PVC imports into Russia fell by 68% in Jan-Jul 2018, exports up by 32%

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Imports of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) into Russia were 12,700 tonnes in January-July 2018, down by 68% year on year. At the same time, Russian producers were forced to increase their exports almost by a third, according to MRC's DataScope report.
July SPVC imports slumped to 768 tonnes from 2,200 tonnes a month earlier, imports of acetylene PVC from China decreased significantly. Thus, overall imports of resin to Russia totalled 12,700 tonnes in the first seven months of 2018, compared to 39,400 tonnes a year earlier. At the same time, Russian producers began to ship resin for export more actively this year because of weaker demand from the domestic market, export sales rose almost by a third.


Chinese producers have been traditionally the key foreign PVC suppliers for the past several years. Imports of acetylene resin from China were virtually absent in July, whereas 2,100 tonnes were shipped a month earlier. At the same time, it should be noted that June deliveries of Russian companies were agreed back in late March. Overall imports of resin from China were 10,900 tonnes in January-July 2018, compared to 37,100 tonnes a year earlier.

A slight surge in imports of acetylene PVC is expected in August.

Weaker domestic demand and the weakening of the rouble against the dollar allowed Russian producers to increase their export sales. July exports dropped to 3,900 tonnes (excluding deliveries to the countries of the Customs Union) from 11,800 tonnes a month earlier. 70,200 tonnes of SPVC were shipped for export in January-July 2018, compared to 53,400 tonnes a year earlier.

MRC

Celanese raises August VAM prices in Asia

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Celanese Corporation, a global specialty materials company, has increased August list and off-list selling prices for Vinyl Acetate Ethylene (EVA) emulsions sold in China and Asia Outside China (AOC), as per the company's press release.

The price increases below are for orders shipped and are effective as of 9 August, or as contracts otherwise allow, and are incremental to any previously announced increases.

Thus, Celanese raised list and off-list selling prices for VAM by RMB200/mt for China and USD50/mt for AOC.

As MRC reported earlier, Celanese last increased its prices for VAM sold in Asia on 15 June, 2018, as follows:

- by RMB200/mt for China and USD50/mt for AOC.

Celanese Corporation is a global technology leader in the production of differentiated chemistry solutions and specialty materials used in most major industries and consumer applications. Based in Dallas, Celanese employs approximately 7,600 employees worldwide and had 2017 net sales of USD6.1 billion.
MRC

Shell Convent refinery restarting fire-struck hydrocracker

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Royal Dutch Shell Plc is restarting a heavy oil hydrocracker at its 209,787 barrel per day (bpd) refinery in Convent, Louisiana, said sources familiar with plant operations, reported Reuters.

The 45,000 bpd hydrocracker, called the H-Oil Unit, was shut earlier on Sunday after a fire, the sources said.

"No injuries, no offsite impact," said Shell spokesman Ray Fisher.

The fire broke out at about 1:30 a.m. (0630 GMT) on Sunday, the sources said.

The H-Oil Unit is an atypical hydrocracker because it converts residual crude oil into motor fuels, especially diesel. Residual crude is normally processed by coking units.

Hydrocrackers use hydrogen and a catalyst under high heat and pressure to produce motor fuels, usually starting with gas oil as a feedstock.

As MRC wrote before, in May 2018, China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) and Shell Nanhai B.V. (Shell) announced the official start-up of the second ethylene cracker at their Nanhai petrochemicals complex in Huizhou, Guangdong Province, China. The new ethylene cracker increases ethylene capacity at the complex by around 1.2 million tonnes per year, more than doubling the capacity of the complex, and benefits from a deep integration with adjacent CNOOC refineries. The new facility will also include a styrene monomer and propylene oxide (SMPO) plant, which will be the largest in China when it begins operations.

Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.
MRC

Oil India Q1 net profit up 56% to Rs 7.03 bn over better crude realisation

MOSCOW (MRC) -- State-run Oil India Ltd (OIL) has posted a 56% increase in net profit to Rs 7.03 billion for the first quarter of the financial year 2018-19, compared to Rs 4.5 billion during the same period last year, owing to better crude realisation, as per Business-standard.

The company's total income for the April-June quarter of the current financial year also increased 42 per cent from Rs 24.85 billion during the first quarter of 2017-18 to Rs 35.17 billion. The rise in net profit was mainly owing to better crude realisation, which increased by USD23.59 a barrel to USD72 a barrel during the first quarter of the current financial year, as against USD48.41 a barrel. On the other hand, average natural gas price realisation during the first quarter was USD3.06 per million metric British thermal unit (mmBtu) as compared to USD2.48 per mmBtu during the first quarter of 2017-18.

Crude oil production for the quarter under review remained static at last year's level of 0.844 million tonnes (MT). However, natural gas production declined by 3.87 per cent to 696 million metric standard cubic meter (MMSCM) as compared to 724 MMSCM during the first quarter of 2017-18 due to short upliftment by certain consumers.

During the recently concluded ninth round of city gas distribution (CGD) bidding conducted by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB), a consortium of Oil India, Assam Gas Company and GAIL Gas was allotted two geographical areas — covering Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj Districts and Kamrup and Kamrup Metropolitan Districts — in the state of Assam.

The company has also formed a joint venture, named Indradhanush Gas Grid, partnering with Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Indian Oil Corporation, GAIL and Numaligarh Refinery, with equal equity contribution, to construct Gas Grid infrastructure covering 1,450 kilometres of pipeline to connect eight North-Eastern States from Guwahati.
MRC

Teijin to build new sheet moulding compound line in France


MOSCOW (MRC) -- Continental Structural Plastics Opening a new window (CSP), a Teijin Group Company, announced it will be installing a sheet molding compound (SMC) line at its facility in Pouance, France, to support the need for its industry-leading composite formulations in Europe, said the company on its website.

CSP will invest approximately EUR5.1 million (USD6 million) to establish the SMC line.

CSP is currently the largest compounder of SMC in North America, with current SMC volumes exceeding 84,000 U.S. tons annually. The installation of this SMC line in France will be used to further develop the company’s wide range of proprietary, advanced composite products, including low-volatile organic compounds (VOC) formulas currently under development to meet European market regulations. The line will be capable of producing SMCs made with both glass and carbon fibers.

"The addition of this SMC line to the Pouance facility is an important step in our European growth plans,” said Philippe Bonte, president, CSP Europe. “It will enable us to provide full-service capabilities to our customers here, as well as provide us with an opportunity to further enhance our already significant materials R&D efforts in Europe."

The Teijin Group is leveraging its lightweight, strong, high-performance materials and integrated composite technologies as one of the key focuses of the transformation strategies for the group’s medium-term management plan, under which the company aims to expand business with a view to becoming a supplier of multi-material components.

The CSP Pouance facility is an innovative, rapid development center for lightweighting technologies including carbon fiber resin transfer molding (RTM), Class A RTM and thermoplastic composites. The 12,000 square-meter (130,000 square-feet) facility was purchased by CSP in 2013.

The SMC line is expected to be commercially ready to produce SMC by the third quarter of 2019.
MRC