PetroRabigh restarted PP unit in Saudi Arabia

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Arabia's Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Co (PetroRabigh) has restarted its polypropylene (PP) unit following an unplanned outage, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Saudi Arabia informed that the company has resumed operations at its plant early this week. The plant was shut on July 10, 2017 owing to a technical glitch.

Located in Rabigh, Saudi Arabia, the unit has a production capacity of 350,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote before, PetroRabigh shut its ethane cracker for 21 days effective from Nov. 14 2016 for maintenance, the company said in a bourse filing. The suspension was aimed to improve the plant's safety and efficiency.

PetroRabigh, a joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Japan's Sumitomo Chemical, has an annual output capacity of 18 million tonnes of refined products and 2.4 million tonnes of petrochemicals. Located in Jubail, Saudi Arabia, the complex has an ethylene production capacity of 1.6 million mt/year, HDPE production capacity of 300,000 mt/year and LLDPE production capacity of 600,000 mt/year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- German chemicals giant BASF SE reported that its second-quarter net income grew 37 percent to 1.50 billion euros from 1.09 billion euros in the year-ago period, said the company on its web-site.

Earnings per share rose to 1.63 euros from 1.19 euros last year. Adjusted earnings per share amounted to 1.78 euros, compared to the prior year's 1.30 euros.

Income from operations or EBIT before special items rose 32 percent to 2.3 billion euros. Sales increased 12 percent from last year to 16.26 billion euros, reflecting higher prices and volumes.

Looking ahead to fiscal 2017, BASF said it now takes a somewhat more positive overall view of the underlying conditions for the year, due to the positive macroeconomic development in the first half of the year.

Dr. Kurt Bock, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF said, "We continue to expect a considerable increase in sales for the full year - by at least 6%. Given the considerable earnings increase in the first six months of the year, we now expect a considerable increase in EBIT before special items of at least 11% for 2017."

Earlier, the company had said it wants to achieve slightly higher EBIT before special items compared with 2016, with 'slight' meaning a change of 1 to 10 percent.

As MRC informed earlier, within the next five years, BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany) plans to invest globally more than EUR200 million in its plastic additives business, approximately half of which in Asia, focusing on capacity expansions and operational excellence.

BASF is the largest diversified chemical company in the world and is headquartered in Ludwigshafen, Germany. BASF produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries. BASF had sales of over EUR74 billion in 2014 and over 113,000 employees as of the end of the year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The United Arab Emirates will import the country's first oil cargo from the United States, two sources familiar with the matter said, as the OPEC producer sought substitutes to replace Qatari condensate supplies after a diplomatic row, reported Reuters.

The UAE halted condensate imports from Qatar after it, along with Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain, severed diplomatic and transport ties with Qatar after accusing it of supporting terrorism, a claim which Doha denies.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) bought a US Eagle Ford condensate cargo in a tender for September arrival, the sources said on Wednesday.

Specific volumes were not available but the cargo will arrive in a supertanker that can carry up to 2 MMbbl of oil, one of the sources said.

ADNOC declined to comment.

ADNOC faced limited options in sourcing for condensate substitutes as strong demand for the ultra-light oil in South Korea and Indonesia tightened supplies in Asia, trade sources said.

This forced the state oil company to look for supplies from other regions, including Eagle Ford condensate from the United States.

ADNOC used to receive 1 MMbbl to 1.5 MMbbl of Qatari condensate every month under a term agreement with Qatar Petroleum, trade sources said earlier.

Condensate is a byproduct of natural gas production and the oil is processed at refining units to produce mainly naphtha, a petrochemical raw material.

ADNOC earlier bought Khuff condensate from Saudi Arabia to replace Qatari supplies, the trade sources said, but the production volume of this oil is small and it is usually consumed locally.

As MRC informed before, in mid-July, 2017, ADNOC and Borealis signed a framework agreement, under which the companies will advance two key projects that will expand both ADNOC and Borealis downstream petrochemicals business and support the delivery of ADNOC’s integrated smart growth and partnership strategy.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC) is likely to brought on-stream its I-4 No.2 cracker in Map Ta Phut, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Thailand informed that the company has planned to complete maintenance at the cracker by this weekend. The turnaround at the cracker started on July 12, 2017.

Located at Map Ta Phut in Thailand, the No.2 unit has an ethylene production capacity of 400,000 mt/year & a propylene production capacity of 50,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed previously, PTT Global Chemical Public Company Ltd., whose subsidiary may build a multibillion-dollar ethane cracker complex in Belmont County along the Ohio River, bought 168 acres for USD13.8 mln in early July 2017. The Thai company is considering building a petrochemical facility in eastern Ohio, and has bought property that used to house a FirstEnergy Corp.

Besides, PTT is on track to start commercial operations at its new 400,000 mt/year metallocene C6 linear low density polyethylene plant at Map Ta Phut, Thailand, in the first quarter of 2018. PTT will start up the plant by the end of this year. PTT currently has a total capacity of 800,000 mt/year of high density polyethylene (HDPE), 300,000 mt/year of low density polyethylene and 400,000 mt/year of LLDPE at the same site.

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

MOSCOW (MRC) — Oil rose by more than 2% on Tuesday after Saudi Arabia vowed to reduce exports from next month and OPEC called on members to boost compliance with agreed output cuts to help curb oversupply and support flagging crude prices, said Reuters.

Brent crude futures rose USD1.01 to USD49.64 a barrel by 1342 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures also rose by USD1.01 to USD47.35 a barrel.

At a meeting in the Russian city of St. Petersburg on Monday, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC producers discussed extending their deal to cut output by 1.8 MMbpd beyond March 2018, if necessary.

Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said that his country would limit its crude exports to 6.6 MMbpd in August, almost 1 MMbpd lower than the same month a year earlier. "But the most concrete indication coming out of the meeting was that Nigeria would agree to implement production adjustments," Vienna-based consultancy JBC Energy said.

Nigeria voluntarily agreed to join the deal by capping or cutting its output from 1.8 MMbpd once it stabilizes at that level. But in a sign that production from the OPEC member remains susceptible to disruptions, Royal Dutch Shell's Nigerian subsidiary said on Monday it had shut its 180,000 bpd Trans Niger pipeline because of a leak on July 21.

Ministers at the meeting also highlighted the importance of compliance. Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said an additional 200,000 bpd of oil could be removed from the market if there were 100% compliance with the OPEC-led deal.

OPEC said stocks held by industrial nations had fallen by 90 MMbbl in the first six months of the year but were still 250 MMbbl above the five-year average, which is the target level for OPEC and non-OPEC members.

"In our view ... these meetings were aimed at saving face and diverting the market's attention away from Iraq's poor compliance, shale's resilience and Libya's and Nigeria's markedly higher output," Barclays said.

Prices were also supported by a warning from Halliburton's executive chairman that growth in North America's rig count was "showing signs of plateauing", representing a possible threat to continued increases in US shale oil production.

China's crude imports will exceed 400 MMt (8 MMbpd) this year and are likely to grow by a double-digit percentage next year, a Sinopec Group executive said.
MRC