PE imports into Kazakhstan increased by 27% in January-November 2017

MOSCOW (MRC) - Imports of polyethylene (PE) in Kazakhstan increased by 27% in the eleven months of 2017 compared to the same period of 2016 and amounted to about 112,000 tonnes. Shipments of all PE grades increased, according to MRC DataScope.

November PE imports to Kazakhstan rose to 12,000 tonnes from 8,500 tonnes a month earlier, local companies significantly increased their purchasing of high density polyethylene (HDPE) in Russia and Uzbekistan. Total PE imports into the country were about 112,000 tonnes in January - November 2017, compared with 87,900 tonnes in the same time a year earlier. Purchasing of all PE grades rose, with HDPE accounting for the greatest increase. The structure of PE imports by grades looked the following way over the stated period.
November HDPE imports to Kazakhstan grew to 9,600 tonnes from 6,600 a month earlier. Local companies managed to increase PE purchasing in Russia after several months of severe restrictions from local producers because of shutdowns for maintenance, as well as increased delivery from Uzbekistan. Thus, overall HDPE imports reached 86,000 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2017, up by 31% year on year.

November purchases of LDPE by local companies increased to 1,700 tonnes from 1,700 tonnes in October, Russian producers raised their shipments slightly. Overall LDPE imports into Kazakhstan totalled about 19,700 tonnes over the stated period, up by 13% year on year.

Purchasing of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) by local companies was 6,300 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2017, compared to 4,800 tonnes a month earlier.

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MOSCOW (MRC) — Oil prices fell on Wednesday after hitting a near two-and-a-half year high in the previous session as analysts said the rally was gradually running out of steam despite supply outages in Libya and the North Sea, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Brent crude futures dropped to USD66.27/bbl, down 1.15%, or 75 cents, at 1321 GMT after breaking through USD67 for the first time since May 2015 the previous day.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at USD59.53 a barrel, down 44 cents from their last settlement. WTI broke through $60/bbl for the first time since June 2015 in the previous session.

"This could now be the fourth year in a row when the period around the turn of the year offers a good opportunity to start fading the market," JBC Energy said in a note. JBC said it believed the market will gradually realize it had overshot: "We would have to argue that sometime over the course of January we will see a major turnaround."

It said prices could fall below $60/bbl sometime in February and could even test USD55/bbl. On Tuesday, Libya lost around 90 Mbpd of crude oil supplies from a blast on a pipeline feeding Es Sider port.

Repair of the pipeline could take about one week but will not have a major impact on exports, the head of Libyan state oil firm NOC told Reuters on Wednesday. The Libyan outage added to supply disruptions of recent weeks, which also included the closure of Britain's largest Forties pipeline.

On Wednesday, Forties was pumping at half its normal capacity and its operator was pledging to resume full flows in early January. The Forties and Libyan outages, which together amount to around 500 Mbpd, are relatively small in a global context of both production and demand approaching 100 MMbpd.

"The net global impact of the (Libyan) pipeline explosion is relatively small and we will not blow out of proportion the impact of the incident on the supply and demand picture," said Olivier Jakob from Swiss-based Petromatrix. He said the market could be supported by a US cold spell and expectations of greater heating oil consumption.

Oil markets have tightened significantly over the past year thanks to voluntary supply restraint led the Middle East-dominated Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC Russia.

Data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) shows that following rampant oversupply in 2015, global oil markets gradually came into balance by 2016 and started to show a slight supply deficit this year. EIA data implies a slight supply shortfall of 180 Mbpd for 1Q 2018.

A major factor countering efforts by OPEC and Russia efforts to prop up prices is US oil production, which has soared more than 16% since mid-2016 and is fast approaching 10 MMbpd.
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MOSCOW (MRC) — S&P Global Platts added Hanwa Singapore Pte Ltd and Integr8 Fuels Inc last week to its Asia Market On Close (MOC) assessment process for Singapore physical bunkers, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The two companies are among the latest additions to the MOC process for physical marine fuels, also known as bunkers, after PetroChina International and Maersk Oil Trading Singapore were added in September and Aegean Marine Petroleum in October.

Singapore is the world’s largest bunker fuels market and serves as Asia’s pricing hub for the marine fuel.

The MOC is a process used by Platts to assess the value of crude oil, petroleum products including bunker fuels, and related derivatives.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- ChinaCoal Mengda New Energy & Chemical Co has restarted a polypropylene (PP) plant following an unplanned outage, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the company has resumed operations at the plant on December 28, 2017. The plant was shut on December 20, 2017 owing to technical issues.

Located at Ordos, Inner Mongolia of China, the PP plant has a production capacity of 300,000 mt/yr.

As MRC informed before, another major petrochemical producer in China - Sinopec Yangzi Petrochemical - in mid-May 2017, took off-stream its PP plant for a maintenance turnaround. The duration of the planned shutdown could not be ascertained. Located in Jiangsu province, China, the plant comprising three units have a production capacity of 200,000 mt/year, 100,000 mt/year and 100,000 mt/year.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Chinese company China National Chemical Corporation (ChemChina) is seeking to list its subsidiary KraussMaffei, a leading supplier of machinery and systems for producing and processing plastics and rubber, on a stock exchange in China, as per GV.

To this end, KraussMaffei is to be brought into the Qingdao Tianhua Institute of Chemistry Engineering Co. Ltd, which is listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and a subsidiary of ChemChina, by way of injecting its equity interest into an existing listed company under ChemChina. In addition, it is planned to integrate amongst others three sites for the production of tyres and rubber facilities from ChemChina into the listed entity. The transaction is subject to approvals by relevant bodies and regulators.

"KraussMaffei’s business would make up about 85 % of the listed company", said Frank Stieler, CEO of KraussMaffei. KraussMaffei would continue to expand the international business from Germany as well as drive the Chinese business locally. Through the planned access to the Chinese capital market, KraussMaffei will be able to accelerate its growth in the mid-term. The company already increased its revenue for fiscal 2016 by 5 % to EUR 1.27 billion and is heading to cross the mark of EUR 1.3 billion in 2017. Since April 2016 KraussMaffei is under majority ownership of the Chinese chemicals company ChemChina.

The planned transaction is the next step in the development of KraussMaffei. In 2016 the company solidified its technological market position in the plastics and rubber industries and with the change in ownership laid the foundation to enhance its profitable growth. “Through the planned transaction we are receiving access to the capital market. Through new financial resources we have the opportunity to continue to develop our company and accelerate our planned growth”, said Frank Stieler, CEO of KraussMaffei. In the current fiscal year 350 new jobs are expected to be created. In August 2017 KraussMaffei globally already exceeded the 5,000-employee mark.

The company headquarters of KraussMaffei remain in Munich, Germany. The German co-determination rights, the legal form of the company as well as employee and union agreements remain unchanged. The employee representatives and IG Metall therefore welcome KraussMaffei’s next step. “The further improved access to the Chinese market will continue to generate growth through which existing jobs in Germany and Europe will be secured”, said Peter Krahl, Chairman of the works council of KraussMaffei. The IG Metall also has a positive view on these developments. “Under the new ownership KraussMaffei is on a clear course. Most recently the 5,000th employee was hired. ChemChina is a reliable partner”, said Horst Lischka, Company Representative of the IG Metall responsible for Munich and member of the Chairman’s Committee of the Supervisory Board of KraussMaffei.

ChemChina remains actual controller of KraussMaffei and will continue to support the future growth of the company. "We have always believed in the growth potential of the company. Through a future listing on the Shanghai stock exchange, the perception of KraussMaffei will significantly increase in the Chinese market. Chinese investors appreciate German industrial workmanship as well as management competency," said Jianxin Ren, Chairman of ChemChina.
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