Angola, Eni make new offshore oil discovery

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Angola and Italy’s Eni have identified another deepwater oil reserve off the southern African country’s shores, reported Reuters with reference to its state news agency's statement.

The find, the fifth discovery in Angola’s Block 15/06, is estimated to contain between 300 and 400 million barrels of light oil, according to Agencia Angola Press.

We remind that, as MRC informed before, in February 2019, Eni and SABIC signed a Joint Development Agreement to further develop an innovative technology for natural gas conversion into synthesis gas that can be further transformed into high value fuels and chemicals.
MRC

Belarus to finish pumping tainted oil back to Russia by mid-Aug

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Belarus will finish pumping contaminated Russian crude back to Russia by the middle of August, reported Reuters with reference to Interfax news agency, citing Gomeltransneft Druzhba, the operator of the Belarusian section of the Druzhba pipeline.

Around 5 million tons of Russian oil was contaminated in April with organic chloride and some of the volumes are being pumped back from Belarus to Russia to clear the pipeline.

As MRC wrote before, in early June 2019, the Czech oil refinery at Litvinov, owned by PKN Orlen unit Unipetrol, started receiving oil from state emergency reserves due to halt in Russian supplies via the Druzhba pipeline.
MRC

Prices of European PP did not fall for CIS markets in June

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The June contract price of propylene was settled in Europe at the level of May, despite a major fall in oil prices. Therefore, all European producers announced a roll-over of May export polypropylene (PP) prices for June shipments to the CIS markets, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

Negotiations over June prices of European PP have begun this week. All market participants reported producers' desire to roll over May export prices of propylene polymers for June shipments, while oil prices have significantly decreased in recent days.

Deals for June shipments of homopolymer of propylene (homopolymer PP) were discussed in the range of EUR1,170-1,205/tonne FCA, which virtually corresponds to the level of May. Deals for block copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) were negotiated in the range of EUR1,240-1,280/tonne FCA.

Demand for European PP has subsided significantly from consumers in the CIS countries in recent months due to high prices. Many companies switched to shipments of propylene polymers from other regions, including the Middle East.

Suppliers of Middle Eastern PP reduced their prices for June shipments, this week's offer prices for homopolymer PP were announced in the range of USD1,180-1,240/tonne CIF Odessa and St Petersburg. Prices of PP block copolymer were by an average of USD60/tonne higher.
MRC

Cameroon state oil refinery declares force majeure after blast

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Cameroon’s state oil refinery declared force majeure after a storage tank exploded overnight, causing a fire that shut down output at its main refinery in Limbe but caused no deaths, reported Reuters.

A letter to its partners seen by Reuters said the fire had "caused a production stoppage at all of our units for a period to be determined."

Cameroon’s Sonara refinery, which is almost entirely state-owned apart from a 4% stake held by Total, has a capacity of 2.1 million tonnes of crude a year. It serves the whole country, so any delay in getting it back up and running has the potential to cause severe fuel shortages.

It is also a major supplier to the region, including Nigeria, Togo and Ghana, with some products also being exported to the United States and Europe, according to its website.

A Sonara spokesman declined to comment.

On Twitter, the company wrote that “there were no deaths nor injured,” in the blast.

A project has been under way for nearly a decade to try to boost its capacity to 3.5 million tonnes, but Sonara has struggled to raise the needed finance.

As MRC wrote before, in December 2017, Total inaugurated the new units at its Antwerp integrated refining & petrochemicals platform, which had progressively started up in the previous few months.
MRC

Turnaround begins at Bilbao oil refinery

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Spain’s Petronor began a maintenance shutdown on the 130,000 barrel per day crude distillation unit (CDU) plant 1) and associated units at its Bilbao oil refinery, reported Reuters with reference to the company's statement.

The smaller of the two CDUs will remain operational during the maintenance which is expected to last until the first half of July.

The maintenance will involve 1,200 workers, from 40 companies.

Repsol is a majority shareholder in Petronor.

As MRC informed previously, Spanish oil and gas firm Repsol beat forecasts with a 7.5 percent increase in fourth-quarter adjusted net profit, boosted by higher oil and gas prices and increased production, and said its strategic plan was on track.

Repsol started new projects in Algeria, Trinidad and Tobago, Britain, Peru and Malaysia during 2018, and benefited in October-December from an annual rise in prices and lower exploration costs. The company said it was on track to deliver its 2018-2020 strategic objectives, which include 15 billion euros (USD17.1 billion) in spending, cutting debt and investing in renewables.
MRC