PVC imports to Kazakhstan down by 12% in 2018

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Last year's imports of unmixed polyvinyl chloride (PVC) into Kazakhstan dropped by 12% year on year to 45,400 tonnes, reported MRC analysts.

Demand for PVC subsided from local companies last December, but it was still fairly strong. December imports of unmixed PVC were 3,700 tonnes, compared to 4,200 tonnes a month earlier. Thus, overall PVC imports of resin reached 45,400 tonnes in 2018 versus 51,500 tonnes a year earlier.

Chinese producers with the share of about 77% of the local market over the stated period were the main PVC suppliers to Kazakhstan because of the geographical position. Russia was the second largest PVC supplier, shipments of Russian resin reached 10,500 tonnes over the stated period.
MRC

S-Oil to supply USD2.32 B worth of oil products to Saudi Aramco trading arm

MOSCOW (MRC) -- S-Oil Corp, South Korea’s third-biggest refiner, said that it has signed a contract to sell a total of 2.61 trillion won (USD2.32 billion) worth of refined oil products to Saudi Aramco’s trading arm, reported Reuters.

S-Oil, whose top shareholder is Saudi Aramco, said in a regulatory filing that it will supply up to 17 million barrels of diesel, up to 13 million barrels of naphtha and up to 12 million barrels of jet fuel to Aramco Trading Singapore under the contract, valid between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2019.

As MRC informed earlier, in late Juanuary 2019, S-Oil Corp, whose main shareholder is Saudi Aramco, said that refining margins are expected to improve in 2019, boosted by growing diesel demand.

Saudi Aramco, officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, is a Saudi Arabian national oil and natural gas company based in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Aramco"s value has been estimated at up to USD10 trillion in the Financial Times, making it the world"s most valuable company. Saudi Aramco has both the largest proven crude oil reserves, at more than 260 billion barrels, and largest daily oil production.
MRC

Celanese raises February VAM and EVA emulsions prices in China

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Celanese Corporation, a global chemical and specialty materials company, has increased list and off-list selling prices for Vinyl Acetate Monomer (VAM) and vinyl acetate-based emulsions in China, as per the company's press release. .

The price increases below are for orders shipped and are effective as of 15 February, or as contracts otherwise allow, and are incremental to any previously announced increases.

Thus, Celanese raised February VAM list and off-list selling prices by RNB300/tonne and prices for vinyl acetate-based emulsions - by RNB100/tonne.

As MRC wrote before, earlier, Celanese increased its prices for VAM sold in Asia Outside China (AOC) on 1 February, 2019, by USD50/mt.

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

MTO plant brought on-stream by Sinopec Zhongyuan

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sinopec Zhongyuan Petrochemical has restarted its methanol-to-olefins (MTO) plant following an unplanned outage, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the company has resumed operations at the plant over the weekend. The plant was shut on November 5, 2018 owing to bearish market conditions.

Located at Henan in China, the MTO plant has an ethylene and propylene capacity of 100,000 mt/year each.

As MRC informed before, in September 2018, Sinopec Corp joined a group planning to build an oil refinery in Alberta, an enterprise that would strengthen demand for the Canadian province's heavily discounted crude. State-owned Sinopec, formally known as China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, along with an Alberta indigenous group, China State Construction Engineering Corp and Alberta management company Teedrum, plan to build a refinery to process 167,000 barrels per day of crude into gasoline and other product.

China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation, or Sinopec Limited is a Chinese oil and gas company based in Beijing, China. It is listed in Hong Kong and also trades in Shanghai and New York . Sinopec is the worlds fifth biggest company by revenue.
MRC

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