China crude oil imports to exceed 400 MMt this year

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited (IVL), a global chemical producer, has announced the completion of the brownfield expansion of its Purified Terephthalic Acid (PTA) plant, resulting in the total PTA capacity of 700,000 tonnes per annum at Rotterdam and totally over 1 million tons together with Spain, said the producer in its press release.

Currently, the Rotterdam facility produces 380,000 tonnes per annum of PTA which is entirely used as a major feedstock of the site’s integrated Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) production, a recyclable packaging material. The expanded plant is undergoing final stages of start-up with expected commercial production in middle August 2017.

Commenting on this expansion, Aloke Lohia Group CEO of Indorama Ventures, said, "With this low cost proven technology and nearly double the PTA production capacity, the expansion will bring cost synergies to the site. The Rotterdam facility is well positioned to support the continued growth as its location allows access to the whole of Europe."

"This additional production will replace purchased PTA and significantly improve European profitability. We now look forward to the start-up of our gas cracker in Louisiana, USA in end of the year. These two landmark projects will enhance earnings and the competitiveness of IVL substantially," Mr. Lohia concluded.

As MRC informed before, in Q 1 2016, BP PLC sold its petrochemical complex in Decatur, Alabama, to Indorama Ventures Public Co. Ltd. (IVL.TH), for an undisclosed sum, as part BP's plan to restructure its global petrochemicals business. The divestment is in line with BP’s global petrochemicals strategy of pursuing a competitively advantaged portfolio through world-scale, low-cost facilities that utilize BP proprietary technology, including the production of purified terephthalic acid, or PTA, a key raw material in the production of polyester.

Indorama Ventures is a leading producer in the polyester value chain in Thailand with strong global network and manufacturing across Asia, Europe and North America. Its products serve major players in diversified end use markets, including food, beverages, personal and home care, health care, automotives, textile, and industrial. The company’s main products are PTA, PET and polyester fibre, which are distributed across the world.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Working closely with the oil and gas industry, Borouge has focussed strongly on innovation when it comes to plastics solutions. Innovation is an integral part of its business and Dr. Thorsten Loehl, Vice President Innovation, at Borouge will be speaking at this year’s Abu Dhabi International Downstream Summit about how Borouge, using this business model, delivers new solutions to meet the evolving market demands, said Refiningandpetrochemicals.

Those visiting the summit will learn how Borouge creates a continuous pipeline of development with ongoing rejuvenation of its product portfolio. They will also be given an insight into how Borouge focuses on unmet customer needs and tackles some of the very specific challenges faced by numerous different industries. For example, in pipeline infrastructure there is a clear need for low sagging pipe extrusion. The challenge is to reduce the volume of material required while maintaining or improving the material properties for the application.

Packaging is another area where Borouge has great success in re-defining benchmarks for excellence. Whether for consumer or industrial use, creating materials that have a lower gauge than traditional solutions while still meeting required stretching, impact resistance, etc. characteristics, means customers can save millions in packaging and shipment costs. Sustainability is another important consideration for packaging solutions where Borouge is helping many customers move away from complex, multi-material package solutions to practical, single material ones that can be easily recycled.

Other current innovations include light-weighting of material through foaming techniques. This interesting area of the plastics business offers benefits in applications from packing to automobiles. Having a good idea, however, is not enough on its own. A complete solution is required to address specific industry challenges – and this is an area where the Borouge way of working ensures a final, saleable, beneficial outcome from its R&D pipeline.

Borouge’s experience and innovation means it has many exciting insights to share that can be applied across many different market sectors. Dr. Loehl is looking to inspire many different conversations and ideas with his talk at the Abu Dhabi International Downstream Summit which runs from 18th-19th September 2017.

As MRC informed earlier, Austrian chemical company Borealis is carrying out feasibility studies for a polypropylene (PP) unit and a mixed-feed steam cracker at Borouge, the petrochemicals complex it owns jointly with Abu Dhabi's state-owned Adnoc in Ruwais, UAE.
MRC