ADNOC acquires stake in owner of storage terminals in 14 countries world-wide

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) announced a strategic investment in global storage terminal owner and operator VTTI BV (VTTI), said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

As part of this agreement, ADNOC will acquire a 10% equity stake in VTTI. Following the transaction, VTTI will be owned 10% by ADNOC, 45% by IFM Global Infrastructure Fund (IFM GIF), an investment vehicle managed by IFM Investors, and 45% by Vitol (both directly and through Vitol Investment Partnership II Ltd, an investment vehicle sponsored and managed by Vitol).

VTTI is an independent global owner of 15 hydrocarbon storage terminals across 14 different countries. The VTTI storage network holds around 60 million barrels (9.5 million m3) of combined storage capacity, much of which is in locations that are complementary to ADNOC’s trade flows.

The investment in VTTI provides ADNOC access to storage capabilities across some of its key export markets such as Asia, Africa and Europe while also securing additional facilities at the port of Fujairah, UAE, its main storage hub. This transaction also significantly contributes to the development and growth of ADNOC’s global marketing, supply and trading platforms, providing greater access to knowledge and capabilities that will further enable ADNOC’s growth plans.

“We are delighted to be entering into this strategic investment opportunity in VTTI, alongside Vitol and IFM GIF, which will further complement the development of ADNOC’s integrated global trading platform while also delivering a solid financial return. VTTI’s diverse portfolio of storage assets across key target markets such as Asia, Africa and Europe, provides us with direct access to our customers around the world, a key building block to accelerating ADNOC’s transformation into a more integrated and commercially-minded global energy player," H.E. Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of State and ADNOC Group CEO said.

He added: “As one of Fujairah’s largest storage operators, VTTI is a natural partner for ADNOC. This investment further strengthens ADNOC’s strategic position in Fujairah and supports the continued development of Fujairah as a strategic hub for our operations.”

By expanding its international storage capabilities and reach, ADNOC will move closer to its customers, allowing it to be more agile and respond quickly to market needs and dynamics. It will also unlock incremental revenue, margin and cost saving opportunities from the trading, transportation and storage of its products, giving ADNOC better control over where, when and how its products are being supplied to key markets and customers.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) said on Sunday that fears of the U.S.-China trade war leading to a recession are increasing and that Goldman no longer expects a trade deal between the world’s two largest economies before the 2020 U.S. presidential election, said Reuters.

“We expect tariffs targeting the remaining USD300bn of US imports from China to go into effect,” the bank said in a note sent to clients.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Aug. 1 that he would impose a 10% tariff on a final USD300 billion worth of Chinese imports on Sept. 1, prompting China to halt purchases of U.S. agricultural products.

The United States also declared China a currency manipulator. China denies that it has manipulated the yuan for competitive gain.

The year-long trade dispute has revolved around issues such as tariffs, subsidies, technology, intellectual property and cyber security, among others.

Goldman Sachs said it lowered its fourth-quarter U.S. growth forecast by 20 basis points to 1.8% on a larger than expected impact from the developments in the trade tensions.

“Overall, we have increased our estimate of the growth impact of the trade war,” the bank said in the note authored by three of its economists, Jan Hatzius, Alec Phillips and David Mericle.

Rising input costs from the supply chain disruption could lead U.S. companies to reduce their domestic activity, the note said. Such “policy uncertainty” may also make companies lower their capex spending, the economists added.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Iraq’s Al-Sumoud refinery in Baiji is operating at its planned capacity and a fire that broke out in a surrounding area is now under control, Iraqi news agency (INA) reported, citing a statement from the oil ministry, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The fire broke out on nearby agricultural land and was “outside the refinery and did not affect production”, the statement added.

As it was written earlier, al-Sumoud refinery (formerly Baiji) in northern Salaheddine resumed its production of oil derivatives, an oil expert said Wednesday (March 20th). The government also is expanding oil refineries that are already in operation such as al-Doura in Baghdad and al-Shuaiba in Basra. Al-Jawahiri called for the facilitation of investment contracts so that refinery construction and rehabilitation can go forward, and for reduced bureaucracy in order to invigorate the industry.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PetroChina Lanzhou Petrochemical has shut its HDPE/LLDPE swing plant for a maintenance turnaround, said Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the company has started brief maintenance at the plant on August 8, 2019. The plant is expected to resume production on August 13, 2019.

Located at Gansu province in China, the HDPE/LLDE swing plant has a production capacity of 300,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed earlier, in June 2019, Lanzhou Petrochemical has brought on-stream its No. 4 cracker following a maintenance turnaround.

PetroChina Company Limited, is a Chinese oil and gas company and is the listed arm of state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation, headquartered in Dongcheng District, Beijing. It is China's biggest oil producer.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Imports of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) in Russia reached about 122,100 tonnes in the first seven months of the year, up 62% year on year. Imports also increased by 112% year on year to 26,900 tonnes, according to MRC's DataScope report.

This year, Russian producers showed rather high volumes of polyvinyl chloride export even taking into account scheduled maintenance works of two large plants and high seasonal demand in the domestic market. Last month's exports of Russian suspension (excluding shipments to the countries of the Customs Union ) were about 21,900 tonnes, compared to 15,700 tonnes in June.

Thus, overall exports of PVC to Russia totalled about 122,100 tonnes in the first seven months of 2019, compared to 75,500 tonnes a year earlier. Indian buyers were the main foreign importers of Russian resin this year. Overall sales of resin were about 73,400 tonnes over the stated period.
High seasonal demand in the domestic market and scheduled maintenance works at two producers in the last two months have led to a serious increase in PVC imports to Russia.

July imports of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) in Russia increased to 13,700 tonnes, compared with 5,200 tonnes in June, with the main bulk of purchases occurred for US PVC (about 8,400 tonnes). Overall imports totalled about 26,900 tonnes over the stated period versus 12,700 tonnes a year earlier.
MRC