Rosneft to invest 600 mln euros in German downstream sector over next five years

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia's largest oil producer Rosneft, which owns downstream assets in Germany including stakes in a number of oil refineries, plans to invest around EUR600 million (USD690 million) in the German downstream market, reported Reuters with reference to Russian government documents.

As MRC informed before, in January 2017, Russia's Rosneft and its shareholder BP completed dissolution of Ruhr Oel, their refining joint venture in Germany. Rosneft said with the restructuring it had embarked on developing its own business in Germany and had created a new subsidiary called Rosneft Deutschland.

The deal allowed Rosneft to gain control over more than 12 percent of Germany's oil refining market with annual refining capacity of 12.5 million tonnes. Rosneft also became a direct shareholder in the Bayernoil refinery, increasing its stake in it to 25 percent from 12.5 percent. It also raised it stake in the MiRO refinery to 24 percent from 12 percent and in the PCK refinery to 54.17 percent from 35.42 percent. For its part, BP took 100 percent control of the Gelsenkirchen refinery and DHC Solvent Chemie, a solvent production facility.

Rosneft became Russia's largest publicly traded oil company in March 2013 after the USD55 billion takeover of TNK-BP, which was Russia’s third-largest oil producer at the time.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Imports of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) into Ukraine decreased by 36% in the first nine months of this year, compared to the same period in 2017 and reached about 53,200 tonnes. The main reason is the growth of own production volumes, according to MRC DataScope.

Last month's SPVC imports to the Ukrainian market dropped to 4,000 tonnes from 5,400 tonnes in August, with US resin accounting for the main decrease. Overall SPVC production reached 53,200 tonnes in January-September 2018, compared to 82,500 tonnes a year earlier.
Stable work of Karpatneftekhim after many years of shutdown helped reduce the dependence of the Ukrainian market on imports.

Structure of PVC imports into Ukraine over the reported period was as follows.

Last month's imports of US SPVC shrank to 1,600 tonnes from 2,700 tonnes in August. Thus, imports of US PVC totalled 33,000 tonnes in the first seven months of 2018, compared to 40,600 tonnes a year earlier. February-March accounted for the peak of imports.

September imports of European PVC into Ukraine decreased to 2,400 tonnes, compared with 2,700 tonnes in August. Total imports of European PVC into Ukraine were about 18,900 tonnes in the first nine months of the year, compared with 27,300 tonnes year on year.

Karpatneftekhim plans to shut down its PVC production for a long turnaround on 5 November. The shutdown will be quite long and will last approximately until 9 December. The plant's overall annual PVC production capacity is 300,000 tonnes.
MRC

MOSCOW (Market Report) -- Ufaorgsintez (petrochemical asset of Bashneft, which is part of Rosneft) has resumed its second low density polyethylene (LDPE) line after maintenance. The outage was quite long, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

The plant's customers said Ufaorgsintez has begun a sequential resumption of production of the second LDPE line since the end of last week, after the shutdown for a scheduled turnaround. The process of resuming polyethylene (PE) production and reaching full capacity utilisation after the maintenance will take several days. The outage began on 19 September.

As reported earlier, the plant's first LDPE line (108 grade PE) had already resumed operations on 1 October, after the turnaround, the line was also idle for a period of 30 days. At the same time, the process of reaching the designed capacity utilisation took more than a week.

Ufaorgsintez's overall LDPE and propylene (PP) production capacities are about 90,000 and 120,000 tonnes per year, respectively.

As informed previously, Kazanorgsintez also intends to resume operations at its third LDPE line after a short outage by the end of this week. The plant's total annual capacity is 225,000 tonnes.

PJSC Ufaorgsintez produces phenol, acetone, synthetic ethylene-propylene rubber, high and low density polyethylene, polypropylene, over 30 types of petrochemical products and over 25 items of consumer products. Ufaorgsintez's net profit was Rb5.41 billion in 2017, down by 7% year on year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Royal Dutch Shell has agreed a USD1.9bn deal to sell its Danish upstream oil and gas assets to Norwegian Energy Company ASA (Noreco), as the company streamlines its business through a USD30bn divestment programme, reported Financial Times.

The deal, which is still subject to regulatory approval, includes producing assets of some 67,000 barrels of oil-equivalent a day, and a stake in the majority of Danish infrastructure in the North Sea, Shell said in a statement.

Noreco will take over Shell’s Danish subsidiary, known as SOGU, which holds a 36.8 per cent non-operating interest in the Danish Underground Consortium (DUC). The DUC is joint venture between Denmark’s Maersk Oil, Shell, Chevron and Nordsofonden for recovering oil and gas in the Danish North Sea.

Noreco will take on all of Shell’s commitments, including decommissioning, and will assume its role in the redevelopment of the Tyra gasfield, Denmark’s largest.

Andy Brown, Shell’s upstream director, said: "’Today’s announcement is consistent with Shell’s strategy to simplify its portfolio through a USD30 billion divestment programme, and contributes to our goal of reshaping the company."

Under the deal Shell’s trading division will retain lifting rights to the crude and gas the assets produce for a period after completion, helping it retain its position as the largest trader in the North Sea.

Shell’s other assets in Denmark, including the Fredericia refinery, will be unaffected by the sale, the company said.

As MRC wrote before, in March 2016, Royal Dutch Shell Plc began lining up assets for a USD30 billion divestment program that might be extend from the US and Trinidad to India following its record takeover of BG Group Plc.

Royal Dutch Shell, commonly known as Shell, is an Anglo–Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in the Netherlands and incorporated in the United Kingdom.Created by the merger of Royal Dutch Petroleum and UK-based Shell Transport & Trading, it is the fourth largest company in the world as of 2014, in terms of revenue, and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors".
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Bangladesh Petroleum Corp (BPC) issued an international tender to import up to 1.425 million tonnes of refined oil products in the first half of 2019, according to a tender document from the company, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The state-owned company is seeking 1.06 million tonnes to 1.18 million tonnes of gasoil with a sulphur content of 500 parts per million, 80,000 to 120,000 tonnes of 180-centistoke high-sulphur fuel oil, 110,000 tonnes of jet fuel and 15,000 tonnes of 95-octane gasoline.

The tender closes on Oct. 25 and is valid up to Feb. 25, 2019. Delivery will be carried out in phases over the first half of 2019, a senior BPC official said.

Some volumes will also be imported through separate term deals, he told Reuters, without giving details. BPC resumed issuing tenders for long-term contracts in February 2016 after a 15-year hiatus, during which it negotiated directly with suppliers of fuel products.

The company wants to move away from direct deals and instead buy at cheaper rates through international tenders. A shortfall in supplies of natural gas has forced the South Asian country to burn oil, a costlier option, to generate electricity.

Bangladesh typically imports about 3.2 million tonnes of diesel and 2.5 million tonnes of fuel oil annually, making it one of the top 10 such importers in the region.

Currently, BPC has term contracts with eight companies for refined oil product imports. Suppliers for Bangladesh’s middle distillates contracts include Kuwait Petroleum Corp, Malaysia’s Petroliam Nasional Bhd, Emirates National Oil Co, Philippines National Oil Co, Indonesia’s Bumi Siak Pusako and PetroChina.

Bangladesh has also signed a 15-year deal with India’s Numaligarh refinery to supply diesel, its first long-term contract with any Indian supplier.

BPC also buys 700,000 tonnes of Murban crude from Abu Dhabi National Oil Co annually and another 700,000 tonnes of Arab Light from Saudi Aramco for its only refinery.

Bangladesh started operations at the country’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in August, to offset falling domestic gas production.
MRC