Indian Oil signs first annual deal for U.S. oil

MOSCOW (MRC) - Indian Oil Corp, the country's top refiner, has signed its first annual deal to buy U.S. oil, paying about USD1.5 billion for 60,000 barrels a day in the year to March 2020 to diversify its crude sources, its chairman said, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

IOC is the first Indian state refiner to buy U.S. oil under an annual contract, in a deal that will also help boost trade between New Delhi and Washington. The company has previously purchased U.S. oil from spot markets and signed a mini-term deal in August to buy 6 million barrels of U.S. oil between November and January.

IOC chairman Sanjiv Singh said the annual contract will begin from April. He declined to give the name of the seller or pricing details, citing confidentiality. A trade source, who is not authorized to speak to media, said IOC signed the deal with Norwegian oil company Equinor which will supply a variety of U.S. crude grades.

Equinor, which has set up an office in New Delhi to support oil marketing and trading, declined to comment. Indian Oil buys about 75 percent of its oil needs through long-term deals, mostly with OPEC nations.

The term deal will help cut IOC's dependence on OPEC crude, said Sri Paravaikkarasu, head of east of Suez oil for consultants FGE in Singapore.

"Lots of geopolitical issues are going around. We expect lots of volume going away from Venezuela, west Africa and Iran, so it makes sense to have guaranteed term supplies from the U.S., where crude production is increasing," she said. "There is a push for diversification everywhere. South Korea is giving a freight rebate for non-Middle East crude imports," she added.

India and the United States, which have developed close political and security ties, are also looking to develop bilateral trade, which stood at USD126 billion in 2017 but is widely seen to be performing well below its potential.

The two countries have set up seven groups of chief executives with top U.S. and Indian firms to boost bilateral trade in areas including energy.

Last week India's top gas importer Petronet LNG signed an initial deal to invest and buy LNG from Tellurian Inc's proposed Driftwood project in Louisiana in the United States.
MRC

Entek Extruders names Linda Campbell as vice president of sales

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Extrusion machinery maker Entek Extruders has promoted Linda Campbell, a 30-year employee at the company and its current director of sales, to vice president of sales, as per Canplastics.

Campbell has worked in a variety of positions for Entek, including accounting, purchasing, sales, and customer support. "As part of Entek’s leadership team, [Linda] provides leadership and guidance in managing every aspect of Entek Manufacturing’s daily operations," Entek president Kirk Hanawalt said in a statement. "Linda is the leader with primary responsibility for Entek Extruders’ customer-facing and inside sales teams and the extrusion pilot plant.

Headquartered in Lebanon, Oregon, Entek manufactures turnkey production extrusion systems, twin-screw extruders, and components for natural fibre-plastic composites, pelletizing, custom compounding, specialty sheet lines, and food and medical applications. The company also has facilities in the United Kingdom.
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Westlake Chemical Q4 profit falls

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Westlake Chemical Partners LP reported Q4 EPS of USD0.37, USD0.07 worse than the analyst estimate of USD0.44. Revenue for the quarter came in at USD272.87 million versus the consensus estimate of USD288.9 million, said the company.

"We are pleased with the Partnership's performance in 2018. As we enter 2019, we are continuing to reap benefits of the investments made over the past few years to grow our earnings, cash flows and production, including the expansion of OpCo’s ethylene facilities in both Lake Charles, Louisiana and Calvert City, Kentucky, and increasing our ownership interest in OpCo in both 2015 and 2017," said Albert Chao, President and Chief Executive Officer.

"Demonstrated by the resetting of our IDRs and previous drop downs, Westlake has established an ongoing commitment to the Partnership. This has allowed continued distribution growth to unitholders - with distribution growth of over 150% since our IPO just over four years ago."
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PP imports in Kazakhstan fell by 9% in 2018; exports grew by 28% in 2018

MOSCOW (MRC) - Imports of polypropylene (PP) into Kazakhstan decreased by 9% in 2018 year on year and exceeded 32,300 tonnes.
PP exports increased by 29%, reported MRC analysts.

December PP imports into Kazakhstan decreased to 2,700 tonnes against 3,100 tonnes a month earlier, local converters reduced their purchases of PP random copolymer in Russia. Total PP imports into the country exceeded 32,300 tonnes in January - December 2018, compared with 35,400 tonnes in the same time a year earlier. The demand for homopolymer PP increased, while demand for propylene copolymers decreased by one third.

The structure of PP imports by grades looked the following way over the stated period.

December imports of homopolymer PP exceeded 2,000 tonnes from 1,700 tonnes a month earlier, local companies increased their purchasing of homopolymer PP raffia from Russian producers. Overall PP imports of this PP grade exceeded 23,500 tonnes in 2018, compared to 22,300 tonnes a year earlier.

Shipments of propylene copolymers decreased to 637 tonnes in December from 1,400 tonnes in November, local pipes producers reduced their purchasing. Thus, imports of propylene copolymers reached 8,700 tonnes over the stated period, compared to 13,100 tonnes a year earlier. Reducing of the time of the shutdown of a local producer - Neftekhim LTD helped to increase export volumes.

Total PP exports from the country were about 24,600 tonnes in 2018, compared with 19,100 tonnes in 2017. The bulk of Kazakh PP exports was shipped to Russia.


MRC

PVC imports into Belarus decreased by 5.6% in 2018

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Last year's overall imports of unmixed polyvinyl chloride (PVC) into Belarus decreased by 5.6% year on year, totalling 32,600 tonnes, according to MRC's DataScope report.

According to the statistical committee of the Republic of Belarus, local converters significantly reduced their purchasing of PVC in December 2018 under the pressure of seasonal factors. Total imports were 2,600 tonnes, compared to 1,700 tonnes a month earlier.
Thus, imports of unmixed PVC reached 32,600 tonnes in the twelve months of 2018 versus 34,600 tonnes a year earlier, with local windows producers accounting for a decrease in demand.

Russian producers with the share of about 88% of the Belarusian market were the key suppliers of resin to Belarus over the stated period.

Producers from Ukraine and Germany with the share of 6% and 4% were the second and third largest suppliers, respectively.
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