Saudi Aramco keen on majority stake in Ratnagiri refinery in India

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest producer of oil, is seeking majority ownership of the proposed 3-lakh-crore refinery-cum-petrochemical complex on the Indian west coast, marketing rights over entire fuel and petrochemicals produced at the complex and an assurance the refinery would mostly use Saudi oil, multiple people familiar with the matter said, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Saudi Aramco is engaged in an intense negotiation with Indian state firms over its participation in the 60 million tonnes a year refinery that is proposed to be built in the Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra.

Indian Oil Corporation currently owns 50% in the world’s biggest greenfield refinery project, with the balance stake being equally split between Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum.

The state-run firms are seeking a strategic investor and have been talking to Aramco for several months.

"They have just drawn the starting line. Only after the negotiations have concluded, you would know what Aramco has finally got," said a person familiar with the negotiations between state firms and Aramco.

"Giving Aramco the majority stake is just out of the question. If we can’t have the majority stake in our own project, on our own land, then where," said one person with knowledge of the negotiations. "The demand on sourcing of crude can be considered since India already uses Saudi oil a lot but the refinery can’t be solely dependent on oil from just one country."

Another proposal seeking rights to market fuel and petrochemicals produced at the proposed complex will also go through hard negotiations, people said.

Saudi Aramco didn’t comment on the details of the negotiation.

But in an emailed response to ET’s query, it said: "Saudi Aramco views India as an important strategic market and is a reliable and leading supplier of crude oil to India. We are looking at various opportunities in India which includes refining. We are in discussions with Indian counterparties in these potential ventures and hope to progress our cooperation and partnership further."

India, the third-largest oil importer in the world, presents a key market for Aramco, the biggest exporter of crude in the world. Of late, Saudi Arabia’s hold in the Indian market has weakened though, with Iraq having overtaken it to become India’s top crude oil supplier in 2017-18.Besides, the collapse of crude oil since mid-2014 and a growing chorus that the world will never run out of oil has shifted the balance of power towards heavy consumers like India and China, and intensified competition among oil producers.

This also prompted Russia’s Rosneft, a competitor for Aramco in global market, to buy a 20 MT refinery in India last year in order to secure a reliable consumer base.

Aramco, which is planning a public offer and aiming for a USD2 trillion valuation, is hoping to obtain a slice of rapidly expanding Indian refining and petrochemicals business.

As MRC wrote before, in November 2017, Saudi Aramco and SABIC signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to develop a fully integrated crude oil to chemicals (COTC) complex in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which governs the execution of the front-end engineering design (FEED) before a final investment decision is made. The COTC complex is expected to process 400,000 bpd of crude oil, which will produce approximately 9 MMt of chemicals and base oils annually and is expected to start operations in 2025.

Saudi Aramco is an integrated oil and chemicals company, a global leader in hydrocarbon production, refining processes and distribution, as well as one of the largest global oil exporters. It manages proven reserves of crude oil and condensate estimated at 261.1bn barrels, and produces 9.54 million bbl daily. Headquartered in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, the company employs over 61,000 staff in 77 countries.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Brazilian mills are doing everything they can to keep raw sugar off the global market as Brazil's cane harvest kicks off, to avoid worsening a glut that has driven prices to their lowest in two years, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

With the benchmark raw sugar contract trading below 13 cents per pound in New York and production costs in Brazil's center-south varying from 13.5 cents to 15 cents, directors of sugar companies are weighing bold moves to avoid negative profit margins.

"We have to cut the supply of sugar to help reduce the global surplus," said Hugo Cagno, a partner along with French sugar group Tereos in the Vertente mill, in the town of Guaraci, deep in Brazil's main cane belt in the state of Sao Paulo.

This week Datagro analysts said they expect Brazilian producers to cut sugar volumes in the 2018/19 center-south crop area to 31.6 million tonnes, from 36 million tonnes a year ago.

The obvious move, for those who are able, is turning as much cane as possible into ethanol, since domestic prices and demand for the biofuel are strong, paying the equivalent of a raw sugar price around 17 cents per pound, mill owners said.

Others with access to capital are looking to stock and carry the unsold sugar until prices rise, possibly in the inter-harvest period at the start of next year. Another strategy is to increase production of white sugar to sell domestically to food and drink companies such as PepsiCo Inc, Nestle SA and AmBev SA.

In some cases, producers have been so desperate to avoid money-losing sugar sales that they have negotiated so-called washouts, canceling export contracts for the sweetener. Luiz Gustavo Junqueira Figueiredo, commercial director at the Alta Mogiana mill, says washouts are not widespread but rather a last resort for mills that entered contracts without price protection. Alta Mogiana has not done any.

"Stock and carry is a more interesting strategy, if you have the capital to build or rent storage capacity," he told Reuters on the sidelines of an industry conference this week in Ribeirao Preto, where millers discussed prospects for the new cane crop starting officially in April.

Bernardo Biagi, owner of two mills crushing around 7 million tonnes of cane annually in the Ribeirao Preto area, says he has started processing at one of his mills but only ethanol so far.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Wacker, the Munich-based chemical group, is strengthening its presence in Russia by expanding the service portfolio offered by its technical center in Moscow, as per the company's press release.

Wacker is integrating a new dedicated laboratory for adhesives and sealants based on silane-terminated polyethers (hybrid polymers) used mostly in the construction industry. Furthermore, the center’s existing laboratories for dry-mix-mortar, paints, coatings and construction-silicones applications has been accredited by the Russian Federal Service for Accreditation as an official test lab: Wacker can thus provide an independent test protocol as a basis for officially recognized quality certificates. Thanks to this expansion and accreditation, Wacker is able to meet the needs of its local customers, who are increasingly demanding high-quality silicone and polymer products.
Highly specific tests can be performed in the new laboratory in Moscow. The image shows lab assistant Ekaterina Aleksandrova using a planetary mixer to produce a low-modulus sealant with silane-modified polyether as a binder.

Being extremely versatile, modern sealants and adhesives are used in an increasingly broad range of applications - from the construction industry through to transportation and energy. The Moscow technical center’s new laboratory helps Wacker support the enhancement of these applications. "The market for sealants and adhesives in Russia has huge potential, which was the main factor behind our decision to open the new facility. For us, the most important reason is to provide customers with technical support as fast as possible while keeping local market needs in mind," said Dr. Alexander Serov, Managing Director of Wacker Russia, during the opening ceremony.

Wacker’s new lab facility offers the possibility of testing and developing sophisticated formulations based on local fillers and additives. Modern planetary and asymmetric centrifugal mixers make it possible to prepare adhesives and sealants of varying viscosity and thixotropy and to use a rheometer to characterize them. Thanks to the state-of-the-art laboratory equipment, it is also possible to determine the products’ tensile strength, adhesion, shear strength and shore hardness. What’s more, the Moscow technical center has a climate room for testing samples under standard conditions to provide repeatable results. All tests for liquid and cured adhesives and sealants can now be conducted in accordance with international standards. The new lab enables WACKER to identify and respond to regional trends and developments at an early stage, offering its customers tailor-made local solutions.

The opening of the new facility is complemented by the fact that the Moscow technical center’s existing dry-mix-mortar, paints, coatings and construction-silicones laboratories have been accredited by the Russian Federal Service for Accreditation as official test labs in accordance with GOST ISO/MEK 17025 . This means that WACKER will be able to issue a Russian state-approved protocol on the results of product tests, which will allow customers to apply for quality certificates for their products. These certificates for tile adhesives, paints and coatings, self-levelling compounds or renders are increasingly required in both public and private construction projects. "This accreditation enables us to add value for our customers. It provides them with independent test results that prove the quality of products modified with VINNAPAS and SILRES," said Alexander Serov. WACKER is thus making an important contribution to the distribution and advancement of modern, high-quality building materials.

As MRC informed previously, Wacker Chemie AG is expanding its existing production plants for dispersions and dispersible polymer powders in South Korea. The Group is building a new spray dryer for dispersible polymer powders at its Ulsan site, which will have a total capacity of 80,000 metric tons per year. The Munich-based chemicals company is also constructing an additional reactor for dispersions based on EVA, which are needed as the raw material for the spray dryer to produce dispersible polymer powders.

Wacker Chemie AG is a worldwide operating company in the chemical business, founded 1914. The company is controlled by the Wacker-family holding more than 50 percent of the shares. The corporation is operating more than 25 production sites in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. The product range includes silicone rubbers, polymer products like ethylene vinyl acetate redispersible polymer powder, chemical materials, polysilicon and wafers for semiconductor industry.
MRC

Chinese producers traditionally have been the key foreign PVC suppliers for the past several years. Imports of acetylene Chinese resin slumped in February to 800 tonnes from 2,400 tonnes a month earlier due to higher export prices. Overall imports of resin from China were 3,200 tonnes in the first two months of 2018, compared to 2,700 tonnes a year earlier.

A major decrease in demand for PVC from the domestic market in winter months forced Russian producers to export material more actively this year. About 17,000 tonnes were shipped to foreign markets last month (excluding deliveries to the countries of the Customs Union) versus 19,000 tonnes in January. 36,000 tonnes of SPVC were shipped for export in January-February 2018, compared to 21,500 tonnes a year earlier.

MRC

MOSCOW (Market Report) -- The period of long price cuts in the Russian low density polyethylene (LDPE) market is over. The price situation has radically changed in the market since mid-March, prices began to rise gradually, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

LDPE prices went down in the Russian market since last September under the pressure of weak demand and excessive supply of polymer. Prices for some grades had reached their minimum by February and even fell below prices of its export counterpart to be shipped to several markets. The situation has begun to change gradually to the opposite direction in the LDPE market since March, the downward price trend gave way to growth.

The spring increase in LDPE prices is traditional in the Russian market and is caused by seasonally stronger demand and scheduled shutdown for maintenance at Kazanorgsintez, one of the largest producers. This year does not seem to be an exception. The Kazan producer intends to shut down its production capacities for almost a one-month turnaround on 13 April.

Higher delivery costs also might affect LDPE prices for the end user in the near future. The traditional spring restrictions on road freight transportation will come into force for movement on regional roads in some regions from late March. Such restrictions led to a 50% increase in delivery costs in some regions a year earlier.

There was no deficit of LDPE in the market, but market participants said there were temporary restrictions on shipments by some producers. Besides, some companies began to prepare for a "season of high demand". And if demand for LDPE was very weak in the first two weeks of March, then a serious recovery has been registered in the market since the middle of the week.

There was also information in the market about some producers' plans to significantly increase their prices next week. Some market participants do not rule out a price rise of up to Rb5,000/tonne.

LDPE prices reached their bottom in the market in late February, and prices of 108 grade polyethylene (PE) were at Rb75,000/tonne, CPT Moscow, including VAT. Prices of this PE grade went up to Rb77,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, or higher as of mid-March.
MRC