July PVC prices to rise in Russia

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Negotiations over July shipments of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) began in Russia this Tuesday, on 26 June. All producers insisted on a further price increase, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

Negotiations over July polyvinyl chloride (PVC) shipments began predictably for Russian consumers: producers announced a further price increase. Most suppliers have plans to achieve a Rb2,000/tonne rise from June in SPVC prices, some producers intend to get greater price increases. Converters understand that it will be impossible to avoid further price increases and, therefore, they intend to limit the next price rise of material to a less amount than announced initially.

As before, there was no shortage of resin in the market, despite a major fall in imports and higher export sales of Russian producers. At the same time, the weak rouble has still retained the attractiveness of exports to certain directions.

A long scheduled shutdown for maintenance at Russia' largest producer - SayanskKhimPlast - is ahead. The plant intends to shut down its production for a one-month turnaround on 15 July, its annual capacity is 300,000 tonnes. But this outage is unlikely to affect the market balance, many Russian producers have sufficient stocks to meet the growing needs of the market, even amid a complete absence of import shipments.

PVC prices have continued to go up in the market since early 2018, and converters had to transfer the increase in prices of material to prices of finished products. The first wave of the increase in prices of finished products was in May, some converters intend to once again raise prices in July.

In general, July deals for resin with K=64/67 were negotiated in the range of Rb72,000-74,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT. Deals for resin with K=70 were also discussed starting from Rb72,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Supplly of natural pipe high density polyethylene (HDPE) became tight in the second half of June in Russia, following a long period of surplus. The supply of polyethylene in the market is unlikely to improve in July, according to the ICIS-MRC Price Report.

Demand for pipe polyethylene have been seasonally weak with excessive supply since the beginning of the year.
Demand for this polyethylene has begun to improve since May, and in June local consumers faced serious restrictions on the supply of pipe HDPE, in particular, natural grades. At the same time, the tight supply led to a noticeable price increase, which will continue in July.

Demand for pipe polyethylene improved significantly in the Russian market in June. The most significant lack in supply was noted in the segment of natural polyethylene, which led to a record rise in prices over the past nine months. If in previous months some pipe producers actively used HDPE of 273-83 grade, this month this polyethylene became short because of problems with the production of it at Kazanorgsintez.

As it was already written, the lack of supply of natural pipe HDPE led to a serious increase in prices. In particular, deals for deliveries of the most common polyethylene produced by Gazprom neftekhim Salavat in the second half of the month reached the level of Rb100,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT. The situation is aggravated by the fact that Gazprom neftekhim Salavat shuts its capacities in the early July for short-term turnaround. The first July deliveries from the producer can be expected not earlier than in the second decade of the month.

However, the second producer of natural HDPE - Stavrolen does not plan to produce this polyethylene next month.
There was no deficit of black PE1100 market in June, supply and demand were balanced.

But at the same time the only Russian supplier of this polyethylene, Kazanorgsintez reduced export sales this month.
Negotiations on the July deliveries of black PE100 were started this week, key buyers reported a rise in prices of Rb5,000/tonne in comparison with the level of June.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Fluor Corporation announced that it has achieved substantial engineering completion for Marathon Petroleum Corporation’s Tier 3 gasoline sulfur standard reconfiguration project at the Galveston Bay refinery in Texas City, Texas, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

"This accomplishment represents the successful completion of thousands of deliverables from the joint Marathon Petroleum and Fluor project team," said Mark Fields, president of Fluor’s Energy & Chemicals business in the Americas. "This milestone was achieved on schedule and under budget because of the strong relationship between the Marathon Petroleum and Fluor project teams, and it has enabled work to transition seamlessly to the construction site."

Fluor and Marathon Petroleum have worked together on this project since the feasibility stage in 2014. Fluor is providing engineering, procurement and construction management services, which will enable the refinery to achieve updated U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Tier 3 gasoline sulfur standards by 2020 and provide cleaner fuel to U.S. markets.

The scope of work includes a new selective hydrogenation unit, a new naphtha desulfurization unit and upgrades to the existing naphtha desulfurization unit and the fluid catalytic cracker. The project also includes the modernization of the utilities and offsites to continue the integration of the former Texas City refinery into the adjacent Galveston Bay refinery.

Engineering was performed out of Fluor’s offices in Houston, and Manila and Cebu, Philippines. Construction activity is underway at the project site, with aboveground piping and structural steel currently being installed. Construction is scheduled to be completed in 2019.

Fluor is also currently providing engineering and procurement services for Marathon Petroleum’s South Texas Asset Repositioning (STAR) program at the Galveston Bay refinery.

As MRC reported earlier, in December 2017, Fluor Corporation announced that BASF’s Coatings division had opened a new automotive coatings plant at the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park in Caojing, Shanghai, China. After completing the front-end engineering and design, Fluor provided engineering, procurement and construction management services for the project. Fluor was responsible for building production lines, a solvent recovery unit, tank farms, utilities, warehouse, administration building and site infrastructure, with more than 1,200 craft workers onsite at peak.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. through its local subsidiary in Saudi Arabia, Jacobs ZATE, has been awarded a three-year, general engineering services (GES) contract from Yanbu Aramco Sinopec Refining Company Ltd. (YASREF) to help optimize the production at Yasref's Yanbu Industrial City facilities in Saudi Arabia, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Jacobs will provide a range of services, from basic engineering to Front End Engineering Design (FEED), detailed design, procurement through to construction management, commissioning support and handover for a portfolio of YASREF's capital expenditure projects for the Yanbu refinery.

"This new contract reaffirms our world-class engineering services that will be delivered through our local expert teams, with reach-back to our global subject matter expertise", said Jacobs Energy, Chemicals and Resources Vice President and General Manager EMEA David Zelinski. "We bring access to a full-spectrum technical professional services firm to the west coast of the Kingdom while growing our presence in the country."

The YASREF full conversion refinery is the key facility in Yanbu Industrial City, covering about 5.2 million square meters. YASREF uses 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Arabian heavy crude oil to produce premium transportation fuels, as well as high-value refined products. The facility became operational in 2014, contributing to the Kingdom's vision to reliably supply domestic and international markets with high quality, clean refined products and fuels.

Jacobs has been operating in Saudi Arabia for more than 40 years, developing strong partnerships with the Kingdom's industrial leaders including, Saudi Aramco, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) and Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma'aden). Examples of the company's work in the region include BP Khazzan Oman Gas Field, Sinnovate Smart Technology Hub, Zuluf Gas/Oil Separation Plant FEED, King Abdulaziz Project for Riyadh Public Transport, Sadara Chemical Company, Prince Mohammed bin Abdulaziz International Airport, Ma'aden Wa'ad Al-Shamal Phosphate Company and numerous infrastructure projects with the Saudi Industrial Property Authority (MODON).

As MRC wrote before, WorleyParsons has been awarded a general engineering service (GES) contract by YASREF. YASREF operates a full-conversion refinery that covers about 5.2 million square meters in the Yanbu Industrial City in Saudi Arabia. WorleyParsons will deliver engineering and consultancy services for the refinery to optimize the production of YASREF’s facilities. The services will be provided from WorleyParsons’ offices in Saudi Arabia for a term of three years with an option to extend for a further three years.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Freeport LNG Marketing, LLC (Freeport LNG) announced that it has entered into a binding mid-term sales and purchase agreement (SPA) with Trafigura PTE LTD (Trafigura) for 0.5 million tons per annum (mtpa), to be supplied from its natural gas liquefaction and LNG loading facility on Quintana Island near Freeport, Texas, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The SPA with Trafigura will commence on July 1, 2020, soon after the expected completion of construction of the third liquefaction train.

"We welcome Trafigura's more than 25 years of global commodity trading experience to Freeport LNG's expanding operations. We view this as the start of a long-term relationship that will be key in growing our future business," said Michael S. Smith, Chief Executive Officer, Freeport LNG.

"Trafigura puts the security of supply for its customers at the heart of our LNG strategy. We view this agreement as a further proof of our commitment to this and are proud to count Freeport LNG as our partner," said Hadi Hallouche Head of Oil Asia at Trafigura.
MRC