ADNOC cuts Sept crude allocation to 2 buyers by 10%

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil (China) Investment Co., Ltd. has announced that it has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Engel Machinery (Changzhou) Co., Ltd. and officially became a strategic partner of Wintec, a brand of Engel Group, reported GV.

Wintec specialises in providing durable injection moulding machines for the mass production of standard products.

Under the agreement, ExxonMobil will join hands with Wintec to provide injection moulding machine end-users with total lubricant solutions. In addition, the companies plan to establish a long-term complementary strategic partnership in terms of brand cooperation, market promotion, technical exchanges on lubricants, lubricants supply and services.

As MRC informed earlier, in the second half of May 2017, affiliates of ExxonMobil Corporation and Sabic signed an agreement to conduct a detailed study of the proposed Gulf Coast Growth Ventures project in Texas and begin planning for front-end engineering and design work. In April 2017, ExxonMobil and Sabic selected a site in San Patricio County, Texas, for the proposed petrochemical complex that would include an ethane steam cracker capable of producing 1.8 MMtpy of ethylene, a monoethylene glycol unit and two polyethylene units.

ExxonMobil and Sabic have collaborated on several petrochemical JVs in Saudi Arabia, including the Al-Jubail Petrochemical Company and Saudi Yanbu Petrochemical Company. Most recently, the companies constructed world-scale specialty elastomers facilities at the Al-Jubail joint venture complex to help meet the growing demand for rubber-based industrial and automotive products.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) — China's crude oil imports will exceed 400 MMt this year, said an executive at a Chinese state oil giant on Tuesday, as continuing low oil prices and declining domestic output sparked increased overseas purchases, said Reuters.

China's crude imports are also expected to grow by double digits in 2018, Zhang Haichao, vice president of Sinopec Group, told Reuters on the sidelines of an industry conference in Beijing on Tuesday.

Zhang's estimates mean Chinese demand for imported crude would grow by around 400,000 bpd this year, which would likely make China the world's largest crude oil importer on an annual basis for the first time ever.

For the first six months of 2017, China imported 212 MMt of crude, or 8.55 MMbpd, up nearly 14% from the same period in 2016, according to customs data.

China's crude oil imports have grown this year amid concerns over tightening crude supply in Asia as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other producers extended production cuts to March 2018.

Zhang's expectation of strong Chinese demand for imports holding through the rest of the year comes despite plans by state oil majors to shut down 10% of China's refining capacity in the Q3 2017 due to a glut of fuel products.

Beijing last month, however, issued a second batch of crude import quotas, making this year's total higher than last year's amount, helping to underpin the nation's demand.

Zhang was attending a joint conference hosted by Sinopec Corp trading arm Unipec and the China Chamber of Commerce for Petroleum Industry.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Covestro, the plastics maker that parent Bayer plans to sell, reported a larger-than-expected earnings increase for the second quarter, commanding higher prices for foam chemicals used in the construction industry amid limited supplies from rivals, said Reuters.

Quarterly earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), jumped 57 percent to 848 million euros (USD989 million), above the 772 million euros expected on average in a Reuters poll of analysts.

Covestro reiterated it was targeting 2017 EBITDA and return on capital employed clearly above 2016 levels.

Covestro, listed separately in October 2015, has pledged it would return cash to shareholders if it cannot find a suitable major takeover target within two years as it eyes 5 billion euros in total operating cash flow after investments over the next five years.

As MRC reported earlier, on 1 September, 2015, Bayer MaterialScience became known as Covestro. Bayer aims to float this business on the stock market by mid-2016 at the latest. The plans for the carve-out of Bayer MaterialScience were announced in September 2014.

Covestro (formerly Bayer MaterialScience) is an independent subgroup within Bayer. It was created as part of the restructuring of Bayer AG from the former business group Bayer Polymers, with certain of its activities being spun off to Lanxess AG. Covestro manufactures and develops materials such as coatings, adhesives and sealants, polycarbonates (CDs, DVDs), polyurethanes (automotive seating, insulation for refrigerating appliances) etc.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shenhua Xinjiang Mining Co has taken its low density polyethylene (LDPE) plant owing to technical issues, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source informed that the company has halted operations at the unit last weekend. The unplanned outage at the units is expected to remain in force until August 10, 2017.

Located at Xinjiang in China, the plant has a LDPE production capacity of 270,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed before, om 24 April 2017, Sinopec Qilu Petrochemical brought on-stream its LDPE plant following a maintenance turnaround. The plant was shut for maintenance on March 6, 2017. Located at Shandong province in China, the LDPE plant has production capacities of 140,000 mt/year.
MRC