Aliaga cracker to be brought on-stream by Petkim

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Petkim, part of SOCAR, is in plans to restart its naphtha cracker following an unplanned shutdown, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Turkey informed that the cracker is likely to resume production by this weekend. The cracker was shut owing to a technical glitch on March 9, 2018.

Located at Aliaga in Turkey, the cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 585,000 mt/year and propylene production capacity of 240,000 mt/year.

As MRC reported previously, in May 2016, Azerbaijan’s state-owned energy company SOCAR sold 2.75 percent of its stake in Turkey's petrochemical giant Petkim to a foreign investment fund. Turkey’s Public Disclosure Platform (KAP) reports that this stake was sold for 147 million liras (USD51 million).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Royal Dutch Shell Plc is selling its upstream assets in New Zealand to Austria’s OMV AG (OMVV.VI) for USD578 million, as per Reuters.

“Today’s announcement is another step towards reshaping and simplifying our company,” Shell’s Integrated Gas & New Energies Director Maarten Wetselaar said.

Thursday’s agreement includes the sale of Maui, Pohokura and Tank Farms. After deal closure, Shell Taranaki and Shell New Zealand employees will become a part of OMV New Zealand, Shell said.

“This acquisition is an important step to develop Australasia into a core region in line with our new strategy,” OMV CEO Rainer Seele said.

Shell has sold or agreed to sell over USD25 billion of assets as part of a three-year program to dispose of USD30 billion by the end of 2018, following the acquisition of BG Group in 2016.

Shell sold its stake in Kapuni gas field, New Zealand’s second-largest, for an undisclosed price in 2017.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Seven firms have submitted bids to buy a majority stake in Zambia's sole 24,000 barrel per day Indeni Petroleum Refinery, an executive at the agency handling the bidding said, as per Reuters.

Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) procurement specialist Mwila Kapita said Glencore Energy UK Ltd, Vitol SA, China Petroleum Technology and Development Corporation and Philia Trading were among the firms that had submitted bids.

The others are Joint Stock Company Global Security of Russia, Sahara Energy Resources Limited and a consortium of Beijing Huiersanji Green Chem Company Limited and AVIC International Holding.

Zambia is looking for a strategic partner to work with Indeni Petroleum Refinery, built in 1973. The oil company is currently 100 percent owned by the state-controlled Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) Limited.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Traders are storing gasoline on tankers off Europe's coast as they struggle to contain a steady rise in supplies since the start of the year that has weighed on prices, as per Reuters.

The unusual move reflects a recent weakening in the margin refiners make from converting crude oil into the road fuel as stocks in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp refining and storage hub in recent weeks reached their highest level since July 2016, according to data from PJK International.

At least three 90,000 tonne tankers have been booked in recent weeks to store gasoline for up to 60 days off the Dutch coasts - Maersk Producer, Phoenix Dream and Maersk Promise, according to traders and shipping data.

Gunvor had booked the three cargoes, the sources said. Traders said the drop in current gasoline prices had tipped the northwest European market into a contango that made it worthwhile to put cargoes of summer-grade gasoline into storage.

Medium-range tanker freight rates have also fallen, making it cheaper to book these ships, ship brokers said. The stored fuel is believed to be summer-grade gasoline which will be kept until demand revives in the United States, which switches from winter-grade on May 1, traders said.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- MOL Group (Budapest, Hungary) and JSR Corp. inaugurated a new synthetic rubber plant in Tiszaujvaros, Hungary, which will produce 60,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr) of solution polymerization styrene-butadiene rubber (S-SBR), as per Chemengonline.

The most important feedstock of S-SBR is butadiene, which is produced by MOL at an adjacent plant commissioned in 2015. S-SBR is highly valued worldwide as a raw material for fuel-efficient tires.

MOL and JSR Corporation reached an agreement in 2013 to establish a joint venture with 51% held by JSR and 49% by MOL. The construction of the plant started in 2015.

"MOL has further extended its petrochemical value chain with one of the world’s most innovative products. We are proud that year after year MOL is able to produce more specialized and more profitable products. There is a lot of work ahead of us, but we are well on track to reach our strategic goal and become a leading chemical company in Central Eastern Europe by 2030," said Zsolt Hernadi, Chairman-CEO of MOL Group.
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