Vietnamese Binh Son refinery buys first Nigerian crude cargo

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Vietnam’s Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical has bought 1 million barrels of Bonny Light crude in its first-ever import of Nigerian crude, two trade sources and a senior company executive told Reuters.

Binh Son bought the crude cargo in mid-August for delivery in October-November for its 130,000-barrel-per-day Dung Quat refinery, according to the sources, all of whom declined to be named as they were not authorized to speak to the media.

"This is the first batch of crude oil we have imported from Nigeria for the plant,” said the company executive, who declined to reveal further details. "We haven’t decided yet if we will keep importing Nigerian crude in the future."

Binh Son, Vietnam’s first refinery, is stepping up efforts to reduce its dependence on the country’s dwindling domestic crude supply and widen its purchase options.

Vietnam has been relying more on imported crude due to a slowdown in domestic output as its reserves decline at existing fields, and because of China’s increasingly assertive stance in the region hampers offshore exploration.

Vietnam’s crude oil imports for the January-August period more than doubled from a year earlier to 5.57 million tonnes, as its domestic oil output fell 6.9%, official data shows.

Last month, Binh Son’s Vice-CEO Nguyen Van Hoi said the company would import 2 million to 3 million barrels of U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude in the second half of this year for the refinery.

Price levels for West African crude grades like Bonny Light are competitive compared with regional sweet, or low-sulfur, crude grades in the Asian markets, said the two trade sources.

Oil major BP likely sold the cargo to Binh Son, according to other trader sources.

As MRC informed earlier, Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical (BSR) in June 2017 shut its 150,000 tonne/year polypropylene (PP) plant in Quang Ngai province for scheduled maintenance for around 50 days.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, the estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 796,120 tonnes in January-July 2019, up by 11% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.

Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical (BSR) is a subsidiary of state-owned oil firm PetroVietnam.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Overall imports of polycarbonate (PC) granules into Belarus grew in the first seven months of 2019 by 29% year on year to 8,200 tonnes, according to MRC's DataScope report.

July PC imports into the country fell by 32% year on year to 900 tonnes from 1,300 tonnes a month earlier. July 2018 imports of material to Belarus were at 800 tonnes.

Spain (33%), the Netherlands (25%) and Lithuania (16%) are the main countries-importers of PC into Belarus. The bulk of the imported material is then delivered to Russia.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Overall imports of general purpose polystyrene (GPPS) and high impact polystyrene (HIPS) to Belarus decreased in the first seven months of 2019 by 12% year on year to 21,800 tonnes, according to MRC's DataScope report.

This figure was at 19,500 tonnes in January-July 2018.

GPPS and HIPS imports from Russia accounted for 81% of the total imports in the first seven months of 2019 or 17,600 tonnes, up by 2,300 tonnes a year earlier.

At the same time, July GPPS and HIPS imports into the country grew by 27% year on year to 3,300 tonnes versus 2,600 tonnes a year earlier.

July shipments of material rose by 5% from June 2019 (3,200 tonnes).

July imports of material from Russian into Belarus grew by 58% year on year to 2,800 tonnes from 1,800 tonnes in July 2018, June shipments were at 2,700 tonnes.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Kazanorgsintez (part of TAIF Group) has completely shut down its high density polyethylene (HDPE) production for a scheduled turnaround, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

The plant's customers said Kazanorgsintez completely took off-stream its HDPE for the annual scheduled maintenance on 26 September. Besides, the plant's low density polyethylene (LDPE) production capacities were also shut at the same time.

The outage will be quite long and the completion of the maintenance works is planned only by 20 October. The shutdown of production capacities will take place in two stages, and a complete resumption of production at all reactors after the turnaround is expected by 24 October.

PJSC "Kazanorgsintez" (part of TAIF Group) is one of Russia's largest plants. Kazanorgsintez produces 40% of overall Russian polyethylene (PE) and is the country's largest exporter. To date, the plant produces PE, polycarbonate (PC), PE pipes, phenol, acetone, bisphenol A. Kazanorgsintez is Russia's only PC producer. It manufactures a total of 170 items of products. Kazanorgsintez's annual output is 1.6 million tonnes. The plant is Russia's largest producer of high density polyethylene (HDPE). The plant's annual HDPE production capacity is 540,000 tonnes and its annual LDPE capacity is 225,000 tonnes.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Eni SPA is investigating an explosion that occurred early on Sept. 17 at its 200,000-b/d Sannazzaro de’ Burgondi refinery near Pavia, in Po Valley, Italy, reported Oil&Gas Journal.

The explosion, which occurred at 6:30 a.m. local time in one part of a gasification line, did not cause any injuries to personnel but did generate a certain amount of smoke, Eni said.

The incident did not result in a fire, and further assessments are now currently under way to quantify damages.

The refinery continues to operate normally, Eni said.

As MRC informed earlier, Italy’s Versalis (part of Eni) took its cracker in Dunkirk, France offline in early September, 2019, due to a fire which broke out at the company’s petrochemical plant. It is not yet known how long the unit will remain shut. Local media sources also reported that the fire was brought under control with no reported injuries and the company is currently assessing the required repairs. The cracker has a production capacity of 380,000 tons/year of ethylene and 95,000 tons/year of propylene.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polyprolypele (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,255,800 tonnes in the first seven months of 2019, up by 9% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, the estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 796,120 tonnes in January-July 2019, up by 11% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.

Eni is an Italian multinational oil and gas company headquartered in Rome. It has operations in in 79 countries, and is currently Italy's largest industrial company with a market capitalization of 68 billion euros (USD 90 billion), as of August 14, 2013. The Italian government owns a 30.3% golden share in the company, 3.93% held through the state Treasury and 26.37% held through the Cassa depositi e prestiti. Another 39.40% of the shares are held by BNP Paribas.
MRC