Gazprom reports 4.5% fall in Jan-Aug non-CIS gas exports

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russian state gas producer Gazprom on Monday reported a 4.5% fall in January-August natural gas exports outside the former Soviet Union to 127.3 billion cubic metres (bcm), reported Reuters.

Its output over the same period rose 1.7% to 331 bcm.

The company on Thursday conceded for the first time that its gas exports to Europe, as well as its prices, will decline in 2019 following record-high volumes last year.

As MRC wrote previously, Gazprom has started pumping gas into the Power of Siberia Pipeline bound for China. The pipeline will deliver 38 billion cubic meter per year (Bcm/y) of natural gas from eastern Siberian fields to China. Under the 30-year contract signed in 2014, deliveries start of Dec. 1.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - North American PVC suppliers in Russia raised their prices for September shipments to USD860-880/tonne CFR St. Petersburg last week, according to the ICIS-MRC Price Report.

At the same time, there was no demand from Russian companies, since the weakening of the rouble against the dollar made PVC purchases in the US unprofitable, although a month ago the situation was opposite.

A week earlier, price offers for the shipment of PVC from the United States in the second half of August - September were in the range of USD850-870/tonne CIF St. Petersburg.
MRC

(MOSCOW (MRC) -- China Petrochemical Corp, known as Sinopec, said on Friday it had commissioned additional crude oil storage totalling 375,000 cubic metres, or about 2.36 million barrels, in eastern China’s Jiangsu province, reported Reuters.

Asia’s biggest refiner put three commercial crude storage tanks in the city of Yizheng, each with a capacity of 125,000 cubic metres, into operation on Aug. 28, according to a statement on its website.

Sinopec said the Yizheng commercial storage base, which serves refineries along the Yangtze river and in the Nanjing area, is now fully utilising its total 975,000 cubic meters of storage.

The base previously had six tanks each of 100,000 cubic metres capacity.

As MRC informed before, in September 2018, Sinopec Corp joined a group planning to build an oil refinery in Alberta, an enterprise that would strengthen demand for the Canadian province's heavily discounted crude.

Sinopec Corp. is one of the largest scale integrated energy and chemical company with upstream, midstream and downstream operations. Its principal business includes: exploring, developing, producing and trading crude oil and natural gas; producing, storing, transporting and distributing and marketing petroleum products, petrochemical products, synthetic fiber, fertilizer and other chemical products. Its refining capacity and ethylene capacity rank No.2 and No.4 globally. Sinopec listed in Hong Kong, New York, London and Shanghai in August 2001. Sinopec Group, the parent company of Sinopec Corp., is ranked the 5th in Fortune Global 500 in 2012.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Export deliveries of Russian PET chips in June this year decreased by five times compared to the same period last year and amounted to 1,870 tonnes, according to a ScanPlast of Market Report.

In June 2018, export deliveries of PET chips from the country amounted to 7,690 tonnes.

Such low export volumes in June were a result of unfavorable market conditions and low prices in Europe and the USA.
Total esports of Russian PET chips decreased to 24,750 tonnes in January-June, down 49% year on year.

Supply of imported polyethylene terephthalate (PET) to the Russian market in July decreased by 7% compared with July 2018 and amounted to 15,580 tonnes.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- French energy producer Total could invest up to USD10 billion in the North Sea over the next five years but cost discipline must be maintained as a matter of urgency, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing with reference to Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne's statement.

As part of its efforts to cut costs the company had looked at joint oil and gas infrastructure decommissioning in the region with peers Shell and BP, Pouyanne told an industry conference in Aberdeen, Scotland.

He added that Total intended to participate in an upcoming offshore wind bid round in Scotland as the firm continues to expand investments in low carbon and renewable energy.

Total was not limited by funds to invest in low carbon power projects, but by the capacity to develop projects, he said.

As MRC informed before, in June 2019, Total started up a biodiesel refinery in La Mede in southern France using palm oil. The start-up of the 500,000 tons-per-year refinery was delayed several times.

Total S.A. is a French multinational oil and gas company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world with business in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia. The company's petrochemical products cover two main groups: base chemicals and the consumer polymers (polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene) that are derived from them.
MRC