Shell strikes big oil in Gulf Of Mexico

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Royal Dutch Shell’s US unit said that it had made one of its biggest oil discoveries in the Blacktip deepwater well in the US Gulf of Mexico, reported Reuters.

Blacktip, operated by Shell and co-owned by US oil giant Chevron Corp, Equinor ASA and Repsol, is the company’s second material discovery in the Perdido Corridor, Shell’s Upstream Director Andy Brown said.

"The Blacktip exploration well has encountered more than 400 feet (122 meters) net oil pay with good reservoir and fluid characteristics," the company said.

"Evaluation is ongoing and appraisal planning is underway to further delineate the discovery and define development options," it added.

Blacktip was discovered in the Alaminos Canyon, about 30 miles from the Perdido platform and discovery at Whale, a deepwater well operated by Shell and co-owned by Chevron.

Shell is developing a number of new projects around the world, including in the Gulf of Mexico and Brazil, and has been looking to increase its footprint in onshore US shale production, particularly in the Permian Basin.

Shell, which has added more than one billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) resources in the last decade in the Gulf of Mexico, said its global deep-water production is on track to exceed 900,000 boe per day by 2020, from already discovered, established areas.

As MRC informed earlier, in March 2019, Mammoet safely completed a critical lift at Shell’s Pennsylvania Chemicals Project in Potter Township, utilizing its MSG80 to hoist a 2,000 ton quench tower into position. The facility is the first major US project of its kind to be built outside of the Gulf Coast region in 20 years. Once operational, the facility will boast an ethane cracker and three polyethylene units, and is expected to employ up to 600 employees. As part of its heavy lift scope, Mammoet recently lifted the tallest and heaviest piece, a quench tower, into place using its specialized MSG80 crane.

Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- AkzoNobel has repurchased 653,902 of its own ordinary shares in the period from April 15, 2019 up to and including April 18, 2019, at an average price of EUR79.83 per share, said the company.

The consideration of the repurchase was EUR52.20 million.

This is part of a repurchase program announced on February 13, 2019. The total number of shares repurchased under this program to date is 6,206,769 ordinary shares for a total consideration of EUR495.20 million.

AkzoNobel intends to repurchase common shares up to a value of EUR2.5 billion as part of a total EUR6.5 billion being distributed to shareholders following the sale of the Specialty Chemicals business. The share buyback is due to be completed by the end of 2019.

In accordance with regulations, AkzoNobel will inform the market about the progress made in the execution of this program through weekly updates and on sharebuyback overview page.

As MRC informed earlier, AkzoNobel repurchased 942,782 of its own ordinary shares in the period from March 25, 2019 up to and including March 29, 2019, at an average price of EUR79.32 per share. The consideration of the repurchase was EUR74.8 million.

Akzo Nobel N.V., trading as AkzoNobel, is a Dutch multinational, active in the fields of decorative paints, performance coatings and specialty chemicals. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the company has activities in more than 80 countries, and employs approximately 55,000 people.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The quality of Russian oil flowing to northern and central Europe has deteriorated significantly in recent days, reported Reuters with reference to traders and Russian officials, roiling the continent’s refining industry.

Oil flows via the Baltic port of Ust Luga and via the Druzhba pipeline to Belarus, Poland, Germany, Hungary and the Czech Republic have been contaminated with high levels of organic chloride since April 19.

The material is used to help boost oil output but must be separated from oil before shipment as it can destroy refining equipment.

According to traders with several European majors, levels of organic chlorine have fluctuated at 150-330 parts per million (ppm) instead of the 10-ppm maximum norm and the usual level of around 1-3 ppm.

The Russian energy ministry confirmed there were quality issues and said pipeline monopoly Transneft was trying to fix the problem as soon as possible, giving no timeframe.

A Russian energy source familiar with the situation said the problem could be fixed by the end of the week.

Crude contamination is rare in Russia. Traders said oil was last contaminated with high levels of organic chlorine around 10 years ago, but on a lower scale.

This time the problem has become so big that refiners in Poland and Germany belonging to PKN Orlen, BP, Total and Shell are considering suspending purchases of Russian oil along the Druzhna pipeline, which constitutes much of their imports.

From the port of Ust Luga, at least five contaminated tankers have sailed belonging to oil firms Rosneft, Surgut and Kazakh producers and bought by traders and majors such as Equinor, Vitol, Trafigura, Glencore and Total.

Buyers have filed pre-claims to Russian oil sellers, indicating they may seek compensation, two traders familiar with the developments said.

“Russian oil sellers have in turn sought explanations from Transneft but so far have not heard any guidance,” one of the sources said. Transneft declined to comment.

The energy ministry said it was working with Transneft to resolve the issue including by supplying oil to Belarus via alternative routes. It did not comment on the problems in Poland, Germany or Ust Luga.

It was not clear which Russian producer caused the contamination.

Traders said a failure by Transneft to fix the problem quickly could prompt refineries to stop buying Russian oil or suspend operations to clear pipelines of unwanted crude.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Overall imports of polyethylene (PE) into Belarus decreased by 11% year on year in the first two months of 2019, reaching 18,000 tonnes. Local companies reduced their purchasing of high density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) increased, according to MRC's DataScope report.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics of Belarus, February 2019 PE imports to Belarus dropped to 8,900 tonnes from 9,200 tonnes a month earlier. Local companies reduced their HDPE purchasing in Russia and Ukraine. Overall PE imports were slightly over 18,000 tonnes in January-February 2019, compared to 20,200 tonnes a year earlier. Demand for HDPE and LLDPE subsided significantly, whereas demand for high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased.

The structure of PE imports to Belarus by grades looked the following way over the stated period.

February 2019 total LDPE imports rose to 3,200 tonnes from 2,800 tonnes a month earlier, local companies increased their purchasing in Russia and Azerbaijan. Overall imports of this PE grade into Belarus totalled 6,100 tonnes in the first two months of 2019, up by 5% year on year.

February HDPE imports were 2,900 tonnes, compared to 4,300 tonnes a month earlier. Local companies reduced their purchasing of film grade PE in Russia and Ukraine. Thus, HDPE imports totalled 7,200 tonnes over the stated period, down by 28.3% year on year.

Overall LLDPE imports reached 4,700 tonnes in January-February 2019, whereas this figure was about 6,400 tonnes a year earlier.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Imports of polypropylene (PP) into Belarus increased to about 16,000 tonnes in first two months of this year, up 7.6% year on year, compared to the same period of 2018. The greatest increase in imports occurred for homopolymer PP, according to MRC DataScope.

February PP imports to Belarus were about 8,200 tonnes, compared to 7,800 tonnes a month earlier, local companies raised their purchasing of propylene homopolymers (homopolymer PP) in Russia. Total PP imports into the country reached 16,000 tonnes in January-February, compared with 14,900 tonnes year on year. The demand for homopolymer PP increased significantly, but demand for propylene copolymers grew slightly.

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

February imports of homopolymer PP to the Belarusian market increased to 6,000 tonnes from 5,300 tonnes a month earlier, shipments of homopolymer PP from Russia increased. Overall imports of homopolymer PP reached 11,300 tonnes in the first two months of the year, up by 10.8% year on year. Russian producers with the share of about 88% of the total shipments were the key suppliers.

February imports of propylene copolymers to Belarus were 2,200 tonnes versus 2,400 tonnes a month earlier, local companies decreased their procurement of injection moulding statistical copolymers (PP random copolymers) in Russia. Total imports of propylene copolymers in the country reached 4,600 tonnes in Jan-Feb 2019, up 0.5% year on year.

MRC