PP production in Russia grew by 4% in Q1 2019

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia's overall roduction of polypropylene (PP) rose in the first six months of 2019 by 4% year on year to 732,000 tonnes. Four producers out of seven increased their capacity utilisation, according to MRC's ScanPlast report.

Local producers' total PP output dropped to 122,900 tonnes in June from 135,100 tonnes a month earlier, all together, SIBUR Tobolsk, NPP Neftekhimiya and Stavrolen reduced their capacity utilisation. Russia's overall PP production reached 732,100 tonnes in January-June 2019, compared to 704,400 tonnes a year earlier. Four producers out of seven raised their capacity utilisation, with SIBUR Tobolsk and NPP Neftekhimiya accounting for the main increase in production.

The structure of PP production by plants looked the following way over the stated period.

SIBUR Tobolsk reduced its capacity utilisation in June, the plant's total PP output was 41,900 tonnes versus 50,400 tonnes a month earlier. The Tobolsk plant's total PP production reached 249,400 tonnes in January-June 2019, up by 11% year on year.

Poliom (Omsk) produced 18,500 tonnes of PP last month, compared to 18,200 tonnes in May. Overall, the Omsk plant produced 108,200 tonnes of PP over the stated period, down by 2% year on year.

Nizhnekamskneftekhim produced 18,600 tonnes of propylene polymers in June versus 18,500 tonnes a month earlier. The Nizhnekamsk plant's overall output of polymer reached 105,900 tonnes in the first six months of 2019, compared to 105,000 tonnes in 2018.

Tomskneftekhim produced 12,400 tonnes of propylene polymers last month versus 13,000 tonnes in May. The Tomsk plant's total PP output reached 74,800 tonnes over the stated period, up 1% year on year.

Ufaorgsintez's total PP production was 11,100 tonnes in June versus 10,600 tonnes a month earlier. The Ufa plant's overall output of polymer reached 66,600 tonnes in January-June 2019, which virtually corresponded to the last year's figure.

NPP Neftekhimiya (Kapotnya) produced 9,600 tonnes last month, compared to 12,800 tonnes in May. The plant's overall output exceeded 71,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 6% year on year.

Stavrolen (LUKOIL) reduced its capacity utilisation in June, the plant's total production of propylene polymers was 10,900 tonnes versus 11,500 tonnes a month earlier. The Budenovsk plant's overall output of propylene polymers dropped in the first six months of 2019 to 56,100 tonnes from 56,900 tonnes a year earlier.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Celanese Corporation, a global chemical and specialty materials company, has declared a quarterly dividend of USD0.62 per share on its common stock, payable August 5, 2019, as per the company's press release.

The dividend is payable to stockholders of record as of July 26, 2019.

As MRC reported earlier, Celanese Corporation has increased July list and off-list selling prices for Vinyl Acetate Monomer (VAM) sold in Asia outside China (AOC). The price increase was effective for orders shipped on or after 19 July, 2019, or as contracts otherwise allow, and is incremental to any previously announced increases. Thus, July VAM prices rose by USD50/mt - for AOC.

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 7,700 employees worldwide and had 2018 net sales of USD7.2 billion.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Yanlian Petrochemical, has restarted its No. 2 Polypropylene (PP) plant, following an unplanned outage, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China, informed that, the company has resumed operations at the plant on July 22, 2019. The plant was shut owing to technical issues on July 16, 2019.

Located at Shaanxi, China, the No.2 PP plant has a production capacity of 200,000 mt/year.

We remind that, as MRC wrote ealier, Zhong Tian He Chuang, a joint venture of Sinopec and China Coal Energy Group, brought on-stream its polypropylene (PP) plant following an unplanned outage in end-June, 2019. The unit was shut on June 11, 2019 owing to technical issues. Located at Ordos in Inner Mongolia, China, the plant has a production capacity of 350,000 mt/year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mexican Energy Minister Rocio Nahle said that a planned USD8 billion refinery at the Gulf coast port of Dos Bocas would not be canceled, reported Reuters.

Investors and ratings agencies have criticized the project over concerns that it would divert funds away from Mexican state oil company Pemex's more profitable exploration and production business.

"This government will build it," Nahle said in a radio interview. "Why would we backtrack on that? It is a viable project, it's a necessary project, it's a Pemex project."

The refinery in President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's home state of Tabasco was a signature campaign promise of the left-leaning energy nationalist. Lopez Obrador has said the refinery would help Mexico wean itself off its growing reliance on fuel imports, the vast majority of which come from US refiners.

As MRC informed before, in March 2019, the Mexican government announced that it will invite four companies to bid in a restricted tender to build the new Dos Bocas refinery for state oil company Pemex, said then Energy Minister Rocio Nahle. Dos Bocas would be Pemex’s seventh domestic refinery and is intended to help wean Mexico off growing fuel imports, a major campaign promise of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who took office in December 2018.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- S-Oil, South Korea’s third-largest refiner, said it expects refining margins to strengthen in coming quarters, supported by demand for new low-sulfur marine fuels and the US driving season, reported Reuters.

The International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) new rules on marine fuels are set to take effect from January 2020, reducing the sulfur content of fuel oil to 0.5% from the current 3.5% to combat pollution.

S-Oil, whose top shareholder is Saudi Aramco, said suppliers had already started building stocks of the low-sulfur fuel and the trend is expected to support margins in the third and fourth quarters.

The current quarter should also see solid demand for the US summer driving season, it said in an earnings statement.

"Refining margins will strengthen from the fourth quarter, driven by inventory build-up demand for compliant fuels in advance of IMO 2020," S-Oil said.

The refiner was hurt by low margins in the second-quarter, reporting an operating loss of 90.5 billion won (USD76.8 million) for the April-June period, compared with an operating profit of 403 billion won a year earlier.

Asia’s benchmark Singapore refining margins DUB-SIN-REF - the profits from processing a barrel of Dubai crude into refined products - have jumped since late June, reaching their highest since September 2017 at USD9.37 a barrel in mid-July.

Singapore sales of low-sulfur marine fuels hit a record 299,000 tonnes in June, up by 10% from the previous high of 272,000 tonnes in May and more than double the 140,000 tonnes sold in June last year.

S-Oil, which runs a 669,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) refinery in the southeastern city of Ulsan, also said it plans to shut down its No.1 residue fluid catalytic cracker (RFCC) for maintenance in the third quarter.

The refiner’s gasoline making unit, its 73,000-bpd RFCC, would be offline for maintenance from September to October, according to sources familiar with the matter.

We remind that, as MRC wrote earlier, in January 2019, S-Oil Corp said that refining margins are expected to improve in 2019, boosted by growing diesel demand.
MRC