Asian refiners profits slump as mild weather exacerbates oil products glut

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Oil refiners’ profits in Asia have slumped to the lowest in more than four years after refineries ramped up output in the fourth quarter and churned out excess fuel in anticipation of stronger demand during winter, reported Reuters.

Oil inventories are building as new refineries in China and Vietnam are running at full tilt, adding to Asia’s supplies.

Oil demand also slowed after global Brent crude prices jumped to more than USD80 a barrel in September and as the global economic outlook turned gloomy, although a sharp retreat in prices in the past month to below $60 could start to spur demand again.

Factory activity and export orders weakened in November, prompting analysts to predict no quick rebound amid persistent trade tensions.

The margins at a typical Singapore complex refinery, a reference for profits at refineries across Asia, fell to USD2.49 a barrel on Thursday, the lowest since August 2014, Refinitiv Eikon data showed.

The margins are also the lowest for this time of the year since 2008, the data showed.

Weakness in the oil complex started in October in gasoline and naphtha, a feedstock for petrochemicals, as refiners processed more light oil that gives a bigger yield on these products also known as light distillates.

"The glut in the market is in light oil," Martijn Rats, Morgan Stanley’s global oil strategist said.

"The gasoline crack has deteriorated an enormous amount and is very close to zero at the moment which is very unusual."

Refiners now face losses of more than USD1 a barrel for every barrel of gasoline they produced.

Spot gasoil and jet fuel cargoes are also being sold at deeper discounts after China issued more export quotas for state refiners to ship products overseas and added to supplies within Asia.

The discount for gasoil, the main diesel grade with 10 parts per million (ppm) sulphur, is at its widest since 2011 when Reuters first started assessing the grade.

Several oil tankers are storing gasoil off Taiwan amid a mild winter that reduces demand to burn oil for heating purposes, traders said.

"It’s weather driven ... a mild winter so far in Europe and Asia is the killer. The volatility will continue till you get strong weather support," said Sri Paravaikkarasu, head of east of Suez oil for consultants FGE in Singapore.

KY Lin, a spokesman at Formosa Petrochemical Corp, one of the largest fuel exporters in Asia, is hopeful that the recent drop in oil prices could boost demand.

"Even though there’s an ongoing trade war, countries will still need to use oil," he said.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A joint-venture refinery and chemical project between China National Petroleum Corp and Venezuelan state oil and gas firm PDVSA has been reactivated and is expected to be operational in late 2021, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing with reference to Chinese financial publication Caixin.

The 400,000 barrels-per-day refinery, to be built in an industrial park in Jieyang in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, will cost 65.4 billion yuan (USD9.53 billion)in total investment, Caixin said.

CNPC will make 60 percent of the investment and PDVSA the remaining 40 percent. The refinery is expected to start trial operation in October 2021 and the chemical complex in December 2021, Caixin said.

CNPC, parent of PetroChina, first planned the mega project more than a decade ago, but the investment has been hindered and delayed by declining crude oil production in Venezuela, which is now under severe economic stress.

China plowed more than USD50 billion into Venezuela over a decade through oil-for-loan agreements that helped Beijing secure energy supplies while bolstering an anti-Washington ally in Latin America.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- LyondellBasell, one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world, has announced that China Petroleum Materials Limited Corporation (CPMC) and Petrochina Liaoyang Petrochemical Company (LYPC) have selected LyondellBasell's Spherizone technology for a 300KT per year polypropylene (PP) plant planned to be built at Liaoyang, Liaoning Province, China, as per LBI's press release.

"LyondellBasell is very pleased to expand its relationship with Petrochina with this license at Liaoyang,” said Jim Seward, vice president technology business and sustainability at LyondellBasell. “With the ability to produce products having superior properties and performance, the Spherizone process technology is a new benchmark for polypropylene production."

"This process technology was selected through an international bidding process on the basis of the technical exchanges with various licensees. It has the extraordinary ability to produce high value-added polypropylene products," said Mr. Li Guihe vice president of LYPC.

Mr. Chu Yuan Lin, vice president of CPMC stated: "LyondellBasell is the global leader in polyolefin technologies; we believe that successful cooperation can bring good and long-term economic benefits to the PetroChina companies."

The Spherizone process is the newest and most advanced polypropylene technology expanding the product portfolio beyond the traditional range of polypropylene grades. Unlike other PP process technologies, it also allows the production of entirely new families of propylene-based polymers using its unique multi-zone circulating reactor system. This project represents the ninth Spherizone line licensed in China. With this license, the total design and operating capacity of Spherizone lines in China will exceed 3,000 kilotons per year.

As MRC wrote before, LyondellBasell has recently announced that Zhejiang Petroleum & Chemical Co. Ltd (ZPCC) has selected LyondellBasell’s polypropylene (PP), high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and low-density polyethylene (LDPE) technologies for five new plants. The plants will be built in ZPCC’s petrochemical complex in Zhoushan City, China. The complex will include two 450 000 tpy PP plants that will use LyondellBasell’s Spherizone PP process technology and two LDPE plants, 300 000 and 400 000 tpy respectively, which will use Lupotech T process technology. The complex will also include a 350 000 tpy HDPE plant which will use Hostalen ACP process technology.

At a total capacity of almost 2 million t, these new licenses constitute the largest volume of new capacity ever licensed by LyondellBasell in a single location.

LyondellBasell is one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world. Driven by its 13,000 employees around the globe, LyondellBasell produces materials and products that are key to advancing solutions to modern challenges like enhancing food safety through lightweight and flexible packaging, protecting the purity of water supplies through stronger and more versatile pipes, and improving the safety, comfort and fuel efficiency of many of the cars and trucks on the road. LyondellBasell sells products into approximately 100 countries and is the world's largest licensor of polyolefin technologies.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Hanwha Total Petrochemical is investing approximately USD500m to further expand its Daesan integrated refining and petrochemical complex in South Korea, as per Chemicals-technology.

The company operates as a 50/50 joint venture (JV) between Total and Hanwha. The planned investment is expected to increase annual polypropylene capacity by almost 60% to 1.1 million tonnes and ethylene capacity by 10% to 1.5 million tonnes by the end of 2020.

This latest project is part of a series of ongoing investments currently totalling USD750m. The expanded plant will use propane feedstock as a raw material to produce ethylene and polyethylene. The investment will enable Daesan to capture margins across the propylene-polypropylene value chain.

“This new investment in Daesan is fully in line with our strategy of growth in petrochemicals to meet global demand."
Hanwha Total Petrochemical’s additional polymer production will help meet local demand and supply the fast-growing market in Asia.

Total Refining & Chemicals’ president Bernard Pinatel said: "This new investment in Daesan is fully in line with our strategy of growth in petrochemicals to meet global demand, focusing investments on our world-class facilities and leveraging competitively priced feedstock.

"This polypropylene project complements our offering of high-value-added polymers to the fast-growing Asian market."

The Daesan refining and petrochemical complex is one of Total’s six integrated complexes and houses a flexible condensate splitter, a steam cracker and units that produce polymers, styrene and aromatics.
MRC

MOSOCW (MRC) -- Negotiations over prices of European polyvinyl chloride (PVC) for December shipments to the CIS countries began this week. Most European producers slightly reduced their export prices despite of significant cut of ethylene prices, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

December contract price of ethylene was agreed down by EUR110/tonne from November, which presupposes the decrease in PVC production costs by, at least, EUR55/tonne. However, because of limited supply, some European PVC suppliers decreased prices slightly in the CIS markets. Some producers rolled over prices from the level of November.

Demand for PVC from the main consumers from the CIS countries continues to decrease due to the seasonal factor, but despite this, some European producers restricted deliveries because of power outages. Some buyers reported that they would receive part of the volume only at the end of the month.

Negotiations over December shipments of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) to the CIS markets were held in the range of EUR715-760/tonne FCA, whereas deals a month earlier were done in the range of EUR715-780/tonne FCA.
MRC