Sika opens new concrete admixtures and mortar products facility in USA

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sika has opened a new concrete admixtures and mortar products facility in Texas, the USA, as per the companies press-release.

With the opening of a new facility near Houston, Sika is further expanding its presence in the fast-growing US market. The 16-hectare site will be used for manufacturing a comprehensive portfolio of concrete admixtures and mortar products. The facilities will also serve as a strategic business center which will help tap into the enormous growth potential of the construction market in Texas and the southwestern states of the USA.

Sika’s extensive new factory has opened following a 12-month construction period. The site also houses special equipment for the production of polymers that form the backbone of high-performance concrete admixtures. This facility – the Group's 22nd in the United States – will supply customers in the major Texas conurbation as well as in the southwestern US. With a total of 20 million inhabitants and a booming construction industry, the megacities of Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio are among North America’s fastest-growing urban areas. From this new
site, Sika will focus on developing the Texas and southwestern US markets.

It will also open a training center for customers and applicators, as well as setting up sales and customer service
functions. This will ensure that the region is supplied with a wide product range from all target markets and a full service.

Christoph Ganz, Regional Manager North America: "By opening this new facility, we are continuing the expansion of our supply chain in the rapidly expanding metropolitan regions of North America. Texas is currently the fastest-growing construction market in the US, and the new factory in southern Texas will help us position ourselves ideally to benefit from this boom.

Thanks to the commissioning of 13 additional factories in the last five years alone, we now have comprehensive geographical coverage of the dynamic North American market and have thus laid the foundations for continuing our above-average growth."

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) — OPEC expects the world oil market to be balanced by late 2018 as its deal with other producers to cut output reduces excess oil in storage, even as US and other producers outside the group pump more crude, said Reuters.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, in a monthly report, cut its estimate of global demand for its crude in 2018 by 270,000 bpd to 33.15 MMbpd, in part because of higher US supply. But the 14-country producer group said its oil output in November, as assessed by secondary sources, was below the 2018 demand forecast at 32.45 MMbpd, a drop of about 133,000 bpd from October.

The report follows the Nov. 30 decision by OPEC, Russia and several other non-OPEC producers to extend their oil output-cutting deal until the end of 2018 to finish clearing a global glut of crude that built up from 2014.

"This should lead to a further reduction in excess global inventories, arriving at a balanced market by late 2018," OPEC sad in the report. Oil prices are trading near to $64/bbl, close to their highest since 2015, supported by the OPEC-led effort and an unplanned shutdown of a British oil pipeline. The price of crude is still about half its level of mid-2014.

OPEC said oil stocks fell further in October. Its production figures showed compliance with the supply cuts increased in November from already high rates.

Adherence by the 11 OPEC members with output targets has risen to 121%, according to a Reuters calculation, higher than October's level.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- India's refiners imported nearly half as much crude oil from Iran in November as the month before, ship tracking data showed, cutting purchases to a 21-month low in protest at Tehran's decision to award a giant gas field to a Russian company, reported Reuters.

India, the world's third largest crude oil consumer, received about 266,000 bpd of oil from Iran last month, a decline of 43% from October and 55% from a year ago, according to a review of tanker arrival data from trade sources and numbers available on Thomson Reuters Eikon.

For the fiscal year to March 2018, Indian refiners have opted to order about a quarter less Iranian crude as Tehran decided to award development rights for its huge Farzad B gas field to Russian rivals instead of an Indian consortium that discovered the field.

For April–November, the first eight months of this fiscal year, India shipped in 19% less Iranian oil, at about 427,200 bpd.

But India's oil imports from Iran will likely rise in December, as vessels holding about 4 MMbbl of oil sailed from the Iranian ports in end-November and discharged cargoes in early December.

Iran, facing the potential threat of further US sanctions, has also cut oil prices in efforts to retain Asian customers and boost the appeal of its crude compared with other Middle Eastern supply.

Last month's drop in Iranian crude purchases left the Middle East's slice of India's overall oil imports squeezed to 57% in November from about 69% in October. Iraq continued to be the top oil supplier to India, followed by Saudi Arabia.

India's imports of Iraqi oil surged in November when Basra Light discounts widened to USD0.30–USD0.70/bbl compared with official selling prices.

Meanwhile African oil's share of India's overall imports climbed to about 16% in November from about 10.5% in the previous months, as supplies from the region, mainly Nigeria, improved after a repair to a key pipeline in late October.

Most of the Nigerian cargoes were received by India in the first fortnight of November, indicating that refiners lifted buying in October, a month for which Brent's premium to Dubai narrowed averaged USD1.55/bbl.

Elsewhere, Latin America's share of India's oil imports jumped to about 19% in November from 12% the month before on higher intake of Mexico's Maya crude, the data showed.

Mexico's crude oil exports had already surged in October to 1.35 MMbpd, the highest since September 2016.

Mexico emerged as the third-biggest supplier, replacing Iran, which tumbled to 7th position. Nigeria replaced Venezuela as the fourth-largest supplier.

India's Essar Oil, which used to depend heavily on Iranian oil is gradually diversifying its crude imports under new management led by Russia's Rosneft. The private refiner took two very large crude carrier (VLCCs) shipments of Mexican Maya grade in November, the data showed. Overall India imported 4.7 MMbpd of oil in November, meaning growth of about 12% from a year ago as the country raised its refining capacity.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) — SNC-Lavalin and Saudi Aramco today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signaling SNC-Lavalin's continued commitment to creating and accelerating opportunities for local workforces in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The MoU supports Saudi Aramco's In-Kingdom Total Value Add (IKTVA) program, which applies to Saudi Aramco suppliers and drives the localization of oilfield services and equipment value chain, to strengthen and diversify the Saudi economy; transfer technologies, skill and knowledge through training and development; and create thousands of new jobs for the growing Saudi population.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Overall imports of polypropylene (PP) into Russia grew in January-November 2017 by 4% year on year to 160,800 tonnes.
Only delivery of propylene copolymers accounted for the increase in shipments, according to a MRC's DataScope report.

November imports of PP into Russia increased to 16,300 tonnes against 20,700 in October, the decrease accounted for homopolymer PP raffia grade and PP block copolymers. In general, imports of PP into Russia totalled 160,800 tonnes in January-November 2017, compared with 154,800 tonnes year on year. A serious reduction in external supplies was seen for homopolymer PP, while the largest increase in imports accounted for PP block copolymers.

Overall, the structure of PP imports by grades looked the following way over the stated period.

November imports of homopolymer PP decreased to 4,500 tonnes against 7,500 tonnes a month earlier, shipments of homopolymer PP raffia from Central Asia decreased significantly, in particular, from Turkmenistan because of the preventive downtime of the local producer. Overall imports of this PP grade reached 57,200 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2017, compared to 68,400 a year earlier.

November imports of PP block copolymers in Russia decreased to about 3,300 tonnes against 5,200 tonnes in October. Local companies reduced their purchasing of PP block copolymers for non-pressure pipes extrusion and injection moulding in Europe. Imports of PP block copolymers into Russia reached 41,100 tonnes in January-November 2017, compared to 28,800 tonnes a year earlier.

Russia's imports of PP random copolymers in November were about 3,600 tonnes against 3,800 tonnes a month earlier on a seasonal factor local producers of pressure pipes reduced the purchase of PP. Total imports of PP random copolymers in Russia were 30,400 tonnes in January - November 2017, compared with 31,200 tonnes year on year. Imports of other propylene polymers for the reported period increased to about 36,500 tonnes compared with 26,500 tonnes in the same time a year earlier.


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