PVC production in Russia rose by 17% in first eleven months of 2017

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia's overall production of unmixed polyvinyl chloride (PVC) grew in the first eleven months of 2017 by 17% year on year, totalling 820,500 tonnes. Only two producers have grown resin production: SayanskKhimPlast and RusVinyl, according to MRC ScanPlast.

November production of unmixed PVC in Russia rose to 85,200 tonnes from 82,900 tonnes a month earlier, Kaustik Volgograd increased capacity utilisation. Overall PVC production reached 820,500 tonnes in January-November 2017, compared to 701,200 tonnes a year earlier.
Only two plants out of four have increased output, and such a high level of output growth this year was a result of the low stocks of 2016.

The structure of PVC production by plants looked the following way over the stated period.

RusVinyl (JV SIBUR and SolVin) last month reduced the capacity utilisation, the enterprise produced about 28,500 tonnes of polyvinyl chloride in November, of which about 2,300 tonnes of emulsion polyvinyl chloride (EPVC), against 29,800 tonnes a month earlier. Thus, RusVinyl's overall production of resin reached 283,000 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2017, up by 3% year on year.

SayanskKhimPlast decreased capacity utilisation in November, having produced about 26,200 tonnes of suspension PVC (SPVC) compared to 27,800 tonnes a month earlier. SayanskKhimPlast managed to manufacture 238,700 tonnes of resin in January-November 2017, compared to 119,800 tonnes a year earlier (last year's low production was caused by a forced long outage from mid-February to July 2016).

Bashkir Soda Company produced 22,600 tonnes of SPVC last month versus 21,700 tonnes in October. The plant's output of resin totalled about 219,900 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2017, compared to 226,000 tonnes a year earlier. The plant's lower output was largely caused by the forced shutdown in August because of problems with the supply of ethylene.

Kaustik (Volgograd) produced about 8,000 tonnes of suspension PVC in November versus 3,500 tonnes a month earlier (the enterprise from 25 September to 18 October stopped its capacity for preventive maintenance). The plant's overall production of resin reached 79,000 tonnes over the stated period versus 80,400 tonnes a year earlier.


MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) — Indonesia's Pertamina expects to import up to 250 Mbpd of crude oil in 2018, the head of the state-owned company's procurement unit said on Tuesday, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

From Indonesia's crude output of around 800,000 bpd, about 500,000 bpd currently goes to Pertamina's domestic refineries, Toto Nugroho, Senior Vice President of the firm's Integrated Supply Chain unit, told reporters. "Around 250,000 (bpd) is imported," he said, noting that this level would continue in 2018, with imports meeting some 40% of Indonesia's crude oil needs.

Pertamina's existing overseas crude processing deal with Sinopec subsidiary Unipec is due to expire at the end of this month, Nugroho said. Pertamina is waiting for certainty on crude output cuts by OPEC member Iraq, from which it takes a share of Basra crude, before making a new deal, he added.

"How far they will cut, we don't know yet," Nugroho said, adding that there was a possibility Pertamina would sign a new crude processing deal in the second half of 2018. Pertamina's gasoline imports are expected to be at around 9 MMbbl per month in 2018, Nugroho said, roughly half of which would be RON88 gasoline and half RON92 gasoline.

The company is expecting to import around 6.8 MMt of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in 2018, Nugroho said. Pertamina jet fuel imports are expected to climb to around 1 MMbbl per month in 2018 from around 800,000 bbl per month this year "because our demand is good from the aviation sector", Nugroho said.

Pertamina hopes to supply around 90% of its import needs through term contracts, with the rest through spot market deals, Nugroho said. "We only buy products on the spot market if there's an emergency," he said.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China’s natural gas imports in November rose to a record as domestic demand surged while crude imports were the second-highest ever, as refiners ramped up output to cash in on strong profits as fuel prices soar, reported Reuters with reference to customs data.

Crude oil imports rose to 37.04 MMt in November, or 9.01 MMbpd, up from 7.3 MMbpd the previous month, and the second-highest level in history.

The data comes after the government recently released an additional 1.5 MMt in 2017 import quotas to three independent refineries.

Stronger imports have been supported by firm refining margins after China raised domestic fuel prices twice in November.

Year-to-date crude imports rose 12% to 385.98 MMt or 8.44 MMbpd.

As MRC wrote previously, China's crude oil imports will exceed 400 MMt this year, said an executive at a Chinese state oil giant in late July 2017, as continuing low oil prices and declining domestic output sparked increased overseas purchases. 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 in late July.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sinopec Corp’s Jinling refinery in eastern China shipped a cargo of bitumen, a heavy oil product used mainly in road paving, to the state of Hawaii for the first time, reported Reuters with reference to a report on Friday on the website of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC).

The refinery shipped a cargo of 15,700 t of bitumen, the report said.

The refinery is one of the country’s largest, capable of processing 380,000 bpd of crude oil, and most sophisticated.

China is a large net-importer of the road-paving refinery product. In the first 10 mos of this year, China’s bitumen imports were down 8% year-on-year at 4.24 MMt while exports more than doubled in the same period to around 287,000 t.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Hanwha Total Petrochemical Co Ltd said on Monday it plans to spend USD331.29 MM on a new factory in South Korea to increase polyethylene (PE) output by 400 Mtpy by 2019, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The joint venture of South Korean conglomerate Hanwha Group and French oil and gas company Total SA in a statement said the factory will raise its polyethylene capacity to 1.12 MMtpy when completed by the end of 2019.

The plant will be capable of producing multiple higher-value PE products enabling flexible response to demand, Hanwha Total said.

As MRC reported before, Hanwha Total Petrochemical plans to expand the production capacity of its low density polyethylene (LDPE)/ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) swing plant. Thus, the production capacity of the existing plant will be increase by 40,000 mt/year. Located at Daesan in South Korea, The swing plant has a total capacity of 240,000 mt/years.

Hanwha Group is one of the largest business conglomerate in South Korea. Founded in 1952 as Korea Explosives Inc., the group has grown into a large multi-profile business conglomerate, with diversified holdings stretching from explosives, their original business, to retail to financial services.
MRC