PE production in Belarus fell by 33% in 2017

According to the National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus, the local LDPE roducer - Polymir - increased slightly its capacity utilisation in December 2017. December polyethylene (PE) output was slightly over 5,900 tonnes, compared to 5,500 tonnes a month earlier. Thus, Polymir's overall LDPE production totalled a little bit more than 62,300 tonnes in 2017 versus 92,400 tonnes a year earlier.

The fire at one of the ethylene units in late June 2016, which led to a two-fold reduction in the olefin production, was the main reason for such a major fall in PE output.

As reported earlier, Polymir had completed maintenance works at some production capacities by early November, the outage lasted for about one month.

Polymir (part of Naftan) is Belarus' largest petrochemical company, producing a wide range of chemical products, such as low density polyethylene (LDPE), acrylic fibers, products of organic synthesis, hydrocarbon fractions, etc. Polymir was founded in 1968. The producer uses technologies of the largest foreign companies from Great Britain, Japan, Germany, Italy (Courtaulds, Asahi Chemical Co. Ltd, Kanematsu Gosho, SNIA BPD, etc.), as well as the developments of scientific research institutes and design institutes of the CIS countries. The plant's annual production capacity is 130,000 tonnes.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Noble Group is closing down its London oil desk and winding down its Asia oil operations, sources familiar with the matter said, as heavy losses and high debt force what was once Asia's biggest commodities trader to restructure, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The closures follow the sale of its larger U.S. oil trading business to Vitol, announced in October, and a nine-month loss of some $3 billion reported in November. Since then, Noble has been winding down its remaining oil trading operations in London and Singapore, with many key traders leaving to join competitors. "That (U.S. oil business) comprised the material share of Noble's oil business. The rest ... has either closed or is in the final process of sale," a source familiar with the matter said. A spokeswoman for Noble Group declined to comment.

The company, which had a market capitalisation of USD6 billion in early February 2015, was plunged into crisis after a report by blogger Iceberg Research later that month questioning its accounting. Noble stood by its accounts and rejected the report's allegations but coupled with a major commodities downturn, the firm was unable to recover investor confidence. Its market value has shrunk to around USD215 million.

The closure of its London and Singapore desks marks an effective exit from the oil trading business. In 2016, the number of employees at NCFL (Noble Clean Fuels Ltd) in London was 25, down from 35 the year before. The Singapore-listed company, founded in 1986 by Richard Elman, is returning to its roots as a hard commodities business in Asia, mainly involved in coal marketing, a business that is partly financed by Mercuria Group. A source in Asia said that the firm was winding down some old contracts with only a handful of employees left.

Traders said that they have not seen activity from the company in several months and its head of crude, Chris McAleese, left late last year. He was hired about a year ago to rebuild the business during a brief upswing in the company's finances. Noble's star gasoline trader in the United States, Dimitri Sinenko, was poached by Gunvor at the end of last year. Two distillate traders recently moved from the London office to Unipec and a crude trader went to Trafigura. From Noble's Singapore oil desk, a senior crude trader just moved to Statoil and Morten Buur-Jensen became Singapore managing director of Africa-focused oil trader Mocoh in November.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Oil exports from Iraq's southern Basra ports rose to a record high of 3.535 MMbpd in December 2017 from 3.5 MMbpd the previous month, two oil officials said Reuters.

Southern exports are on the rise as Iraq seeks to offset the halting of shipments from its Kirkuk oilfields in the north in mid-October after Iraqi forces took back control of fields from Kurdish fighters.

The bulk of Iraq's oil is exported via the southern terminals.

The December figure for southern exports beat the previous record of 3.51 MMbpd set in December 2016, the last month before an output cut agreement led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries took effect.

Rising output from small oilfields developed by the state-run Basra Oil Company helped push up December exports, an oil official told Reuters.

The increase last month, though, has not completely offset the halt of shipments from the north.

"Our plan is to keep boosting exports from the southern oilfields to make up for the lost Kirkuk shipments," said another oil official with the state-run Basra Oil Company.

Iraq is OPEC’s second-largest producer after Saudi Arabia with an output capacity of 4.8 MMbpd which Baghdad aims to increase to 5 MMbpd.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - German drugs and pesticides group Bayer on Wednesday said it was selling more of its stake in chemicals group Covestro, aiming to raise about 1.5 billion euros (USD1.8 billion) in an accelerated bookbuilding process, said Reuters.

Bayer has said it wants to fully dispose of its holding in Covestro, which it demerged in 2015, in the medium term. It has raised 4.7 billion euros in four previous placements.

Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) and Goldman Sachs (GS.N) are acting as joint bookrunners for the overnight placement, which is aimed at institutional investors and marks the fifth time in 10 months that Bayer has moved to sell Covestro stock.

About 18 million shares will be placed at 86.25-88.46 euros apiece for proceeds of 1.55-1.59 billion euros, one of the banks said in a note to investors. Bayer has agreed to a 90-day lockup period.

Based on Covestro’s current market value, this would amount to as much as 8.9 percent, which would bring Bayer’s direct stake, currently at 24.6 percent, to below 16 percent. The Bayer Pension Trust holds a further 8.9 percent stake.

Covestro shares were 1.9 percent lower in late trading in Frankfurt (1COV.F), while those of Bayer (BAYGn.F) were down 1.3 percent.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The dramatic recovery of Libya’s oil production sector was one of 2017’s most notable developments, said Yourpetrochemicalnews.

The years of debilitating civil conflict following the Muammar Ghadaffi era had destroyed the country’s crude oil output capability, leading to severe loss of foreign exchange earnings and questions over Libya’s future as a credible oil market player. What a difference a year can make.

Libyan crude oil output leapt to 962,000 bpd in October 2017, up from 390,000 bpd in 2016, and is poised to surpass 1 million bpd in 2018. With crude oil prices recovering as well, the impact on Libyan finances has been equally dramatic.

The achievement is striking, and has earned Libya’s National Oil Co. (NOC) plaudits, and its mercurial chairman, Mustafa A Bulgasm Sanalla, the coveted Petroleum Economist’s CEO of the Year award for 2017. Libya’s gas production also made great strides in 2017, with first gas from the Bouri field. Italian firm Eni’s Bahr Essalam concession is expected to follow suit and deliver first output in 2018.

The optimistic backdrop has started to support external operators’ confidence in Libya’s progress back to normality.

Germany’s Siemens gave a clear sign of growing investor confidence with contracts to build two gas-fired plants for power utility General Electric Company of Libya (GECOL), adding 1,300 MW of new capacity to Libya’s power generation fleet.

The success in bringing the oil and gas sectors back on to an even keel has added stability to feedstock supplies, and has had the added benefit of improving the investment climate for foreign companies, and rehabilitation work needed to repair any damaged infrastructure can now be offered to overseas contactors with some confidence.
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