IRPC reports a better-than-expected 2Q profit at ฿507m

MOSCOW (MRC) -- IRPC Public Company Limited (IRPC) has reported its 2Q19 consolidated financial statement through the Stock Exchange of Thailand, said Kaohoon.

The net profit of IRPC in the second quarter of 2019 was THB 506.93 million, decreased 87.48% YoY while the profit for six months in 2019 plunged by 90.30% mainly due to the decrease of average selling prices following the crude oil price. The crude intake was 203,000 barrels per day down by 8,000 barrels per day because the RDCC unit ceased the operation for 28 days in the first quarter.

IRPC had mMarket GIM of THB 10,387 million or USD 8.90 per barrel, decreased by THB 6,675 million or 39% from 1H/2018 as a result of the significant decrease of both petroleum and petrochemical products spread. The spread decrease was affected by many factors including the prolonged U.S-China trade war, the new capacity in the region and the increasing production rate in the U.S.

As a result of baht appreciation, the Company had foreign exchange gain of THB 340 million, increasing by THB 316 million.

However, the decrease of IRPC’s profit was better or inline to what analysts had expected. Maybank expected IRPC to report a profit in 2Q19 at THB 517 million. Tisco expected THB 506 million. KGI expected THB 509 million while Trinity expectedTHB 517 million and KS expected THB million.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Westlake Chemical (WLK) came out with quarterly earnings of USD0.92 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of USD0.84 per share, said Finance.

This compares to earnings of USD2.45 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.

This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of 9.52%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this chemical company would post earnings of USD1.38 per share when it actually produced earnings of USD0.94, delivering a surprise of -31.88%.

Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates two times.

Westlake, which belongs to the Zacks Chemical - Plastic industry, posted revenues of USD2.14 billion for the quarter ended June 2019, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2.15%. This compares to year-ago revenues of USD2.24 billion. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates two times over the last four quarters.

The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call.

Westlake shares have lost about 6.4% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 13.5%.
MRC

MOSOCW (MRC) - Negotiations on European polyvinyl chloride (PVC) prices for August delivery into the CIS markets were actively conducted last week. Despite a slight increase in ethylene prices, European producers did not proportionally increase in PVC export prices, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

August contract price of ethylene was agreed up by EUR10/tonne from July, which theoretically should lead to an increase of EUR5/tonne in PVC production costs.

Nevertheless, despite a slight increase in the cost of the main raw material, ethylene, European producers rolled over the August export prices of PVC for deliveries to the markets of the CIS countries in August.

Demand for PVC increased from the main consumers in the CIS countries in July-August under the pressure of seasonal factor and tight supply from domestic producers. But due to planned and unscheduled shutdowns of some plants, some producers limited export quotas, in particular K70.

Deals for August shipments of suspension PVC (SPVC) to the CIS markets were held in the range of EUR710-785/tonne FCA.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Eni and ADNOC, Abu Dhabi’s National Oil Company, said they closed their strategic partnership, announced in January, through which Eni acquired a 20 percent equity interest in ADNOC refining, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The partners – which include Austria’s OMV – also set up a new trading joint venture.

ADNOC Refining refines in excess of 922,000 barrels per day of crude at its Ruwais and Abu Dhabi based refineries. The transaction is one of the world’s largest-ever in the refining business and reflects the scale, quality and growth potential of ADNOC Refining’s assets. Ruwais is the 4th biggest single-site refinery in the world and is the focus of further expansion and integration to develop the world’s largest single-site refining and petrochemicals complex. Expanding its refining and petrochemical operations at Ruwais supports ADNOC as it evolves to become a leading global downstream player.

The final cash price is approximately USD3.24 billion.

ADNOC, Eni and OMV have now incorporated a new trading joint venture at Abu Dhabi Global Market, with the same shareholding as in ADNOC Refining. Trading is expected to begin in 2020 when all necessary processes, procedures and systems are in place. Eni and OMV will provide ADNOC with know-how, operational experience and support to accelerate the development of the trading joint venture, enabling ADNOC and its partners to optimize their systems and better manage their international product flows.

These agreements demonstrate the strong partnership between Eni and ADNOC. With this transaction, Eni enters the UAE downstream sector and increases its global refining capacity by 35%. It follows the company’s strategy of making Eni’s overall portfolio more geographically diversified and more balanced along the value chain.

Eni has been present in the UAE upstream sector since March 2018 when it was awarded a 10 percent interest in ADNOC’s Umm Shaif and Nasr concession and a 5 percent interest in the Lower Zakum concession, followed in November 2018 by the award of a 25 percent interest in the Ghasha Concession, ADNOC’s mega offshore sour gas project. On 12 January this year Eni was awarded a 70 percent interest in offshore exploration blocks 1 and 2. In addition to the United Arab Emirates, in the Middle East Eni is also present in Oman, Bahrain, Lebanon and Iraq.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Oil prices fell on global growth concerns after U.S. President Donald Trump last week threatened China with more tariffs, which could limit crude demand from the world’s two biggest buyers, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Brent crude futures were down USD1.31, or 2.12%, at $60.58 per barrel by 1420 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down USD0.87, or 1.56%, at USD54.79 a barrel.

“The escalation of trade measures only reinforces concerns over global economic growth and hence by extension global oil demand growth,” said Harry Tchilinguirian, global oil strategist at BNP Paribas in London. "(But) supply fundamentals are tightening and are supportive for oil prices."

Both crude benchmarks plummeted by more than 7% last Thursday to their lowest level in about 7 weeks after Trump’s announcement, before recovering somewhat to leave Brent down 2.5% on the week and U.S. crude 1% lower.

The escalation of the trade war pushed global equities lower again on Monday, while safe-haven assets, including the Japanese yen, core government bonds and gold, rallied.

Trump last week said he would impose a 10% tariff on USD300 billion of Chinese imports starting on Sept. 1 and said he could raise duties further if China’s President Xi Jinping failed to move more quickly towards a trade deal.

The announcement extends U.S. tariffs to nearly all imported Chinese products. China on Friday vowed to fight back against Trump’s decision, a move that ended a month-long trade truce.

On Monday, China let the yuan tumble beyond the 7 per dollar level for the first time in more than a decade, in a sign Beijing may tolerate further currency weakness because of the trade dispute.

A lower yuan would raise the cost of dollar-denominated oil imports in China, the world’s biggest crude oil importer. Signs of rising oil exports from the United States also pressured prices on Monday. U.S. shipments surged by 260,000 barrels per day (bpd) in June to a monthly record of 3.16 million bpd, U.S. Census Bureau data showed on Friday.

The U.S. weekly oil rig count, an indicator of future production, fell for a fifth week in a row as most independent producers cut spending even though majors were still pushing ahead with investments in new drilling.

Iran’s seizure of an Iraqi oil tanker raised some concerns about potential Middle East supply disruptions in the Gulf, with Iranian state media reporting on Sunday its Iranian Revolutionary Guards had seized the ship for smuggling fuel.
MRC