Global auto sales declined in 2018: Scotiabank

MOSCOW (MRC) -- World vehicle sales fell in 2018, a new report from Scotiabank said, owing mainly to a sharp contraction in auto purchases in China in the second half of the year amid a Government-led crackdown on non-bank lending – but despite posting a decline relative to 2017, the Canadian auto market posted its second best year on record in 2018, said Canplastics.

“We forecast Canadian vehicle sales to fall again in 2019 and 2020 toward the 1.90 million units per year mark,” Scotiabank said in its latest Global Auto Report.

Sales in Western Europe also dropped sharply in the final months of 2018, the report said, owing to a shortage of qualifying vehicles under new emission test procedures introduced in the European Union in September, but still managed a slight increase for the year when excluding the UK.

Canadian vehicle sales closed 2018 with a 2.9% month-over-month (m/m) December decline to 1.82 million units delivered, their lowest one-month total since early-2015,” Scotiabank said. “Compared to last December, purchases fell by 8%. Following 2017’s all-time record of 2.04 million autos sold, sales in 2018 contracted by 2.6% with 1.98 million units driven off dealers’ lots.”

The second half of the year saw a significant weakening of activity in the new autos market which has been impacted by slowing employment growth and rising interest rates, Scotiabank said. “As purchases move toward a long-term equilibrium of around 1.9 million units sold per annum, we forecast vehicle sales in Canada to total 1.93 million units delivered in 2019,” the report said.

U.S. vehicle sales ended 2018 on a strong note, Scotiabank said, with 17.51 million annualised units delivered in December, with increases of 1.5% year-over-year (y/y) and 0.6% m/m. “The twelve-month total of 17.2 million units purchased marked the third best year on record against expectations for a decline from 2017’s figure of 17.1 million autos sold,” the report said.

In Mexico, meanwhile, vehicle purchases fell by 7.1% in last year to 1.42 million units delivered, nearly 200,000 units below 2016’s all-time high of 1.60 million units.

In 2018, Chinese vehicle sales fell for the first time in two decades owing to a pronounced slowdown in economic activity, particularly in the latter half of the year. Total sales for the year sat three percentage points below 2017’s record high, and recorded a sharp year-on-year decline of 14% in December.

In Europe, new vehicle emission tests rules which entered into force in September led to a big swing in sales in the second half of 2018, though auto purchases in Western Europe excluding the UK managed to eke out a 0.3% increase in 2018.

And in South America, a surge in sales of 14% and 16% in Brazil and Chile, respectively, helped to offset a sharp contraction of 23% in Argentinean auto purchases in 2018. “The bulk of last year’s 4.2% rise in South American auto sales was driven by a potent start to the year which was later unwound by weak activity in Argentina,” Scotiabank said.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- TechnipFMC has been awarded a large reimbursable contract by ExxonMobil for detailed engineering, procurement, and construction for the recently announced crude expansion project in Beaumont, Texas, USA, said the company.

The awarded scope covers the addition of four new units – atmospheric pipe still, kerosene hydrotreater, diesel hydrotreater and benzene recovery at ExxonMobil’s Refinery.

The new units of this expansion project will be integrated into the existing facilities at the refinery. The expansion will optimize the facility by giving ExxonMobil the flexibility to run lighter crudes.

Nello Uccelletti, President of TechnipFMC’s Onshore/Offshore business, stated: "We are pleased to have been awarded this contract by our long-term client, ExxonMobil. We look forward to bringing our global project execution capabilities, extensive U.S. Gulf Coast execution experience and leadership in the refining sector to this significant refinery expansion project for ExxonMobil."
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - A company proposal to change who would assign daily work has stymied negotiations for a new contract at Valero Energy Corp’s Port Arthur, Texas, refinery, said sources familiar with the talks, as per Reuters.

The dispute between negotiators for the company and United Steelworkers union local 13-423 has moved off from the bargaining table as Valero sent emails to refinery employees two weeks ago and, in response, the union conducted membership meetings, the sources said.

Valero has proposed the new contract allow salaried supervisors to assign daily jobs, taking that authority away from head operators, hourly workers who have for decades made the assignments, the sources said.

A Valero spokeswoman did not reply to a request for comment.

Valero’s proposed change, according to the sources, could undermine union seniority and operational safety as the assignments may not go to those best qualified to do the inside and outside operator jobs.

"The head operators are the most responsible guys in the refinery," one of the sources said. The change could also end rotation in job assignments, leaving some stuck in the same role for long periods of time, according to the sources.

The negotiations underway between Valero and local 13-423 will produce a local agreement that will be paired with the national agreement being hammered out by the USW International’s negotiators and Shell Oil Co, the U.S. arm of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, which is representing U.S. refinery and oil companies.

The current national agreement and the contract at the Valero Port Arthur refinery both expire early Friday morning.

Workers at the Valero refinery can’t strike until the contract expires and the officials at the USW International authorize the walk-out, the sources said.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - The United Steelworkers union (USW) said Shell Oil Co is delaying progress on important issues in negotiations for a new national agreement covering 30,000 U.S. refinery and chemical workers, according to sources familiar with the talks, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

"We look forward to the bargaining process working through to its completion and a conclusion that can be satisfactory with all parties," Fisher said.

Shell, the U.S. arm of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, is the lead negotiator for refinery, petrochemical and pipeline companies in talks to replace the current contract that expires on Feb. 1.

The sources said talks between the two sides have become heated over a USW proposal to replace non-union contract workers, who perform much of the maintenance and overhaul of equipment in refineries, with union members.

The union has warned Shell there will be no extension of talks past the expiration date, as was done in contract talks prior to 2015 when failure to reach an agreement led more 7,000 workers at 12 refineries and three chemical plants to walk off their jobs.

Most of the strikes in 2015 ended within two months but continued at some locations for nearly six months.

In addition to an 8-percent-per-year wage increase for hourly workers, the union also wants the new three-year pact to provide for the replacement of 10-percent-a-year of non-union contractors with USW members.

Contract workers at refineries are employed by companies hired by the plant owners to do the maintenance work.

Negotiations for the new contract began on Jan. 16. USW-represented refinery workers make about USD40 an hour after four years on the job.

USW members have granted authority to union officials to call a strike if negotiations are unsuccessful.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Indonesian state energy company PT Pertamina said it has signed agreements with Italian oil company Eni SpA to develop a so-called green refinery in Indonesia and to process a palm-based fuel mixture in Italy, reported Reuters.

Pertamina said in a statement, it has signed a head joint venture agreement for the planned refinery in Indonesia that would produce fuel completely derived from crude palm oil (CPO) and a term sheet for CPO processing in Italy.

Pertamina also signed an agreement to allow it to process CPO at Eni’s refinery in Italy to produce hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), which can be used as a mixture in diesel fuel.

The two companies are also in talks to potentially produce HVO in Indonesia.

The two companies had previously agreed to conduct studies of potentially converting three of Pertamina’s refineries into green refineries to produce palm-based diesel as Indonesia boost efforts to soak up excess palm supply in the country.

As MRC informed previously, in February 2018, Italy’s Eni and France’s Total discovered a promising natural gas field off Cyprus. Eny said then that the find looked geologically similar to the mammoth Zohr field off Egypt.

Eni is an Italian multinational oil and gas company headquartered in Rome. It has operations in in 79 countries, and is currently Italy's largest industrial company with a market capitalization of EUR68 billion (USD 90 billion), as of August 14, 2013. The Italian government owns a 30.3% golden share in the company, 3.93% held through the state Treasury and 26.37% held through the Cassa depositi e prestiti. Another 39.40% of the shares are held by BNP Paribas.

Pertamina is an Indonesian state-owned oil and natural gas corporation based in Jakarta. It was created in August 1968 by the merger of Pertamin (established 1961) and Permina (established 1957). Pertamina is the world's largest producer and exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
MRC