January prices of European PP grew by EUR20-40/tonne for CIS markets

MOSCOW (MRC) - January contract price of propylene in Europe was agreed up EUR20/tonne below the level of the December. Many European producers announced an increase in January export prices of polypropylene (PP) for the CIS countries, in some cases it was a question of an increase in prices for EUR40/tonne, according to ICIS-MRC Price Report.

Negotiations on January prices of European PP began at the end of last week, many market participants said many European producers announced an increase of EUR40/tonne in export PP prices. Some producers agreed to limit the growth of prices of EUR20/tonne.

Deals for January shipments of homopolymer propylene (homopolymer PP) were done in the range of EUR1,030-1,140/tonne FCA, whereas last month's deals were done in the range of EUR1,010-1,100/tonne FCA.

Deals for block copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) were agreed in the range of EUR1,180-1,240/tonne FCA, down on average by EUR20-40/tonne from December.

Negotiations over January shipments of statistical propylene copolymers (PP random copolymers) were held in the range of EUR1,240-1,300/tonne FCA.
MRC

Reliance achieves design capacity at new ROGC complex in India

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) said it has successfully commissioned and achieved design throughput at the "world's first ever and largest" refinery off-gas cracker (ROGC) complex in Jamnagar, India, as per Apic-online.

The 1.5-million-t/y cracker, which increases RIL's total ethylene capacity to almost 4-million t/y, uses off-gases from its two refineries at Jamnagar as feedstock.

Ethylene from the ROGC is used to produce monoethylene glycol, linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) and LDPE at RIL's new recently commissioned units, while propylene from the ROGC has enhanced polypropylene (PP) output of the existing PP plants at the complex.

"This innovative approach of integration with refineries provides a sustainable cost advantage, making ROGC competitive with respect to the crackers in (the) Middle East and North America, which have feedstock cost advantage," the company explained.

The ROGC and downstream plants "marks a paradigm shift in the profitability and sustainability of RIL's petrochemicals business," noted RIL Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh D. Ambani.

As MRC informed before, in February 2016, RIL was awarded a contract worth Rs. 100 crore to Petron Engineering Construction Ltd for its LLDPE plant in Gujarat. The LLDPE plant is part of RIL's J-3 project in Jamnagar in the western Indian state of Gujarat.

Reliance Industries is one of the world's largest producers of polymers. Thus, the company produces among others polypropylene, polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride.
MRC

PE production in Belarus fell by 33% in 2017

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Belarus's overall production of low density polyethylene (LDPE) totalled slightly over 62,300 tonnes last year, down by a third year on year, according to MRC's DataScope Report. The forced outage at some of ethylene production capacities was the main reason, reported MRC analysts.


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

Troubled Noble Group says goodbye to global oil trading

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

Iraq exports from southern oilfields hit record 3.535 MMbpd in Dec

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