuters on Monday.

While the tax reduction was effective from January, local importers had already agreed to long-term fuel contracts with Binh Son in December, meaning they missed the lower taxes, the four traders said. The tariff reductions were announced in September but would only apply to contracts signed in 2017, said Nguyen.

Dung Quat's full-year production this year is expected to reach 6.1 MMtpy, equivalent to about 122,000 bpd, nearly 20% higher than its initial target as a result of the lower taxes, said Nguyen.

The refinery, currently Vietnam's only operating refinery, has a total capacity of 6.5 MMtpy. From 2024, the gasoline sales tax will be lifted in line with other free-trade agreements signed by Vietnam, said Nguyen.

As MRC informed earlier, Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical is in June took a polypropylene (PP) plant off-stream for a maintenance turnaround of around 7 weeks. Located in Vietnam,the plant has a production capacity of 150,000 mt/year.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sinopec Sabic Tianjin Petrochemical has restarted a high density polyethylene (HDPE) plant following a maintenance turnaround, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the company has completed maintenance at the plant last weekend. The plant was under maintenance from July 18, 2017.

Located in Tianjin city, China, the plant has a production capacity of 300,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote before, Sinopec Sabic Tianjin Petrochemical Co. (SSTPC) started up a 1-million-t/y ethylene cracker in Tianjin, China, in 2010, and in 2012 it began construction on a new 260,000-t/y polycarbonate plant at Tianjin, which began operations in 2015.

China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec Group) is a super-large petroleum and petrochemical enterprise group established in July 1998 on the basis of the former China Petrochemical Corporation. Sinopec Group's key business activities include the exploration and production of oil and natural gas, petrochemicals and other chemical products, oil refining.

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Showa Denko has established a wholly-owned subsidiary, "Showa Chemicals of America Inc." (SCA), in Austin, Texas, aiming to strengthen its sale of high-purity gases for electronics in the U.S., said the company in its press-release.

American semiconductor manufacturers have 15-percent share of the global semiconductor production capacity, and are expected to grow further. Moreover, a lot of major semiconductor manufacturers and semiconductor-processing-device manufacturers have headquarters in the United States and are developing state-of-the-art technologies there. Thus the U.S. market is very important for SDK in formulating effective marketing strategy to promote high-purity gases for electronics.

Until now, SDK has been marketing high-purity gases through Showa Denko America, Inc., which is SDK's wholly-owned subsidiary headquartered in New York. This time, SDK established SCA in order to further expand its high-purity gas business in the U.S., strengthen relationship between SDK and major semiconductor manufacturers in the U.S., and gather information about state-of-the-art semiconductor-processing technologies. SCA is scheduled to start its operation in October 2017.

SDK is the only manufacturer of high-purity gases in the world that provides full product lineup including ammoniated gases, chlorinated/brominated gases, and fluorinated gases. SDK sells various high-purity gas products in many areas where manufacturers of semiconductors and display panels are located. SCA will function as the Showa Denko Group's base in the U.S. to promote marketing, sale and distribution of high-purity gas products.

In its ongoing medium-term business plan "Project 2020+," SDK positions its business to produce and sell high-purity gases for electronics as "Growth-accelerating" business. We will position SCA as the central base of our electronic chemicals business in the U.S. and aim to expand that business further.

As MRC informed earlier, Showa Denko K.K., JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp. (JX), and LyondellBasell Group have reached final agreement concerning the sale and purchase of LyondellBasell’s shares in SunAllomer Ltd. (SunAllomer), a joint venture (JV) company among the three parties for the development, production and sale of polypropylene (PP) and PP-based advanced materials.

Showa Denko K.K. is a major manufacturer and marketer of chemical products serving a wide range of fields ranging from heavy industry to the electronic and computer industries. The Petrochemicals Sector provides cracker products such as ethylene and propylene, the Chemicals Sector provides industrial and high-performance gases and chemicals and high-purity gases and chemicals for the semiconductor industry, and the Inorganics Sector provides ceramics products such as alumina, abrasive, refractory and graphite electrodes and fine carbon products.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Production of high density polyethylene (HDPE) in Russia decreased to about 500,400 tonne in the first six months of 2017, down 0.4% year on year. Gazprom neftekhim Salavat and Nizhnekamskneftekhim showed a decrease in production, according to MRC ScanPlast report.

June HDPE production in Russia grew to 95,100 tonnes, while in May it was 93,000 tonnes. Stavrolen and Kazanorgsintez increased their loading capacities. Overall HDPE production reached 500,400 tonnes in the first six months of the year, compared to 502,200 tonnes a year earlier. Kazanorgsintez and Stavrolen's higher output did not allow to offset the reduction in production at the other two plants.

Structure of HDPE production over the reported period looked as follows.

Russia's June HDPE production at Kazanorgsintez increased to 46,700 tonnes from 44,100 tonnes a month earlier. The producer's total HDPE production was 269,500 tonnes in the first six months of the year, up 14% year on year.

June HDPE production at Stavrolen reached about 26,000 tonnes against 24,800 tonnes in May. The plant's HDPE output reached 142,300 tonnes in the first six months of 2017, up by 8% year on year.

Gazprom neftekhim Salavat produced 10,000 tonnes of HDPE in June, compared with 10,400 tonnes in May. Thus, overall HDPE production at Gazprom neftekhim Salavat reached 51,500 tonnes in the first six months of 2017, down by 8% year on year.

Nizhnekamskneftekhim switched to LLDPE production in the end of last month, as a consequence, the plant's HDPE output in incomplete month was about 12,500 tonnes (13,900 tonnes in May). Since the beginning of the year, the final release of HDPE amounted to only 37,100 tonnes against 77,400 tonnes a year earlier.


MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) — Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) notified two term buyers in Asia that they will receive 10% less crude for September, two sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday, as per Reuters.

The cut was steady from the previous month and applies to all three Abu Dhabi grades—Murban, Das and Upper Zakum, they said.

ADNOC could not be immediately reached for comment.

As MRC informed earlier, ADNOC is focused on market expansion in China and Asia, where demand for petrochemicals and plastics, including light-weight automotive components, essential utility piping and cable insulation, is forecast to double by 2040.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) is the state-owned oil company of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). According to the Oil & Gas Journal, as of January 2015, the UAE holds the seventh-largest proven reserves of oil in the world at 97.8 billion barrels. Most of these reserves are located in Abu Dhabi.[1] It is the world's 12th largest oil company by production, standing at 3.1 million barrels per day.It is the UAE's biggest company.
MRC