European diesel markets rally on Russia pipeline shutdown

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The European diesel market is finding unexpected support from disruption in the refining sector from the shutdown of Russia’s Druzhba pipeline due to contaminated oil and after a Russian refinery went bust, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Diesel refining margins, a measure of the profitability of making diesel from crude, hit a six-week high of nearly USD15 a barrel on Thursday and were trading close to this level.

Oil in the 1 million barrel per day (bpd) Druzhba pipeline running from Russia to eastern Europe via Belarus was contaminated by chemical compounds which made it unusable by several European refineries that rely on its supply.

"It’s all a matter of how much strategic stocks can be released because literally between German, Polish and Hungarian refineries, there are probably five or six refineries which are completely land-locked and there is literally no other way to supply them than the pipeline," one trader said.

Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic are making available to their domestic refiners around 8 million barrels of crude from strategic stocks to tackle the Russian Druzhba pipeline shutdown, industry sources said on Friday.

Traders said that Total’s 240,000 barrel per day Leuna refinery in Germany had slashed runs because of the contamination by around 30 percent but exact details could not be immediately confirmed.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Trinseo, a global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex binders and synthetic rubber, and its affiliate companies in Europe has announced a price increase for all polystyrene (PS), as per the company's press release.

Effective May 1, 2019, or as existing contract terms allow, the contract and spot prices for the products listed below will increase as follows:

- STYRON general purpose polystyrene grades (GPPS) - by EUR50 per metric ton;
- STYRON and STYRON A-Tech and STYRON X- Tech and STYRON C- Tech high impact polystyrene grades (HIPS) -by EUR50 per metric ton.

As MRC informed before, Trinseo last increased its prices for all PS grades on 1 April 2019. Thus, April prices for the said products grew, as stated below:

- STYRON GPPS grades - by EUR120 per metric ton;
- STYRON and STYRON A-Tech HIPS grades - by EUR120 per metric ton.

Trinseo is a global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex and rubber. Trinseo's technology is used by customers in industries such as home appliances, automotive, building & construction, carpet, consumer electronics, consumer goods, electrical & lighting, medical, packaging, paper & paperboard, rubber goods and tires. Formerly known as Styron, Trinseo completed its renaming process in 1Q 2015. Trinseo had approximately USD4.6 billion in net sales in 2018, with 16 manufacturing sites around the world, and approximately 2,500 employees.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - German chemicals giant BASF expects to eke out some profit growth in 2019 as it banks on business to perk up with car production in the latter half of the year and on benefits from ongoing cost cuts, said the company.

BASF, which held its annual shareholder meeting on Friday, reported a drop in first-quarter operating profit of 24 percent, hurt by weakness in the firm's basic chemicals business and a slump in prices for materials used in polyurethane foams.

The maker of petrochemicals, coatings, catalytic converters and foams, said it still aims to grow operating profit this year at the lower end of a 1-10 percent range from 6.35 billion euros in 2018, despite analyst predictions of a decline in full-year earnings.

"What's important is the state of our customer industries," Chief Executive Martin Brudermueller told shareholders at the meeting. "Automotive saw a very weak start to the year. But there are still forecasts for a very slight growth rate over the full year... That has to mean more cars will be manufactured in the second half and that means more business for BASF."

First-quarter operating profit, or earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) adjusted for one-off items, fell to 1.73 billion euros (USD1.93 billion) versus a company-provided analyst forecast of 1.75 billion. The shares were little changed at 72.35 euros at 1128 GMT.

The company experienced lower volumes and prices for basic petrochemicals made from oil distillates and had to mark down prices of intermediate chemicals used in heat insulation slabs and upholstery foams.

Weak demand and global trade disputes, which began late last year, led to a decline in global auto production of 6 percent during the quarter and continued to weigh on BASF's automotive coatings and catalytic converters businesses.

Earnings at BASF's agricultural chemicals and seeds unit were bolstered by assets acquired from domestic rival Bayer as well as by higher prices.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Negotiations over May shipments of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) began in the Russian market on 25 April 2019. Local producers announced a price increase of Rb2,000/tonne for shipments to the domestic market, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

Amid seasonal growth in demand and higher feedstocks prices, Russian producers intend to achieve an increase in May contract SPVC prices. Most producers announced a price rise of Rb2,000/tonne from April, but some buyers intend to limit the growth of contract prices by a smaller amount.

Demand for PVC has been growing gradually from the domestic market month by month, but at the same time, some producers have maintained relatively high exports since the beginning of the year, shipping excessive quantities of polymer to foreign markets. Significant export volumes are also expected in May.

Prices of Russian resin has been constantly rising since the beginning of the year, with April being the exception. And on the back of this, some buyers resumed their purchases in foreign markets, particularly, in China, in March, but at the same time, they had to state that there were serious problems with shipments of acetylene PVC from China.

Sellers of North American PVC also began to actively enter the Russian market in the second half of April. Some negotiators said PVC imports from the United States are a good alternative to Russian resin, but, as is the case with China, delivery is quite long. And this is the main negative factor.

There is no shortage of PVC in the Russian market, despite large export volumes. At the same time, the market balance may change in the near future because of shutdowns for maintenance. Thus, Kaustik Volgograd plans to shut its production capacities for a three-week turnaround in mid-May. And two producers - Bashkir Soda Company and SayanskKhimPlast - will shut their PVC production capacities simultaneously in mid-July.

May deals for resin with K=64/67 were negotiated in the range of Rb76,000-78,500/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, for lots of less than 500 tonnes. For special grades, particularly, with K=58/70, prices were higher by Rb1,000-2,000/tonne.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has completed turnaround at its one polypropylene (PP) unit last weekend, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source informed that the company has resumed operations at one of the PP unit following a maintenance on April 27, 2019. The unit was taken off-line on April 16, 2019.

Located at Hazira near Surat in Gujarat, the PP unit has a production capacity of 225,000 mt/year.

As MRC reported earlier, Saudi Aramco’s Chief Executive Officer Amin Nassar said in late February 2019 that the company was in talks with India’s Reliance Industries Ltd for possible investments and was seeking other opportunities in the country.

Reliance Industries is one of the world's largest producers of polymers. Thus, the company produces among others polypropylene, polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride.
MRC