Kazanorgsintez raises HDPE prices

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Kazanorgsintez (part of TAIF Group), Russia's largest polyethylene (PE) producer, will raise its May prices of high density polyethylene (HDPE), according to ICIS-MRC Price Report.

The plant's customers said Kazanorgsintez announced an increase of roubles (Rb) 2,000-6,000/tonne from April. in its HDPE prices for May shipments to the domestic market. Prices of PE for extrusion blow moulding (EBM) and of pipe grade black PE 100 went up. Pipe grade PE accounted for the greatest price increase.

The rise in May HDPE prices was caused by the rouble devaluation and higher feedstocks prices.

PJSC "Kazanorgsintez" (part of TAIF Group) is one of Russia's largest plants. Kazanorgsintez produces over 38% of overall Russian PE and is the country's largest exporter. To date, the plant produces PE, polycarbonate (PC), PE pipes, phenol, acetone, bisphenol A. Kazanorgsintez is Russia's only PC producer. It manufactures a total of 170 items of products. Kazanorgsintez's annual output is 1.6 million tonnes. The plant is Russia's largest producer of pipe grade HDPE. The plant's annual HDPE production capacity is 540,000 tonnes and its annual LDPE capacity is 225,000 tonnes.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - PKN Orlen, Poland’s top oil refiner, said on Thursday its first-quarter net profit slumped 46 percent year-on-year to 1.04 billion zlotys (USD299.26 million) due to lower margins and a stronger zloty, as per Reuters.

Analysts had expected the state-run PKN Orlen to report a net profit of 1.02 billion zlotys in the first quarter compared with 1.92 billion zlotys a year ago.

As MRC informed earlier, in 2016 PKN ORLEN signed a contract with Saudi Aramco for the supply of ca. 200 thousand tonnes of crude oil monthly to its refineries.

PKN Orlen is a major Polish oil refiner and petrol retailer. The company is a significant European publicly traded firm with major operations in Poland, Czech Republic, Germany, and the Baltic States. It currently (2015) ranks 353, with a revenue of over USD33.8 billion.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- At least 20 people have been injured as a result of an explosion on Thursday at the Husky Energy oil refinery in northern Wisconsin, reported Sputnik.

Previously, Wisconsin Public Radio informed, quoting Superior Police Chief Nick Alexander, that the local law enforcement services had received a report of a fire at the refinery, at around 10:05 a.m. local time on Thursday.

"There is a report of multiple casualties… multiple agencies have responded," fire chief Steve Panger said in a statement. An evacuation order was issued for everyone at the facility.

"Typically fires that have the potential to be a larger scale, which something involving a refinery where there's combustible materials and so on, we basically respond to assist the fire department and control access to the area, make sure that we're stopping people from going into potentially an unsafe area," the police chief stated.

According to the media, firefighters and police forces have been deployed to the site.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BP named Helge Lund, a former head of Norway’s Statoil, as its next chairman on Thursday, as the British oil major looks to extend a period of rapid growth after recovering from a deadly oil spill in 2010.

Lund, who also led BG Group during its acquisition by rival Royal Dutch Shell, will replace Carl-Henric Svanberg, chairman of BP for almost nine years, at the beginning of next year.

The 55-year-old Lund steered Statoil through its transformation from a state oil company into a leading global player, and is likely to have to navigate BP through the succession of its veteran CEO Bob Dudley later this decade.

“It is a good appointment,” said Rohan Murphy, analyst at asset manager Allianz Global Investors. “He has already had a great career and coming from Statoil and BG shows his upstream expertise which is still the main driver of earnings at BP so it is key to understand this well.”

Lund will join BP at a time when the British oil and gas company is growing quickly, having recovered from the deadly Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 that brought the company to the brink of collapse. The Norwegian earned his reputation as a leader when he oversaw Statoil’s shift from a domestic-focused state oil firm into an international major over the 10 years to 2014.

He was also CEO of BG Group from 2015 to 2016. Just two months into the job, he agreed to a takeover by Shell which corporate filings showed would trigger payouts that could net him more than 32 million pounds (USD48 million).

Lund will join BP’s board as chairman designate and a non-executive director on Sept. 1 and will become chairman on Jan 1, the company said. It did not give salary details.

“Our industry is changing faster than ever as the world focuses on meeting the dual challenge of more energy with fewer emissions ... Helge has a track record of leadership in addressing these issues,” Svanberg said in a statement.

Svanberg, from Sweden, became chairman on Jan. 1, 2010, four months before the worst offshore oil disaster in U.S. history that left 11 workers dead. He played a key role in the aftermath of the disaster that cost the company over USD65 billion.

Lund, who is also chairman of Denmark’s Novo Nordisk AS, will stand down as a director at oilfield service company Schlumberger with immediate effect. He has been a Schlumberger director since June 2016.

He started his career as a consultant with McKinsey & Company and a parliamentary adviser for Norway’s Conservative party. Lund was also on the board of directors of Nokia from 2011 to 2014.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Royal Dutch Shell increased its profits by 41 per cent in the first quarter, driven by higher oil prices, increased production and lower costs, as per The Financial Time.

The results highlighted the resurgence in oil industry profitability at a time when crude prices are trading around four-year highs above USD75 per barrel.

Shell reported an average price of $60.66 during the first quarter, up by a quarter on the same period last year, and a 2 per cent increase in production to 3.84m barrels per day.

This helped lift earnings on a current cost of supply basis – the measure tracked most closely by analysts – to USD5.32bn, excluding exceptional items, up from USD3.8bn a year ago.

Analysts had, on average, expected USD5.27bn.

Cash flow from operations dipped slightly to USD9.4bn, compared with USD9.5bn last year, but the balance sheet continued to strengthen, with gearing down to 24.7 per cent from 28.3 per cent a year ago.

As well as higher oil prices, debt reduction has been aided by swift progress in the USD30bn asset disposal programme launched by Shell after its acquisition of BG Group two years ago. The group said on Thursday that it had completed USD26bn of divestments, with a further $6bn announced or in progress.

Ben van Beurden, Shell chief executive, said the results reflected improving profitability in the upstream exploration and production business, offset by less favourable refining market conditions and lower contributions from commodity trading.

MRC