ADNOC acquires stake in VTTI oil storage business

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) said on Wednesday it will acquire a stake in VTTI, a Vitol-backed global energy storage company, as part of changes including expanding its oil trading operations, said Reuters.

ADNOC will acquire a 10% stake in VTTI, it said in a statement, allowing it to secure storage in global export markets as well as at the port of Fujairah, a regional bunkering and storage hub in the United Arab Emirates.

After the transaction is finalised, both Vitol and IFM Global Infrastructure Fund, an investment vehicle managed by IFM Investors, will each own a 45% stake in VTTI.

As MRC informed earlier, Eni and ADNOC, Abu Dhabi’s National Oil Company, said today they closed their strategic partnership, announced in January, through which Eni acquired a 20 percent equity interest in ADNOC refining.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Marathon Petroleum Corp may restart a reformer at its 585,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Galveston Bay Refinery in Texas City, Texas, by the end of the week, said Reuters.

The 62,000 bpd Ultraformer 4 catalytic reformer was shut on Monday for inspection and possible repairs, the sources said.

Marathon spokesman Sid Barth declined to comment.

Reformers convert low-octane refining byproducts into high-octane reformate, which is added to gasoline.

As MRC informed earlier, Marathon Petroleum Corp. and Andeavor announced that the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 has expired in connection with the proposed transaction whereby MPC would acquire all of Andeavor's outstanding shares.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The August contract price of propylene was agreed at the level of July in Europe. Therefore, all European producers announced a roll-over of July export polypropylene (PP) prices for August shipments to the CIS markets, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

Negotiations on August prices of European PP began last week. All market participants said that European producers have actually kept export prices of propylene polymers for shipments in the current month at the level of July due to the stability of the price of propylene.

Deals for August homopolymer PP were negotiated in the range of EUR1,050 - 1,105/tonne FCA. Deals for block copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) were negotiated in the range of EUR1,140-1,180/tonne FCA.

Due to planned maintenance works, some European producers had export restrictions this month, but for many buyers such restrictions were not critical.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- SayanskKhimPlast (Irkutsk region), Russia's second largest polyvinyl chrolide (PVC) producer, resumed its PVC production capacities after a scheduled turnaround, according to the ICIS-MRC Price report.

According to a company representative, the company began to start production after a scheduled maintenance works on 6 August, and the first batches of polyvinyl chloride have already been produced. The outage was long and lasted for about 30 days. The plant's annual production capacity is 350,000 tonnes. It is also worth noting that it was last shutdown for maintenance at Russian PVC plants.

Bashkir Soda Company resumed PVC production a week earlier, the turnaround lasted only two weeks. The plant's annual production capacity is 240,000 tonnes.

JSC "Sayanskkhimplast" (Irkutsk region), established in 1998, is a complex of large-capacity chlororganic production facilities connected in a single production cycle. SayanskKhimPlast produces PVC, caustic soda and bleach. After commissioning of RusVinyl's PVC production (Nizhny Novgorod region), SayanskKhimPlast became Russia's second largest PVC producer.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC)--ExxonMobil Chemical Synthetics announced this week that it is responding to customer needs by significantly increasing low viscosity poly-alpha-olefin synthetic base stocks production capacity and further improving the reliability of its global supply chain network, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Investment in manufacturing facilities has resulted in significantly increased LoVis PAO production capacity in France, bringing total plant capacity to 105 kilo-tons per year. In addition, to help improve delivery and reliability for customers, the company upgraded and expanded its worldwide supply hubs and transportation systems.

"Our customers demand a growing reliable supply of high performance synthetic base stocks that enable them to innovate confidently,” said Hesham Omar, vice president of ExxonMobil Synthetics. “Investing in our production facilities and supply chain capabilities allows us to stay at the forefront of the base stocks industry and meet our customer’s long-term ambitions as they grow their business."

The synthetic lubricant market is forecasted to grow by over 20 percent* between 2017 and 2021. ExxonMobil Synthetics has four Group IV and V base stock manufacturing facilities supplying over 350 kilo-tons across all grades to ensure global supply leadership capabilities. This has enabled ExxonMobil Synthetics to build a strong reputation of unsurpassed supply reliability and quality.

An increase in production capacity is supported by continual improvements in our supply chain network. ISO hubs have been expanded, inventory has been forward-deployed in crucial areas and a renewed emphasis has been placed on planning and optimizing trucking, shipping and rail operations while upgrading carriers, all supported by a very robust and proven business continuity planning (BCP). This results in a stable, secure and growing supply of synthetic base stocks on a global scale, improved delivery speed and increased supply reliability for customers.

“The market continuously evolves and this continued investment in our capabilities positions us to meet our customer’s long-term needs as they grow their business. As adoption of metallocene synthetic base stocks increases across industrial, automotive and wind turbine markets, we have invested over half a billion dollars in plant capacity improvements in the last five years,” said Omar. “Our synthetic base stocks help formulators create lubricants that are more energy efficient, work under more severe operating conditions, offer extended drain intervals and provide advanced lubricant performance and outstanding equipment protection."
MRC